In a name
Silent Shadow
III: All for one
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"Does it hurt when you use your eyes like that..."
"Not anymore."
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Out of respect, Kakashi knocked on the door of the Haruno house. Not to call him anti-social, but he didn't visit other residents very often unless he knew them well enough to barge in without asking.
At first he didn't hear anything, but then he heard muffled footsteps and the door creaked open.
"Ah, Kakashi-san," the woman, Mrs. Haruno, said as she stepped out the door so she could close it behind her, lest the bugs came in.
He had seen her occasionally, it was hard not see the startling pink hair, but not very often. Just on occasions where it deemed necessary for the parents to come out or be labeled cold. She was whipping her hands on her apron and her eyes didn't necessarily come in contact with his one eye.
"How is Sakura?" she asked, "This visit is about her, is it not?"
"Yes. She's unconscious, but she will be fine."
"I know."
"Oh?"
"Mother's intuition," she said blatantly, almost challengingly.
"Interesting. Don't teach that at the academy."
Challenge accepted.
"Kakashi-san," she said sternly, "I know your doubts of me, but let me assure you that no matter what the situation is between Sakura and I- I am her mother and she is my daughter."
"Aa, but she is my soldier first."
He expected the older woman to loose her cool, but instead she pondered the retort and then she smiled.
"You know, Sakura said something like that once before."
"Hn." He felt a surge of pride from the weakest member of his team. She never had as much potential as Sasuke and Naruto, but she had another strength that could be greatly respected.
"At first, I thought this kunoichi business was ridiculous, but maybe a cure."
A cure for what, he didn't know. Nor did he really care.
"Do you want to see Sakura?"
Her mother shook her head, "No, I don't think she would care to see me too much. Besides... she'll find her own way from wherever she is. Now if you excuse me, dinner must be made before my husband comes."
Part of a family routine. Perhaps there was a little more family in that routine than Kakashi had originally suspected.
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Itachi didn't really know how long he had been here, it was hard to estimate but he felt that he had been there for close to a year. An entire year wasted sitting underneath the cherry blossom tree, discussing topics with a depressed timid child.
Somewhere, somehow, during the long periods between talking and silence- he broke. Control over himself no longer mattered anymore, he was stuck in a fantasy land for what seemed to be the rest of his life, it didn't matter if he didn't want people to know him.
"You are very talented to be able to use your sharingan since you were eight."
"I hated it."
"Then why do you use it so much?"
"I
don't hate it now."
"Oh."
Another typical long silence. They could go on in perfect muteness for days, and then start a conversation that could go on for weeks.
"I had tried to use it before," he told her, "but I couldn't really utilize it to my advantage until I was eight."
"Oh, so you could to use it for a bit when you were even younger?"
"My dad wanted me to become the strongest member of the Uchiha clan before being his son. He trained me to fight before I could walk."
"It must have been hard."
"No, I don't mind being strong. I like it."
"Oh. Why did you hate the sharingan?"
"When you are really young, it's hard to control, and it backfires on you."
"Like how?"
Tact was lost to the curious, but being in this world for so long, one gets use to it.
"It eats away at you. Sometimes you slip in a coma, or you see things that aren't there. Once in awhile I blank out and I wake up somewhere else, but I don't really know what I did to get there."
Sakura reacted the way he knew she would, he had known her for a long time.
"But, Sasuke-kun never did things like that..."
"Sasuke didn't use his sharingan until he was twelve. There's a difference in mental control."
"Oh..."
"When I started to be able to use the sharingan well, those episodes stopped. But after that it was hard to move on my actions. I would feel furious- like I wanted to rip something apart, but all I would do is just stand there with a blank look on my face. There was a disconnection between myself and my body."
"The sharingan sounds horrible," Sakura said, holding herself tightly.
"I didn't care too much, as long as I got stronger. Besides after I learned about the mangekyou sharingan I knew I would be ok."
"The strange sharinagan?"
"Total control, indescribable power. A cure all for all my ails."
"What's so special about power?"
A look flickered in his eyes that reflected insanity, "It's all I need."
"I think," she began but faltered.
"You think what?"
She buried her head in shame- surprised she could say this, "That the effects of the sharingan when you were younger wasn't temporary."
Itachi wasn't offended by what she said, he's been called worse, but still the way she said it made him feel as if what he did wasn't correct.
It didn't matter what she thought anyway.
"How do you get... that sharingan?"
"It's sort of the same way you get the normal one, something incredibly intense has to happen."
"...Like massacring your family. Or even killing your best friend."
"Exactly. I didn't have friends really, so I had to destroy my clan, it took forever for me to be able to receive the power since I wasn't too close with my relatives, I had to slaughter all of them."
"Ah," Sakura paused as if the next question was difficult for her, "Why did you let Sasuke-kun live?"
"I didn't need to kill him, I already gained what I wanted by then."
Sakura was not satisfied, "Why do you want him to be stronger?"
Itachi chose not to answer and they sat in silence again. The wind whipped their hair, the dead cherry blossom tree, the white speckled field, the mute land that not even breathing made a sound. Not that breathing was necessary.
"God damn, you guys are so boring!" a loud, somewhat obnoxious voice boomed over the field. A new person had appeared beside them- he knew he had seen her before. She was the one that had gone to the long rage and dragged his mind to hers. He considered trying to kill to see what would happen, but he didn't think he would do much good trying.
Unlike little Sakura, she was thirteen which made her seem that she was his age. She had her eyes in an aggressive slant and words etched in her large forehead. The strangest part about her was that she seemed to be colored invertly of the little Sakura, her total opposite. This Sakura had not taken to sitting like the other too, instead she stood in a haughty position with her hands impatiently on her hips.
She looked at the younger version of herself, "I see that this place hasn't changed much, still as crappy as ever. Except for this tree it's new? Eh, It dead?!? Not much of an improvement."
Inner Sakura snorted and kicked the tree with her foot, which rattled under her feet. Itachi, who was still leaning on the dead tree, glared at the rude girl as she stomped around with a grace of a rampaging elephant. Interestingly enough, the grass and flowers she trampled on staid crushed instead of popping up with its usual vigor.
"Oh, it's crazy bastard!" she said waving her finger at him before facing little Sakura again, "I thought you might at least have broken a rib. Give him the old one two!"
She punched the air to give the little Sakura a demonstration of what she meant.
"I... uh," little Sakuraflushed at the suggestion.
"Arg! You can be so annoying!" Inner Sakura raged, "Don't tell me you just sat here with crazy bastard and talked!"
He didn't mind the stupid nickname she gave him as much as he didn't like her loud voice and the way she swung her fist hazardly in the air, not caring if it did or did not connect with anything. But it was also a relief to hear something and see something besides what he had been staring at for who knows how long.
"What's the deal with tree anyway?" Inner Sakura frowned circling it like a shark, "What the hell? Is that a ribbon around it? Why is there a ribbon around it?"
She shot little Sakura an accusing glare, "You're still worked about that stupid thing?"
Little Sakura managed to squeak, "I really liked it. It helped me see better, it showed that Ino cared for us."
"No, it showed Ino's no longer existent superiority. It was a reminder of our weakness. We don't need anybody's help!"
"But my forehead..." little Sakura faced Itachi and put her hand up to her bangs, "Don't you think my forehead looks big like this?"
Forehead?
"What?"
"My forehead... isn't it ugly?"
"I don't see anything wrong with it," he said confused. The woes of a female were lost to him.
"Exactly what the crazy bastard said! We're normal!"
Well... maybe not so much normal.
"Hey crazy bastard!"she called, bored of berating little Sakura, "Why do you hate Sasuke-kun so much?"
He didn't say anything but the silent reply had no effect on Inner Sakura like it did the younger one, "Hey! You deaf or something? I'm talking to you!"
Itachi sighed and faced away.
"You rude son of a-"
"He doesn't have to talk," little Sakura said, fully aware of what it feels like to opt for silence.
"LIKE HELL HE DOESN'T!" She screamed and went to grab Itachi by his clothes, "Did you forget where you were? This is my place!"
"I don't hate him."
Satisfied that he was talking she let go of his clothes.
"If you don't hate them," little Sakura started, "then... why do you push him to torture himself."
"For his strength."
"I see it's all for his good, your are so charitable," Inner Sakura snorted, "Why the hell would you care how strong he is?"
"Sasuke is very close to me in genetic material you know. Even more so than normal brothers. But unlike me, Sasuke was never pushed as hard and his treatment was always reflected more of a son than a soldier."
"Bohoo. ' My daddy was mean and that's why I kill' doesn't fly for me."
"I don't seek your acceptance nor expect you to understand."
"Whatever crazy bastard."
"Does it make you angry? The way he was raised?" little Sakura asked.
Angry? No. It wasn't anger, he had no reason to be angry, he came out stronger.
"I think... I'm more curious."
Nature vrs. Nurture. Too see if he could break Sasuke to be like him. He wasn't sure what he curious of, maybe everything. Sasuke was the big "what if..." in his life.
"Well that's nice, you use him as a way to answer life questions. You are a crazy bastard."
He was almost going to miss the long periods of silence.
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More paperwork? Every time Tsunade seemed to work towards the end of the knee deep papers and mountains of scrolls, more suddenly appeared. All her mighty sennin powers couldn't demolish all this work. She entertained the idea of using a simple " Ryuuka no Jutsu" to burn all the papers to a crisp, but it was nothing more than a mere fantasy. So she sighed and unraveled one mission scroll, asking for someone to help his wife cook dinner for one night. Tsunade snorted when she saw the payment and tossed it into her "I think not" pile.
"Ah, Hokage-sama," an old withering voice called out to her.
"Hn?" Tsunade couldn't see passed the piles of paper, "Who is it? Never mind that, go away. I'm busy."
"Not too busy for the welfare of your village I dare ask?"
"Oh- elder. Welcome," Tsunade greeted dully.
"I have caught wind of some strange rumors regarding a young genin girl."
"Really? That's nice."
"I assume you know about what I'm talking about."
"If you assume that I know, I have to assume which girl you assume that a rumor is truth."
The elder scowled, her wrinkled deepening.
"I want to see Haruno Sakura."
"Ah, that girl. Why didn't you just say so? Assuming makes an ass out of you and me."
"If she has Itachi's mind in her then, more than likely, if she dies so does he."
"That's a strong assumption."
"But not without basis."
As a kunoichi, she was taught never to show her emotion, and true to her training she fought down a flinch at those words. Though the elder was too old to use chakra properly, she was a good kunoichi during her time, after all- she was a teammate of the legendary third hokage. The elder wasn't strong but she was smart.
"The title of Hokage is not a privilege, it's a responsibility to take care of everyone in this village. The weight of a child doesn't out weigh the number of children at risk."
"I know... As Hokage..."
There was a dramatic pause.
"She isn't in the hospital, she's
in the next room," she informed her with a heavy sigh.
"You did the right thing."
Tsunade said nothing, she couldn't read the scrolls anymore because the words blurred. She heard the footsteps of the elder as it passed her table. She didn't like the uneven rhythm of the old woman's footsteps as it slowly neared the door to the next room. Tsunade tried furiously to read the writing but nothing could make sense. There was drawn out creak of the door as it swung on its hinges.
"As Hokage..."
"What is this?!" the elder gasped.
"I will do what is right for my people."
"What is what?" Tsunade feigned innocence.
"There is no girl here!"
"Leave no one behind."
"Really? I left her there, I didn't take her out," Tsunade saying not getting up from her desk.
She didn't smile, a kunoichi never shows her emotions.
"Where is she?"
"I don't know," Tsunade said honestly, "Maybe someone took her away."
"Than we better find her."
"Yes, you better."
"Then I request shinobi's to search the village."
"I'm sorry. As Hokage I need to look out the best interest of the village and all my men are either busy or resting. You are on your own."
The elder huffed.
"I see, then I will do so," and with that she stomped out of the door loudly.
Tsunade was satisfied, she wasn't angry with the elder since she couldn't blame her the for wanting to save the village. As head of the village, Tsunade knew full well that she could not do anything to protect Sakura.
But she knew that Sasuke had told the other teammates about what could happen to Sakura and when at her office, she heard the familiar curses of Naruto as he secretly snuck in the other room to get Sakura.
Hokage was a tricky title.
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[AN]
First things first: my Sakura shrine. For some reason beyond my comprehension... URLs do not work on so you will have to bear with me and close all the gaps in the address " http:wilted. splintering. net"
Truthfully, I didn't really know what I was going to do when I made Sasuke as the question to Tsunade. I was probably going to leave it in the open and let it sort of die. I found this better and much more fun to do, and I like how it flew.
And I wasn't even going to make Inner Sakura reappear, but I fell in love with writing her that I had to put her in. Now I can't imagine the story without her.
So the deal with Itachi, well I got this idea shortly after watching Law and Order SVU (which I love with all my heart but it really messes with you). So there was an episode where this serial killer was going around, well, killing people. It turns out that he had some sort of disease that messed with his mind and he believed he was taking orders from God. So I began to think...
With the sharingan, you see an opponent make his move, and then at the very same time you can mimic and analyze the jutsu, that has got to put a lot of pressure, not just on chakra, but on the brain as well. Not to mention- Itachi was eight. How the hell is that going to effect the kid? It doesn't sound so healthy to me. So that's why I believe Itachi is a mass murderer.
Need to lay of SVU...
I didn't expect to be out with this chapter so fast, heh. I might get this fic finished quicker than I first thought.
Ugh, rereading the new chapters I realize that if I don't want this to be an AU, I will have to go back and rewrite Kakashi so that he knows what happened to Sasuke before he came back.
L0vEnEkO: A bit excited aren't we? I hope to update more often, as long as it doesn't mess up my sceduel. I'm glad you like it.
Youkai Ryuu: It's called Tsukuyomi (Mind Reader)- keeps them in the world for seventy two hours but in reality- just a few seconds, or one second, or something of the sort. It's a pretty friggin cool move if you ask me. XD. I'm delighted that you enjoyed it.
soul-of-ice : Thanks for reminding me. Hopefully the URL will show up now. I'm happy that you found it interesting!
Kawaii Yoshi: Thank you! I always try to think of new ideas but it doesn't work out to well, it's hard to find something original with so many wonderful works out there. And thankyou for your offer, I appreciate muchly.
quijote3000: Thank you!
animEvivvErz: I hope to, thanks.
Maya Amano Little Sakura is cute neh? For some reason Itachi feels right writing with children, he seemed like a good guy when Sasuke was a kid, before he snapped.
rogue solusI'm glad you like it.
Yukina: Hopefully not, or else my story would be toilet paper for Itachi is much fun to write.
Silent nox: Wow, thanks! I don't hink I'm that good, but I really do appreciate what you said.
Shiroi Hikari: Thank you.
