Yaketsuki
By Pirate Shinju.
Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto…. That's his name, right?
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Chapter 1. – Surechigai (chance encounter)
See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I wait for you…
"And in the meantime, Sakura, I want you to take so time off." the fifth Hokage said, surveying her student with a frown.
Sakura, now 16, had matured beyond recognition since her genin days. Her body had developed sufficient curves and her facial features had lost its round, girlish look. Her hair was shoulder length in all its bright pink glory and her eyes were as green as ever. She had become quite attractive to the opposite sex, but paid little attention to their advances. Hell, forget the stick. She had to beat the guys off with a tree! She had matured not only physically, but mentally as well. This probably had something to do with the loss of Sasuke.
Despite the beauty she had received over the years, most of her looks were drained from fatigue and overwork. Her body was a bit on the thin side, as if she had been eating only here and there for several weeks. There were dark circles under her eyes and she had fallen asleep at her desk earlier this afternoon. Sakura had a habit of pushing herself in training and in her work as a medic.
Tsunade was quite proud of her student for all that she had accomplished. The girl had gone farther in her skills than anyone expected of her in such a short amount of time. Hell, Tsunade was even willing to admit that it was quite possible that her student had outranked her in medical skills. The young girl had come up with a remedy for a disease that was thought to be incurable! Not to mention the fact that she had just become a jounin last week. However, the fifth Hokage was very concerned about Sakura's health if she continued to live like that.
"W-What?" Sakura stammered, taken aback. "But why?"
"Sakura, you are at the hospital or training more than you are at home. I hope you know that your body is not going to last if you keep this up. You haven't been sleeping much."
"But, Tsunade-sensei--"
"No buts, Sakura." the older woman replied in a tone that left no room for arguments. "You can handle taking a week's worth of R-&-R…"
Tsunade didn't even flinch when Sakura slammed her fists on the oak desk.
"And what do you expect me to do for a week!" the pink-haired kunoichi exclaimed angrily. "Sit on my ass and do a crossword?"
"Not necessarily." Tsunade replied. "Just do what a normal teenager your age would do. Relax. And have fun. You're growing up too fast, kiddo."
Seeing that there was no way out of it, Sakura turned on her heel and left the Hokage's office in a huff.
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"The examination is over." the elderly medic said. "You may get up now, Itachi-san."
Itachi sat up from his lying positing on the operation table and stood up, reaching for his Akatsuki cloak, that was lying on a chair not far away. He made eye contact with the old medic's assistant, a girl in her teens, who looked away and blushed deeply. He could practically smell her fear. He turned his hard stare back on the medic, who also looked a bit uncomfortable and avoided eye contact.
Everyone feared him.
"Speak." Itachi ordered.
The medic, Wakamiya Jiro, was an elderly man who lived in a nearby village. When needed, he would sometimes be called to the Akatsuki to take care of its members when they were sick or injured. His assistant, Wakamiya Mina, happened to be his granddaughter. Said man visibly shrank under the Uchiha's gaze, a little unsure about telling the intimidating man the bad news.
"I'm afraid there is nothing I can do." Wakamiya finally said. "I have never seen anything like it and I wouldn't know where to begin…"
Itachi nodded in understanding, much to the medic's relief.
"The only thing I could think to tell you is to seek out Tsunade-sama, but that would be a death wish, even for you…"
Fastening his cloak around himself, Itachi abruptly strode to the door. He saw no point in staying any longer.
"W-wait… I may know a way." a small voice spoke up.
Itachi halted and Wakamiya turned to look at his granddaughter with wide eyes. The sharingan user looked at her as well.
"Mina… What do you think you are doing?" Wakamiya asked incredulously.
"I said that I may know a way." she said with a bit more confidence. "There's this girl… I don't know her name or anything. But I've heard rumors."
"Continue." Itachi said with slight interest. Not that he showed it, of course.
"She's Tsunade-sama's apprentice, and it is said that she has surpassed even her mentor in her medical skills."
"Impossible!" Wakamiya exclaimed angrily. "Where did you hear such things?"
Before she could even answer, the sound of a door closing signaled Itachi's sudden departure.
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"Sasori… Deidara… Was the mission a success?" the low voice of the Akatsuki leader said, face concealed by the shadows.
"Hai…" they both responded in unison.
"Good. I have a very important mission for you. Details will be given later."
The two art-obsessed ninja bowed to show that they understood.
"Itachi."
"Hai."
"What was Mr. Wakamiya's diagnosis?" The other Akatsuki members in the room looked at Itachi curiously, wondering what their leader was talking about. It wasn't everyday that Itachi had a problem, but they didn't dare ask.
"He said there was nothing he could do." Itachi answered truthfully.
"If this problem isn't solved, I won't hesitate to kill you." the fearsome man hidden in the shadows said without remorse. "This could weaken you considerably, and I won't have someone in the Akatsuki who is weak."
By now, the other Akatsuki members were looking back and forth between them, curiosity evident.
"It is being taken care of." Itachi replied, bowing lowly.
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"Hey, Sakura-chan! What have you been up to lately?" Naruto exclaimed, approaching at a jog.
"Zip. Nada. Nothing." She said bitterly. "Tsunade made me take time off. This has by far been the worst week of my life. I've had nothing to do."
Naruto had certainly changed in the past year. Now, at sixteen, he had grown much taller. He must have hit a growth spurt or something. He had also allowed his hair to grow a bit longer and his face had lost some of the cubby roundness that comes with early youth. He was beginning to look a lot like the forth Hokage… He had advanced past both chuunin and jounin exams within the remarkable time of a year and was now ANBU. Training with Jiraiya had clearly had its benefits.
"Well, if you ask me, I think you needed it." he said in a serious, un-Naruto-like tone that momentarily threw her off. "You were looking pretty crappy for a while."
"Well, gee. Thanks, I guess." she replied sarcastically.
"No problem, Sakura-chan." he smiled cheerfully. Suddenly, his face fell and he looked at Sakura with seriousness once again. He looked worried about something. "By the way, Sakura-chan… Have you by any chance seen Hinata-chan today?"
"No, why? Did you two have a lover's spat?" she teased, causing him to go red with embarrassment. She smiled. Naruto had started dating Hinata about 6 months ago. On his sixteenth birthday, she had finally told him how she felt and since then they hit it off. He absolutely loved her to death.
"No! C'mon, Sakura-chan, stop laughing! It's not like that!" He exclaimed defensively but smiled anyway. "It's just… she was supposed to meet me for ice cream yesterday and she never showed. And I didn't see her at all today either."
Sakura frowned.
"Hinata? Miss an appointment?" she questioned. He nodded. Her frown deepened as she thought of where the Hyuuga girl could be. It wasn't like her to miss meeting someone. She was always on time and always made sure to make it, even if she is not feeling well.
"I even checked her house… They said that she never came home last night and if I have any information of her whereabouts, I had better tell them." Naruto added. "Of course, they said all this with the delicacy and kindness of a Hyuuga…" he finished sarcastically.
"That's strange…" Sakura replied worriedly. She made eye contact with Naruto whose eyes were filled with worry.
"…"
"…"
"…Don't worry, Naruto-kun." Sakura said softly, touching his back reassuringly. "Maybe she was sent on an important mission that required her immediate attention. I'm sure she's fine."
"Yeah… You're right." he looked at her with brilliant blue eyes full of mischief that never went away despite his hardships. She looked at him with a sad smile. "I'll go look around the village for her to see if she's around. She's gotta be somewhere. Bye, Sakura-chan!"
Sakura waved at his departing figure, sad smile still in place. Ever since Sasuke had left, she had become very close to Naruto and had come to think of him as a brother. In a sense, he was all she had left.
"Haruno-san!"
Sakura turned to face who called her and was faced with one of Tsunade's messengers. This can't be good. Tsunade only sent her messengers when it was an emergency.
"Lady Hokage must speak with you immediately!"
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When Sakura entered Tsunade's office, she was surprised to see that an ANBU captain, Neji, as well as Shikamaru, Kiba, and Shino were there as well, each with confused looks on their faces. The four of them had not changed much since they were fifteen, aside from gaining a bit of height. All of them had become ANBU, lead by Neji. They were obviously wondering why they were called there.
"What's going on here?" she asked.
"I'll let everyone else know as soon as--"
A resounding bang made everyone jump as an overactive blonde suddenly burst through the doors.
"--Naruto gets here." Tsunade finished with a sigh.
"Old Tsunade!" Naruto exclaimed. The Hokage's eye twitched ever so slightly. "What's going on? Why is everyone here? Is there a new mission?"
"Pipe down and take a seat, Naruto." she snapped, angered by the 'old' comment.
Naruto say down with a disgruntled look on his face.
"So what is this about?" Neji finally asked.
"Hinata was reported missing by the head of the Hyuuga house about half an hour ago." Tsunade said tiredly. "I think she may have been kidnapped, but I'm not sure why. There are much easier targets to go after for the Byakugan."
Their reactions were exactly as she predicted. Shikamaru sat up strait from his lazy slump, Sakura's eyes widened to twice their original size, Shino's skin started to shift as the bugs within him got overexcited, and Neji clenched his fists. Kiba and Naruto were the noisy ones.
"WHAT?" they shouted in unison.
"You heard me…" Tsunade sighed, rubbing her temples. "As you may very well know, Hyuuga, Hinata never came home last night. So she has been missing since yesterday." Neji nodded curtly. "That is why I brought you all here so soon. If I wait any longer, you may not be able to track them."
"How much information do we have about her whereabouts?" Shikamaru questioned.
"We don't know who kidnapped her or why, and we don't know what they are capable of. Hell, we don't even know if she was kidnapped or not! All we know is that Hinata is missing and we need to bring her back as soon as possible. That's why I'm sending you ANBU to recover her. Lee would be going with you too, but he is currently away on a mission with Tenten."
"But, Tsunade-sensei, why are you sending me?" Sakura questioned.
"Just a precaution."
"But she's not ANBU!" Naruto exclaimed. "She only barely became jounin last week. What if it gets dangerous?"
"Are you saying that I'm vulnerable to danger?" Sakura growled dangerously. "Want me to show you how vulnerable I can be?" she cracked her knuckles menacingly and Naruto backed away with his hands raised, as if to surrender.
"I need her to go in case Hinata has in any way been harmed. Report back as soon as you find her. Avoid fights if possible, even if it means running away. I want this to go as smoothly as possible."
"Hai." With that said, they all disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The Hokage coughed and gagged while trying to wave away the offending substance.
"I hate it when they do that…"
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Sakura stormed through the woods angrily. Nothing was going her way today.
After leaving Tsunade's office, they met at Konoha's gate after ten minutes of packing and preparing for the mission. Neji, who was the squad leader, worked together with Shikamaru to come up with the best way to carry out the mission, and settled on dividing the group into two search parties. The two groups consisted of Neji, Shikamaru, and Shino on one team and Naruto, Kiba, and Sakura on the other. Once Neji laid out the plans for the ground each group was to cover, they were off.
Sakura's group had hardly been at it for two hours when they stumbled upon 5 Akatsuki. Strangely, they didn't recognize any of them, but Naruto claimed that there was something familiar about their smell.
FLASHBACK
"Shit!" said Naruto, withdrawing a few Kunai from his leather pouch.
"Wait, Naruto!" Kiba exclaimed, grabbing the Kyuubi vessel by the wrist. "Don't do anything stupid. We are outnumbered."
"He's right, Naruto-kun." Sakura added. "Tsunade told us to avoid fights. Let's get out of here while we still can."
END FLASHBACK
Now, she was wandering around deep in a forest with no sign of Naruto or Kiba anywhere. How did she end up in a place like this, you wonder? Well, she doesn't know. One moment she was following her teammates through the trees and the next she was walking through a deeper part of the forest than before. She doesn't remember how or when she got here.
On top of the fact that she had no idea where she was, it was dark. The trees were much closer together than before and very little light made it through the dense canopy of the trees. She forced herself not to panic and instead kept moving.
Instead, Sakura focused on her anger and how the world was against her.
"NARUTO-KUN!" she screamed, hoping someone could hear her. "NEJI-KUN! KIBA! SOMEONE!" He eyes filled with angry tears and she furiously wiped them away, cursing herself for her weakness.
"They can't hear you." a low voice that seemed to come from every direction suddenly said, making her jump. "You are miles away from any civilization. Your friends are in Konoha by now."
"Who said that?" she exclaimed, shuriken in hand. "Show yourself!" She frowned when no one answered. She couldn't sense anyone's chakra, so she found that odd. Thinking she must have imagined it, she started to move again, glancing around warily as she did so.
A split second later, she came upon a forest clearing. She sighed in relief, for the tightness of the trees was starting to make her feel claustrophobic. It was much easier to think about her next move this way. She looked at her surroundings a bit, but didn't recognize the place. How the hell did she get here? Could she have been under the influence of a genjutsu?
Her spine went rigid and her hands clenched when she suddenly felt warm breath on her neck.
"Hello, little Kunoichi."
Gasping, she whirled around and found herself inches away from the chest of a man clad in a black Akatsuki cloak. Ever so slowly, she raised her head and looked upon the face of Uchiha Itachi.
Oh shit…she thought.
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Sasori and Deidara entered the Akatsuki base wordlessly. They weren't in a very good mood, to say the least. Their mission was a success, but it was a lot more troublesome than it should have been. Unfortunately, they were sent to assassinate someone with a unique bloodline limit: The ability to control the air and wind. Sasori had lost a few of his favorite puppets, and Deidara… well… he was pissed because the wind kind of messed up his hair and made it frizzy. So tragic.
By the time they made it to the kitchen (neither of them had eaten in days… not that Sasori needed food.), they were already in another argument about art.
"I don't give a crap what you say… yeah." Deidara was saying. "Art is a bang. It should be just a single moment of beauty… yeah."
"I disagree. It should be about eternal beauty. It isn't worthwhile if it doesn't last for you to admire." Sasori replied.
"You're so full of sh-- What the hell?" Deidara suddenly exclaimed, much to Sasori's surprise.
"What is it?" the redhead inquired.
"What the hell?" Deidara repeated, pointing at the huddled mess of a girl on the floor who was bound and gagged. "Who the hell left a hostage in the middle of the kitchen floor? ...yeah."
"Kisame most likely." Sasori replied, inspecting the dark-haired girl. "He's always been sloppy about things…"
Hinata squealed through the cloth restricting her mouth at the sight of the two Akatsuki members and struggled against her bindings. Sasori and Deidara looked at each other, both wondering what they should do with her.
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Sakura tried to back away from the Uchiha but only felt rough bark on her back as it made contact with one of the ancient trees. She felt her heart quicken its pace and pound in her ears as she gazed at his fearsome face and blood red eyes. It took all the willpower she possessed not to close her eyes and curl up into a little ball. Instead, she remained focused on the only half of his face that wasn't concealed by the cloak.
"Uchiha… Itachi…" she heard herself say. She started when he reached up and unlatched the top part of his cloak, revealing his entire face and his slender neck. He wore a choker with small white ornaments. Something about it seemed so familiar, but she couldn't imagine how.
"You know who I am." he stated. "Good. This will make things go smoother… Sakura-chan." His voice was deep and smooth; what some women would find downright sexy, but she wasn't about to fall into his alluring trap. She had something more alarming on her mind.
"How the hell do you know my name?" she questioned in shock.
"You don't remember?" Itachi said, smirking in amusement. "I suppose you wouldn't. You were so young…"
"Cut the crap!" Reaching for a kunai, she abruptly froze in shock and fear when she felt the sharp tip of a kunai at her throat. Itachi placed his other hand on the tree by the left side of her face as he moved even closer.
Glaring at him with all the hatred she could muster, she silently cursed herself as a blush spread across her face from the closeness. Hell, he was so close that his breath fanned across her face. She would be lying to herself if she said he wasn't good-looking, because he most certainly was. His smooth, pale skin glowed in the dim light given off by the moon and his long, black hair that was tied at the base of his neck looked soft to the touch. His facial features were feminine without appearing womanly. In other words, he was quite possible the most gorgeous man she had ever seen.
WTF? Stop thinking like that, you idiot! she inwardly scolded herself. This man is Akatsuki and the killer of the Uchiha clan. He's the reason Naruto and Sasuke have been suffering!
Oh, lighten up. Inner Sakura replied. Just look at him! What a babe!
…You have no shame, do you?
Shut up.
"What do you want from me, you bastard?" she spat with new found strength. He said nothing, only continued to gaze at her. He seemed to be choosing his words carefully.
Without thinking, Sakura raised her head and looked into his eyes. She had been trying to avoid looking directly into them because of all the things she had heard about him and the Magekyo. She gasped at what she saw.
Something wasn't right, and her medic eyes spotted it immediately. Her eyes widened with a sudden realization.
"You're blind…"
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Author's note: I've wanted to start an ItachiSakura fic for quite a while now but I haven't had a good solid plot to go off of until now. This may end up being a trilogy of fics, but I'm still deciding. I hope you enjoyed the first chapter though. I had a lot of time today so it's kind of long… Sorry 'bout that. I'll have the next chapter up any day now, so keep an eye out for it.