"Konoha-gakure declared war on Timea."
.
Kakashi's words echoed in everyone's ears, seeming louder than he actually intended. To Sakura, it felt like a harsh kick in the gut she just couldn't ignore.
Without warning, her head started pounding like crazy, her breathing hitched and dizziness was clouding her mind. Her throat clenched and breathing suddenly was a challenge for the leader.
Every single ninja was taken over by pure, raw shock because no one could've ever dreamed to expect something like this.
Konoha wanted a war. They actually declared war.
Why? What did Timea do to them? There was no connection between Konoha and Timea, so why would they voluntarily want to declare war?
They have never been enemies, so what the hell happened?!
It didn't make any sense!
"Could that be… a joke or something, Kakashi Sensei..?", Naruto finally broke the heavy silence.
"No, Naruto. I know the signature and checked the scroll with my sharingan to the smallest detail. It is true. Konoha-gakure does want to fight us."
The bitter answer angered the blond jinchuuriki who clenched his teeth behind his closed mouth, trying to hide his nervousness.
"But why? What do they want from us, we never did anything to them, dattebayo!"
The jounin closed his eyes and knew that there wasn't an answer in this world that would satisfy the fox ninja.
"My theory is that they found out about Timea's growing power. As it seems, we're not only concurring them, Konoha probably sees us as some kind of threat or something."
"And just because of this ridiculous reason they want a death battle?!", Tenten hissed upset whereas Kakashi just shrugged his shoulders.
"That's how it looks like to me."
"We have ten days.", the kunoichi breathed.
Sakura didn't even want to think about it and swallowed the thick lump in her too tight throat, so many wild thoughts were hammering against her skull that she almost lost consciousness.
The mere imagination of the upcoming fight made her insides clench painfully.
Konoha-gakure was a corrupt, calculating, horrible and well experienced opponent.
Not only had this land won every battle they ever faced, no, they also barely lost any ninja during those. It was like their entire army was a collection of the best of the best.
Every fighter possessed deadly abilities and dangerous kekkei genkais…
Now, Timea had to face this blood thirsty army.
Timea was forced to fight their most brutal battle and Sakura could not lie here…
She was scared.
But scared or not, there was nothing they could do to change their critical situation and that's why she took a deep breath and slammed the offending scroll against a near tree.
"I won't run.", she declared with her strong, determined voice.
"After everything we accomplished… After all those battles we survived, I'm not gonna give up and let Konoha-gakure take over my homeland. Shannaro, if there is one village beside Hermos who could compete with Konoha, it's Timea."
The soldiers looked at the upset kunoichi who indeed was afraid, however, fear had never stopped her before and it would definitely not start today.
Ino, Naruto, Tenten and Kakashi were proud of her and already knew that they wouldn't turn their backs on the pinkette.
"We are all ninjas from Timea-gakure and it is our responsibility to protect our home at any cost! I will not judge anyone who would leave but I made my decision. Uchiha Sasuke and his army can take over lands but we have the will of fire burning in our hearts! Is was us who rebuilt Timea from it's grounds to a proud land and no matter what, I will protect my home!"
Haruno Sakura represented the perfect picture of a great leader even though she hid the truth from her comrades.
The army was silent and obviously needed a moment to think about the new situation that would probably change everything.
It would be a gruesome, horrible battle.
Konoha was incredibly experienced.
The army contains only the strongest fighters and Uchiha Sasuke was known to be an absolute deadly shinobi.
And Sakura would have to face this shinobi as the leader of Timea…
.
"I'm in!"
Yamanaka Ino and Nohara Rin were the first ones to break the silence, smiling at the leader with the pink hair.
"Me too!", Tenten added which didn't really surprise Sakura.
"Hey, I'm totally in, datttebayo!"
"Don't forget about me.", Kiba grinned and Kakashi looked more than pleased for more and more ninjas raised their hands to voice out their vows.
"Count me in!"
"I'll fight with you guys!"
"It's about time we kick some boss ass!"
"No way are we gonna lose to Konoha!"
"We're gonna make them feel sorry for challenging us!"
A bright smile touched Sakura's lips while she was watching all her comrades looking confident and determined.
Yes, they would have to fight again.
Yes, it would be hard for them.
Yes, she wanted to cry.
But it wouldn't change anything about her situation and Sakura knew that there weren't many options to consider. If they wanted Timea to keep it's freedom and safety, there was no other way around.
They literally had no choice.
"Guys, we need to see our leader!", one shinobi suddenly said.
"Yeah, he's right. Why doesn't he show himself?"
Naruto threw Sakura an alarmed look and saw the nervousness in her green eyes. Because yes, she knew what she actually had to do.
The army needed to know the truth about the identity of their leader…
"He will show up two days before the fight.", she then promised.
"Eight days. And then, we will fight together and win!"
The ninjas nodded as everyone rose their fists to show how determined and serious they now were.
"YES!"
.
"SASUKE!"
Konoha's most powerful hokage found himself in a dark world in the middle of an empty, fog filled battlefield. He didn't know where he was nor did he understand how he got here and for some reason, he couldn't find the will to care.
"SASUKE, HELP ME!"
It was the horrified voice of a woman that caught his attention and forced him to feel something he never had even begun to think about.
The person calling him was definitely a female and didn't only sound frightened, no, she seemed to be in absolute panic. She was definitely panicking, calling him in dark despair as if she was suffering from the most horrible torture which made him feel bitter, shocking sorrow inside his heart.
He was afraid.
Sasuke was worried about this woman.
"SASUKEEEE!"
Her last scream made his insides freeze and his heart clench.
That's when he started running.
Sasuke started running and tried to look for her in this dark, unknown world.
However, he wasn't sure who he was trying to find, who he was so worried about that he actually felt physical pain at the mere thought of… being too late.
After all, there were no women in his life that matteredenough to make him act like a crying fool, there were no women he actually… loved.
But still.
He still felt his blood boil when he heard her piercing scream again.
Sasuke was sure that he had never heard such a pain filled, tortured voice, that so much horror and suffering could be even voiced out like that. He always thought that even the most gruesome pain and suffering had certain limits-
But he was so awfully wrong.
He didn't want this. Whoever she was, Sasuke did not want her to feel any kind of pain.
This beautiful sounding voice shouldn't scream so damaged and suffering, this stranger shouldn't be hurt or tortured because… even thinking about it dulled Sasuke's entire life.
"Where are you?!", he howled.
"I'm coming for you, so tell me where you are!"
It felt natural talking to her like, as if he actually knew her...
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
His eyes twitched in shock, his shaking hands were turned into fists and his jaw hardened as Sasuke ran faster, flashing like lightning to save her while feeling rage burning his blood.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING TOUCH HER!", the black haired hokage screamed who wanted to murder the bastard who dared hurting her.
"Let her go or I swear to God, I will rip you to shreds!"
His deep voice was burning from hatred and blood thirst, which too wasn't common for the hokage, but he couldn't help it and didn't care either.
Every pained scream felt like a kunai being rammed inside his pulsating heart and dammit, he wanted it to stop.
He wanted to stop her suffering and save her!
"SASUKE! PLEASE, I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!"
She cried and for a second, Sasuke thought he was burning alive.
Those unusual, intense feelings were squeezing him and after hearing that piercing, shrill scream, he knew it would be the last one.
Sasuke's body and soul felt her life ending just like that.
And then, at this moment…
He lost himself.
"NOOOOOOOOOOO!"
.
…
"No!"
Sweat covered and breathless, Sasuke rose up and found himself in his own bedroom again. He felt dizzy, the word around seemed to be vibrating and it took awfully long for him to understand that this horrible scenario ended.
For the first time, he was happy to be in his bedroom, really.
It was a dream.
A horrible, gruesome, too real nightmare.
Those really started to get on Sasuke's nerves..!.
Sasuke's day had been kind of boring for nothing special happened.
Training, annoying paper work and making sure to prepare the army for the upcoming battle filled his day, but the difference was that the hokage couldn't quite focus on anything.
"You seem distracted, Sasuke-sama."
Neji's voice brought him back from his depressing thoughts before Sasuke looked to the Hyuuga who -of course- saw right through the hokage.
"It's nothing, Neji.", he simply brushed off and sighed quietly.
"There is nothing do do here for you. You should go home and rest."
Neji nodded understandingly and left the black haired ninja who was really thankful to the gods that the Hyuuga was such an uncomplicated and loyal man.
His thoughts drifted off again and Sasuke remembered that godforsaken dream. He really couldn't understand.
Why did he dream about a person he obviously hadnever seen in his life?
Why did he feel such panic and why did it feel so real?
Why did he even care if she was hurt or not?
As far as he knew, there weren't many people he would try to save that desperately and those were not women. No woman was that important to him.
Those dreams had started annoying him approximately two years ago, right after his 21 birthday.
At first, he was only able to see the silhouette of a woman who looked graceful and soft while the shadow ofher hair danced in the wind. The woman possessed no colors and seemed like a shadow that had burned itself in his brain.
Soft nothings were whispered in his ear by a gentle, beautiful voice that felt so familiar and yet so strange because Sasuke was absolutely sure that he didn't know a woman who was this close to him.
However, those dreams didn't want to stay nice and soft and turned into horrible nightmares months later.
Her voice changed with despair and pain and she started crying and screaming which maddened the black haired hokage who never stopped looking and running for her.
Sasuke tried to ignore those nightmares but this task was really far easier said than done because this girl… this woman felt so real.
Not only would he never stop trying to save her, Sasuke even… missed her presence…
And this is not how the hokage actually was.
"Tche. Ridiculous."
Why was he even worrying about such childish dreams?
He said it himself, didn't he? Those nightmares were nothing but ridiculous dreams and Sasuke felt even more ridiculous for worrying about this non existent woman so much.
Well, he probably just needed a little training session with Shisui to distract him.
Hopefully, those dreams would stop bothering him one day.
.
…..….
"SHANNARO!"
A hard punch thundered in the middle of the warm, quiet woods.
"Dammit! Dammit, dammit, dammit!"
Sakura hated Konoha-gakure and this goddamn bastard Uchiha Sasuke from the deepest bottoms of her heart!
Bastard, asshole, fucker, son of a bitch!
What kind of person would declare war?! How fucked up in the head must he be to actually declare war for basically no goddamn reason whatsoever?!
What the hell was wrong with that bastard?!
Sakura was panting, feeling that familiar clench inside her throat while she punished the tree for Uchiha Sasuke's decision. Breathing became harder, the air had trouble to reach her lungs which Sakura tried to control as calmly as she could…
God, she was so angry…
For so many years she worked hard and did everything to save her homeland from its own downfall, trying to build a new structure for all the villagers to have a normal life again-
After all her efforts, this man showed up and destroyed everything with one, single message.
Just to… to fucking prove he's superior..?!
"Oh Sakura, stop torturing the poor tree."
It were Ino and Naruto who finally found the pinkette.
"Ino's right. It didn't do anything to you, dattebayo."
The blond shinobis knew how devastated their pink haired friend was and tried to cheer her up even if they knew their efforts would be useless. Sakura was good at holding the best speeches and boosting everyone's confidence, but still, she failed at trying to fight back her own fears.
There was no doubt that the Haruno was shaking of fear.
"I HATE Konoha!", she hissed hatefully. "And I HATE that Uchiha-bastard!"
Her hand touched her head, fingers pulling at her own braid of desperation.
"Get a grip, Sakura, you're making a scene.", Ino ordered. "You're not being yourself."
"How am I supposed to get a grip, Ino? If Timea loses, we will either die or be enslaved!"
Just thinking about his made her insides burn and Sakura felt the desire to choke that old bastard for being such an arrogant, blood thirsty son of a bitch!
"And let's not forget that this old asshole is an Uchiha! So not only is his army fucking insane, he too is an exceptional fighter with basically no weaknesses!"
Sakura didn't realize she was walking in circles while she got lost in her own thoughts, talking about her fears without thinking about Ino and Naruto.
"Our army is nothing compared to them! Their fighters are perfect and I don't want to even think about all those kekkei genkais. We are not half as experienced either! And now I even have to tell them the truth about me! What if they lose hope and leave the army? What if they start hating me? What if-"
"Come on, no one's gonna hate you, dattebayo. Especially not now-"
"Even IF we can compete with their army..."
Sakura continued talking without acknowledging her friend's efforts to talk to her.
"How am I supposed to fight their leader? How can I, a woman without nin- and gen-jutsu, compete with an Uchiha who possesses the sharingan?!"
"Sakura, you are a chakra-blocker. You will be able to whop that bastards ass-"
"I won't be able to do shit if he uses his sharingan on me, shannaro!"
Sure, Kakashi-sensei always made sure to train with her so she can get used to the sharingan's powerful abilities, however, Sakura was afraid of the even more dangerous mangekyou sharingan.
Because no matter how much she trained with Kakashi, the mangekyou sharingan scared her the most. There was no way Kakashi could prepare her for this because he once told her that the mangekyou is an individual power and every Uchiha possesses different abilities.
So, how could she possibly fight someone with such great powers?
Sakura wasn't born with a kekkei genkai or any special powers at all, for God's sake, that bastard would probably laugh at her for attempting to challenge him.
"He's going to win. That guy will kill me first and then-"
"Okay, that's IT!"
A loud slap echoed through the woods and silenced the kunoichi immediately.
Naruto's eyes were widened when Ino looked at Sakura sharply who simply rose her hand and touched her reddened cheek, looking almost paralyzed by her blonde friend's slap.
"Get a fucking grip, Sakura! The whole army is ready to fight and didn't lose hope at all! So stop mourning us all because we're not dead yet, you hear me? Don't you ever forget that this army is not weak!"
Naruto felt a little lost, looking back and forth to assess the situation between the hotheaded kunoichis.
"How can it be that you are able to cheer everyone up but fail to believe your own words? Believe in our army like you did a dozen times before and act like the leader you fucking are, Haruno Sakura!"
Sakura's jaw dropped and eyes widened after hearing those words.
Yamanaka Ino was a woman full of self confidence and possessed high temper and belonged to those people who were able to reach others with bare words.
She understood her friend of course, but showing sympathy wouldn't help her, so being harsh was the only option for the blonde.
"Ino's right, you know.", Naruto said, planting one hand on her shoulder.
"You are our leader and everyone trusts you. You will be accepted and no one is gonna leave the army just because you're a woman.", he assured and looked like he really believed what he said.
"We should just enjoy our life for a few days. Let's just stop worrying for a while and use this time to recover from the last battle. We can do it, Sakura, like we always do."
The grin on his face was honest and comforting and Sakura felt hope shining inside her again after realizing that Ino and Naruto really believed they could win. So…
She did, too.
Sakura wanted to believe in her army and smiled for being depressed wouldn't do any good and probably have more negative effects on her.
"You're right...", she then said before she dried her tears with the back of her hand.
"I believe in our army, shannaro."
.
.
In all her happiness, the group didn't realize the purple-eyed observer whose eyes were fixated on the three ninjas. A wide, sinister smirk tucked at his lips after hearing the more than shocking information he gladly gained.
Who would have thought that the mysterious leader was actually a woman..?
"Well, that's really interesting..."
"Come on, wildcat. Give it to me, dattebayo..."
Ino rolled her blues eyes in bemused annoyance while training with Naruto and threw several kunais at the fox ninja who expertly dodged them.
She blocked one of his punches, flipped back to gain some distance and threw three shuriken which Naruto -again- blocked with his kunai.
Both ninjas trained for hours now, both of them didn't really give it their all for this match was just a little distraction to them after having so much stress lately.
"Baby, we both know you can do better than this.", Naruto grinned smugly.
"Call me that one more time and I will feed you with your intestines."
Naruto laughed a little troubled and wondered where the Yamanaka learned to use such amusing threats. The blonde was one hell of a hot challenge with a temper that was on the same level as Sakura's which actually said a lot.
Speaking of-
Sakura had accompanied Kiba and Tenten who wanted to get something to eat while Kakashi Sensei and Rin Sensei were looking for more recruits that would join their army.
So that's why Ino and Naruto had decided to have a little match and of course, the jinchuuriki made sure to drive her crazy.
Naruto admitted… that he had a thing for Ino.
Her sharp tongue, her exceptional skills as a kunoichi combined with her caring nature she tried to hide to bad was appealing to him for Naruto found this interesting mixture absolutely amazing.
Probably too much for is own good, really…
"You let your guard open, Baby."
Before Naruto could even blink, he was tackled and found himself fall to the ground with a warm body above him. She pushed him to the ground and had this little, sexy smirk on her lips which somehow excited the shinobi who grinned at her confidence.
"I win."
His heartbeat quickened when he felt her hips dangerously near his crotch and swallowed because -damn- she felt good. Dangerously good.
Almost too good for his and her own good.
But then, out of nowhere, the unthinkable happened.
Naruto heard a quite noise and acted immediately by flipping her body around and pressing her to the ground to shield her from three kunais that were thrown in their direction.
"What the hell..?!"
The ninjas got up quickly and waited for more attacks while looking for the attackers, backs touching and bodies alarmed. Dozens of weapons were flying at their direction, obviously trying to kill them fast as Naruto and Ino blocked every single weapon with their kunais. They actually wanted to capture the strangers to investigate them, however, their enemies didn't stop with their assaults so they didn't really have a choice.
"Okay, I don't have time for this bullshit!"
Ino reached out with both her arms and formed her strongest hand seal to use the kekkei genkai she mastered thanks to some intense training with the Yamanaka Clan.
"I'll cover you, Ino!", Naruto assured whom she trusted without any concern.
Ino closed her eyes to take a few minutes to concentrate and detect the chakra sources which really took a while for the blonde because whoever attacked them knew well to cover their chakra excellently. The veins around her eyes pulsated, her heart beat strongly against her chest as she breathed calmly, before she finally opened her glowing eyes.
"Mind destruction!"
Within five seconds Ino felt how she controlled four ninjas and Naruto blinked unsure about the way how Ino's hands were violently shaking, as if she was carrying the world with them.
"Holy fuck, they're tough..!", she grunted.
"Come on, Naruto… URGH-… Finish them off now!"
Nodding, Naruto obeyed to her command and didn't need long to find the attackers and end their life quickly. It was really shocking to him that some robbers managed to get that close to their place.
"Ino? Are you okay?", the worried ninja asked and saw her nod, even though she was sweating from exhaustion.
"Yeah, I'm okay.", she panted, wiping the sweat from her forehead. "Those were some tough bastards. Really gotta hand it to them..."
The Yamanaka actually gave it her all and wasted a lot of chakra which didn't happen that often. She want to Naruto to inspect the dead bodies whereas the Yamanaka tilted her head in confusion.
Those guys didn't look like typical robbers to her for all of them wore headbands like every other ninja in this world.
However, there was nothing carved into their headbands, making it impossible to find out which village had sent them. The piece of metal was just blank and it didn't take long for Ino to know who those guys were.
"Naruto, these bastards aren't just average robbers..."
"WHAT?"
But this couldn't be...-
"Hey! Naruto, Ino!"
The two blond shinobis turned around and saw Sakura, Tenten and Kiba who all looked riled up and exhausted.
"Thank God, you're okay!", Kiba said relieved when he saw them, confusing the ninjas even more.
Their clothes were dirty and torn, their chakra depleted and their faced more than troubled which only leaded to one conclusion…
A fight.
"Okay, what the fuck just happened?!", Naruto demanded angrily, looking at the pink haired leader who was still upset and exhausted.
"We were attacked...", Tenten panted, still trying to calm down after the last incident.
"And the attackers came from another village..!"
.
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Well hellooooo and thank you for reading the third chapter of my unfortunately not too spectacular fanfic. Sorry about that, but I need to build up the plot but I promise, even if my English isn't perfect, you're gonna love it!
Also, as you can see, my version of Ino and co and their abilities are a little different :D
I did that on purpose because… I dunno, it's a fanfic and I like their new powers lol
Guys, I'm so exhausted. I became a Zumba Instructor a few months ago and now, I give Zumba lessons 7 times every week!
I'm so happy, but damn, my legs are still shaking :,D
Well, I hope you liked this chapter and forgive me my typos hehe
with love
Fifi-Uchiha 3