Capitulum IV – And Sasuke needed to know this before I die.
Time and time again she proved capable of surprising him. Even after 2 years of marriage he still didn't know her whole story. He knew she received similar training to his. He knew she was stronger than even some of his best men, but he didn't think she could actually escape from his compound. She attacked his personal assistant, knocked out three of his security guards, stole one of his favourite Jeeps, wrecked his garage and tore down his gateway – all while pumped full with sedatives.
"Not even Naruto would be able to do such damage.", he muttered while watching the security footage of her escape. "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.", he heard Kakashi's answer behind him. "I wouldn't call that scorned, I would call that a natural catastrophe. Though I have to admit, it did surprise me to even hear of her escape. I thought she wanted to get close to me, but on the footage she seems hell bent on getting away from here." – "Yes, that made me wonder as well. Another intriguing thing I spotted was her constant looking at her left arm. I'm not quite sure what's up with that, but I will definitely look into it." Kakashi gathered the papers scattered on Sasuke's desk into his folder and was about to leave, when his boss' voice stopped him in his tracks.
"You won't be looking into anything. I will put a stop to this nonsense. Get me Juugo."
"You again."
Sakura was surprised to see her orange-haired kidnapper from a few days ago nonchalantly sitting in her living room. Although Kai went to great lengths to keep her safe, it seemed this one was sneaky enough to slip through his net twice. "Don't worry Miss Haruno, I'm not here to harm you. I came here with a message from Sasuke-sama and I will leave you be as soon as I've delivered it. So would you please be so kind as to sit down and listen to what I have to say."
Oddly enough, he seemed genuinely…honest to Sakura. Not like the rest of the sleazy and two-faced cockroaches she had to work with so often. This one seemed to be an exception to that bunch. Never mind, she thought, this might just be a good chance to finally deliver my warning to Sasuke.
She took a seat on the couch opposite him and clasped her hands together. "You seem like someone Sasuke would trust. And you are definitely devoted to him, I can see that. I will hear you out, on one condition: I have something very important to tell Sasuke, but I cannot tell it to him in person. So I need you to deliver my message. Will you do that?" Sakura looked at him expectantly, she could see the hesitation in his eyes. He waited a few seconds until letting out a sigh. He leaned back and said, "Alright. What is it?" Suddenly, Sakura felt nervous. This was the moment she had worked towards for months now. She started fumbling with her fingers, but took a deep breath to calm herself down. She looked into Juugo's wondering eyes, and started talking.
"What I'm about to tell you will sound crazy, but it is the truth. There is a reason I came back to Tokyo, and none of you will like it. Six years ago, a man hired me to take out Sasuke. I couldn't go through with it back then, that's why I left him. I tried hiding from my contractor and it worked for two and a half years, but then he found me six months ago. He wanted me to finish what I started, but I refused. The next day, he had my brother killed. He threatened to kill all the relatives and friends I had left until I agreed to work for him again, so I did. He sent me back to Tokyo to kill Sasuke in a very…pompous way." Sakura had to swallow before continuing. This part of the story always made her shiver.
"He implanted a small bomb inside my left arm that would be triggered if Sasuke came any closer than 15 metres. I have no idea how exactly it works, but it's all super high-tech, it's so small you can't even see or feel it when you touch my arm and - "
"Wait, wait, wait, as if the story up until now isn't absurd enough, now you claim there is a bomb inside your left arm?! You don't actually suppose anyone will believe that, do you?", Juugo asked incredulously.
God damn it, Sakura thought. This was going to be harder than she expected. After all, the real reason for her betrayal three years ago and her return to Tokyo seemed so far-fetched that not even she grasped the absurdity of it all. Screw that, he must know the truth. He probably already thinks I'm batshit crazy, so it's not like I have a reputation to uphold.
Clearing her throat, she continued her story: "When Sasuke was a baby he had a tiny tracking chip implanted in his right foot. All Uchihas did, because the clan head back then was paranoid and afraid someone would betray him, so he surveilled all of his subordinates. My contractor programmed the bomb to react to the presence of Sasuke's tracking chip. It would blow us both to pieces if he came close to me."
Juugo looked at Sakura with wide eyes, then turned his gaze to the window. Silence befell the two for a moment. "Assuming this is true, why are you telling me this? I'm guessing your contractor doesn't want his plan to be revealed."
"I'm telling you this because, just like three years ago, I don't want to kill Sasuke. That's why I fled the compound after you kidnapped me, I thought he was somewhere in the vicinity."
"Why go to such lengths to get Sasuke's attention, just to tell him that? You could have just tried to leave and hide again, you could have just stayed away from him." Juugo asked accusingly.
This is it, Sakura thought, the big revelation. Careful how you phrase it, because this information would make anyone look like the biggest nutcase ever.
"The reason I desperately wanted to tell him, is because… my contractor is Uchiha Madara. He's not dead as all of us believe him to be, he survived and has been pulling the strings from the shadows for a very long time now. And Sasuke needed to know this before I die." Sakura looked into Juugo's eyes with all the conviction she could muster. His reaction to this news might just determine her fate. Did he believe her? Is he even considering telling Sasuke this ludicrous story? Juugo looked down with eyes wide open. Silence. Nerve-splitting silence. Sakura waited.
When he looked back up again his eyes were cold and distant as he said, "Now that you've gotten that off your chest, there is nothing here in Tokyo for you anymore. Sasuke-sama wants you to leave the country for good this time, and you will. There is a plane leaving for Bolivia tomorrow night at 9 pm, you will board this plane and leave him behind forever."
He stood up and strut towards the door, when he heard her voice behind him. "Will you tell him? He must know, because Madara will come for him. He must be prepared." Juugo's hand rested on the door handle for a fleeting moment. "Goodbye, Miss Haruno."
As he closed the door behind him, he tapped a finger to his ear. "Did you get all of that, sir?" Crackling could be heard on the line, a sigh, then the answer, "Yes. What you just heard stays between us."
Sasuke took off his headphones and disconnected the line to Juugo's earpiece. He approached the bar, poured himself a double Scotch on rocks and, taking a sip, stepped out onto the terrace overlooking the beach underneath the cliffs. He took a deep breath and with a loud roar, he threw the glass into the night.
This woman will be my undoing.
