AN: IMPORTANT! READ AUTHER NOTES AT END OF CHAPTER!
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Chapter 70: Years of Peace
Sakura sat on the fourths head watching the sunset. She wore her normal red top with short sleeves, black tight pants and blue sandals. Her equipment belt around her waist and black elbow covers on her elbows, her gloves in a pocket. Her hair had returned to its once long glory, he once said he liked it better long. Her bangs were held back by a brown forehead protector that once held back an unpredictable blonds hair.
One hand was on the wet stone of the Hokage's head providing support. Her right hand was gripping the charm of her necklace. The necklace made its way back into her possession when Tsunade retired the second time. She had said the necklace no longer saw her as the owner.
It had been four years since then. Four years since Naruto left the village for good. Four years since Sasuke was last seen. Four years since Tsunade had her heart attack and stepped down as Hokage. Sakura had come up here every day of those four years to watch the sunset. It was her time alone, her time to be with Naruto again. She would return to the village once the sun was down, but she never missed a day, no matter what was going on.
It had rained earlier in the day, and the stone was wet and slick, but even if it was still raining, Sakura would still have come to watch the sun fade into the night. A figure suddenly appeared behind her. She noticed him the instant he was there, and knew the one person it wasn't, Shikamaru never came to get her before the sun had finished setting, whoever this was, he would have to wait.
"Sakura-sama, Jiraiya-sama wishes to speak to you," the man said.
Sakura didn't respond until the sun was gone. She slowly and carefully stood up, being sure she wouldn't fall. She turned to face the man who had come to get her, it was a chuunin, "any idea what he wants?" she asked.
"He mentioned something about Akatsuki. Could someone be trying to bring them back?" the chuunin asked.
"Possibly. You can never know what someone is up to until you stop them," Sakura said turning back to look over the village.
"Sakura-sama, Jiraiya-sama is waiting," the chuunin said trying to remind Sakura of her work.
"Is Tsunade-sensei there too?" Sakura asked still watching the village.
"Yes, she's waiting as well," the chuunin said.
Sakura smiled to herself, "Let's go then," she said turning around.
Sakura turned on one foot, which slipped on the slick stone. She felt it immediately and started to fall, her chest hitting the top of the stone head hard and bouncing off it. She was past the face before she had enough composure to start gathering chakra in her feet. The chuunin ran to the edge of the monument and called out to her, but the wind blocked her ears from hearing.
The chuunin probably would have started after her, had the stone not been slick, making it near impossible to grip with chakra. Sakura had her eyes closed and was focusing all her chakra into her feet, it would take a lot to grab the wall while falling, and even more while wet. Sakura was about to open her eyes and try grabbing the cliffside when she suddenly stopped.
She felt something under her, it felt as if she had landed on someone, she even felt one arm around her shoulder and another around her legs. Sakura opened her eyes to see what wag going on because though she felt herself stop, it wasn't a hard landing, it felt as if she fell from being on her knees.
She opened her eyes and looked around her, she was still off the ground, and was, indeed, in someone's arms. It was a man in deep red samurai robes. His hair was an untamed mess of blond and kept out of his bright blue eyes by a headband with long tails the same color as his robes. Three whisker marks were on each cheek.
Sakura looked at his grinning face in disbelief. Her eyes were wide and mouth hung open, finally she found her voice, "did I die? Are you here to take me away?" she asked.
The man just grinned wider, "hold on, you don't want to fall off," he said.
Sakura obeyed by putting her arms around his neck. The man's grip around her legs and shoulders tightened as he pushed off of the cliffside and the two fell towards the earth. The man landed lightly on his feet and set Sakura down. With him standing on the ground it was now appeared that the tails of his headband went to his knees, but Sakura's mind was nowhere near that train of thought.
"Hokage-sama! Hokage-sama are you alright?" the chuunin asked running up to the two, it was apparent that he had run down the stairs as fast as he could.
"Yes, I'm fine," Sakura said not taking her eyes off the man.
"Who are you and where did you come from?" the chuunin asked reaching the two and drawing a kunai, his eyes on the man.
The man looked at the chuunin and smiled he then leaned closer to Sakura and whispered in her ear, "I'm still watching, I'll always protect you, even if the others tell me I can't," he said before vanishing.
The chuunin's eye's widened when the man disappeared. He put his kunai away and walked closer to Sakura, "are you alright Hokage-sama?" he asked.
"Yes, I'm fine, he caught me," Sakura said looking at the sky.
The chuunin followed her gaze, "who was he?" he asked.
"Did you ever hear the legend of the demon child?" Sakura asked.
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Eleven beings in black cloaks with a red cloud patter suddenly appeared in a room. They were all lying on their backs in a line. They all started to stir and get up as soon as they appeared. Once they were all standing they looked around to see who else was with them.
"Where the hell are we?" one demanded.
"Why am I in these robes again?" another asked.
That question got the others to look at the speaker, "Orochimaru, you're not fit to where those anymore," a deep voice said.
"I didn't choose to wear them, or to get here," Orochimaru responded.
"No, you didn't, I did," a voice said from the shadows.
"Who's there?" one of the cloaked men asked.
"Wrok, if you would bring us out of the darkness," the voice said.
In an instant the room they were in was brightly lit by dozens of torches along the walls that all went on at once. The room was very large, and there was no doubt it was under ground. There was also a pit in the center of the room, a railing running along the edge of it. The bottom seemed to be sand or a soft dirt, as if set for a fight. The upper part of they room they were in was nothing more than a balcony set around the pit, a place for an audience to watch from. On the other side of the pit from the cloaked group were the double doors, the only ones leading in or out. In front of the doors stood a single man.
He wore black sandals and black fighting pants. Black ninja gloves and elbow pads. A chain was wrapped around his right arm. His chest was bare and a black cloth covered his mouth and hung at his back like a tattered cape. His eyes were dark red but seemed to have some sort of golden hue to them. His white hair was short and somewhat spiky. He wore no forehead protector.
"Greeting Akatsuki, welcome back to life," the man said in the same voice that called for light.
"Why are we back?" one member asked.
"Because the fools that were left in charge of the organization failed and died. They didn't even realize what they were supposed to do," the man said.
"What organization are you talking about?" another member asked.
"The ones that killed you all. The Alliance," the man said.
"You kill use and bring us back? What the hell kind of plan is that?" Orochimaru asked.
"It wasn't the plan. We were supposed to join with you, but Roken messed it all up," the man said.
"So now you bring us back to join with us?" one member asked.
"What is you're goal? What are you're recourses?" another asked.
"We live in a world that uses the second fighting style. The ninja are the warriors and masters of this style. The first is gone and dead, only the Twelve Terrors still use it. I plan on bringing forth a third style and eliminating the second as the first had been," the man said.
"So you want to kill all the ninjas and replace them with a different style of fighting? What style is that?" Orochimaru asked eagerly.
"You may see it later. But first I will fully bring you all back to your glory," the man said as he tossed something across the pit, one of the members caught it, "that is your ring correct, leader?" the man asked.
"Yes, and I suppose you have the others," the Akatsuki leader said putting the ring on.
"Indeed I do. But I have ten rings, and there are eleven of you. Who does not get the ring?" the man asked.
"Orochimaru, he left us, and will never be allowed back," the leader said without hesitation.
"Very well, I'll give you the other rings when we're done. Now, will you aid me in my quest?" the man asked.
"You still have one question to answer, what are your resources" the leader asked.
The man nodded and opened the door behind him and in walked three men. The three went to the man's left and stood between him and Akatsuki.
The first had red sandals, blue denim pants, a black sleeveless overcoat, and no shirt on. He had black fighting gloves and a chain wrapped once around his upper right arm with another around his left. His face was concealed by a black cloth identical to Kakashi's and his eyes were yellow. His hair was brown and spiky with a few streaks of grey in them. His forehead protector was at his belt. He was a Grass ninja.
The second was completely concealed in black. Black boots, black fighting pants, and several layers of black shirts with varying lengths of sleeves. His hands were covered in black gloves and a black cloth completely covered his head, having no slits for eyes. He, too, had no forehead protector. The third man was none other than Vin, dressed as he did in the Chuunin Exams.
"These are my only resources. All others have died when the Twelve Terrors attacked the Alliance base," the man said.
"Who are they?" Orochimaru asked.
"The younger one over there is Vin, the one with the grey streaks is Wrok, the only one to survive the attack on the Alliance base, and the one in all black is my sensei, Master Zool," the man said pointing to each in turn.
"The four of you wish to change to worlds fighting style and kill all ninja?" the Akatsuki leader asked.
"We had an army, but that was before the attack," Wrok said.
"That doesn't leave much room for occupational comfort," one member said.
"I wasn't fighting then. I will be now. And our first target is the village where the remaining terrors are, the village that attacked and destroyed the base," the man said.
"Where would that be?" Orochimaru asked with a grin.
"Konoha of course," Vin said.
"What's your decision? Will Akatsuki aid me? Once my goal is met, or even after any village is gone, I will have no trouble parting ways," the man said.
"We will. For now at least," the leader said.
"And you Orochimaru?" the man asked.
"Help you destroy Konoha? No, I don't think I will. I can do that on my own, with my own power. Just don't get in my way," Orochimaru said.
"Very well. Before you go come see me if you wish to see the third fighting style," the man said and Orochimaru nodded.
The man was about to speak again when the door opened and two cloaked figures waked in. one closed the door behind him and they went around to stand between the man and Akatsuki on the man's right.
"Whom might you be?" the man asked looking at the two.
"We heard you were building an army, that you had a new style. We came out of interest," the taller one said.
"Who are you?" the man repeated.
The taller removed his hood, "the name's Tusk," he said.
"The one who betrayed the Alliance?" the man asked.
"Only did as I was told," Tusk said unwavered.
"And you?" Wrok asked the shorter of the two.
The shorter removed his hood revealing his raven hair and onyx eyes, "Sasuke," was all he said.
"Oooh, this might get interesting," Orochimaru said with a gin as he looked at another member.
"Hello brother, I didn't think we'd meet this soon," the member said.
"Itachi, I just can't kill you enough can I?" Sasuke asked.
"Well, I can't have allies fighting each other as we work. So why don't the two of you enter this little pit here and the last one standing works for us?" the man asked.
"I'm game," Sasuke said taking off his cloak, he was in the clothes he wore when he was making the attacks on Konoha.
"If I must," Itachi said.
"Just so you know, the pit will block all chakra flow, so only taijutsu will work," the man said and both Uchiha nodded before jumping in the pit.
"By the way, what's your name?" the Akatsuki leader asked.
"Oh, I must have forgotten to mention that. It's Vox, I was the leader of the Alliance, I saw them stray away and told Tusk to help take them down," the man said and it was appeared from look in his eyes he was grinning.
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AN: its four years later as stated so here are the ages: Gaara is 23, Kankurou and the rookie nine are 24, Temari and Gai's team are 25 and Vin is 19.
Yes, Sakura is Hokage, she is who Nomad had mentioned as his successor, she's had the title since Tsunade's heart attack, which is what was going on with her after Sasuke left her office.
And for all of you pissed that I killed off Orochimaru and Akatsuki in the first chapter, here they are, alive and kicking in the last one. And for those who haven't figured it out yet there will be a sequel. Don't expect it too soon because I want to have more of Akatsuki revealed, as well as my having another fic I want to work on in the meantime.
One last thing, I tried having two contests before and got one response for each, one after the deadline and one stating the difficulty of the task. Here is one that I know is easy and I can guarantee will have a large impact on the next fic, a very large impact. Who do you want to win the fight, Sasuke or Itachi? Whoever gets more votes wins the fight and the other dies, not to be resurrected again. From now on, the resurrection scroll will never be used again.