'thoughts'
"talking"
'inner Ryuu talking'
A/N: I'm going to do a 2 year time jump in this chapter, please don't be too mad?!
Sakura is now 17 years old. Much has changed during the two years. A while after her parent's funeral Sakura started training 24/7 and soon learned to control the majority of her powers, but some she is still unaware of. She started taking more high ranked missions and completed everyone successfully. It didn't take long for the Anbu to notice her skills and for her to receive a letter from them asking her to join them; she accepted and joined the Anbu at the same time as Naruto. Shikamaru and the others soon also followed suit. Sakura was known in many countries for her skills in genjutsu, taijutsu and ninjutsu. Sakura also soon became known for her medical jutsu skills, exceeding even her own sensei the fifth Hokage. Now a 17 year old woman Sakura was very beautiful. She had let her hair grown so it now reached her mid-back; she often has it tied in a high ponytail when on missions. Her beautiful jaded coloured eyes were like deep pools one could easily get lost in. Her body was curvy and full in the right places.
Sakura did not only have the looks but also the brains. She was very smart and a good strategist. Sakura no longer lived in her parent's old house she had moved into a small apartment down town. When Naruto once asked her why she had moved away she and told him that she was so seldom home so she didn't need the big house and for all the memories she had from the house. They still hadn't seen or heard anything about Sasuke, but many didn't care what if he was dead of alive for they saw him as a traitor.
Sakura was now on her way to the Hokage tower, since the war started with Mist country the Anbu had almost been continuously on mission. She had just returned from a week long mission when she was called to Tsunade.
She soon stood in front of Tsunades office. She walked right in, she had stopped knocking years ago, she only had to knock if there was a sign on her door that said otherwise. When Sakura entered the office Tsunade was sitting by her desk surrounded by mountains of papers and Shizune standing by her side giving her some more. Tsunade looked up from her papers as Sakura entered the room.
"Sakura nice to see you! I heard the mission went well?" Tsunade asked as she gave some papers to Shizune who the left the room.
"It's nice to see you too Tsunade-same! Hai, the mission went just fine." Sakura asked in a calm voice.
"Good! Now I called you here because I wanted to tell you something." Tsunade said as she folded her hands under her chin. Sakura nodded her head for Tsunade to continue.
"Sasuke is on his back to Konoha." Tsunade said thoughtfully. Sakura didn't react at all, she just stood there.
"Is he attacking with Orochimaru?" Sakura asked after a moment of silence.
"No he wants to return to Konoha" Tsuande answered.
"Will you let him?" Sakura asked.
"Hai! I will. We need all the help we can get in this war." Tsunade said, clearly not happy about the thing having to let him return.
"How does this concern me?" Sakura asked.
"It doesn't. I just wanted to inform you, I thought you had a right to know." Tsunade said. Sakura smiled slightly.
"Ok. When will he be arriving?" Sakura asked.
"Tomorrow morning. I have assigned Ibiki to escort him to me." Tsunade said.
"Ok. Was there anything else?" Sakura asked.
"No you may leave." Tsunade said as she picked up some papers and started reading them. Sakura bowed in respect and then left the office to go home and rest.
The next day Sakura woke up and went training. As she was doing so she felt a familiar charka approach Konoha.
'I wonder what Sasukes true intentions are for returning to Konoha?' she thought as she threw a kunai towards a tree doll, hitting the mark.
'I don't have a good feeling about this.' She thought as she finished her training and then went home and then left for guarding duty.
∞ Meanwhile near Konoha ∞
Sasuke had now walked for 5 days straight and finally saw the gates of Konoha.
'I'm going to leave as soon as I have gotten what I came for.' He said to himself trying to make it more endurable to return to his home village. He saw Ibiki standing by the gates waiting for him. Sasuke walked up to him.
"This way Uchiha" was the only thing Ibiki said as he turned around and started walking towards the Hokage tower; Sasuke followed him not far behind. As they walked thorough the town Sasuke received many confused and angry glances, but he just shrugged them of. Finally they reached Tsunades office.
"Knock, knock!"
"Enter." A voice said from the other side of the door that Sasuke recognized as Tsunades. Ibiki opened the door and he and Sasuke stepped inside.
"I have brought Sasuke Uchiha here as requested." Ibiki said in his monotone voice.
"Good. Now leave us." Tsuande said. Ibiki bowed and walked out the door.
"So Sasuke, why should we take you back?" Tsuande said getting right to the point.
"It would be wise. You are after all in war so you need every ninja you can get." Sasuke stated a 'matter of factly'. Tsunade nodded.
"It is true. What happened to Orochimaru?"
"Orochimaru taught me everything he knew so I had no further use for him so I killed him." Sasuke said like he was talking about the weather. Tsunade knew he was telling the truth for she had received a report from a Konoha spy in Sound saying that he had watched the death of Orochimaru and was sure he was dead. Tsuande was just about to continue her questioning when a pink haired Anbu appeared next to her. Sasuke immediately recognized the kunouchi.
'Sakura?'
Sakura lowered her mouth to Tsunades ear and whispered something.
"Tsunade-sama mist-nin have been spotted at the outskirts of Konoha. There are about 800 of them."
"Have the shinobi returned from the mission in Mist jet?" Tsunade asked worried.
"No, they are on their way but they won't make it here in time." Sakura whispered back.
"Shit" Tsuande cursed silently. Then she focused her attention at the ninja in front of her.
"Sasuke, I just received word that enemy ninja are approaching Konoha and our shinobi's are sent on missions in Mist so that leaves Konoha with only a couple of Anbu. Therefore I'm assigning you to aid the Anbu and take care of the enemy before they reach Konoha." Tsunade said seriously.
"Hai." Sasuke said firmly.
"Sakura our Anbu captain will take you to the others, you will leave now immediately." Tsuande explained.
"This way." Sakura said as she headed out the window. Sasuke was just about to follow when Tsunades voice stopped him.
"Sasuke this is your chance to prove your loyalty to Konoha. Don't screw it up." Tsunade said. Sasuke didn't answer as he jumped out the window.
As Sakura and Sasuke jumped on the rooftops heading for the gates were the others were waiting Sasuke decided to try to start a conversation.
"Sakura I'm sorry." Sasuke said. When he got no response he continued.
"I was goin…." But he was cut of.
"Uchiha let's make one thing clear. I hate you and I consider you a traitor no matter what Tsunade does, and the only reason you are finding me in a two mile radius from you is because we have to defend Konoha, personally I think we could do it alone but it is the Hokages orders. So save your sweet talk to someone who actually cares what you say." Sakura said harshly.
Sasuke was a little taken aback. Was this really the shy kunouchi he left on the stone bench that night, it sure like hell didn't seem like it? Just then they arrived at the gates. They jumped down beside the group of people gathered there. Although Sasuke couldn't see the faces hidden behind the various Anbu masks he still recognized them all by their hairs. There was all the genin he grew up with; Shikamaru, Ino, Chouji, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Lee, Tenten, Neji and the one he had been closest to Naruto.
"Orders from Tsunade: we are to take down the enemy ninja before they reach Konoha and Sasuke Uchiha will help us, any objections?" Sakura asked.
"No" all the Anbu answered at once.
"Good. Now let's go!" Sakura said as they left through the gates.
A while later they found the enemy nin about 10 miles from Konoha. They were resting in a clearing. Sakura's team hid in the surrounding forest trees.
"Okay. The plan is that we divide ourselves into groups of four and attack from different sides.
Shikamaru, Ino and Chouji, you will take the north side. Lee, Tenten and Neji from the west, Hinata, Shino and Kiba from the east and Naruto, Sasuke and myself from the south, does everybody know what to do?" Sakura said in a hushed voice.
"Hai!" Everybody answered.
"Now get to your locations and wait for my signal." Sakura said and in a flash everybody had left to their locations. Sakura watched the nin from a high tree waiting for the right time to strike. The she saw it. She quickly made some handseales and trapped a couple pf mist-nin in a genjutsu. It didn't take long for them to fall to the ground unconscious and seconds later explosions and clashing weapons rang through the clearing. A couple of hours later the Konoha nin had killed any enemy nin and so far suffered no loses, but they still had about 300 nin left. Sakura glanced at her team. Everybody were wounded some had more serious wounds then others. Sakura knew they couldn't take much more, neither could she.
'I have to end this now.' She thought as she made a quick decision.
"Everybody listen to me. Go back to Konoha, I'll take care of the remaining ninjas." Sakura said.
"No way! We are not just going to leave you here alone!" Naruto protested.
"NARUTO IT IS A DIRECT ORDER!" Sakura screamed.
"But…" Ino started.
"No but's go NOW!" Sakura said. Relaculantly they all left into the forest towards Konoha. When they were far enough Sakura closed her eyes.
'Ryuu, can you lend me some of your charka, I'm completely drained?' Sakura asked.
'My charka is yours.' Sakura heard him answer before she felt her charka reserves re-fill and all her wounds heal. Some leftover charka floated around her. But instead of her usual green charka this charka was blue. Sakura opened her eyes and if she hadn't had her Anbu mask on you could have seen that her eyes were no longer a calm green but dark blue slits (sp?). They mist-nin clearly didn't notice the changes in charka as their leader started to speak.
"What is ONE pathetic Konoha nin going to be able to do to us?" He asked in a mocking tone and soon laughter could bee heard among the other mist-nin.
Sakura just smirked and retorted:
"More then you could ever imagine."
Meanwhile Naruto and the others were making their way towards Konoha when they felt a sudden rush of charka.
"What's that?" Naruto asked.
"It's coming from the clearing." Shikamaru said.
"Byakuugan!! (sp?)" Neji and Hinata both tired to see what was happening.
"I can't see anything it's too much charka!" Neji said.
"I can't see anything either!" Hinata said.
"What's happening over there?" Tenten asked.
"I hope Sakura is Ok." Ino said and they all hoped the same thing.
Unaware to Sakura and the others two pairs of eyes watched with interest what was happening before them.
"How is that possible? She went from zero to overload!!" One of them said.
The other one just watched the scene before him.
Sakura did some handseals.
"Binding jutsu" She said and suddenly the mist-nin found themselves unable to move.
"W-what did you do?" One of them asked, but Sakura ignored his question and did some other seals.
"Death trap jutsu" Just as Sakura said that a big black hole appeared beneath the enemy and they fell down, only to be pierced by sharp rocks on the bottom. Cries of pain filled the air as the enemy fell down. When all the nin had disappeared into the black hole it re-filled again and no one would ever have known it had ever been there.
The other person in the shadows was quite impressed to say the least.
'I have read about those jutsus, they are very hard to perform and require many years of intense training to be able to master.'
After that the hole had disappeared Sakura closed her eyes and instantly the charka decreased and when she opened her eyes they were back to their normal calm, green colour.
'Better go find the others, some of them had some pretty bad wounds.' Sakura thought as she made her way after the charka trail her fellow companions had left behind.
The figures in the shadows were debating on what to do.
"We had better report to leader immediately!" One said and the other just nodded in agreement and they disappeared.
Sakura soon caught up with her friends.
"Sakura your alright we were so worried!" Ino exclaimed as Sakura joined them.
"I'm fine." Sakura said calmly.
"What happened back there?" Sasuke asked.
"Nothing important, the point is I killed the enemy. Now show me your wounds." Sakura said firmly. Everybody in the group it was useless to argue sp they obeyed and showed their wounds and let Sakura heal them. Then they quickly went back to Konoha. As soon as they arrived Sakura went to Tsunade and told her what happened, well not everything, she left out the part about Ryuu and instead she said she had done the medical jutsu she had developed two years ago ( A/N: you can read about it in the previous chapter.) It was a pretty hard jutsu that could, if used right restore some of you're charka and make you heal faster but it could only be used by experienced medics like Tsunade or Sakura. When Tsunade was satisfied with the rapport Sakura was allowed to go.
Sakura was now walking along the streets of Konoha. It was already night, but Sakura wasn't on her way home.
'I don't want to go home jet, I think I'll visit my secret place.' Sakura thought as she ran of into the forest. Meanwhile one of the figures from earlier watched her every move.
'Whereto she going in the middle of the night?' He wondered to himself as he followed her. They soon arrived at a cave and ha watched as Sakura walked inside. 'What could be inside that cave? he thought as he followed her from a safe distance. The cave was dark, but Sakura walked with steady steps, knowing exactly were to go. Then there was suddenly a brightening in the cave. When Sakura stepped through she saw the oh, so familiar lake in the middle of the cave and the surrounding flowers. Sakura took a deep breath. The sent of wildflowers filling her nose. She immediately felt her body relax.
'This place always calmed me down.' Sakura thought as she moved to sit by the lake. She sat down and took of her Anbu mask and looked up into the opening in the cave wall that provided the wildflowers with the sunlight at day, and now you could see the twinkling stars on the black night sky. Sakura had found this place once when she had been training in the forest and only she knew about it and she always came here after missions or when she was sad. As Sakura watched the stars she saw one star shining brighter then the others. Due to its red glow Sakura immediately recognized it.
'Nazuhiboshi.' Sakura smiled slightly. Natsuhiboshi or the planet Mars brought back her memories of going to Star country on a mission were she met e boy called Sumari. Naruto and Sumari were old friends and soon Sakura also became one of them. Sumari had once told her about Natsuhiboshi and how his oka-san used to sing a song about it for him when he was a child. He had sung it for her and Sakura still remembered the lyrics clearly, so she sang it to herself and unknowingly to the figure that was hiding in the shadows.
Natsuhiboshi naze akai?
Summer Star, why are you so red?
Yuube kanashii yume wo mita
Last night I had a sad dream
Naite hanashita
Crying as I talked
Akai me yo
Oh, red eyes
She had the voice of an angel and somehow the figure somewhere in his mind couldn't ignore the question in his head if she was a fallen angel?
Natsuhiboshi naze mayou?
Summer Star, why are you lost?
Kieta warashi wo sagashiteru
You are searching for me who disappeared
Dakara kanashii yume wo miru
That's why I have sad dreams.
When Sakura sang the last verse she felt better and put on her Anbu mask and was just about to leave when she saw a man move out of the shadows.
"Itachi!" She gasped. She watched a small smirk come to his lips when she said it.
'Shit! I'm too weak to fight him and I can't borrow Ryuu's chakra again the strain on my body would be too much and I would die.' She was jerked out of her thoughts when Itachi spoke
"Good evening Sakura." He spoke calmly
"How do you know my name and what do you want?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
He started to walk towards her and for every step he took she took one step back.
"I have my sources and as for why I'm here I am here to ask you some questions." He said in his cold voice.
"What if I don't want to answer your questions?" Sakura asked. Just then she felt the cold cave wall against her back.
'Shit!' She cursed inwardly.
Itachi walked really close until his mouth was by her ear and he whispered:
"You don't have a choice."
"I would rather die then revile anything to you!" Sakura hissed.
"Don't say such things, they just might come true." He again whispered in her ear.
'I don't care that I can't defeat him, I just have to try to get away.' Sakura thought. She quickly came up with a plan and put it in action. She aimed a kick at his stomach which he easily dodged and thereby moved away from her. Then she did some hand seals.
"Kage bushin no Jutsu" Sakura said as five other Sakuras appeared beside her.
Itachi didn't waist any time and in a flashed "killed" all the clones until there was only one left.
"Haven't you ever learned that you should never underestimate your enemy?" He said in a mocking tone before hi punched Sakura in the stomach.
Sakura smirked.
"Who said I did?" Were her last words before she disappeared into smoke.
'A clone, how come my Sharingan didn't see through it?' he asked himself as he quickly made his way after the kunouchi, but Sakura was already safe at home. She leaned onto her door and let out a breath she didn't know she was holding.
'That was close, I wonder what he wanted? Does he know about Ryuu?' Millions of questions rang trough her head and unconsciously she gripped her oka-sans necklace. After a while when Sakura had calmed down she decided to go to bed, it had been a long day.
Meanwhile a furious Itachi made his way back to the Akatsuki headquarters.
'I can't believe she tricked me!' He thought as he jumped from tree to tree. But then a smirk graced his features.
'I will have to give her credit though she is the first one who has ever managed to escape me, but she is the last.'
A/N: Chapter 4 is ready!!! I am so glad for all the reviews I have gotten therefore I made this chappie extra long for you as a thank you for all the reviews, YOU ARE THE BEST 3 :)
The song Natsuhiboshi is from the Naruto series, sorry if it bothers you but I just wanted to add it. Well you know the drill… Review and tell me what you think!!!
Now to answer your reviews:
clueless33396: Sorry my mistake, it also love TEA (:)) and I may have some wrong spellings in my story but try to bear with me:)
D.K.-Missy: I will of course write this story ready first before I start writing new ones :)
softball91: Well the reason I changed Ryuu's appearance was because I thought he would look better, more "mysterious" this way. Thanks for the compliments! It really means a lot:)
shadow miko: Here he came…. :)