Ok! For those of you who remember, this was the preview:
"I no longer bear any connections to the leaf, and I have come here seeking to destroy what is left. If any of you doubts my words, I will prove it with my fist."
"If she is going to be one of us she will have to learn a more graceful fighting style."
So here we go!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I do own the poem below so steal it and I'll tear your spine out!
When I wanted Love,
I got Hate,
When I needed a Break,
I got more Pain,
In this world, everything's turned around,
When you want to stay lost, you're gonna be found.
Tired and exhausted, Sakura yawned as she exited the bar. Upon arriving at the Mist she had found that the Akatsuki were already long gone. It had taken some work, but she finally had the information she needed.
"So they're headed to the sound now?" She thought. Folding her arms, she pondered over her next move.
"Aa. Arigato, I'll be leaving now," a deep voice within the bar said. She froze.
That voice...
It sounded almost exactly like...
Turn around...
A voice inside pleaded.
It must be him!
No, this had happened too many times. A similar hairstyle a similar fighting style, a similar voice, but it was never Sasuke.
She shook her head and continued walking on.
As she turned a corner, Uchiha Sasuke stepped out of the bar.
Shoving his hands into his pockets, he headed down the road.
"The situation in the Leaf is worse than I thought." mused Sasuke thoughtfully.
He continued on in the direction of the Leaf, the village she had just left. She continued on in the direction of the Sound, the village he had just left.
If she had turned around. If she had waited. If she had seen his face and he had seen hers. Would things have turned out differently?
Now they were headed in opposite directions.
After a long and arduous journey, Sakura had found them. They were all together, surprisingly. Sakura knew that ordinarily the Akatsuki travel in groups of two.
They were a few miles away from Otogakure, meaning that they probably had just been planning to leave.
Apparently, the Akatsuki had just captured their newest victim. They had all filed into a cave that was covered in various seals and barrier jutsus.
Sakura could just break in and demand that they let her join the Akatsuki, but that was so ridiculously barbaric.
She sighed. "You never get a second chance at a first impression." she reminded herself. She bathed in the river and changed into her one spare change of clothes that she had been saving for this occasion.
Then she lay on the riverbank and looked at the sky, resting her body but not her mind as she waited for dawn.
She was very consciously aware of the scars on her forehead protector. It seemed the same scars were embedded on her heart.
She would never be at peace until she had completely disconnected herself from the Leaf and from Danzo.
She closed her eyes, planning strategies, but was careful not to fall asleep.
Uchiha Sasuke kneeled on a tree branch. Night had fallen and Konoha was wrapped in a mystical silence.
However, the Konoha he was in was nothing like the Konoha he had left several years ago.
The Ninja Academy had been demolished. The training areas were littered with corpses no one had bothered to pick up. But most irritating of all was the face of that tyrannical man sitting right next to the face of the 1st hokage.
In a gesture of conceit, he had named himself better than all previous Hokages. What an ass.
Sasuke looked up suddenly as a certain blonde-haired boy headed down the cracked street.
He narrowed his eyes. "Naruto..."
Naruto seemed oblivious of his presence and walked down the street wearily. Sasuke watched his friend's form impassively. Inside though, he was surprised and confused.
Naruto had changed so much; he seemed so tired, as if he had grown tired of living. He walked as though waiting for some ninja to jump out and kill him, if only to bring him some peace.
How could he have changed so much?
Sasuke followed the young chuunin from the treetops. Naruto headed into the same apartment he had lived in for as long as Sasuke had known him. Naruto unlocked the door and headed inside. Sasuke jumped onto the roof and entered the house through Naruto's bedroom window.
Without turning on any lights Naruto headed straight to his bedroom, sighed and collapsed facedown onto his bed. Sasuke watched the young boy calmly, waiting for him to move.
Sasuke realized he had to say something before Naruto fell asleep.
"You've changed, Usura Tonkache." He said coolly.
Nothing could have had a greater effect. Naruto bolted upright and shouted "Sasuke-teme?!"
He reached blindly for the light on his nightstand and once it turned on, he noticed that sure enough, there stood Uchiha Sasuke standing in the corner of his room.
Sasuke had grown taller, but he had lost none of his paleness and somewhat feminine features. (HAHAHA!) His hair was still raven black in sharp contrast with his pale complexion.
Naruto had grown taller as well and his eyes reflected a deep maturity that had not been there before.
"Sa- Sasuke teme..." Naruto clearly was incapable of saying anything else.
Sasuke pulled out a chair from Naruto's desk and sat down. "How are you, Naruto?" asked Sasuke in an attempt to clear him from his shock.
"I- I'm fine." Naruto said he suddenly frowned and looked up at Sasuke.
"Why did you come back?" he asked.
Sasuke stood up again, put his hands in his pockets, and walked to the window.
"Did you join that organization? Shiroi Kanashimi?" He asked quietly.
"Why?" asked Naruto.
"Things have changed, Konoha has become a dangerous place." Sasuke said in explanation.
"You were worried?" asked Naruto, his eyes widening in surprise.
"I had no reason to stay in the Sound." Sasuke said simply.
Naruto lowered his gaze... "Yeah, come back when there's nothing you can do anymore." He said bitterly.
Sasuke turned to Naruto with narrowed eyes.
Naruto stood up, "Come on, I'll make us some ramen and then we can talk."
Sakura stared at the sky that was brightening steadily. She stood up and tied her hair in a bun with some senbon needles.
She put on her gloves and prepared herself for battle.
She made sure that she had left no trace of where she had stayed and then left the area.
Observing the barriers, she sighed and began to undo them all. There was no more time to waste.
"Kakashi-sensei became an exiled nin," said Naruto looking at his ramen bowl.
"He said that I was smart for figuring out my way of the ninja so early in my life." Naruto looked up at Sasuke to see his reaction but Sasuke's eyes were expressionless.
"He said that he had gotten so old and only now he was beginning to look for his way of the ninja. He said that he would never be able to look himself in the face if he stayed working under Danzo. And just like that, he cut a scar into his forehead protector in front of me and Sakura-chan and then he left."
Naruto said.
Sasuke stayed quiet. They ate ramen for a while. Eventually Sasuke spoke up. "Did you join that organization then? Shiroi Kanashimi?"
Naruto shook his head. "Shikamaru and Ino are in charge and Shikamaru forbids me to join."
"Hm." said Sasuke with a nod.
"He's just trying to spare me the shame of being the only one not to join." said Naruto disgustedly.
Sasuke raised a brow inquisitively.
"Think about it, Sasuke. Can someone who joined a rebel organization ever become Hokage?" Naruto demanded.
"Either way," said Sasuke. "It's good if one of you stayed on the good side of the government. They just chose that one to be you."
"Tch." said Naruto disbelievingly.
"And Sakura?" asked Sasuke.
"What?" asked Naruto, looking up in surprise.
"Sakura." repeated Sasuke. "Did she join that organization?"
"Sakura-chan" said Naruto "She..."
Barriers undone. Sakura stepped back for the easy part. Closing her hand into a fist, she pulled it back and with one punch left the giant stone wall in shambles.
She smirked.
They definitely heard that one...
"Sakura-chan... she left a few weeks ago," said Naruto.
Sasuke raised a brow... left?
"Word has it that she..." Naruto trailed off.
Careful not to let her guard down, she headed deep into the cave, she turned into one of the caverns where she sensed a lot of chakra and stepped into a large well-lit area of the cave.
Nine Akatsuki members stared down at her.
"She what?" asked Sasuke when Naruto failed to continue.
"They say that She..." He went on.
"What do you want?" asked a man with a strange hood and goggles.
"I'm here to..." Sakura replied.
"They say she wants to... " Naruto said.
"Join the Akatsuki." Sakura said.
3 Akatsuki members' jaws dropped in shock. The other 6 examined her carefully.
"Which village are you from?" asked a member with a lot of blonde hair covering half his face.
"That is irrelevant. It is in the past." She replied.
The Akatsuki disliked her more and more.
"She is Haruno Sakura from Konohagakure," said Uchiha Itachi.
Sakura looked towards him with a frown of distaste.
"She must be a spy." one Akatsuki member accused.
"I bear no connections to the Leaf." she said.
"She expects us to believe that?" asked one Akatsuki member.
Sakura narrowed her eyes at him. "Why is it difficult to believe?" she asked.
"Tch." said a giant fish-looking Akatsuki member (I think you can guess who this one is.)
"You're a girl." He said.
"A pretty girl." pitched in another Akatsuki member. It was not a compliment.
"The precious apprentice of Tsunade, why would you want to join the Akatsuki?" continued Kisame. (Come on, it's not like you didn't know who he was.)
Sakura punched the wall behind her. It cracked deeply for 10 meters in every direction.
"I no longer bear any connections to the leaf, and I have come here seeking to destroy what is left. If any of you doubts my words, I will prove it with my fist." She announced.
"If she is going to be one of us she will have to learn a more graceful fighting style." said Itachi.
"What?" said Sasuke.
"Word has it she wants to join the Akatsuki," repeated Naruto.
"Why?" demanded Sasuke vehemently.
"The same reason Kakashi left Konoha, and the same reason Tenten intentionally failed a mission and then killed herself!" shouted Naruto.
"Nobody can bear the Leaf anymore!"
Sasuke was in shock.
Sakura...? Join the Akatsuki...?
"No one can take it anymore Sasuke. No one can find any reason to keep on living." Said Naruto calming down.
Sasuke looked at Naruto. "And you've been alone all this time haven't you, Naruto?" He asked.
Naruto said nothing.
"The idiot and coward I see before me can't possibly be the Naruto I know. What happened to the number one most surprising ninja?" asked Sasuke.
Sasuke looked out the window as Naruto boiled inside.
"We'll bring her back." Said Sasuke determinedly.
Naruto scowled at him "How can you say that?! It's impossible! You don't know what she's like! There's no talking to her now!" He exploded finally.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes at Naruto, "And can someone who can't even save one of his friends ever become Hokage?"he asked.
Naruto Froze.
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When I wanted Love...
Sakura was determined.
I got Hate...
She didn't need anyone, she was ready for anything.
When I needed a break...
She did not need the Leaf.
I got more Pain...
She would join the Akatsuki.
In this world everything's turned around...
Her emerald irises flashed dangerously.
When you want to stay lost...
You're gonna be found...
"We will definitely bring her back." Sasuke repeated, his onyx eyes darkening.
AN: hope you liked it! G2G now!