Chapter 9: Redemption
Sakura woke up dazed and with an aching abdomen. The sky was blood red, and everything else was in negative color. She realized that she's seen this place before. The illusionary world she said to herself. She put her hands together to form a seal. "Kai!" She said, hoping to release the genjutsu. Nothing happened. Damn. Sharingan genjutsu is impossible to get out of by yourself.
You know Sakura; you should really learn to close your mind. She heard Itachi's voice say. Sakura spun around and reached for kunai, but realized that they weren't there. She then saw a horrific sight. Kakashi was suspended from a stone wall with chains around his wrist. There were kunai in both of his thighs, and both of his forearms. His hia-ate was removed, and his Sharingan was closed. "You finally came to I see." Itachi said in his impassive tone.
"What do you want from me?" Sakura said showing no fear, but the Akatsuki knew better.
"You and your lover were responsible for killing my brother. I should thank you, but part of me hates you for eliminating him. Therefore, I shall make you suffer."
Sakura flinched at the way he said suffer. She watched him pull out a katana and stab Kakashi continually and hearing him cry in agony from each wound. He delivering fatal wounds, but the genjutsu would not allow him to die. Sakura was crying and screaming for him to stop, but Itachi continued. "This will last another 36 hours." He said. Sakura was forced to sit there and watch her sensei be stabbed to death for an entire day and a half. Each second was torture for the young kunoichi. She almost cracked after the first hour.
36 hours had passed and Itachi stopped. "Had enough?" He asked. Sakura nodded her head slowly, tears streaming down her face. Her mouth smelled of vomit, as she had thrown up at least 20 times in watching the blood pour from his open wounds. Itachi released the genjutsu and she was brought back to reality. "It's been 3 seconds." Itachi said. Sakura shot her head up and sure enough it was the same night. They were in the forest far outside of Konoha. 36 hours in that world is equal to 3 seconds in this world? She thought to herself, that's horrible!
You don't know the meaning Itachi said in her head. Sakura screamed and tried to get up. "Get out of my head!" She yelled. Once she got up, she immediately fell down.
"I have drained your body of chakra," Itachi droned, "you won't be needing it where we are going."
"Where are you taking me?" Sakura asked quietly.
Itachi just stared at her. She could've sworn she saw a smirk in his eyes.
"SAKURA!" Kakashi screamed running down the streets of Konoha. He had 200 clones made to search every nook and cranny of the village.
"Kakashi sensei." A tired Naruto said feeling groggy, "What's up?"
"Naruto, Itachi broke into her house and took her from her room." Naruto sprang up and summoned the nine tails chakra.
"Tajuu, Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" 3000 Naruto clones were formed and started to spread out throughout the village. Half of his clones started outside the village and started to sweep the forest. "We'll find her Kakashi sensei." Naruto said.
Kakashi nodded, and poofed away.
Itachi and Sakura were now by the Valley at the End where the battle between Sasuke and Kakashi occurred. "My brother's body was never found." Itachi said. His voice was as impassive as ever. "You will help me look for it."
"Never," Sakura spat, "I'll never help you."
Itachi just looked at her. "I didn't ask you," He said, he shoved her over the side of the cliff, "I'm telling you." Sakura fell screaming down into the waterfall, Her hands and feet were tied up so that she couldn't run, or swim for that matter. She struggled to break herself free. It was no use focusing chakra because Itachi had drained it all. She attempted to kick herself to the surface. She submerged for about 2 seconds before the current sucked her in again. As Sakura looked up at the surface, she saw Kakashi's face.
Kakashi! She thought to herself, Help me! But he hadn't heard her. She started to see black, and her lungshad collapsed. The only thoughts going through her mind were those of all the love she couldn't show Kakashi, because she was dying. Goodbye my love.
Kakashi's and Naruto's clones came across the Valley at the End where they noticed Itachi leaving. They searched around frantically for Sakura. The real Kakashi was near the cliff looking to the two statues of Shodaime and Uchiha Madara. God let me find her, he thought to himself, Show me a sign, anything!
Kakashi! Help me! Kakashi heard this in his mind. Sakura! He thought. He looked down into the roaring end of the waterfall. Maybe she's down there. He dove head first off the cliff, and broke the surface of the water. As he went down he searched frantically, Sharingan exposed. Everything was dark and opaque. No, he thought, she must be down here, I can feel it! Kakashi went up for air, then plunged back down. What will I do without her? She never got that kiss from me that she wanted. I've lost my love before I even had her. Suddenly, Kakashi saw a glimpse of pink. He swam towards it to find a passed out Sakura. He used his Sharingan to see if she was still thinking thoughts. Goodbye my love. He heard her thoughts say. No, he thought back to her, Never say goodbye. He grabbed her wrist, and focused all of his chakra into his right hand. Fuuton! Rasenshuriken! A giant Shuriken star made of chakra exploded from his hand and propelled the two upwards at a phenomenal speed. They flew out of the water and onto the shore. Kakashi scrambled up and knelt down next to Sakura.
The kunoichi looked peaceful, and pale. Kakashi thought hard of what to do. Wait a minute he thought. It was a long shot, but it was all he had. Kakashi performed a complex series of seals and thrusted his hand to her chest. "Hah!" He yelled as a chakra pulse emitted from his palm into Sakura's body. Her heart suddenly jolted to a start again and Sakura started to sputter, coughing up water from her lungs. Kakashi hugged her, who took hold of his back and embraced him even tighter. "I thought I'd lost you!" Kakashi breathed.
"I thought this was really goodbye." Sakura cried, tears soaking his already wet shirt.
"Never say goodbye, Sakura," Kakashi whispered, "for I'll always be right where you need me the most."
"Do you promise?" She asked.
"Yes. I promise." Kakashi felt so relaxed at that point. Nothing in the world could've stripped him from his one true love.
"Touching." A familiar voice croaked. Kakashi spun his head around and saw a crazed Sasuke in stage 2 of the cursed seal. The hole in his stomach now gone, replaced only by foreign skin.
"Impossible." Kakashi said.
"No, not impossible," Sasuke said, "but I am running out of time. I have no more grudge against you. These past two days have allowed me to rethink my actions. I…" he paused to hold back the pain, "I am sorry."
Sakura was about to deny his forgiveness, but was stopped when Kakashi stood up. He walked over to a dying Sasuke. He embraced his former student. The cursed seal went back to normal and Sasuke hugged him back. "I forgive you Sasuke. After all, you are still my student."
If Sakura ever saw Sasuke cry, it was at that very moment. She stood up and hugged the two at the same time. At that moment Naruto jumped down from the cliff and saw what was going on.
"Sasuke?" Narutp said not believing his eyes.
Sasuke turned to look at his friend who he once called brother. He wobbled over to Naruto who quickly ran up to him and embraced him too. "You're back!" Naruto held back his tears. Sakura was confused as to how Naruto got there, but realized that he was the reason that Kakashi had found her in the first place.
"Sasuke," Kakashi said with seriousness in his voice, "How did you survive that attack? That attack was guaranteed to kill anybody instantly, and it even burned a hole through your body on contact."
Sasuke looked down and held his wound. "The white snake of Orochimaru is inside me," He said, "It's healing powers are almost as good as the Kyuubi's. It helped me stay alive, and also started to form it's own skin over the hole. My organs have been replaced, but the snake caused a depletion of chakra. I've had to stay in stage 2 to be able to survive. I guess the snake is better now after two days because I'm still standing here normally."
"Sakura, are you up to some medical ninjutsu?" Kakashi asked.
"Itachi drained me of my chakra after he kidnapped me."
"Here," Naruto said, holding out his hand, "Give me your hand." Sakura obeyed. Naruto summoned the power of Kyuubi and the red chakra flowed from his body into hers. Her chakra networks were up and running again, already beginning the process of replenishing her own chakra. She felt the rush to be stronger than any she ever experienced. Sakura turned to Sasuke with healing chakra in her hands. She proceeded to heal his crudely healed wound, which started to turn back to normal. Sasuke looked down at the pink haired girl who once loved him so much and put a hand on her shoulder. Sakura looked up and smiled at her old crush.
Kakashi nearly fell over, not realizing that his Sharingan was still exposed. He adjusted his hia-ate and leaned up against a rock. "Yo Naruto," He called. The blonde haired shinobi ran towards his former sensei, "How bout some chakra if you don't mind?" Naruto scratched the back of his head and gave a wide grin. He took Kakashi's hand and sent a rush of Kyuubi chakra through him.
After everybody was healed, they proceeded back to Konoha.
"Kakashi sensei," Sasuke called.
"Hn?" Kakashi replied impassively.
"Do you think you can teach me that teachnique Naruto and you use?"
"Oh, the rasenshuriken?" He asked.
"Yeah that one."
"First you must learn the rasengan. And I don't know how to teach it to you, I just copied it. So mine isn't as effective as Naruto's. I think you should ask him to train you."
"Yea Sasuke, I'll have no problem trainind you, because we both know I'm better than you!" Naruto said with a wide grin.
"Hah…dobe."
"NANII??" Naruto screamed.
The two nins went ahead to try and beat each other back. Kakashi trailed down to Sakura, who walked slowly, smiling to herself. "Yo."
"Hey." She replied.
"You scared me back there."
"Sorry."
"I heard your thoughts."
"How?" The pink haired girl asked.
"I have trained my Sharingan to infiltrate minds. I was able to read your thoughts. You said goodbye."
Sakura looked down. "I heard you too. You said 'Never say goodbye'." She hugged her arms. "I thought that was the end."
"Goodbye is something you say to someone that you will never see again. I wouldn't have let that happen to you. So goodbye wasn't the right word there." Kakashi put his arm around her shoulder. Sakura nuzzled into his musky forest scent.
"I love you so much, Kakashi." Sakura whispered.
Kakashi stopped and turned Sakura towards him. He performed a genjutsu to make them invisible to the world. The Copy Nin pulled off his hia-ate and tied it around Sakura's eyes. "What are you doing." She asked.
Kakashi rolled down his mask. "Something I should've done a long time ago." (Warning: mild Lemon) He met his lips with hers, and gave Sakura her first passionate kiss. Sakura melted in his arms to the feel of his hot lips on hers. His tongue grazed her lower lip looking for permission to enter. She obliged by opening her mouth a bit wider. His tongue entered her mouth slowly and got a taste of her as he gently massaged her tongue with his own. She groaned at the sensation and performed back to him. They both broke the kiss together, and caught their breath. Kakashi pulled up his mask and took back his hia-ate. Sakura raised her hands "Kai!" she said releasing the genjutsu.
"This is the start of a new beginning." Kakashi said to Sakura as they linked hands and walked towards the gates of Konoha.