Ultamite

Summary: Sakura is coming home from a mission when she hears a sound in the bushes. Stopping, she finds a gravely wounded black tiger. Thinking it just a wounded animal, she helps it, not knowing that one day she would bond with it, and in bonding, be given a power unlike any other. Rated T. Takes place during Shippuuden. Sasuke is in Konoha.

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own the plot.

"moo" speech

'moo' thoughts

'moo' Inner Sakura

'moo' Tari

'moo' Sakura mind speaking

Konoha

As Sakura and Tari walked down the dirt roads of Konoha, people of every age stopped to stare at Tari. Some kids even ran up to pet her. Tari was always patient and gentle with the children, and in turn, the kids loved her, petting her, hugging her, even earning a ride. Sakura watched from a distance, smiling softly as Tari gave another ride to the children. Sakura looked at her watch and walked over to them.

"I'm sorry, but me and Tari have to go now. You can play with her later, ok?" Sakura asked in a sweet voice. The children nodded and ran back to their parents, who were also smiling. By now, the streets were more or less crowded. Some parents had taken their children home because they thought Tari was dangerous, while others came out from their homes and shops to get a better view as Tari and Sakura resumed walking towards the Hokage Tower.

Hokage Tower

Sakura knocked on the Hokage's door and entered. Tsunade was reading a paper but put it down when Sakura entered. She was about to ask why she was here when Tsunade saw the black tiger and her eyes widened. Sakura sighed and took a seat, Tari sitting next to her.

"Tsunade-sama, this is Tari. I found her gravely wounded in the forest and I saved her. I was hoping you would let me keep her." Tsunade still stared. Once she had recovered from shock, she put on a serious face and looked at Sakura.

"This is a big responsibility. Are you sure?" Sakura nodded her head eagerly. Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair, rubbing her temples.

"Very well. I give you permission to keep..um...Tari." Tsunade said. Sakura smiled and jumped up to hug Tsunade.

"Thank you Tsunade-sama!" Sakura said as she let go and ran from the office, Tari following. Tsunade sighed and shook her head, getting back to her sake -I mean- paper.

Outside

Sakura ran out of the building happily and went straight to the pet store to buy stuff for Tari. She walked in and looked around.

'They don't seem to have tiger beds. How about a large dog one?'

'That's fine. I will eat cat food too but it tastes weird to me so I might just go out hunting. I will need a brush, hmm, how about a rope in case I want to play.'

'What about a scratching post?'

'I'll just use a tree.' Sakura nodded and went to gather everything. Suddenly a thought struck her.

'What about a litter box?'

'Yes, that would be good.' Sakura nodded again. She walked up to the counter and spoke to the clerk.

"Excuse me." the clerk turned.

"Sakura?"

"Tenten?"

"Sakura!"

"Tenten!"

"What are you doing here?"

"Just buying some stuff. How about you?"

"I can see that. I work part time here. So what's your new pet? Cat?" Sakura laughed nervously.

"Well kinda. You see, she's actually a-" Sakura began but Tari jumped up onto the counter and lay down. Tenten stared, wide-eyed, at Tari as she licked her paw.

"You got a ti-ti-ti-"

"Yeah, I got a tiger. I found her wounded in the forest and I saved her. Her name is Tari." Tenten snapped out of it quicker than Tsunade. She smiled and hugged Sakura.

"Congradulations! You might need a collar. I have just the one." Tenten said as she went into the back and came back with a black spiked collar. Sakura grimaced.

"It's spiked. I want to be able to hug her." Tenten frowned and checked again, coming back with a rainbow one. Sakura shook her head and went behind the counter and checked in the back, looking everywhere. Nothing jumped out at her. She was about to turn and go back when something caught her eye. She walked a little further down the hallway and stopped to look at a dusty, unopened box. She tore it open and dug through the layers of tissue paper. Her hand touched something smooth and hard, so she grabbed it and pulled. Out came a beautiful, inch wide, black leather collar with a beautiful polished stone that shifted colors. From blue to yellow, to red, to green, and every other color. Sakura was mesmerized by it. She smiled and stood up, running back to the front, where Tenten was looking at her questioningly(sp?).

"I'll take this one." Tenten nodded and took the collar, along with everything else; the bed, the food, the toy, litterbox, kitty litter, bowls, and the brush. She scanned everything and looked at the total.

"The total is $134.64. Cash or charge?" Sakura looked at the total and sighed.

"Cash." she mumbled as she removed several bills from her wallet. Tenten nodded and took them, depositing them into the cash register and giving Sakura her change. Tenten smiled and waved as Sakura started for the door, before turning back.

"Hey, you wanna have lunch with me?"

"Sure. Just give me a minute to close up." Sakura nodded and waited as Tenten took off her tag and grabbed the keys, locking the door as they walked out. Sakura was having a little trouble carrying everything, so Tenten spoke up.

"Hey, let me carry the litter box, ok? It'll lighten your load." Sakura smiled and practically shoved the litter box into Tenten's outstretched arms. They started walked again, Sakura a little faster because Tari had taken the bag with her collar, toy and bowls in her mouth, so now she was carrying it. Sakura still had to carry the litter, the bed and food, which were all quite heavy. On the way back to Sakura's apartment, the two kunoichi found Naruto and Sasuke arguing like always. Tari was walking behind the girls so they didn't immediatly react.

"Hey Naruto, Sasuke, what's up?' Tenten said, trying to strike up a conversation. Naruto grinned and ran up to his two friends, completely forgetting about his fight with Sasuke.

"Hey Sakura-chan, Tenten! Me and teme here were just going to lunch!" Sasuke scoffed.

"You dragged my with you dobe." Naruto was about to retort when Sakura accidentally dropped the cat food, so there was a large crash, causing everyone to turn and look at her. Sasuke smirked and seized the chance.

"What's up Sakura? Can't even handle a little bit of weight? Probably because of those weak arms of yours. You should train more. What did you buy that stuff for? A wittle ittiy bitty kitty cat?" Sasuke said in a mocking baby voice(AN: sasuke came back like 2 days ago so he doesn't know about Sakura's strength or other abiltities). Sakura dropped her head so she stared at the ground. She may have been over Sasuke, but that didn't mean that his insults didn't hit a nerve. He was playing off of her weakness; being called weak. One day, she would give all he had coming to him, but not now. It was too painful. Naruto frowned and started yelling at Sasuke while Tenten went to Sakura and asked if she was alright. Sakura nodded, but kept her head down. Sasuke ignored Naruto's rantings and smirked, thinking she was crying. Tari, sensing her master's distress, licked Sakura's hand, then roared and stepped in front of the pink haired kunoichi. Sasuke and Naruto stared at the tiger. Sakura smiled. Tari had snapped her out of her state and she was now defending her. Tari snarled. She dropped the bag and started walking forward slowly. Sasuke frowned.

"There really shouldn't be dangerous animals in Konoha. The Hokage must be out of her mind. I guess I'll just dispose of it." he scowled as he took out a kunai and charged at Tari. Sakura cried out as he was about to thrust the kunai in Tari's side, but she danced out of the way and lept onto Sasuke, snarling and snapping with her jaws. She landed a few deep gashes on Sasuke's chest before she backed off, still growling deeply in her throat. Sakura hugged Tari as Sasuke got up, clutching his wounds.

"I'll have that animal executed, you hear? Then the whole world will be mine!! MUHAHAHAHA!!!" Oh wait, wrong script.

"You see? I told you it was dangerous. I'm going to the Hokage about this." Sasuke muttered as he walked off to the hospital. Sakura looked at Naruto, who was looking after Sasuke and started to explain.

"Look, Naruto, Tari isn't dangerous! She just wanted to protect-" she started until Naruto turned around. There, on his face, was the biggest smile ever.

"That was awsome! Your tiger really gave teme what he had coming to him! I love this tiger! What's it's name?" he said as he ran up and hugged Tari around the neck. Tari turned her head to Sakura.

'I like this boy. I can sense a strong power within him, one that others hate him for, but he has a good heart and would risk everything for the ones he loves.' Tari said softly as she licked Naruto's ear. Sakura smiled gently.

"Her name is Tari. She likes you Naruto!" Naruto smiled and got up.

"So, where you guys going?" Sakura answered.

"Back to my place. I have to set up Tari's stuff and then me and Tenten are going out to lunch. You wanna come? We were going to go to Ichiraku's." at the name of his favorite ramen place, Naruto immediatly looked over at Sakura with sparkly puppy-dog eyes, on his knees like he was begging.

"Really?" Naruto asked in a hopeful voice. Sakura giggled at her teammates anitcs and nodded. Naruto shot up from the ground and jumped into the air.

"YYYYEEEEESSSSS!!!! WOO HOO! Of course I'd like to go Sakura-chan!" he shouted eagerly. He ran over, picked up the litter and the food and ran over to Sakura and Tenten, jogging in place.

"Let's go!" he said and raced off. Tenten giggled and Sakura sighed before picking up the pet bed she had set down and following after her hyper, ramen obsessed teammate, Tenten coming after her.

Sakura's House

Naruto arrived at Sakura's apartment long before the other two and was now sitting restlessly on the front door step, tempted to just break down the door, set up the stuff, then find the kunoichi and get his ramen. Naruto sighed again but lept up when he saw the two approaching figures of Sakua and Tenten. Once they had fully arrived, Sakura unlocked the door and let them into her small apartment. Through the baby blue front hallway, to the left, there was a medium sized, wine red living room with white furniture, silver lamps on the end tables and a TV on a stand. On the right, a little further down the hallway was the kitchen in a lavender purple. Pearl white appliances littered the counter, with a white kitchen table and chairs on a white tile floor. Sakura walked into the kitchen and set down the bowls and food. She told Naruto to go to the living room, take the door on the right and go down the stairs. In the far left corner of the basement, there was a space for him to put the litter in. Tenten went with him because she had the litter box. Sakura went up to her room and opened her white door to reveal a forest green room with a white bed, a white vanity table, and on the left side, a white door that went into the coral pink bathroom. Sakura cleared a space on her hardwood floor for the bed. She then walked down the stairs to see Naruto running everywhere.

"What's up with Naruto?" she asked Tenten, who stood nearby, shaking her head.

"He needs to go to the bathroom." Sakura sweatdropped.

"Naruto, go down the hallway by the couch that's near the door that leads outside to my deck, and it's the first door on your left." Naruto thanked her and raced off. While he was gone, Sakura and Tenten decided to watch TV.

A couple minutes later, Naruto came back and they all left, Tari in front. They walked to Ichiraku's and ordered their ramen; Tenten getting Miso, Sakura getting pork, and Naruto getting(AN: i totally made this up.) curry ramen. While they were eating, Naruto asked the question that had been bugging him for awhile.

"Hey Sakura, how did you meet Tari." Sakura put down her chopsticks temporarily.

"I met her in the forest on my way home from the mission I had gotten. She was wounded badly, so I helped and I guess she grew on me." Naruto nodded in understanding and went back to his ramen.

Later

Tenten and Naruto had gone, and most shops were closing considering it was almost 11:30 pm. Sakura had taken a walk with Tari, so she was heading back to her apartment when she heard a groan from the trees on her right. Tari growled and Sakura whipped out a kunai and slowly walked over to the bushes. She pulled them aside to reveal man who had been slashed across the back and stomach several times, all were deep and bleeding quite a bit. He was leaning against a tree in a clearing, propped up against a sword. He had two katana's on his back and one on each side. He was wearing a trench coat and a wide brimmed, black hat that covered his face. Sakura could make out some stubble on his chin. She quickly put away her kunai and raced over to the man.

"Sir, you should lay down so I can tend to your wounds." Sakura said politly and gently. She offered and hand but drew it back when he swiped at her.

"You can't help me." he said gruffly in a weak voice. Sakura frowned.

"I'm a medic nin, and I surpass my shishou. I can help you." the man gazed at her with hard, calculating grey eyes. He sighed and lay on the ground, wincing slightly. Sakura immediatly set to work restitching the wound. Once the tissue had finished knitting itself together, she moved onto the back. She realized after a quick scan with her chakra, he had an almost torn lung, which would soon be ripped open. Sakura delved her chakra deeper, wrapping it around the fragile tissue. She cleared away the first stages of infection, stopped the bleeding by reconnecting the veins, then set to work closing the wound. It took awhile since the lung tissue was delicate, but she finished and sat back. The man sat up and moved around, testing his back and stomach. Satisfied, he got up.

"Thank you. If it wasn't for you, I would be dead." Sakura smiled and got up too, slightly stumbling because of chakra depletion. She bowed and started to walk off when the man called to her.

"What's your name?" Sakura cocked her head but answered.

"Sakura Haruno. Yours?"

"Iai Hitotachi. I'm a swords master." Sakura smiled.

"Cool!" he nodded.

"Who did you train under?"

"Tsunade-sama."

"Tsunade? I knew her from when I was young! She's a great teacher, although very strict." Sakura nodded. Iai thought for amoment before speaking again.

"I think you would make a fine swordsmen, or, swordswoman. With Tsunade's and my training, you'd be unstoppable." Sakura thought.

"I'll have to think about it." Iai nodded.

"Meet me here three days form now, and give me your decision." Sakura nodded and watched as Iai poofed away. She turned and headed back to her apartment, completely unaware a pair of blood red eyes and a pair of yellow eyes watching her, but aware of Sasuke watching her from the other side of the clearing.

Me: Hi! I hope you like it. Iai means the routine of defeating you opponent with a sword and Hitotachi means stroke of sword. oh, and here are the ages, in case anyone wanted to know

Sakura:15

Naruto: 15

Sasuke: 15

Asuma's team, Kurenai's team: 15

Gai's team: 16.

Sakura will be training for 2 and a half years. Please Review!!