Loving The Past

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.

Chapter 8

It was almost midnight when Sakura and Itachi arrived at the warehouse. There was a squad of ANBU stationed around the outside of the warehouse in strategic places in case one of them manages to escape. This calmed Sakura's nerves a bit as she knew there would be back up in case something happened that didn't go according to plan.

Itachi had the body slung over his shoulder when both he and Sakura walked in. They walked past the crates that were piled high to the ceiling towards the only source of light. The sounds of sniffling were slowly getting louder as they approached. All Sakura could think was, "If they hurt them, then they will have a painful death," as she clenched her gloved hand. When they finally made it to where the children were being held, they encountered three cloud-nins.

Temari was the first one to notice their arrival and shouted out "Itachi-kun! Sakura-chan!" This announcement caught the attention of Kankuro and Gaara. There were scratches and dirt all over the kids showing the telltale signs of their struggle. The hope that lit up behind Gaara's eyes almost broke Sakura's heart. All she could think was, "He thought we were going to abandon them."

When the cloud nins got the chance to see Sakura and Itachi up close two started snickering while the other two analyzed them both. One of the cloud nins who were analyzing them was the first one to speak up and said, "Place the body down and step back 10 paces." Itachi gave each of them a passive once over before responding to the cloud nin who was clearly in charge. "The moment I put down the body the children start walking over." The cloud nin nodded once in agreement.

The moment the body touched the ground, the children bolted towards Sakura and Itachi. Temari shot straight to Itachi while Kankuro and Gaara were caught by Sakura. There was suddenly a large commotion coming from outside. "They tricked us! Grab the body and get the hell out of here!" the cloud nin shouted to his comrades. One of his subordinates tried to make a dash for it with the body, but Itachi was quickly on his tail.

Sakura quickly instructed the kids on what to do. "Run outside! There will be someone there for you. DO NOT under any circumstances look back. Got it?" "Hai!" they all replied. Temari grabbed Gaara's hand and swiftly ran to the door with Kankuro slightly behind them. Sakura noticed that Itachi was occupied with two of the cloud nins while the other one in front of her pulled out a kunai and was about to attack her. She pulled out her own kunai and allowed him to make the first move. He quickly attacked underestimating her abilities. She dodged his attacks and then finally began her assault on him.

She collected chakra in her fist and punched the cloud nin in his stomach. There was a loud crunch of a few ribs breaking. The cloud nin took a moment to collect himself after such a big blow. He looked up at her and started to take the fight seriously. He attacked her again and she charged him as well. He managed to land a kick on Sakura but she grabbed his leg and brought her leg up and broke his tibia in half. An earth shattering scream escaped the cloud nins mouth as he experienced excruciating pain. She quickly tossed the kunai in his hand and sliced his carotid artery and watched as he bled out. She turned her gaze to itachi and saw that he had killed one of his opponents while he had the other trapped in a genjutsu. The genjutsu must have been particularly terrifying judging by the look on the nins face.

Itachi glanced over when he felt Sakura's gaze upon him and he surveyed the damage and the nin around her. He looked back at his opponent and knocked him out. Itachi picked up his body and signaled to Sakura to exit. The ANBU stood outside with the cloud nin unconscious by their feet and the dead body of Hyuuga Hizashi within one of their arms. His body was held carefully and given all of the respect he deserved. He was treated as a hero.

When Sakura looked around she noticed the Kazekage's children were no longer there. Her questioning look prompted one of the ANBU to answer her unasked question. "They were taken by the Kazekage's body guards to the hospital." Sakura gave a quick nod and looked to Itachi. He had a far off expression on his face. He looked at her and said softly, "Let's go, Sakura." With that, he jumped to the rooftops and waited for her to join him. They began their journey to the Hokage's office to report what had just occurred.

"Thank you Itachi, Sakura. Itachi, you are dismissed. Sakura stay for a moment I need to speak with you." Itachi nodded to the hokage but had a lingering stare towards Sakura as he was shutting the door.

"Do you understand the importance of what just happened, Sakura?" The third asked.

"I think I do but I'm not sure," she responded unconfidently. Sakura thought that coming from the future would give her an upper hand but she still felt unsure. She thought Hyuuga Hizashi died because someone had killed a cloud nin for trying to kidnap Hinata.

"I was meeting with the Kazekage to discuss a potential alliance. Unfortunately, during the Kazekage's escort to Konoha, a Konoha nin engaged in battle with someone from the Kumo believing that they were assassins to kill the Kazekage. Kumo wanted retribution which is why they asked for a Hyuuga's body. They must have been using the Kazekage's children as leverage. However, because this didn't happen according to Kumo's plans, I will have to negotiate something. Hyuuga Hizashi's death stopped a war between Kumo, Suna, and Konoha. We will have to give them the body but we will do it on our own terms."

Sakura was shocked. She knew of this event, but it happened so differently in her time. Sakura slowly nodded her head in understanding and said a soft, "Hai." The hokage replied with a nod and said, "Now you know what has been going on here. You are dismissed." Sakura bowed and took her leave.

As she quietly left the office she saw Itachi leaning against the hallway wall waiting for her. She started walking towards him and he started to walk in step with her. "I didn't know you were that strong," he stated.

"I guess you'll have to fight me to find out just how strong I am," Sakura responded teasingly.

"When I get back from my mission then," he said with a tone in finality.

They slowly began their trek back to the Uchiha compound. Sakura started thinking about their short conversation and was wondering if their spar would be considered a date. She knew she shouldn't think about him like that especially because she knew what he was going to be doing soon.

It was morning before Sakura knew it. She walked towards the kitchen and saw Mikoto cleaning up breakfast. "Good morning Sakura-chan."

"Good morning Mikoto-san."

"I've already dropped off Sasuke at the academy. His ceremony will be at 1. I left a place of onigiri here for you."

"Arigatou!" Sakura said. Mikoto smiled in reply.

Sakura got dressed and walked to the academy with Mikoto. There was pleasant conversation between them when all of a sudden Mikoto brought up a topic that seemed out of the blue. "So Sakura-chan I hear that there were sparks between you and Kakashi-san." Mikoto said slyly.

Sakura felt a blush creep on to her cheeks and quickly replied, "what do you mean Mikoto-san?"

"Well I heard that he allowed you to take away that book of his. He never lets anyone touch that! He must like you. Which is too bad. I was really hoping there was something between you and Itachi. You two would be so sweet together. But Kakashi-san is a very good man too." Mikoto kept babbling on while Sakura walked on slightly stunned. Wait. What? For the first time in a long while, Sakura was confused.

Sure she was attracted to Itachi. There's not much of him that isn't attractive. But where did Kakashi come from?! He was her sensei!... Well I guess technically not anymore but WHAT?! "Where did you get the idea that kakashi likes me?!"

"Oh, well you know, everyone was telling me about your encounter with him and how you helped him when he was injured."

Sakura's eyebrow twitched. "Mikoto there is nothing going on between us I swear! I barely know him!" Liar.

"If you say so Sakura-chan," Mikoto said unconvincingly. They finally arrived at the Academy and saw the crowd of proud parents. They made their way through the crowd and saw Sasuke trying to find them. The moment he spotted them, he jumped up and down and waved his hand at them. Sakura waved back and saw the proud smile on Mikoto's face.

Iruka started the ceremony and congratulated the students. He talked about the commitment It took to be a shinobi and how they will become the protectors of the village and how one of them may potentially become the next Hokage. It was inspiring, sweet and very Iruka. At the end of the speech the students left the stage and went to their families. The only person left on stage was Naruto. Sakura looked to her left and saw that Mikoto was already hugging Sasuke and telling him how proud she was of him. Sakura kissed the top of Sasukes head and said congratulations and quickly walked to Naruto.

"Congratulations Naruto!" Sakura's greeting quickly caught his attention and brought a huge smile on his face.

"Thank you Sakura-neechan!" he said rubbing his head and trying to prevent the blush from spreading.

Iruka said, "Hey Naruto! Are you ready to go?"

"YES! Iruka-sensei promised to take me out to Ichiraku after this! I'll see you next time!" Naruto said as he excitedly ran off to Iruka.

"Bye Naruto!" Sakura shouted after him. She was happy to see Iruka paying attention to Naruto at an even younger age than when he originally began caring for him. She quickly turned around and saw Mikoto and Sasuke waiting for her. Sasuke was pouting and had his arms crossed because he wasn't the center of her attention. She giggled at the thought of Sasuke being so need.

"I just had to go congratulate your classmate Sasuke-chan. Come on! Your Kaa-san and I planned a special meal of all your favorites at home!" Sasuke's eyes lit up at having something special just for him and not having to fight Itachi for the lime light.

Author's Note: How's that for a come back? If you read past the first few chapters and got to this update then congratulations. It pains even me to read my beginning writing for this story. So please remember that I'm updating this SEVEN YEARS later. I'm also planning on changing the story to an M rating with big jumps in time. Let me know what you think or if I should totally abandon ship.