Previously
Sasuke's glare grew more steady on him, but her remained cool—almost passive—despite his words.
"Mmm." The snake grinned.
"You'll need to get some rest tonight. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow." The grin remained on his face.
Sasuke didn't like it one bit. He turned his head slightly in an attempt to see past his words. Had that time come around again? Sasuke turned his back on him and left down the dark corridors of the snakes lair. Tomorrow it would shed its own skin and find comfort in another's.
He slightly grinned, as he closed the door to his room... It was getting boring anyway...
Chapter 4 - Liar
She shifted all of her body weight to one side in an attempt to find a more comfortable stance. After a few minutes and no luck, she shifted it again towards the other side—sighing in agitation. She quickly looked around the small stand and rested her eyes on the far wall.
She narrowed her eyes at the clock, telling its arms to go faster.
Tick.
She tapped her foot and put her hands on her waist.
Tick..
She violently glared at the civilians in the store who were looking at her as though she were an alien. She couldn't blame them though...after all, it had been her bright idea to dress in her Anbu robes. It was necessary for the sake of protecting her identity...however, all the extra attention it attracted didn't help at all.
Tick...
She picked up one of the clay statues for sale at the stand and studied it. It was a miniature cherry blossom tree. The trunk itself was completely transparent, but the cherry blossoms had a hint of pink. She thought it was rather cute.
Tick!
"Dammit! Where the hell is she?!" Sakura cursed as she sat the statue back down on the counter—a little rougher than she meant to. She earned a glare from the owner, but no words were exchanged.
At that moment, she felt a familiar presence on the move.
"Finally!" Sakura huffed.
Out of the Hokage's tower stepped Tsunade. Though Sakura couldn't actually hear her, she knew the words which had come from her lips as she came out into the blinding sunlight were anything but appropriate.
Sakura immediately ducked as she saw Tsunade turn her way. Her heart was practically trying to escape from her chest.
'Shit...did she see me??"
The owner of the shop raised an eyebrow as he saw the Anbu member crawl towards the edge of the store and then cautiously peer its head around the corner.
He shook his head and sighed... 'Ninjas are getting stranger and stranger every day.'
Sakura's heart leaped as she saw Tsunade shake her head and walk the opposite way. Only a few people knew where she was going at this hour, and Sakura happened to be one of them. As she noticed Tsunade was no where in sight, she made a mad dash towards the tower—how long did she have? Perhaps twenty minutes—thirty if Tsunade was especially careless today.
Everyone knew that the Godaime hated paper work. She often used as many excuses as possible to relieve herself from having to do any of the dreaded papers. One of the most recent was an excuse for sake. Tsunade had a strange obsession with the drink—and to Sakura's surprise, it had no apparent effect on her. Around this time of day however, she would usually run out of the vile drink and leave to fetch some more. Shizune disapproved of the habit...but there was really nothing she could do to stop Tsunade. She was after all...the Hokage—and freakishly strong of course.
Sakura removed her Anbu mask as she stepped inside the tower and lowered the hood of her cloak—there would be no use for either at this point. She hastily pulled a couple of pieces of paper from her side-pack before reaching Shizune's desk—she knew she would be watching over the Hokage's office a little closer in Tsunade's absence.
"Sakura-san." She smiled.
Sakura returned the smile. "Ohayo Shizune-san. Is Tsunade-sama here?" Sakura put on her best 'serious face.'
"I'm afraid not." She said as she shook her head. "She went out to buy more sake," she said in a disappointed tone.
"Ne, what's that Sakura?" Shizune pointed at the papers in Sakura's hand.
"Oh, Its the report from my last mission. She told me to give it to her today." Sakura sighed and then slightly frowned, "Guess I'll just have to come back later though..."
She turned to leave with a disappointed look plastered on her face.
"Ano, Sakura..." Shizune called.
Sakura grinned under her disappointed appearance.
"I'm sure Tsunade wont mind if you just leave it on her desk."
Sakura's expression instantly brightened, "Eh, really? Arigato gozaimasu Shizune-san!"
Shizune only nodded and went back to reading a paper which she had previously been engrossed in.
Sakura walked past her into Tsunade's office. Now for the hard part. She quickly walked around her desk in search for a pad of paper—one which only the Hokage used. She threw her own report carelessly on the desk as she found the pad and picked up one of Tsunade's pens. Sakura quickly scribbled something on the paper and opened a large drawer on Tsunade's desk.
'Now...which one was it again?' She searched through the messy drawer. 'Aha! Gotcha...' Using one of Tsunade's personal stamps, she left the seal of the Hokage on the pad of paper.
Sakura ripped the paper out and looked it over. 'Not too bad if I do say so myself!' Hopefully it would be believable to others though. She placed everything back to its original place and quickly hid the piece of paper in her side-bag.
Sakura scratched the back of her head sheepishly as she exited the Hokage's office.
"I hope she sees it," she said out loud—making Shizune look up, "it was practically impossible finding a visible spot on that desk!"
Shizune nodded and smiled, "I'll let her know."
Sakura released a breath as she walked down one of the hallways, completely passing the exit. She replaced her mask and cloak before she neared a large door. It was guarded by two others who were dressed in the same attire as she.
They nodded at her and she pulled out the piece of paper from her bag and handed it to the guards. They cautiously looked it over before finally allowing her to step past the doors. Sakura jumped for joy inside; her plan had worked!
She now stood in a poorly lit room. It was HUGE...for lack of a better term. The ceiling extended a couple of stories at least, and she could barely see the wall on the other side. There were countless shelves within the room full of files. In this room, there were records of everyone who resided, or had, in Konohagakure.
"Well," she sighed, "better get started."
The files were all grouped together in alphabetical order, but where one letter started and the other ended, she had no clue of. After this Sakura noted to push Tsunade to organize this room in a better fashion.
'D...no. G...no. L...no' She walked further into the maze of files. 'N...no. Q...no. S...no.'
'Aha!' She grinned triumphally as she had finally reached her destination. 'U!'
She quickly found the last name she had been searching for, but things did not wish to go her way just yet.
"Uchiha...Wha..what the hell! There's like a zillion here!" The row of Uchiha's never seemed to end. She had no choice but to just search them one by one until she found the right name. "Dammit." She sighed. If Tsunade caught her—she would have her head...with a side of sake.
"Tekka...Teyaki...Uruchi...Yashiro...Obito...Mikoto...Fugaku...Inabi... URG!"
Twenty minutes and countless Uchiha's later she had finally found him.
"Sasuke."
Sakura looked over the file before turning to leave. It didn't look like the one she had previously seen at all. 'Perfect.'
Maybe there was hope for her yet?
Before she left the large room, she grabbed another file and stashed it along with Sasuke's. She wasn't quite sure what had possessed her to take hold of it though... perhaps curiosity?
"Ah... Sasuke-kun. How nice of you to join me today." He said with a humorous tone.
Sasuke fought the urge to visibly grimace. "Hn."
"Come closer, please. I believe we have much to...discuss." The snake urged him.
Sasuke didn't move a muscle, but his disgust couldn't suppress itself much longer. "We have a deal, Orochimaru."
The snake laughed, "Indeed. Indeed we do."
"I've yet to see my side of that fulfilled." Sasuke monotonously stated—he had little desire to hold a conversation with this reptile...but things really weren't going his way today."
"Ah," he hissed, "we shall do so together Sasuke-kun! He will not be able to stop us once we are combined."
Sasuke scoffed, "And you're sure of this?"
"Without a doubt." Orochimaru stated as he licked his lips.
"Heh," Sasuke grinned, "That's all I needed to know."
Orochimaru's wicked smile was momentarily replaced with a questioning glance. It was a rare occasion when his vessel visibly expressed such confidence as now. There must be something incredibly wrong. Orochimaru hadn't ruled out the thought that Sasuke might oppose his sudden...intrusion. No, in fact, he had expected it...but something about the look in his eyes made even the legendary sanin think his actions over twice.
The snake didn't let his uncertainty show for long however. He could only smile as his young apprentice drew his sword from his side, his dark eyes turning blood red simultaneously.
"I no longer have use for you." Sasuke plainly stated, a smirk still present on his face.
"Well well," Orochimaru chimed. "Aren't you acting a little arrogant today. Perhaps you need to be taught more lessons...Ssssasuke-kun."
Then he chuckled...
Sasuke grimaced. He hated it when the snake chuckled.
Sakura frowned as the sun set outside of her window. She stood from her bed and turned on the light to her apartment.
She sighed and walked back to the mess of papers that laid on her bed. It seems that her plan had backfired after all. She had thought the previous day that if she were to get a hold of Sasuke's records then perhaps things would finally become clear—yet they now seemed to be the complete opposite.
She furrowed her brow as she looked down at one of the papers.
Known Stats before disappearance:
Name: Uchiha, Sasuke.
Age: 13
Height: 153.2 cm
Weight: 43.5 kg
Clan: Uchiha
Rank: Genin
Team: Kakashi 7 (Comprised of Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, and Haruno Sakura.)
Her frowned deepened...
"What...the... hell..."
Maybe she should have been shocked; but instead she became utterly confused. How was it possible? Was it a mistake or something? That was the first thought that crossed her mind when she first read this page. As she continued into the depths of his file, however, the last line seemed to be proven correct over and over again.
All of the missions they had been sent on were throughly documented. And each line she read, she was sure to find her name, Naruto's and Uchiha Sasuke's—not Sai's as she had been expecting.
There was documentation of a mission in the Land of Waves, which Sakura had never been to—yet this paper seemed to prove her wrong. According to the story, things had not gone as planned in the supposibly "simple" mission and Uchiha Sasuke had almost been killed.
Sakura shook her head—none of it came to mind.
There was a rather long explanation of an incident which occurred during the Chunin exam. It explained how it was that Sasuke had become cursed, and it further stated that she herself had been a witness.
'Impossible...'
She looked over towards the second file which she had also taken, pondering whether to open it or not. She picked it up and looked deeply at the name printed on the front of it...
Haruno Sakura.
She closed her eyes and sighed, opening the file.
Status at age 12:
Height: 150.1 cm
Weight: 35.9 kg
Rank: Genin
Team: Kakashi 7 (Comprised of Hatake Kakashi, Uzumaki Naruto, and Uchiha Sasuke.)
Sakura groaned and threw her file on her bed, causing all of the papers to scatter.
"Why can't I remember any of this??"
She picked up the paper closest to her and looked it over, her eyes widening in surprise. It was her hand writing.
Sasuke asked me who it was that had hurt me. The curse seal was quickly spreading throughout his entire body. When I told him it was Zaku from the Sound, he savagely attacked him and ripped his arms off. I became extremely frightened and ran to stop him, hugging him tightly. I told him to stop, and he did so. The curse mark then began to vanish and he was back to normal.
She felt her heart pounding harshly within her chest—it was almost painful. Almost. She swept a few loose strands of hair from her face and placed them behind her ear. 'Why do I feel like this?'
Current team status: Two years after the disappearance of uchiha Sasuke Sai of the Root was sent to replace Uchiha Sasuke's position on Team 7.
She harshly collected all of the papers and put them back in order—her eyes burning with rage behind their gentle exterior.
Sakura was no genius. She did not have a special blood line. She had no revered clan to call her own either. But, she was no idiot. She had so many memories, most of them which had just been proven false. She had not know Sai as long as she had assumed. They had not originally been a team from the start. It all made sense to her in a strange kind of way...but she still didn't know why.
Why had she forgotten her past? And who was the one who gave her the new one?
She gathered everything together and hid it inside of her bedside table. Sakura turned the lights to her apartment off and closed the door behind her. She knew there was one more way to confirm everything she had just learnt.
Sasuke let the heat of Chidori concentrate into his hand before aiming it at Orochimaru in a sort of laser shot. The bright beam struck Orochimaru straight in the chest. He leaned over in his bed and coughed. Blood splattered out from his mouth onto the white sheets. Orochimaru looked at Sasuke with a deadly glare. He grimaced, not caring to wipe the blood off of his lips.
Sasuke grinned. This man was beyond pathetic.
He coughed once more before slightly smiling, "You and I are a lot alike Ne, Sasuke-kun?"
Sasuke huffed. He was nothing like this vile creature.
Orochimaru attempted to straighten up. He lightly laughed. "We both deserted our village in search of more power."
Sasuke let the beam in his hand strengthen as it still shot through the snakes chest.
Orochimaru groaned before smiling once again, "And even when our teammates came to rescue us...we refused them and attempted to kill them..." His voice was weak and low.
Sasuke frowned. He still remembered that day four years ago.
At that time, he had only been with Orochimaru for about 2 and a half years. Apparently Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi, had sadly attempted to rescue him once again. He had been annoyed when he found out, or rather how he found out.
By some cross-dressing look-a-like. Sasuke had no doubts that the new guy was suppose to be a replacement for himself. He felt almost insulted as he easily trapped him in the realm of his Sharingan.
So weak. Even pitiful little Sakura would have proved a better opponent than him.
During the course of their small fight, his room had given way, leaving them out in the open of the day. He had stood on the ground above the pit which was once his room glaring at the boy. It was then that he first saw Sakura appear from the underground passage. She ran over to where the guy stood, her cheeks colored a light pink from running.
"Sakura," he had called her name.
Her reaction was almost laughable. He had noticed the change in the way she dressed, but just one look in her eyes and he could tell she was still that little girl from Konoha.
After Sakura had come from the underground passage, Naruto had followed.
He would have killed them all that day, but Orochimaru had stopped him.
Sasuke's frowned deepened. He should have killed them that day—they would only prove to be a hindrance in his future plans.
"Even Itachi," Orochimaru proceeded even though Sasuke further strengthened his chidori. The snake grinned. "Neither of us could kill him alone."
Sasuke let his hand drop to his side when his Chidori beam finally struck the wall behind Orochimaru. He had left a giant whole through the center of his chest. It's edges were completely burnt from the heat of the Chidori. Blood seemed to endlessly pour out of the snakes mouth. Sasuke watched silently as his body fell out of bed and crashed down towards the floor.
It lay there limp and unmoving.
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Get up," he harshly said.
"Another one please!" The loud blond screamed—perhaps a bit louder than needed. No one around him seemed to mind though, they were already used to this boy's outbursts. In fact, most would worry if he were not that loud. Though most denied it—this boy was greatly growing on them as time went by.
Another bowl of steaming noodles was placed in front of the eager blond. His blue eyes twinkled before he smiled and devoured the ramen before him.
"Yum yum." He chanted.
"Konnichiwa Naruto-kun."
"eh?" He turned around abruptly, noodles still dangling from his mouth.
"Sakura-chan!!" He greeted. She took a seat besides him, smiling as if nothing were wrong. Sakura also learnt that she could be a great actress today.
"Ne, where have you been?"
She shrugged, quickly thinking of an excuse, "Theres been a lot of work to do at the hospital lately."
"Mmm." Naruto responded with a full mouth.
Sakura ordered some Ramen for herself even though she was anything but hungry. Her stomach In fact turned just at the sight of food. She was in no mood to eat. She didn't worry about that however—Naruto would never notice.
She only half listened as Naruto began to blabber on about his day. Every other word which came out of his mouth seemed to be "Hinata-chan." Sakura smiled. She wondered when those two would finally come together. Although Hinata's shyness had toned down a bit, she was still hopeless. As hopeless as Naruto was clueless.
She slouched over the counter and placed her chin on her hand then sighed.
Naruto stopped eating for a second, finally noticing her mood.
'Nows my chance...'
"Ano, Sakura, are you alright?"
"Hm?" she replied.
Naruto frowned. It was rare, she knew, but Naruto did have his serious moments.
"What's wrong Sakura-chan?"
"Oh," she giggled and straightened up, "nothing, nothing. I was just thinking about Sai. I kinda miss him, don't you?"
There it was again, that look that Naruto and everyone always seemed to give her. He looked down towards the ground for just a second before going on normally.
"Pft, that Penis obsessed asshole? No way!" He dove into his bowl of ramen yet again.
Sakura smiled, "Come on Naruto, Sai's not that bad. I miss working together as a Team."
Naruto nodded and continued eating. She didn't miss the look in his eyes however.
"Ne..." Sakura innocently placed one finger on her bottom lip, "How long ago was it that we first became a team anyways... I don't really remember, do you?"
Naruto stopped eating his ramen and just stared at his bowl for a few seconds.
"Seven years ago I believe." She noticed his hesitation. "When we were twelve."
Sakura looked down at her untouched Ramen. "Ah...So ka," She sighed. Is that so?
"Seems like an eternity, Ne?"
"Hai." He slowly said. Sakura noticed he had a sudden air of sadness around him. She hated to admit it, but her suspicions were just proven.
Sakura giggled, "You're my friend right Naruto?"
He looked at her quizzically and nodded.
She stood from the bench and patted her pants down. "Would you ever lie to me?" She didn't dare look him in the eye.
"Of course not Sakura-chan! Are you sure you're alright?"
She nodded. "Arigato, Naruto." Liar "Ja Ne!" She looked up and smiled at him before quickly turning and leaving.
"Chotto Matte Sakura!" Naruto called after her—but she had already turned the corner and was long gone from his sight—covered by the darkness of the night. Naruto sighed and eyed her full bowl of ramen. She hadn't even touched it.
"Damn it..." He said under his breath, dropping his chopsticks and standing up. "Somethings not right."
'Does she know?'
Bang Bang.
She moved from the pile of drool to a drier spot on the mountains of paper.
BANG BANG.
She slightly shook and opened a single eye before closing it once again and groaning.
"Tsunade baa-chan!!!" Naruto burst through the door of the Hokage's office.
"Eh?" She slightly rose her head from the stacks of paper. She squinted her eyes and shielded them from the bright light which was coming through the door.
"Naruto..." She groaned before letting her head fall back down.
Naruto crossed his arms and huffed. Typicall. He walked over towards the light switch and quickly brought light to the darkness of the room. He could have sworn that he heard Tsunade hiss at that instance.
"Come on you lazy, old..."
Tsunade abruptly stood and pointed a finger at him accusingly, "who do you think you are!"
Naruto grinned. Finally.
"Tsunade-sama..."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow. 'No baa-chan?' She sat down slowly as she noticed the serious look on Naruto's face.
He closed the door to her office for privacy and sighed. "It's Sakura."
Tsunade nodded in understanding.
"I think somethings wrong. She was acting strange today, asking questions about our team and how long we had been together. Even whether I would lie to her or not."
Tsunade rested a her chin on her palm, as if deep in thought.
"I think she might have found something out. Could it be that the seal's not working anymore?"
Tsunade shook her head, "No...I don't think thats the problem." Her eyes suddenly widened... "Now that I think about it..."
"Nani?" Naruto asked quickly.
"Ever since she came back from her mission two days ago she's been acting strange."
Tsunade looked up to Naruto and smiled. His eyes were on the ground but she could see the worry in them. He was acting too mature for his own good.
"Ara ara," She snorted. "Don't act so grown up Naruto."
He looked up at her smiling face with confusion.
"Demo..."
She rose one hand simply to silence him. "I'll have a look at her tomorrow."
Naruto smiled and nodded. "Arigato Tsunade baa-chan" He shrieked before running out of her office.
Tsunade let her smile fade as Naruto left.
'Sakura...what have you done...'
Tsunade stood still as she gazed thorough the window of her office. She felt another presence in the room instantly but didn't bother to acknowledge it. She already knew what she would see if she turned. There would be a white mask and a black outfit with a white vest over it.
"Tsunade-sama." The Anbu member urgently stated as he kneeled and looked up at her.
"What is it?" She said with a deep voice.
"The Sound." He quickly replied. His voice seemed rather shaky.
"Nani?!" She turned around and placed her hands on the edge of her desk.
The Anbu member looked down towards the floor. "They are under attack."
Tsunades eyes blazed. "By who?" She harshly demanded.
The Anbu member shook his head. "I'm Afraid that our sources have been," he hesitated, "cut off."
Tsunade nodded understanding what he meant. She sat down. "Bring me a group together." She stated.
"Hai."
She turned her chair to face the window, "You know who." Thinking her choice over she quickly added, "Bring me Yamanaka Ino instead though."
She was once again left alone in her office.
End Chapter 4
Wow, this chapter was extremely easy to write for some reason -. Anyways, just to clear some things up, the fight between Orochimaru and Sasuke will be much like what happened in the recent chapter's of the Manga for those of you who read it... I'm just adding a couple of changes to it. Again, Sai is not an OC, hes an actual character in Naruto. I'm not sure if he has appeared in the anime yet though.
I hope some things about the timing of this story were cleared up in this chapter. Sakura, Naruto and Sasuke are all about 19 years old for those of you who are still confused.
Love,
Fates Princess