Naruto

The Seventh Pain

Chapter 2

"It's Naruto….he's been captured."

Sakura's eyes widened. A mix of emotions were surging through her. Anger, fear, worry, sadness and shock. Worry was the one that showed the most. Her hands were shaking slightly and her eyes started to water, but the tears just wouldn't fall. Her heart was beating really fast. Her only remaining teammate was captured, and what's worse, it was the Akatsuki that had him. She was feeling a little light headed, but managed to control it. Shizune was just staring at the floor with a sad expression.

Jiraya was just as saddened. But he somehow managed to keep a straight face. But on the inside, he was beating himself up for allowing this to happen. He should've kept a better eye on him. On Danzo. Tsunade just sat at her desk, her hands interlocked and under her chin. She couldn't even look Sakura in the eyes after she said that her teammate was missing. It was hard on everyone, but mostly on Sakura. Sakura tried to speak, and managed a little bit.

"Is…he okay?" Tsunade sighed and closed her eyes. Sakura's heart was beating faster now. She was hoping she would say yes, but she knew their was always a chance of the latter. Tsunade finally opened her eyes and looked at Sakura.

"Yes. He's fine. But we don't know for how long. One of Jiraya's spies saw a blonde haired boy traveling with another man near the Land of Ogres. We know it's Akatsuki because he was able to distinguish them wearing black cloaks with red cloud patterns. He doesn't match the description of any of the members in our bingo books so I'd assume he's the leader." Sakura was relieved to hear that Naruto was okay, that he was still alive. But she was still worried. The Akatsuki have been looking for him just so they could kill him. Anyone else would be worried to. Tsunade continued.

"You're mission is to find Naruto and get the gist of what's going on. Do not, under any circumstances, attack."

"But Shishou! Naruto could be killed! I have to get him back to the village so he's safe!" Sakura yelled. Tsunade couldn't say she was surprised. In fact, she really wasn't. She wore the same expression and kept calm.

"Sakura. If you do anything rash, you could wind up getting Naruto killed. If you were to get harmed, he wouldn't forgive himself and potentially fight back and get killed anyway. It's better to get some information first and than we'll find out how to solve this problem. Understand?" Sakura calmed down and stared at the floor.

"Yes."

Tsunade sighed. "Good. And Sakura…..be careful." Sakura looked up, a serious expression on her face.

"I will." She left for home to gather her things for the mission. Shizune left as well, leaving Tsunade and Jiraya. Jiraya sighed and leaned against the window, looking out at the sunny version of Konoha.

"What do you think happened?"

Tsunade folded her hands under her chin again. "I don't know. What else could the Akatsuki want with him?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. Only time will tell."

5 days later

Pain and Naruto were walking through the forest close to the Land of Ogres. The trees were rather tall and varied in size and number. Naruto sat on a nearby rock, while Pain simply leaned against a tree. Naruto was unscrewing the top to a canteen to get a drink when he heard something. He acted like he heard nothing, but he did hear it. It sounded like a bush just slightly moving like someone was sneaking up on them. Naruto continued to get a drink. His suspicions were correct, as someone was, indeed, spying on them. Naruto pulled the canteen away from his mouth, slowly. But as he did, he somehow appeared behind whoever was spying on them. The spy didn't even turn around. Just stared wide eyed at where he used to be standing. The canteen dropped to the ground, releasing the water inside. He was fast, no doubt about it.

"Lord Pain. It appears we've been spied on." Naruto said.

"Bring our guest over here." Pain said. Naruto nodded and grabbed the spy by the collar. He lifted him up and threw him in front of Pain. He landed on his back with a painful grimace. He stood up and looked at both Pain and Naruto, who was now instantly standing by Pain's side. The spy had purple hair, similar to Naruto's and wore no headband. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt and carried a backpack on his back.

"Who are you and what were your intentions for spying on us?" Pain asked, calmly. They boy spoke.

"My name is Daichi. I'm just a civilian who was passing by. I realized I was out of supplies and am too far away from any form of civilization to re-stock. I noticed you had plenty and was forming a plan to take it. I'd assumed you were civilians as well." The boy said, motioning to the backpack Naruto was wearing. Pain shook his head.

"Naruto." Pain said, looking at Naruto. Naruto nodded in understanding and created a hand sign. "Release!" Once he did that, the boy's transformation jutsu dropped, revealing that the he, was rather, a she. Naruto's eyes took immediate notice of the girl that stood before him. A few memories flooded through his head.

"S-Sakura-Chan?" Pain looked at Naruto, than at Sakura. He wondered why Naruto knew this girl, but decided to save that question for later. Sakura looked a little worried and confused, but decided to get some answers.

"How did you know it was a henge?"

"For one thing, it's obvious were ninja just by looking at our headbands. Not just that, but how a civilian would know that we had provisions in our possession without it being visible is impossible." Pain explained. He looked her over once more, than at Naruto. "Tell me Naruto, do you know this girl?" Sakura looked at Naruto.

"Yes. Her name is Sakura Haruno. She's from Konohagakure and a member of their squad 7 with 3 other unknown shinobi." Once he said, unknown shinobi, Sakura started getting confused.

'Unknown shinobi? How doesn't he remember he's part of our team? What's going on with you?' Sakura thought. Pain slowly walked up to Sakura and pulled out a black rod. Sakura's eyes widened and tried to run. She was stopped dead in her tracks and couldn't move. She looked down and noticed a large seal at her feet. Shocked, she looked up at Pain.

"An immobilization seal. You won't be able to move before I'm finished. Once you're dead, the seal will be removed." Pain explained. As he drew closer, Naruto stepped in front of him.

"STOP!" He yelled. This surprised Sakura and Pain. "Please, don't hurt her. Their has to be another way to do this." Naruto said. Pain stared at him for a moment, and retracted his weapon. Naruto calmed down and stepped aside. Sakura still couldn't move and was wondering what Pain was going to do to her. But she decided she'd at least get some answers if he was going to kill her anyway, regardless of what Naruto said.

"What did you do to Naruto?" She asked sternly. Naruto looked a bit confused and looked over to Pain.

"I have done nothing wrong. Naruto merely holds none of his previous memories and has agreed to join me. But it appears one of his memories has decided to stay." Pain said. Sakura was even more confused when Pain backed away. "Since he wishes that I not hurt you, you will have a choice. You will either join me and assist Akatsuki with our new plans, or, you will be killed where you stand."

Sakura was outraged. The very thought of betraying her village disgusted her. She glared at Pain with fire in her eyes. "I will not betray my village and join the likes of you!" She yelled. Pain slowly slid his black rod out once more, and raised it so she and Naruto could see.

"Very well. Than this next part will be quick and painless."

"NO!" Sakura and Pain looked over to Naruto. Naruto was now looking pleadingly at Sakura. "Please Sakura-Chan. Just join us. If you do, you won't have to die. Please." Naruto said, pleadingly. Sakura was surprised and just stared at him. She was speechless. She didn't know what to say. She thought for a moment, before looking back to Pain, still seething with rage. Naruto looked broken. He knew that she wouldn't change her mind. She wasn't like that.

"You'll pay for whatever you did to Naruto. But until than, I guess I have no choice but to join you." Sakura said. Pain looked at Naruto through the corner of his eye. Naruto was just surprised, but happy as well. Pain looked back to Sakura and pulled back his weapon. He walked over to Sakura, with his hand outstretched toward her.

"What are you doing?" Naruto asked.

"Just a safety precaution." Pain said, and placed his hand on her head. He used his free hand to form the tiger seal and blue chakra poured into Sakura's body. She yelled in pain as the process continued. This went on for a few minutes before it finally ended. Sakura fell to the ground, unconscious. "Should she decide to betray Akatsuki, her mind will be reconstructed. The process will happen automatically and will be extremely painful. Once it's completed, she will have no memory of anything but Akatsuki. That's only if she betrays us." Pain said, and started to walk away. "Tend to her till she awakens. We will rendezvous here in the morning." Pain said.

Naruto set up a camp, consisting of a small campfire and a tent. He brought Sakura into the tent and placed his backpack on the opposite side. He laid Sakura down, underneath a blanket, and sat beside her. As the night went on, all he could do was sit and watch her. As he did, though, thoughts started flooding through his mind. He remembered her, yes. He remembered everything about her. Their times together, the promise he made to her, though, what the promise was, he didn't know. In all the memories he had of her, the only thing he could make out was Sakura. Everyone and everything else, was just a blur. It was like she was the only one with him in the village. The only reason he remembers the village he came from was because of the newly scratched headband he owned. It had the Konoha symbol on the metal forehead protector. So he was obviously from Konoha. Sakura started mumbling something in her sleep, breaking Naruto's thoughts.

"N-Naruto….S-Sasuke…."

He was surprised to hear her mumble his name in her sleep, but who was Sasuke? The name barely sounded familiar.

'Maybe this, Sasuke guy, used to be part of her old team….yeah, that's gotta be it.' Naruto thought.

A full moon was hovering over the sky. It was a clear, starry night. It was rather calming. Sakura started to wake up, catching Naruto's immediate attention. She sat up and held her head. She had a slight headache, but started using her medical jutsu to dull the pain.

"Glad to see your awake, Sakura-Chan." Naruto said. Sakura looked over and noticed a tired Naruto sitting beside her. It calmed her a bit, seeing Naruto beside her. She didn't know why, but it didn't matter right now. She had her teammate back, even if he was on the wrong side, along with her. "Sakura-Chan. Who's, Sasuke?" She was surprised, and it showed on her face.

"What do you mean?"

"You were mumbling in your sleep. You said, Naruto, than, Sasuke."

Sakura blushed. Not because he heard her mumble Sasuke's name in her sleep, but his. She decided to take her mind away from that subject. "You don't remember Sasuke?" Naruto shook his head. "Sasuke's one of the members of squad 7. Along with Kakashi-Sensei and Y-AGH!" She yelled in pain and clutched her head. This worried and nearly scared Naruto.

"Sakura-Chan! Are you okay!" Naruto leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sakura placed her own hand on his shoulder to assure him she was okay.

"I'm fine Naruto. Just a bad headache." She told him. 'This must be a side effect of Pain's jutsu. I can't tell Naruto anything about his past, or it hurts me.' Sakura thought. Sakura placed that thought to the side when she heard Naruto yawn. She remembered that he was awake and looked tired when she woke up. He must've been up all night. "Hey, Naruto. Why don't you get some sleep?" She asked.

"I'm fine, Sakura-Chan. Besides, if I go to sleep, than who's gonna make sure you're okay?" He asked. Sakura shook her head. 'Even without his memories, he's still the same old Naruto.' She thought.

"I'm okay Naruto. Just get some sleep." She told him. He yawned one more time before giving in and falling to his back, asleep within the second he hit the ground.

'At least he listens better.' she thought, finding a little amusement in the sleeping blonde.

Their's the next chapter. A little longer than the last one. I'm trying a new writing style so tell me what you think in the review. Also, to the readers of "Switched" I'm releasing the next chapter soon, and I'm considering a name change. Read and Review!