You can not believe how amazed and happy I was with the positive response I got for the last chapter! Thank you so so much!
For those who live miiiiiiles away from me, here, in the UK, it's still Wednesday! Evening Wednesday, but still!
So, without further ado, here we go!
Sakura walked back to the stands, but she did not look like she had just won. In fact, she looked like she'd seen a ghost; her face was sickly pale, she was sweating, and had a horrified expression on her face.
It took Kaoru a second to realize why; there were finger-shaped burns on her uncovered forearm, and he noticed she took great care to keep her hands away from her body.
No...
This was the after-effect of absorbing a lethal jutsu into your body: you lost control of it.
Sakura's body still crackled with the occasional spark of electricity, and when she looked up, her expression was that of utter despair.
"Sakura!" Akane ignored the tell-tale signs of 'stay away' and rushed forward to give the rosette a hug.
The second his body made contact with Sakura's skin, he jumped back, cursing wildly as he cradled his arm.
"I'm sorry!" Sakura apologized quickly, her eyes glistening with tears she struggled to keep at bay. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to-!" she cut off, her lip trembling.
She looked so alone and confused, that Kaoru ignored the fact that he had seen first-hand what happened when Akane got close to her, and stepped up. He gently wrapped his arms around the rosette, flinching as the electricity immediately shocked and burned his skin, but he didn't let go.
He had a theory to test.
"Calm down, Sakura." he cooed, gently stroking her hair. "It's going to be alright." and to their surprise, as the rosette clung to him, the electricity slowly subsided, until it finally disappeared. Sakura slumped in his arms, sniffling, but smiling gratefully.
"Thank you, Kaoru." she said quietly. "But... How did you know?"
Kaoru scratched the back of his head, smiling sheepishly. "Ah, I didn't." and when Sakura chuckled and looked down, he exchanged a meaningful I'll tell you later look with Akane. The redhead nodded, then grinned, jumping towards the rosette.
"You did it, Sakura-chan!" he exclaimed. "You kicked the Uchiha's ass!"
"Sakura Haruno and Sabaku no Garra. Come down for your match."
The rosette swallowed, but quickly schooled her features into absolute confidence, her lips twisting into a cruel smirk as she walked down the steps, making sure to take her time.
Once both teens stood facing each other, Genma waited for the public to settle before he announced that they could begin.
Sakura let her tense shoulders relax and allowed the smirk to grow until it looked almost feral. Gaara mimicked her, and his tongue sneaked out to lick his lips.
"I will enjoy tearing you apart." He hissed, eyes glinting with malicious intent.
The pinkette shook her head. "You'd have to get close to me first." And with those words, she took off, not towards Gaara, but away from him. She crouched down and began unfastening her boots. Soon, she stood up again, two sets of weights clutched tightly in her hands, her arms trembling with the effort. Even with her meagre height, when she released them, the weights plummeted to the ground and made a great crater.
Gaara waited until the dust cleared enough for him to see, then sent out his sand. But… It only met air.
"Over here!" suddenly, there was a hiss of air by his head, and he cursed the fact that his sand shield appeared to be struggling to keep up with her. He turned around, growling, eyes searching for the annoying pinkette, the monster within him hissing all the different ways he could kill her, torture her, destroy her…
A kunai suddenly pierced through his sand shield, and he started, scanning to see where the potential attack would come from, his sand shifting restlessly beside him.
He was not expecting a sudden force to strike him in the back, propelling him forward as his body bent in a backwards C-shape and was sent crashing to the ground.
Gaara got back on his feet, eyes ablaze with cold, murderous fury. He concentrated, murmured a jutsu, and in the palm on his hand, sand formed to create an eye. He swiftly manoeuvred it to be on the back of his head, and resumed searching for the rosette.
Up in the stands, the audience struggled to pick their jaws off the floors. Murmurs of 'but you said she lost her chakra!' and 'is she still running? How is this speed possible?' or 'What do you mean withoutchakra?!' could be heard from most of the audience.
But Gaara had found her. He smirked when he realised she wasn't running – she was hiding in a tree, the lack of chakra working as a chakra suppressor. Immediately, even without his command, the sand rushed in her direction. Surprise more than anything else slowed her reaction, and though she managed to get out of the tree a second before it was smashed to absolute smithereens, she did not manage to evade the smaller attack which branched away from the main wave and came down on her like a whip.
Sakura was thrown against the nearby wall, and given no time to recover as the unforgiving wave of sand zeroed in on her, and only years of honing her reflexes allowed her to quickly jump out of the way and save herself being crushed. But the wave was relentless.
The rosette was forced to turn, dodge, roll, skip and duck out of the way countless of times, and after a few minutes even her ridiculous stamina was having a problem keeping up.
Finally, she paused when it seemed like the sand had paused in its onslaught. It was the worst decision she could've made.
Instantly, the sand was on her like a beast, I don't want to die! pushing her to the ground, I don't want to die! suffocating her, Idon'twanttodie! making her vision dance with black spots, IDON'TWANTTO DIE!
In what felt like her last desperate move, she pushed against the sand, trying to catch a breath –
And suddenly, she was on her feet, injuries forgotten, body buzzing with the dearly missed energy that was chakra. Sakura blinked, confused, and looked down at her hands, then back to where she had been imprisoned mere seconds before; a large, smouldering crater marred the ground, the sand gone.
Sakura took a second to assess her situation, and then allowed a smirk to bloom across her face.
The battlefield was even once again.
Not too long after that, the nightmare began. Gaara had transformed into a monster, and though Sakura knew what it was, she refused to acknowledge it. Because fighting a jinchuuriki was bad enough, but fighting the Shukaku was way out of her league.
Instead, she tried to focus on what was going on, but her mind too distracted. So much so, that she would have met her premature death by a kunai, were it not for a loud shout of "SAKURA!" and a perfectly timed shuriken that knocked the projectile out of the way.
Akane and Kaoru leaped down to stand beside her, both looking distraught, but at least they were still in one piece.
"What do we do?" the redhead asked. Kaoru didn't say anything, but his eyes let her know that he wanted to know the answer to that question too.
Sakura cursed inwardly. She hated moments like these, when her teammates looked to her for guidance, expected her to have the perfect plan prepared and a cool head to match. The problem was that she was just as anxious and confused as they were, if not more.
But like she had done so many times before, she pushed her personal feelings to the back of her mind. She expanded her senses and took a seconds to assess the situation, hundreds of scenarios and possible ways of action flying through her mind.
"OK." She said finally. "Akane, on a scale of one to ten, how good is your genjutsu dispelling?"
Akane shrugged, confused. "I don't know… About seven?" he said finally.
"Good enough." The rosette nodded. "I want you to go up there and get as many jounin, chunin and genin up and running as you can. The higher ranks will know what to do. After you've done the ninja, move onto the civilians. Get the genin to help you evacuate them if you must."
"Hai!" the redhead replied, and a second later, he was gone.
"And me?" Kaoru questioned.
"I need you here." The rosette replied. "Use the genjutsu you used in the First Stage of the exams to get into one of the enemy's men's minds. Now! Go!"
Kaoru was gone the moment the words left her mouth, which left her with a few seconds to decide how she was going to go about dealing with the sudden situation at hand. The fact that she had regained her chakra had not yet fully registered, and her mind was buzzing, running in overdrive as she struggled to come up with explanations as to how could that be? And the fact that she had somehow managed to defy all possible laws of chakra and physics and absorbed a chakra-based attack?
But now was not the time or place to be dealing with those questions, she decided as she felt Kaoru's presence behind her. She turned around to face him, wordlessly motioning for him to go ahead.
"Sand and Sound are in an alliance. They're trying to kill the Hokage and take over the village." he stated simply, and the rosette chuckled inwardly at how he managed to make holding an enemy nin in the air by the scruff of his neck look so casual.
Sakura let out a cold laugh. "Kaoru, please don't say that with such a straight face; I almost believed you."
"There's nothing to believe, Sakura. It's what was in this guy's thoughts and memories. And," he paused, glancing up. "Judging by the barrier that is currently surrounding the Kage's balcony, I think he's right."
Sakura's eyes followed where the brunette was pointing and discovered, much to her horror, that there indeed was a barrier surrounding the Kage.
She swore softly and turner away to think.
"Uh, Sakura?" Kaoru's voice stopped her. She gave a grunt to let him know she was listening, too deep in thought to reply properly. "What about this guy?"
Sakura realised he was referring to the Sand nin in his grasp. The rosette frowned, but then simply waved a dismissive hand in the air. "Get rid of him." she ordered.
Sakura turned on her heel to collect her thoughts and think of what to do next. Kaoru was by her side in a second, the only visible sign of what he had done being the flecks of blood on his shirt.
"What do we do now?" he asked carefully.
Sakura's eyes scanned through the arena and widened when she found what she was looking for. In a flash, she had pulled out a kunai and sent it sailing in a blue ball of chakra, until the kunai met its target as it sunk into a Sound ninja's throat just as he was about to pounce on Akane from behind.
"Now?' Sakura hissed. "Now we go and help Akane. And try to stay alive."
Kakashi had witnessed the entire exchange, from the moment the teens had forcibly dragged the rosette from Gaara, to when they jumped into the chaos to help their teammate. He didn't miss how the boys automatically turned to the pinkette for orders, or how quickly and confidently she'd given them. Such a decision was never meant to be put in front of genin. But the trio had once again proven that they were not normal genin.
Kakashi also didn't miss the ease with which the brunette took that ninja's life. The command was given, and there wasn't a sign of even the slightest hesitation as the teen pulled out a knife and slit the rouge's throat. It was that simple.
There were names for children like them. Names that had been directed at Kakashi too, many, many years ago.
Geniuses.
Prodigies.
Perfect ninja.
Murderers.
"Akane!" Kaoru called, and the redhead dodged just in time for the sword to swish by his shoulder, missing his head by a few lucky inches. The brunette landed close to his teammate, giving him a quick once-over before he deemed him unhurt and alive, and proceeded to switch positions so that he was the one rousing people from genjutsu while the redhead stopped their enemies from getting anywhere near him.
Sakura relished in the feeling of letting loose, using the forbidden style which her dad had taught her to its full capability, striking nerve points and vital organs until she was dancing around a pile of bodies, disfigured beyond recognition.
"What do you know?" the redhead shouted over the noise, twirling around his opponent and stabbing a knife into his back.
"It's Sand and Sound!" Kaoru yelled back, jerking another child from the genjutsu and directing her to a genin that stood nearby. "They're trying to get the Hokage!"
Akane nodded, though neither really noticed. "Yeah, I got that too!" apparently, Orochimaru's behind all this! He's the Kazekage!"
Orochimaru. Sakura froze. Her eyes unconsciously trailed to the enormous purple barrier that engulfed the balcony. I could just go there, find out how to get under that barrier... And then I would make that snake pay back for killing my Dad! I could-!
"SAKURA!" A scream of her name brought her back to earth and she had milliseconds to react so the sword that was aimed in a deadly blow at her head just dug deep into her shoulder. Sakura hissed in pain, and before the ninja could so much as blink, she snuck under his guard and smacked her palm against his chest. He was dead within seconds.
The rosette whirled around for more enemies, legs bent and eyes wild. But their wing was clear. All that was left were bodies, and the stench of blood and death. The battle was still going, but their wing was empty save for them and the few civilians Kaoru had yet to rouse.
All three straightened from their positions, gratefully using this small chance for a breather.
"This is insane." Akane huffed as he slumped against Kaoru, struggling to catch his breath.
"Insane?" Sakura gave a small breathless laugh. "Since when has anything we do ever been sane?"
"Here, here." Kaoru called just as breathlessly and mimicked the action of raising a glass in a toast.
They shared a laugh.
Suddenly, the wall beside them exploded and three genin which they recognized as Naruto, Hikari, and some kid who looked like a Nara and a dog appeared, and jumped out of the hole, the words
"We're going after Sasuke!" echoing behind them.
Sakura exchanged a horrified glance with her teammates. Sasuke meant Gaara, and Gaara meant...
"Shit!" Akane hissed as he ran to the hole and jumped out after them. "They're going to get themselves killed!" he yelled in response to their protesting calls.
Kaoru turned to face the rosette, despair and determination shining in his eyes. "Sakura, I need to-!"
"Go and make sure he doesn't get himself killed!" Sakura cut him off. "I know! Go!"
The brunette bowed and muttered a quick 'Arigato', an action which wouldn't come to Sakura's mind until many hours later, as he too jumped out of the hole in pursuit of his teammate.
Sakura was now faced with a dilemma, but as a sudden roar ripped through the air, a roar so mighty that she had to cover her ears in fear of being deafened by it, she suddenly knew.
There were people in the village.
Innocent people.
And there was one thing Sakura valued more than anything, and that was the fact that no life should be wasted meaninglessly.
Thus, her decision was made.
She would not let innocent people die.
She jumped out of the same hole her teammates had, but headed in the opposite direction.
As Sakura reached the place where the fighting was mostly taking place, she realized her job would be even harder than she originally imagined. Dozens of people were already either dead or dying, crushed under the rubble or unable to escape due to the ninjas fighting. And with the monster summon wreaking havoc wherever its three heads could reach, Sakura had little hope of getting out alive, not to mention helping somebody.
But the agonized screams only got worse, and the rosette was soon faced with a terrible dilemma; save those nearly dying and get them to the hospital, or those still trapped in their homes or the Academy?
A pained, horrified scream that shook her to the core interrupted her thoughts. Because that scream was a child's scream.
In an instant, Sakura's mind was made up. She shot towards the sound and intercepted the Sand nin just as he was about to stab the boy with his sword. Working on autopilot, the rosette pushed the sword out of the way and stood in between the man and the child.
"Should've picked on somebody your own size, you coward." she hissed furiously.
Sakura was about to use the two fingers to the throat move, as she would not be satisfied until she knew the trash was truly dead, but at the last second, a voice in the back of her mind reminded her that there was a child watching. Within seconds, she swooped down and instead of through the throat, the fingers rested over the ninja's heart; stopping it instantly. With one last, icy glare at the fallen body of her enemy, Sakura turned back to the boy.
He was no older than seven and was staring at her with a mixture of fear and awe, and Sakura realized what she must've looked like; bloodied with blood that was not her own, her eyes furious and chakra blazing.
She quickly put on her most child-friendly expression and knelt down to the boy. Having never been in a similar situation, she didn't know what approach to take, so she settled for honesty.
"We're under attack." she stated simply. When the boy's eyes widened and he resembled a deer in the headlights, she felt the need to reassure him. "But don't worry, you're not in danger." Sakura resisted the urge to add anymore. "But I need you to listen to me, okay? Can you do that?" the boy nodded mutely, mesmerized by the blood still dripping from her hands.
"I need you to be quiet as a mouse. I'm going to take you to safety, okay? Will you work with me?"
"B-but you said that I'm not i-in danger..." the boy stuttered.
Sakura bit back the annoyed response she was about to give, and forced on a patient smile.
"Yes, but better safe than sorry, ne?"
"B-but-!" Sakura's patience had reached its limit, and she cursed the natural curiosity of children.
She quickly snatched him up and carried to the place where she hoped he would find safety – the underground tunnels that ran all the way to the Uchiha compound. She formed the Ram seal and prayed.
It worked.
Sakura lost track of how many children she had evacuated to the tunnels, using the help of all those who happened to be around, gennin, chunin and jounin alike. But the village's future lay in its children, so Sakura decided they were a worthy cause to fight for.
But some people disagreed, and she soon found herself cornered, in the odds of at least twenty-five to one. They were no good odds.
"Should've chosen something better than this as your career, little girl." One of the men hissed.
"Should've done something smarter than betray the only village that trusted you enough to form an alliance, you fool." She spat back with equal malice.
The man's eyes narrowed, and motioned for his lackeys to come forward.
And from there, all Sakura knew was pain.
21:00 o'clock! It's still Wednesday!
I will reply to your reviews the moment I get a slight breather, but for now, thanks for reading, and please share your views and opinions with me via review!
(Don't worry, an explanation to her yet another weird chakra move will be explained in the next chapter!)
Also! I drew Akane and Kaoru, (bad drawings, but still!) the links to the pictures are on my profile for anyone who wants to have a look!
Bye!