Ahhhh! You guys are amazing! Thank you for all the follows and favorites for my story! You've all made me so happy! This chapter is where everything changes! I cant wait for you all to read it. Oh and there will be a double update today! I'm so excited about where the story is heading after this chapter I decided to surf right on to the next chapter today! Give me a few hours and it should be posted. In the mean time enjoy!

And no I still do not own Naruto!

"This is pointless bullshit!" Naruto screamed in frustration, ramming his fist into the trunk of the nearest tree.

"Calm down, Naruto." Kakashi leaned lazily against a boulder with his feet crossed, and his nose deep into a book.

"Why the hell are we sitting here waiting around when we could be out there looking for Sakura! We're wasting time, let's go!" he clenched his fists.

"And what trail do you suggest we follow? Hm? We have no clear lead right now, if we go running blindly it's no better than sitting here waiting for Kakashi's hounds to return. Have some patience you idiot." Neji's smooth voice really ticked Naruto off.

"CALM?! HOW CAN YOU EXPECT ME TO BE CALM WITH SAKURA-CHAN IS STILL OUT THERE MISSING?!" he roared.

"She's been missing for over 3 months now Naruto, you need to accept the possibility that we may never find her, and if we do that it's not guaranteed she will be alive." Neji said calmly.

"Shut up! Shut your mouth!"

"Naruto you know as well as I do if this lead we have now is another dead end, Lady Tsunade will have to officially label Sakura as M.I.A."

Naruto's eyes began to glow red.

"Don't…..you dare…..say that…" he warned.

"I'm telling you the reality of the situation" Neji responded.

"You bastard!" Naruto screamed as he charged towards Neji.

Kakashi immediately stepped in between the path to Neji, grabbing Naruto by both shoulders.

"Naruto. Enough." His one onyx eye stared directly into Naruto's red ones.

Á few moments later Naruto's eyes faded from red back to their icy blue.

"We will find her." Kakashi reassured him. "You have to remember she is strong. We may have underestimated her in the past, but she isn't the same Sakura we once knew."

Inside Kakashi secretly doubted the words he spoke to Naruto. He would never admit to that partially because he didn't want them to be true. However, Kakashi was an elite Jonin and his many years of experience as the ANBU captain taught him many things. Kakashi knew that Neji was exactly right about the reality of this situation and that caused him more pain than Kakashi was ready to aknowledge.

"Hey look! It's Shikamaru and your ninja hounds!" Naruto pointed.

Kakashi turned around to face his smallest ninja hound "Well?" he asked.

Another dead end.

Kakashi sighed.

"But, theres something else."

"Well what is it? Spit it out!" Natruto demanded.

Ignoring his impatience Kakashi's hound continued. "I can tell someone has been covering up their tracks. Someone is purposely giving us false leads in a dozen different directions. Whoever they are they are good, and they've had training. I believe they've been using mind transfer jutsu to possess the body of nearby villagers in different locations. They've attached their scent to these villagers and are using a mind transfer jutsu to have them leave a false trail. That way they don't have to be anywhere near or in the location of the trail, they could be doing this from anywhere.

"Itachi…" Kakakshi whispered to himself.

"What, Sensai?" Naruto asked.

"It's Itachi covering their tracks. I worked beside him for years in ANBU and I've seen him do this before on missions. He's smart, he's trained well, and he's has years of experience.

"Such a clever shinobi." Neji added.

"Clever indeed…I hate to say this Kakashi but my hounds and I can't do anything else about this right now. He's gotten his tracks covered completely."

Kakashi looked down and his hounds and nodded.

"I understand guys, go rest now you've done well." He dismissed them and with a poof they vanished.

"Granny I'm begging you! You cant do this! She's your own student!" Naruto was leaning half way across Tsunades desk slamming his fists down.

"Naruto get ahold of yourself!" she scolded.

"I won't let you do this to Sakura!"

"What else would you have me do? She's been missing for going on four months now and we haven't had the slightest clue where she is. False leads, covered tracks, we are dealing with elite ninja here, my hands are tied I can't stop and drop everything that's going on in the village to keep running on false leads for Sakura! I have already delayed the law by a month, she was supposed to be labeled as M.I.A. after 3 months. I have no choice, Sakura is officially declared missing in action." Tsunade gave Naruto a stern look, letting him know she wasn't changing her decision.

Expecting him to fully lose his composure Tsunade readied herself for his outburst.

Naruto stood up straight and backed away from the desk.

Falling to his knees in the middle of the floor he began to cry.

Tsunade and Kakashi both looked at each other in disbelief. There had only been a number of times Kakashi had seen Naruto cry, one being the death of Gaara. But this was different, this was a heartbroken cry.

Kakashi walked over to kneel at his pupils side. Laying a hand on his shoulder and giving it a soft squeeze Kakashi spoke his name.

"Naruto…."

He continued to sob quietly with his head hung down towards the floor.

A few moments later he spoke.

"I couldn't save Saskue…and now….I can't save Sakura either…..I've lost them both. I couldn't even fulfil my promise to Sakura. I've let her down twice now." He sobbed.

A fatherly instinct awakened within Kakashi at the sight of Naruto. He took his hand from Naruto's shoulder, placed it atop his head and pulled Naruto into his chest embracing him.

Tsunade sat silently at her desk.

Kakashi looked up at her from across the room.

"I'm going to take him home." He said as he rose to his feet.

Naruto and Kakashi left the room silently leaving Tsunade to herself.

The hokage opened her desk drawer pulling out a picture that was taken the day she "graduated" Sakura from training with her.

She closed her eyes remembering the first time Sakura came into her office.

M' Lady! I'm begging you! Please train me! Teach me everything you know! Let me be your student! Help me become stronger!

Tsunade smiled as tears formed in her eyes "I know you are strong, hang in there Sakura."

Taking her face into her two hands, she lowered her head and cried.

SAKURA

"You're going to have to do better than that little cherry blossom. Itachi demanded we intensify your training before your first mission" Kisame laughed as he delivered a blow to my stomach.

I flew backwards landing on my butt.

Dammit he really wasn't holding back, but neither was I. I wasn't training to help betray the village, I was training to be able to keep myself alive on these missions I was being forced into. I was also training to retaliate when the time came for the Akatskui to try and use me as bait to infiltrate the leaf.

I would make them think that I was training for all they reasons they wanted me to.

I jumped up to my feet changing at Kisame. Easily dodging the swing of his shark skin sword I summoned chakra to my fists and punched him in the back of his knee in the exact spot I needed to in order to dislocate it.

Being a medical ninja sure had its perks.

Kisame fell to the ground cursing in pain.

I didn't waste any time taking my other hand to deliver a blow that dislocated his shoulder that the arm holding Samhada was attached to.

He let out another curse and dropped his sword, unable to hold the weight of it with a newly dislocated shoulder.

I whipped out a Kunai and held it at his throat "It's over Kisame"

He clenched his teeth "You dislocated my knee and shoulder, this was supposed to be a spar!" he growled.

"It was a spar. One that I won. No one ever said what was off limits. The only things I was aware of is that we can't kill one another." I didn't feel the least bit sorry for Kisame. It was a long over due payback for almost killing me three months ago.

"In that case, this spar isn't over." He laughed.

"What are you talking—"

Before I could finish my sentence I was knocked onto my back with a kick to the mouth.

I rolled over on my side and spit out the blood that pooled in my mouth from biting my own tongue from the force of the kick.

I didn't have time to protest before Kisame slammed his foot down on my hand breaking the bones.

I screamed out in agony as I felt my fingers dislocate.

Kisame removed his foot from atop of my hand and kicked me in my face, instantly breaking my nose.

"Come on little cherry blossom, I thought you were stronger than this. Anything goes right, besides killing you?" he mocked me.

Blinking rapidly to dispel the black dots I was seeing, I forced myself to focus my eyes so that I could see where Kisame's next attack was coming from.

I was able to doge another kick he was about to deliver to my face. Despite the pain I was in I somehow found my way to stand on my feet.

"Is that all you've got? I antagonized while spitting blood out of my mouth.

Irritated by my resilience Kisame charged forward swinging with his good arm. I threw a punch to deflect his.

Off balance and dizzy I stumbled, trying to steady myself.

"It's over Kisame, you can't fight with one arm, not against my strength and you're too weak to yield that sword with your opposite hand while your strong arm is dislocated at the shoulder. I've nearly immobilized you." I taunted him.

Kisame narrowed his eyes before looking at the sky and laughing.

"What is so funny?" I frowned.

"I've been waiting to use this on you" he smiled.

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

Look into the sky, cherry blossom, it's started to rain. I'm through playing nice, I haven't showed you half of what I am capable of."

As he spoke those words I felt a single raindrop hit my nose.

Oh no. He was going to use a water jutsu attack.

"Shit!" I cursed aloud.

Kisame gave a half smile as he wielded hand signs.

A small lake of water formed engulfing me within it.

I opened my eyes underneath the water looking around for any sign of Kisame. In the distance I could see something swimming towards me, and as it approached I realized it was one of Kisame's sharks.

I desperately swam for the surface.

The shark slammed into my back before I could make it above water.

I opened my mouth to scream and accidently inhaled water and began to choke.

The shark turned around ramming into me a second time, this time cutting my thigh with its teeth immobilizing me.

I was losing oxygen and becoming light headed. I knew I didn't have enough time to swim to the surface.

I started to lose consciousness as I sank to the bottle of Kisame's water prison.

I felt a hand grip my arm.

I was pulled to the surface, coughing up water out of my lungs the moment I inhaled oxygen.

I opened my eyes to Itachi being locked in a death glare with Kisame.

Without giving me a glance Itachi gently laid me on the ground as he stood.

"You tried to kill her just now" It was a statement not a question.

"I'm giving her a realistic round of training" he responded.

"You threw a temper tantrum the second she threatened your ego. I've been watching the spar this entire time. I saw everything." Itachi's voice remained calm although his chakra told another story.

Kisame snorted as if offended by the thought of me being able to get under his skin. "She could never threaten me, I was merely giving her a lesson."

"I specifically said she was not to be harmed by extreme, unnecessary jutsu." Itachi's voice was still calm but it sounded deadly.

"Then train her yourself If you have a problem with the way I do things, Itachi." He purposely emphasized his name.

Itachi said nothing. In an instant Kisame was brought to his knees falling over unconscious.

"Perhaps a few days inside of the tyuksomi will serve you well" he said as he turned back to me, crimson blazing bright.

"Can you walk?" he asked.

I pushed off the ground with my non broken hand, and went to stand. Succeeding I took a step and my knees buckled. I went falling forward but Itachi caught me by the arm before I hit the ground.

"Thank you"

I let out a surprised yelp as I was suddenly swooped off of my feet into his arms.

He had one arm tucked under my knees and the other supported my back as he carried back inside the compound.

"Hn"

That was Itachi's way of saying, you're welcome."

"Sakura-Chan! What happened?" Deidera ran down the hallway towards Itachi and I.

"I'm fine, I just got into a bad spar with Kisame. He tried to kill me….again…." I rolled my eyes.

Ignoring Deidera's presence, Itachi continued walking down the hall. We approached my bedroom and he shifted my weight in his arms as he reached for the door knob, twisting it to open the door.

Walking to my bed, he set me down leaning my body against the head board.

"I'll go get you some stuff for those cuts, yeah?" Deidera said as he walked through the door.

"That won't be necessary, she can heal herself." Itachi stopped him before he turned around to leave.

"Not after a fight like that, she won't have enough chakra. She needs those cuts and scrapes attended to" he responded.

"I will take care of that myself, Deidera." I could tell Itachi was annoyed.

"Then I'll bring you some herbal tea, yeah?" he said.

Itachi looked over his shoulder and glared something fierce at Deidera.

"That would be very helpful Deidera, thank you." I smiled at him as he turned around walking out of the door.

"I can tend the wounds myself." I turned my attention back to Itachi.

"Hn."

"Or Deidera could dress them, I'm sure you have more important things to do."

"Deidera will not dress your wounds." He replied.

"Why not?" I asked.

Before he could answer Deidera was back with my tea.

"This should help, yea?" he said as he set it on the bedside table.

"Thank you Deidera." I smiled as a shiver visibly shook my body.

"You're cold?" he asked.

"Yeah, I've lost a little blood and Im still wet from Kisame's water justu."

Deidera removed his red clouded cloak and put it around my shoulders.

"There, that should keep you warm. I have another so you can keep it as long as you need it, yeah?" he smiled.

I felt the tension build in the room, I was certain Itachi was going to explode.

I touched Deidera's hand lightly "You've been kind to me, thank you Deidera. I think im going to get some rest now."

Catching on to my hint to leave, he grabbed my hand squeezing it as his piercing blue eyes stared into mine. "Anytime Sakura-chan." He shifted his eyes to gaze at Itachi.

"Leader has requested your presence this evening." Was the last thing he said before exiting the bedroom.

"Leader?" I asked.

"The leader of the Akautski" he said as he stood removing Deidera's cloak from my shoulders ripping a strip of cloth away.

"Itachi!" I scolded.

"He said he had another." Walking out the room and across the hall I head running water shut on and off. Itachi returned with a bowl of steaming water with the torn piece of cloth floating in it.

Kneeling down at the side of the bed he grabbed both of my cheeks in his hand and tilted my head back.

"Your nose is broken, it needs to be reset." Shifting his gaze to my hand he observed my swollen fingers.

"Your three fingers as well." He finished.

I had reset many broken bones during my time in the hospital, as well as my own on mission and it was a pain that was never pleasant. My stomach turned at the thought of having to reset three fingers in a row and my nose.

"Just get it over with. Start with my fingers." I sighed.

Standing from the kneeling position he was in, Itachi sat on the edge of my bed, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward so that my chin rested on his shoulder. Sliding his hand down my arm he gently held my hand in his.

"I'm ready" I said reluctantly.

A wave of nausea rushed through me as he pulled the first finger back into place. I clenched my teeth, refusing to let a scream escape my lips. I instead grunted loudly and squeezed my eyes shut.

Without hesitation Itachi moved to the next finger, pulling it back into the socket. I couldn't hold my screams back this time, the pain was truly nauseating.

If my screams into his ear were bothersome, Itachi didn't make it known. He quietly moved on to the next finger pulling it, but it wouldn't budge. Tears escaped my eyes as the waves of nausea caused me to dry heave.

"I'm going to have to pull harder this time" Itachi warned me.

I braced myself as he grabbed the finger again and jerked harder and faster, I let out a blood curdling scream as I heard the snap! Of my finger popping back into place.

I collapsed into Itachi, my chin hanging over his shoulder. I felt my chest rise and fall as I panted breathlessly. Itachi sat there quietly letting me cry into him, until I caught my breath and the nausea passed.

A few moments later I lifted my head from his shoulder.

"I'm fine now." I was reassuring myself more so than him.

"Let's just get it over with and do my nose next." I cringed at the thought.

Grabbing my chin with his hand he tilted my head back slightly, pinching the bridge of my nose between his purple painted thumb and pointer finger.

His onxy eyes gazed into mine as he yanked my nose to the side with a pop!

My eyes snapped shut at the wave of pain that followed the loud pop! And I let out a somewhat muted scream between my clenched teeth.

I could feel the stream of blood that escaped my nose.

Leaning over towards the side table, he grabbed the ripped cloth from Deidera's cloak out of the steaming bowl of water and rung it out. Turning back to me he tiled my head backwards and wiped away the blood escaping my nose.

A few moments later the flow stopped and Itachi rang the bloodied cloth out into the bowl of water.

"Rest and heal the rest of your wounds when you wake. There will be food to eat in the kitchen, help yourself." He said as he stood to exit the room.

Still somewhat breathless, I leaned back onto my pillow and fell into an instant slumber.

Itachi

Deidera was truly irritating and his hovering was beginning to try my patience. There was good reason I chose Kisame as my partner over him, he was too emotional, and annoying. Always going on about his love for art. The only time he was truly infuriated is whenever someone insulted his "art".

"Leader has requested your presence this evening."

"Hn." I already knew what he was summoning me for.

"Leader?" she asked.

Her curiosity always had her asking questions she didn't need to know the answers to.

"The leader of the Akatskui" I took Deidera's cloak from around her shoulders ripping a piece off to distract her from asking any further questions. I knew it would evoke a reaction out of her.

"Itachi!"

I knew that would work.

"He said he had another." I didn't understand why she cared anyway, there was nothing special about Deidera's cloak.

Walking to the bathroom I scowled at the thought of him grabbing her hand. It was clear he had developed feelings for her, and he was doing his best to make sure he displayed them in front of me. As if I cared. Just as emotional as he's always been.

You do care.

I returned to the room and knelt down at her bedside examining her face.

"Your nose it broken, it needs to be reset."

I glanced at her swollen hand.

"Your three fingers as well."

"Just get it over with. Start with my fingers."

I moved from the floor and sat on the edge of her bed. I grabbed her arm and pulled her into my chest, resting her chin on my shoulder. Sliding my hand down her arm I took her hand in mine.

Her hand feels warm. I'll just hold it here a little longer.

"I'm ready." Her voice tore me away from my inner thoughts.

I pulled the first finger back into place, expecting her to scream but she didn't.

She was truly resilient and it intrigued me.

I snapped he second one back into place and a scream escaped her lips, ringing my ears.

I pulled the third finger. It did not budge.

She began to gag and dry heave, I gave her a few moments to gather herself.

"I'm going to have to pull harder and faster this time." I warned her.

I felt her body tense as she braced herself. I gave a hard tug as her finger audibly made it known it had popped back into place.

She screamed into my ear once again, this time sobbing uncontrollably as she clenched the back on my shirt in her hand. I sat and waited for her to finish.

A few moments later her crying subsided "I'm okay now." She told me. "Let's just do my nose and get it over with."

I grabbed her face with my hand and tilted it back, pinching the bridge of her nose between my two fingers.

I observed her tear filled, jade eyes. Slightly blood shot, I could see that despite her pain she was still intent on remaining strong. I found myself wanting to take away her pain.

You want to protect her don't you?

"I'm ready." She didn't sound like she meant it.

I snapped her nose to the side, hearing the pop snap as it shifted back into place. A stream of blood escaped her nose. I grabbed the wet cloth and caught the blood. A few moments later the bleeding stopped and I stood to leave.

"Rest and heal yourself when you wake. There will be food in the kitchen, help yourself."

I opened the door and glanced back for a moment to see that she had passed out almost instantly.

"Foolish girl…." I said aloud.

I'd at least thought she would remove her wet clothes to prevent growing ill with cold.

Closing the door I walked back over to her bedside and observed her appearance. Her mesh top was bloodied and torn, her navy slacks were ripped wide open at the thigh and her long pink hair was damp and caked with blood and dirt at the ends.

I removed her shirt, being careful not to wake her. Throwing it to the side I removed her boots from her feet, and unbuttoned her pants sliding them off and throwing them to the floor.

All that remained was her black undergarments; black underwear and black bra cupped her breasts. I gazed upon her frame observing how muscular she actually was. Her perfectly toned abs rose and fell with each breath as she slept soundly. Her thighs were lean and muscular and extended into short lean legs. Her feet were small, and surprisingly smooth and well-kept for a kunocichi. Although at the time her nose was swollen, and her lip was busted her skin was a smooth ivory, framed by long pink locks of hair. There was nothing extraordinary about her but she was undoubtedly, a pretty girl.

I wondered how I never noticed how perfect her body was before considering I had seen her naked twice before. Although the first time I paid no attention because…

Because you were too busy raping her?

I flinched at the thought of it.

Don't pretend like it didn't happen.

Whatever.

You still regret it.

I don't regret anything.

But you are sorry.

She stirred in her sleep causing me to freeze and break away from my inner thoughts.

She slowly opened her eyes staring right at me.

"Sasuke..? What are you doing here? We've been looking for you?" she whispered still half asleep.

I remained still and said nothing.

"I miss you…please come home to me…" she mumbled as she drifted back to sleep.

So she's in love with Sasuke. Foolish girl, the only thing Sasuke cares about is killing me. Wasting her time on someone who would never lover her back.

And you would?

I love no one.

But you care for her, more than you've cared for anyone in a long time.

Itachi knew there was truth to his inner thoughts but he would not let them surface. Not now, not ever.

Grabbing the blanket from the end of her bed he laid it over the pink haired kunoichi and left the room.

Itachi

"Itachi Uchiha…I have a proposition" his baritone voice echoed within the dungeon.

Itachi stood before him, refusing to kneel like the rest of them did. Kneeling was beneath him.

"The girl, you've grown attached to her have you not?" he asked.

I remained expressionless.

"The kunoichi? She means nothing to me." I replied.

He laughed dangerously.

"Do you take me for a fool Itachi? The others have reported to me that you haven't taken her on one mission yet. How do you expect to use her to gain Orochimaru's trust about infiltrating the leaf if she won't be able to help you retrieve Sasuke from Orochimaru?" He asked.

"She is merely bait and leverage." I was becoming suspicious of his intentions.

"She must be able to defend herself and fight. What good is she as leverage if she dies in battle? And if she isn't well trained enough to fight alongside you, she becomes a liability, causing you to be distracted trying to keep her alive instead of focusing on the objective of the mission." He said.

"She has been training but she is not ready." I lied.

"I wonder why that is? I was told you put Kisame in a Tyuksomi because he harmed the girl in training."

Damn you Deidera and your big mouth.

"He tried to kill her." I was becoming annoyed with this useless conversation.

"Is that so? Or was he pushing her too hard and you over reacted?" he was questioning my true intentions.

"Why would I care?" I snorted.

His fixed his sharigan on mine.

I was brought to my knees by an electrical shock that waved through my body. Cringing in pain I snapped my head up glaring his way.

"Do not take me for a fool." He warned.

He released the jutsu and I picked myself off of the ground standing on my two feet and looked him head on.

"I want the girl to join the Akatksui. Her medical abilities have nearly passed the Godaime Hokage, she is a great asset."he said.

Infuriated, I had to gather myself before speaking.

"She will never comply."

"If you convince her she will."

"And how do you suppose I do that?" I asked.

"Win her over, make her want to join. You have a way of convincing people Itachi, you're one of the most intelligent shinobi to ever grace the Uchiha clan." He said.

"That's not an answer. What do you expect me to do, Madara?" I asked again, this time with clear irritation.

"Make her fall in love with you."

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