Chapter 17 – You Don't Know The Meaning Of Torture
"Itachi. Explain what has happened."
But he could not focus on their words.
He was staring at his clan, looking his father dead in the eye, but his mind was elsewhere. The bond was calling to him, screaming at him, because of Sakura's pain. She was crying and it was like Itachi could see into her mind as she had finally let down her guards, her pain so great that it let him in and–
The sight was horrific.
She was leaning over one of Orochimaru's lackeys, begging the woman not to make her kill her. Her tears were splatting onto Karin's face – as he soon discovered her name – and her nails were digging harshly into her palms, though the skin remained unbroken. And it only got worse from there as somebody lifted Sakura away from Karin, the sight of Sasuke approaching her immediately causing Itachi to growl, the sound coming from deep within his chest.
If Sasuke was not the one holding Sakura, then who was?
His eyes narrowed dangerously, back straightening as the sound of a thousand screaming birds boomed inside of his head and had he been a weaker man, had he not been who he was, Itachi would have crumbled in on himself, clutching desperately at his head at the pain the sound created. Instead, he grew angrier, especially as Karin screamed when Sasuke's hand ripped through her chest.
But Sakura was no longer watching, she was burying her face into somebody's shoulder, crying against them.
And all it took was a single glance at the man's face to know what he was.
He was wearing a uniform, was wearing a forehead protector that signified him as…
"Hunters."
Shisui narrowed his eyes and stepped closer to Itachi, though wisely did not reach out to touch him. It would be foolish to do so when the bond was calling to him so strongly. "What is happening, Itachi?"
His sightless eyes moved this way and that as Itachi rummaged through Sakura's thoughts, grabbing whatever information he could. It was like a race against time and if he took too long, there was no doubt in his mind that he would be shut out the second Sakura realised what was happening. Right now, however, she was in too much emotional pain.
"They have formed an alliance with hunters," Itachi informed them, earning shocked gasps and angered growls. "They were previously going to attack, to try and defeat Sasuke and Sakura, but…" His eyes narrowed a fraction. "One of them knew Sakura whilst she was still human. Sai. The former lover of Sakura's best friend, Ino. It is Ino – or her memory – that stopped Sai from attacking, that stopped him from allowing his team to attack her."
"Why the hell have they formed an alliance with hunters?" Tsunade snarled, fists clenching tightly.
Silence for a few moments as Itachi dug deeper.
"Orochimaru."
The name had them all freezing.
"Orochimaru has Sakura's parents."
Mikoto was on her feet in an instant, eyes narrowing dangerously and her Sharingan activating. "Where are they, Itachi?"
"Oto. Orochimaru told Sakura that they were in Oto, though the pair of them have been tracking her parents by their scent. Sasuke knew it would be useless to track Orochimaru, so instead locked onto her parents' scents." Itachi took a deep breath, attempting to remain calm so that Sakura would not sense him. "It's all a trap."
Fugaku dropped his arms from their folded position over his chest. "Explain."
"It is all a trap to get a hold of Sasuke. He–"
When Itachi winced and clutched the side of his head, Tsunade quickly summoned her chakra and made her way over to him, only to have him hold out his other hand to stop her.
"Sakura has shut me out."
"What are we waiting for?" Naruto demanded, eyes wide with horror but his expression determined. "We need to catch up to them and help them!"
Jiraiya nodded once and placed his hand on Naruto's shoulder, telling him without words to calm down. "I agree with Naruto. Sasuke and Sakura have no idea what they're getting themselves into by facing Orochimaru like this. They're fighting on his ground and he'll be familiar with the territory. That's not even–"
He was cut off when Itachi shook his head and straightened once more, hand dropping to his side when the pain eased somewhat. To be forcibly removed like that, to have what felt like an impenetrable, metal gate between himself and Sakura, was agonising. It had felt like his mind was on fire and if Itachi merely approached the gate, the pain would return. "Sasuke is keeping his mind emptied. He knows how to take on a witch such as Orochimaru, but you're right, Jiraiya–sama. They do not know what they're getting themselves into. Sasuke is not ready to battle Orochimaru."
And Sakura…
Hidden by the sleeves of his plain burgundy cloak, Itachi's fists clenched tightly.
She did not stand a chance.
The Sabaku clan exchanged glances, as did Obito's clan. All of them knew what this battle against Orochimaru and his lackeys would mean. For some of them, it could possibly mean death and there was no coming back from that, from a vampire's death.
Both Gaara and Obito stepped forward at the same time, features serious and deadly.
"My clan will fight alongside you."
Obito nodded once. "As will mine. We're tired of hiding away."
The Uchiha clan all looked to their leader because, despite their feelings, it all went down to Fugaku in the end. However, they all knew that Itachi would not pay attention to his father should he be told to let things run their course. Not only him, but also Mikoto. They would disobey him, meaning Fugaku didn't really have a choice. Even if they didn't disobey, he would personally go after Sasuke. He was his son.
"How far are we?"
Itachi went through what he'd gathered of Sakura's thoughts. "We will have to push ourselves."
Tapping her finger against her bicep, Tsunade scowled, trying to ignore the pleading look that was coming from Naruto. After all, he was a member of her clan. Well, technically, it was Jiraiya's clan, but that was neither here nor there. They all knew who really wore the pants in their strange relationship and it certainly was not him.
"Shisui," she murmured, brows furrowing. "How far are you able to transport?"
"A couple hundred miles at most, as we have proved today. However, I can only take a certain amount of people with me at a time. It depletes my chakra by too much."
Her eyes narrowed a fraction. If they were going up against Orochimaru, they would need Shisui at his best, for he was one of their strongest fighters. He was unbelievably fast and his eyes were on such a level that it made power hungry fools such as Orochimaru salivate at just the mention of his name. Lifting one of her hands, Tsunade chewed on her thumb nail, appearing to be deep in thought.
Itachi glanced at his cousin, emotions being guarded once more. "How many can you transport at once?"
"Including myself," Shisui didn't need to think about it long, "five."
So the size of their clan before Sakura had joined them. It made sense that that was the number Shisui could only go up to. Why? Because that was the only amount of people he'd had practice with. Since Sakura joined them, he hadn't held any need to transport them all, neither had there been a chance to practice. To do so now would be incredibly risky and not only that, it could be dangerous for Shisui. If his concentration slipped for just a fraction of a second while transporting so many people, going such a great distance, they could end up anywhere and possibly not all in one piece.
Obito stepped forward. "I can also use transportation and my chakra reserves are full." When the others silently demanded answers, he shrugged and his single eye's Sharingan morphed into a new design. "This was activated when I saw Rin almost die. Along with this eye, Kakashi's also transformed. Alone, I can transport a few people at once and it takes a few moments. Together, we can take as many as we want and will be much faster."
Tsunade dropped her hand to her side and narrowed her eyes. "How many have you carried so far? And how does your transportation work?"
"It will be easier to show you," Kakashi informed them.
And a second later, it was like Obito was vanishing into a hole, the hole being his eye until there was nothing left.
They all turned quickly when they sensed him reappearing outside, waving once to them.
"As for how many we can take at once," the silver–grey haired man sighed, "it's unclear. Neither Obito nor I have ever had any need to transport so many people. Don't forget: Rin and Obito have remained in hiding up until a few months ago."
Glancing up at her husband as Obito returned to the cabin, Mikoto frowned softly. There had to be something they could do. Not only was their eldest son's mate out there, but also their youngest son. Their Sasuke. It was safe to say that Mikoto had always babied him, had always held him so very close to her. For a while (of their human life) she'd even tried to hide Itachi's illness from him, knowing how badly it would hurt Sasuke, but it was like he sensed something was wrong. Just one look at Itachi when they returned from the hospital and Sasuke knew that his older brother was dying. Oh he had been inconsolable for months.
"We need to try," Mikoto quietly begged her mate, her hand on his arm. "Please, Fugaku. Sasuke… Sasuke is our son."
"I have already agreed that we are going, Mikoto," he told her patiently.
"I mean…" she sighed and shut her eyes. "Obito–san's and Kakashi–san's transportation. Allow them to try."
His dark eyes drifted from his mate's still activated Sharingan once they opened again and up to Obito and Kakashi's, narrowing fractionally as they did so. There was so much risk going up against Orochimaru in the states that they were in. Some of them only had half of their chakra while others were slowly going back to full strength. However, it would be so much more risky for his son and for Sakura.
"They are Uchiha."
The others all looked to Fugaku when his Sharingan activated, when he gently pulled away from Mikoto.
"We do not leave any Uchiha clansmen to fight alone."
Itachi nodded his thanks once, whereas Naruto yelled out gratefully and punched the air.
"Shisui, you will take our clan as close as you possibly can. Obito, you take everyone else. However, before we attack, we must hunt. I will not have any of you dying." Tsunade opened her mouth to argue, about to ask Fugaku who the hell he thought he was to order her around, but he swiftly cut her off. "Tsunade–sama, you must be at full strength if you are to fight alongside Sasuke. He will need both yours and Jiraiya–sama's help in this battle."
Damned Uchiha, Tsunade growled, though nodded once. "Everyone, gather whatever weapons are in this cabin. If you have your own, then great. That brat of yours is like a hoarder, Fugaku. He kept bringing more and more weapons to the cabin, stashing them away in certain parts. Naruto! You know where they will be. Find them and bring all of Sasuke's weapons to me."
In a second, the Uzumaki was gone. Itachi sighed. He'd known all about his brother's 'hoarding', as Tsunade had called it. Though, in his eyes, Sasuke was not hoarding weapons. He was being prepared, making sure he was ready for an attack at any moment. And not just him, either. He didn't want any of them to be unarmed if they somehow couldn't wield their chakra and use their jutsu.
And now those weapons would be coming in handy.
"I don't know about you, Jiraiya, but I plan to make this my last battle against Orochimaru," Tsunade muttered as she folded her arms over her ample chest, narrowing her eyes up at the man. "What he has done is unforgivable and he needs to pay for it."
Jiraiya nodded once.
"Itachi." He glanced down at Tsunade. "Pass me your hand. Since you're going to be leaving with your clan, Obito will need to know everything. I can try and pick up Sakura's parents' scents while I'm at it."
It took a lot to remain blank, to not allow his frown to show. "Is that a wise choice, Tsunade–sama? I can assure you now that their scents are powerful. When I visited Sakura's former home, even though her mother was not present, her scent was still powerful." His eyes skimmed along the gathered vampires. "Sakura will never forgive us if anything happens to them."
"Which is why only I will be tracking them," Tsunade murmured, also knowing the risks. "I promise you, Itachi, I will not allow any harm to come to Sakura's parents. She is my student, therefore, they are under my protection."
If the others were surprised about Tsunade's feelings towards Sakura, and her wish to never see the younger woman hurting, they said nothing.
"Very well."
Itachi refrained from sighing and held out his hand to Tsunade, simply wishing that she would only take what she needed and not have to go through all his memories with Sakura. To give her credit, it was obvious that, when she took his hand and closed her eyes, Tsunade concentrated hard on leaving his private moments with Sakura alone, instead mainly focusing on their conversations. There was only one slight slip up and she surprisingly apologised to him about it. It had been the memory of him and Sakura at the lake only a few miles from the cabin and she had thought they would be saying something important, only to see Sakura undressing in front of Itachi. It was obvious what had been about to happen due to Itachi's thoughts, due to his body's reaction as well as the look in Sakura's eyes.
The memory was shut away instantly, along with the apology being said. It took a few moments to go all the way back to the first week of Sakura's new life but once she saw the memories, Tsunade was quietly muttering "damn it" to herself.
"Sakura is trying to shut me out of your memories."
The girl should have know by now that it was impossible. Tsunade was a hell of a lot more powerful than her and her abilities with the bond were definitely a lot more refined, although there was no denying that she put up one hell of a fight. Not only was Tsunade more powerful, however, but these were also Itachi's memories. He easily opened them up for Tsunade to see.
During the process, Naruto returned, his arms full with a pile of weapons that went right over his head. And when he dumped them all onto the dining table, most of the weapons dropping to the ground with a clash, he smiled sheepishly at Mikoto and Jiraiya, who both noticed that some of the weapons had damaged the flooring. It was with a sigh that the two older vampires got to picking them all up again and sorting them into orderly piles. There were thirteen piles in total, meaning one pile for each vampire.
The Sabaku clan tried to refuse, telling them that they had their own weapons, but Mikoto quietly asked them to cooperate, as it was just a precaution. After all, what if Gaara's sand was countered? What if somebody completely soaked it with water, therefore making it heavy and more or less useless? Or what if Temari's fan was damaged? Or Kankuro's puppets were destroyed?
Rin smiled politely and accepted the pouch handed to her, pausing for a moment to admire the Uchiha emblem on the side of it, before glancing up at Obito, offering him a small smile as she handed him a pouch, too. There was a great worry in his eye as he watched his mate, not liking the thought of her going into battle in the slightest. His mate was not a warrior. She was a medic. Yes, she could wield a kunai and could throw shuriken, but she wasn't incredibly skilled at it. Fighting just never came naturally to her and at best, she was adequate.
Then again…
His eye narrowed as he picked up a storage scroll.
"It's water," Shisui informed him, stepping closer and gesturing to his own scroll. "Whilst training, Sasuke often has the tendency to go a little overboard and push his jutsu to their limits, leading to many fires in the past. If one of us are not there to counter the fire, Sasuke uses these scrolls, as he is still practising with his water element."
He nodded once and handed his water summoning scroll to Rin and a moment later, Kakashi was doing the same. They both had many jutsu up their sleeves, having been copying them with their Sharingan and a good portion of them were water jutsu. Rin's element was earth and already knowing what was going through their minds, and knowing there was no use in arguing, she accepted both scrolls with a grateful smile.
"We fight in our clans," Jiraiya decided once everybody except for Tsunade and Itachi had picked up their pouches and sorted through their weapons. "Naruto, Tsunade and I will go straight to Orochimaru and Sasuke."
Naruto punched his fist into the palm of his hand, nodding once. "All right!"
Temari frowned, hand resting on the top of her fan as she leaned against it. Usually she would keep it on her back but she had been examining it, making sure that there would be no mishaps or problems. "You're taking Naruto straight to Orochimaru? Is that a good idea?"
Just as Naruto yelled out loud with anger, just as Jiraiya sighed and opened his mouth, Gaara cut them both off, his eyes seeming bored. "Naruto is more powerful than he appears, Temari. Do not underestimate him. Many in the past have, including myself, and he defeated me." Meeting Naruto's eyes, Gaara raised a brow. "And though he only barely made it out alive, most likely, Naruto has been training since our battle over fifty years ago. No doubt he is much stronger than he was back then."
Said blond grinned wickedly and nodded once. "No doubt you are, too. Oi, Gaara! As soon as we deal with these bastards, we're going to spar again."
Spar, Gaara inwardly snorted. Their previous battle had been to the death (even though neither of them had died). How Naruto could call it a spar was beyond him, though Gaara knew it would do no good to try and get inside of that head of his. It gave him a headache simply trying to think like Naruto.
It was Kankuro who spoke next, slipping his puppet scrolls onto his back. "I've been wanting to try out my puppets since I added new parts to them."
Naruto's grin widened. "Since Sakura–chan destroyed them so easily, right?"
"Easily!" he scoffed in return and shook his head. "That girl has monstrous strength–"
"What was that?"
He closed his dark eyes, willing to ignore his gut instinct to duck behind Temari or Gaara. "Nothing, Tsunade–sama."
When the hell had she stopped reading the Uchiha's mind?
"I have a lock on her parents," she murmured, dismissing Kankuro's comment about monstrous strength as she accepted a pouch from Jiraiya, placing it over her hip. It didn't even occur to her how she didn't check the pouch, because Tsunade knew she could trust Jiraiya with her life. "If we transport to the border of Oto, I should be able to track them from there. Will you be able to do that, Obito?"
Turning away from his mate, he nodded once.
"Good." Glancing around the room, she then ordered, "Jiraiya, myself and Naruto will go straight to Sasuke and assist him in his battle against Orochimaru. Sabaku clan and Uchiha – no, Obito's clan, you will take care of his lackeys. Uchiha clan, you will assist Sakura in finding her parents. Itachi, your bond with Sakura will be useful here. She may be shutting you out, but you are still connected. Follow your bond and it will lead you straight to her. I will be doing the same for Sasuke. One last thing," Tsunade muttered, honey brown eyes narrowing dangerously. "Don't any of you dare die out there! Hunt before going into battle or, if you're not particularly fussed, hunt while there. I don't care. Just don't any of you die!"
It was with those words that they set out.
She kept her eyes forward, refusing to look at any of them.
No, Sakura didn't blame them for what had happened, for the loss of Karin. Considering who they were going up against, it would be better if she was dead. Orochimaru had kept Karin close to him when she and Itachi crossed paths with him and later, it had been explained to her that Karin was a sensory type, one of the best at it. It left Orochimaru at a slight disadvantage now that she was gone, though they weren't counting on that fact. They didn't allow the hope to swell within them because, as Sasuke had stated, the witch was very powerful and most likely had many tricks up his sleeve.
However… Looking at this not in a battle–type mind, Sakura couldn't help but feel like she'd gone against her beliefs. Karin had been a living person. Yes, she had gotten involved with dark magic, but who knows? It may not have been voluntarily! Orochimaru could have forced her into it. He could have kidnapped her when he heard about her abilities, just like he was trying to take over Sasuke's body.
Thankfully, one of the hunters was a water element and had aided Sasuke in washing the blood from his hand and arm. It had been a sickening sight but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was the smell of it, the fact that Karin had been laying there, bleeding out, and all Sakura could think about was drinking every last drop of her blood. In the end, Sasuke had ordered Sai and Tenzo to take Sakura away, to do whatever they had to – except for killing her – to keep her from drinking Karin's blood.
Ten minutes later and Sasuke as well as the other two hunters approached them, telling them it was time to set off again.
Had they just left her laying there? Had they buried Karin? Cremated her?
Sadly, none of those were what had happened.
Instead Karin had been stored away in a scroll, one that was handed to Sai since he was the captain of the team. Right at that moment in time the scroll was tucked away in his backpack, waiting for him to return to wherever the hunter's headquarters were, so that Karin could be handed over. What would happen from there? It was highly probable that she would be dissected and examined, so that hunters could find more ways to disable a witch without killing it.
It wasn't fair. At the end of the day, Karin was human. Yes, she was a witch, but Itachi had explained to her that witches were still human. They were mortal. Well, except for Orochimaru who had apparently made himself immortal, but what Itachi had also told her was that there was always a flaw. Everything had a flaw. For example, the Sharingan: while it could predict his opponent's movements, if Itachi or any other Uchiha (or Kakashi) were not fast enough, they would not be able to counter, block or dodge. Another example would be hers and Tsunade's monstrous strength. It was devastating and terrifying, yes, but it was hardly discreet.
Something else that had been bothering her…
"Itachi has told Tsunade–sama what we're doing."
Sasuke's eyes immediately snapped to hers, widening a fraction. "You let him in?"
"My guards were down for a second–"
"That's all the time he needs!" the Uchiha snapped at her, coming to an abrupt stop and forcing Sakura to stop mere inches from him, her eyes widening as she did so. If she leaned back just an inch, she would fall off the branch and to the ground. "Do you have any idea what's going to happen now?"
The hunters stopped on the branch behind theirs, though Sai leapt onto the branch they were standing on and moved to stand beside Sakura, narrowing his eyes on Sasuke. "She was upset. Unlike yourself, Sakura experiences human emotions. Seeing you dispose of Karin like that will obviously get to her. She's only–"
When he cut himself off, Sakura bit the inside of her cheek, lowering her eyes a fraction before looking Sasuke in the eye once more. She's only human, was what Sai was going to say. And even though Sasuke was still so very angry at her slip up, he sighed and gave her a more understanding look, despite still seeming cold.
"Sai–taichou," the hunter with purple hair called, "this must be difficult for you, but you must remember that she is no longer human and after this battle, Haruno Sakura will once more be your enemy."
Enemies.
Why…?
Why couldn't she have both lives? Both her human and her vampire life?
"Don't start questioning yourself," Sasuke muttered to her warningly, though beneath, there seemed to be a tone of pleading. "Itachi will never forgive himself if you change your mind."
"I won't." She shook her head, unable to believe how Sasuke could think such a thing. "Itachi… I've told you all so many times now what he means to me, Sasuke. Nothing could ever change that."
He nodded once, secretly thankful for the knowledge. It wasn't blatantly obvious, but Sasuke had been able to pick up on Itachi's torn emotions very briefly during the first couple of months of Sakura's change. He wanted her. Oh, his brother had definitely wanted Sakura to be by his side for the rest of eternity as his mate, however, he couldn't decide on whether or not he was just being a selfish man. And whilst Itachi had been watching Sakura, Sasuke had been watching Itachi. He watched as his brother grew more entranced by her, watched the subtle yet somewhat obvious shift in their relationship, watched as it grew more intimate. He watched as they went from close friends to lovers.
They were mates.
Itachi could no longer feel any guilt, but Sasuke knew it would be lingering in the back of his mind, waiting for just a slight change in Sakura's emotions, her wants.
"What do you think Uchiha Itachi will do?" Tenzo questioned.
Both Sakura and Sasuke exchanged a smirk, the former murmuring, "Itachi is too unpredictable to try and predict his movements." Glancing to the side, glancing at the other hunters, Sakura continued. "It would be best if we start moving now. Even though it's impossible to try and predict what he'll do, Itachi has one ultimate goal."
The hunters exchanged wary, suspicious looks before Sai asked, "And that is?"
Sasuke's smirk widened. "To protect those he cares for."
If they were in danger, he would tear apart whoever was blocking his path to protect them. He would push himself impossibly hard to be there for them, to fight for them. It was downright insanity to underestimate Uchiha Itachi and his emotions. He may seem emotionless, may seem empty and cold and so very unapproachable, but the truth was, was that he was the exact opposite. All Itachi did was keep those emotions hidden, so that nobody could take advantage of them. The truth was, was that he would do absolutely anything to keep the peace, to protect his most precious people.
"How is your chakra?" Sasuke asked her, assessing her features.
She swallowed. "We're close, aren't we?"
"Minutes away. Their scent is… incredibly strong now."
"I'll be fine," Sakura assured him, confident in her strength yet so very scared of being in the presence of Orochimaru once more. She could still remember how scared she had been the first time and that was with Itachi standing in front of her, protecting her. There was no telling how scared she would be when facing him with Sasuke. "Yours?"
He nodded once.
Sakura turned her back on him once he had, watching the hunters before her eyes went straight to Sai's. "And what about you and your team? Do you have enough chakra?"
Sai's eyes met every set in his team and nodded once when his dark eyes clashed with Sakura's once more. "It is surreal that this is actually happening. That we, who are supposed to be enemies, are going to be fighting on the same side."
She offered him a small, shaky smile, her nerves once again clawing at her insides. "If only Ino could see us now, right?"
Instead of snapping at her not to use Ino's name like he had previously, Sai returned her smile with his own, though it looked more like a smirk. "Ino would be standing in front of us with the fire of hell in her eyes."
That was so true. No matter how strong Orochimaru was, Ino would have torn him to shreds for merely thinking about harming Sakura or her parents. "It's going to be one hell of a story to tell her one day."
He didn't comment on the fact Sakura was supposedly immortal, instead nodding.
"Let's go," Sasuke muttered. "We need to end this before it gets dark."
And then they were entering Oto, Sasuke leading the way as he followed her parents' scents. It grew difficult halfway, however, when they found that Oto wasn't just barren wastelands and fields and hideouts. It was an actual village, one that was filled with families and the elderly. There were children running blissfully unaware in the streets, crying out happily and shrieking with laughter as they chased each other. There were young couples arm in arm as they browsed the market stalls. There were the elderly, who were slowly travelling down the streets on a pleasant afternoon walk.
It was not anything like Sakura had been imagining. She'd been picturing Oto to be like a run down, abandoned temple. Or a gigantic hideout, complete with cobwebs and rats and who knows what else. This… This was completely normal. It looked so… normal! How was that possible?
"Don't let your guards down," Sasuke ordered in a quiet mutter, eyes fixed ahead of himself and his hand falling to the hilt of his katana.
She followed Sasuke's orders without question, features set into a determined mask and her fists clenched, her gloves creaking with the movement. And as they continued their walk through Oto, surveying the village as they did so, Sakura noticed how they were moving away from the village, from civilisation – like they'd simply been cutting through Oto's village.
Sakura looked over her shoulder at the village, frowning softly as she did so. She was glad they wouldn't be fighting in such a populated area, around so many children and other innocent civilians. It just wasn't right. It would be–
"Stop."
They immediately stopped in their walk.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed, his Sharingan shifting slightly to the right. "Show yourselves."
And at his command, a group of three appeared before them. They appeared to be human, but the way Sasuke straightened, the way his eyes narrowed even further, told her that they were not mere humans. They were Orochimaru's lackeys, most likely witches. Also, unlike those in the village, these men were not washed or in the slightest bit clean and Sakura's sensitive nose burned as the wind blew their putrid scent right up her nose.
"Orochimaru–sama sent us to welcome you all." The tallest one smirked nastily. "He's very excited to meet you."
"Go ahead," Sai ordered as he and his team moved forward and in front of Sasuke and Sakura. "We will take care of them."
Sakura hesitated when Sasuke nodded and began walking once more, her eyes fixed on Sai's back.
"Go, Sakura," he ordered, not even looking at her. "Save your parents."
Her parents…
It was reluctantly, though not entirely so, that Sakura turned her back on the others and followed Sasuke as he picked up speed, leaping high into the air when he did and attaching herself to what appeared to be a mountain with her chakra. Wait… No, it wasn't a mountain. It was much too small to be one, though it was way too big to be called a mere rock. Whatever it was, it was big enough to hold a cave, which was something Sakura discovered when she and Sasuke climbed inside of it.
There was nobody there. Not that she could see, anyway. Of course, Sakura could sense that there were people not too far from them, but she couldn't actually see anybody. Narrowing her eyes, she took a step forward and demanded herself to focus entirely on the spirits she could sense. Forty in total. Including those outside, there were forty–three of Orochimaru's lackeys.
"How many?"
"Too many." Sensing that Sasuke didn't appreciate her mysteriousness, Sakura sighed. "Forty of them if we're not including the three outside."
"Is that including Orochimaru?"
After a moment, Sakura shook her head. "I know his spirit. When Itachi and I encountered him, it was a horrible, murky gold colour. I can't even see my dad's spirit. What if they've…?"
Narrowing his eyes a fraction, Sasuke made a few seals and when he breathed out, he was breathing out small balls of fire. It surprised Sakura when those balls of fire were immediately drawn to the walls, lighting what appeared to be candles. She frowned. Candles in a cave? Not ordinary candles that were placed on shelves or tables, but the sorts that were attached to walls.
She wished he hadn't lit up the cave because as soon as he did, they were greeted with a horrific sight of bones stacked upon bones. It seemed like something out of an old horror story Sakura read when she was just a child, but this was… So much more terrifying.
And the smell! When she was younger, Sakura could recall a time when she visited her grandfather with her parents. Oh, she hated going to his home. Loved him, but hated his home. It always had the smell of damp and like something was rotting away inside the walls. Haruno Kizashi had done so much work on the home, trying to locate and eradicate the smell, but it was no use. It was always there, growing stronger over time until it became too much for her grandfather's deteriorating health to handle. When that happened, her parents had found him a warm, trustworthy and safe care home, where he lived the rest of his days before sadly passing away only a year later.
It was funny how it was her senses that brought back old, forgotten memories.
"I can still pick up on their scents, but the smell of this place is overpowering, like Orochimaru is trying to confuse our sense of smell. I have no doubt he is masking himself from you, too, with his magic."
Thinking about it for a moment, Sakura's eyes widened. "Witches are just humans, aren't they?"
"More or less, yes." Sasuke glanced down at her. "Why?"
"Maybe he's doing this so we don't simply paralyse them with our venom, therefore rendering them useless." Sakura took a few steps forward and sniffed the air again, cringing as she did so. "Those three outside were covered in the same smell. It smells like…"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Rotting flesh and damp."
She nodded quickly.
"It makes sense," the Uchiha told her, walking forward as he did. "The lackeys could be brushed aside easily with just a single bite, though we would have to be certain we killed them." Knowing that Sakura was right behind him, Sasuke shifted in his walk ever so slightly, keeping her body shielded with his own just in case somebody jumped out at them. "Otherwise they'd be troublesome to deal with when the transformation is complete, since they would be vampires with a witch's power."
There was a hole in the ground, they noticed as they reached what appeared to be the back of the cave. Like Sakura had noticed on their way in: it wasn't a mountain due to it being much too small, so it was probably why the cave didn't stretch out for miles, like they usually did in the movies she had once enjoyed watching. Instead it appeared as though somebody had broken their way into the rock, burrowing beneath it.
Sakura frowned, watching as Sasuke knelt down beside it. "Is it a tunnel?"
His hand touched the ground, though Sakura had no idea what he was doing. "No."
Then–
Her eyes went wide as Sasuke stood up and not even a second later, he was dropping down into the hole, seeming to take a few moments until he landed. She could just about see him from her position and when Sasuke didn't look up at her, when he started to walk in a certain direction, Sakura took a deep breath and also hopped down the hole, landing in a low crouch and warily taking in her surroundings.
It was fairly large, she decided and looking back up, she was startled to realise that the drop had been over fifty feet. How far down were they? Were they even in the rock anymore, or underground? It scared her that she didn't know. It scared her that the only source of light in the cave were the same strange candles. It scared her how Sasuke was walking away again.
"Wait!" she hissed, jogging after him and only slowing to a walk when she was directly behind him.
"I can smell them," he muttered, making it obvious with the tone of his voice that she was to keep her voice low.
"Where?"
"Further down here. They–"
Two people suddenly rounded a corner and came to a stop, folding their arms over their chests and effectively blocking their path. She stopped when Sasuke did, gritting her teeth and cursing under her breath.
Surely this corridor (or tunnel – whatever the hell it was) was much too small to fight inside of? What if the whole thing was disturbed and collapsed? Would she and Sasuke survive being crushed by an entire freaking rock? Her parents certainly wouldn't. They were mere humans! Their bodies were weak. These corridors were just about big enough for three of herself to walk through side by side and height–wise, she would say anybody over six feet would have to duck and keep their head lowered.
Just as Sasuke was about to unsheathe his katana, Sakura stopped him by holding onto his arm, shaking her head at him even though her eyes never left the two in front of them. They didn't seem like much but at the same time, they were definitely built for strength. Both were more muscular than Sasuke, much taller than him, though Sakura would say they had nothing on someone like Jiraiya, who was certainly bigger than them.
"We can't fight here, Sasuke," Sakura told him seriously. "Just one misplaced attack and we could bring the whole place down. My parents…"
Sheathing his katana once more, he nodded once before addressing the two in front of them. "Take us to Orochimaru."
The tallest man grinned wolfishly at them, the sight of his grin making Sakura feel sick to her stomach, especially when he dipped his head lower a fraction, the grin widening. "Orochimaru–sama ordered us to only allow one of you to pass."
As soon as the first man finished speaking, the other took half a step back and held out his arm, gesturing to the corridor they just came from. "Follow me, Uchiha Sasuke. Orochimaru–sama has been waiting a long time for you."
Sakura stepped forward when he did, her eyes widening and refusing to let go of him. "Sasuke–"
"I will find your parents, Sakura," he told her quietly, not looking at her as he pulled his arm free from her hold. "Just stay here and try not to cause trouble."
Try not to cause trouble.
Try not to cause trouble!
That… That bastard… That witch had her parents, could be doing who knows what to them and Sasuke dared to tell her not to cause trouble? Like hell! She should be grabbing her parents, getting them out of there and to safety, before reducing this entire dump to rubble!
They were gone in mere seconds, leaving her alone with the tallest of the two lackeys and it made her incredibly uncomfortable. The way he was grinning at her, the grin never faltering for a single second and the way his eyes rarely blinked all gave her the creeps. Despite the rags he was dressed in, he was holding himself tall and proudly, his back ramrod straight and his arms were hanging by his sides, yet not uselessly because his fists were clenched, like he was ready to physically stop her should Sakura try anything.
And even though she had mastered Tsunade's monstrous strength, even though she knew she was strong, Sakura would be lying if she said she was not intimidated.
Not including the monsters she had killed not too long ago, the humans who had attacked not only herself, but also Ino, this would be her first battle to the death.
Because she was not just going to stand around and be useless.
She had to save her parents.
Leaning back against the rough and cold stone wall of the cave, Sakura sighed and closed her eyes, though kept an eye on his spirit in her mind. She put on a look of exhaustion, of pain and upset and once she felt the lackey relax, once she was certain he was underestimating her, Sakura's eyes snapped open and within a blink of an eye, she was behind the guy, her hand slamming into the back of his neck.
He was out in a second.
Frowning as she watched him slump to the ground, Sakura tried to remember Sasuke's words. Had he told her they needed to kill all of Orochimaru's lackeys, or did they leave them alone? Karin had… While she was a part of Orochimaru's group, she had not been loyal to him. At least, had been until today. Were there others like her? Was this man like her? Did any of them even have a say in any of this? She knelt down in front of the unconscious man, her frown deepening. Like the others, he reeked of rotting flesh and damp, so much so that it was overpowering and completely covered the smell of his blood. Even if it didn't, Sakura refused to drink his blood, she refused to break her own goal of wanted to be the one of the best medics in the world.
She sighed again and stood back up, looking up and down the corridor. Other than the turn in the corridor, there was nowhere to hide his body, so reluctantly, Sakura dragged him off to the side, leaving him slumped against the wall with his head tilting downwards, ignoring the fact that he was drooling. There was no telling when he would wake from unconsciousness or if he'd even be safe left out in the open like this, completely vulnerable and defenceless, but what was she supposed to do? Her parents… They needed her.
"I'm so sorry," she told him earnestly before taking off in the direction Sasuke had gone, rushing down the corridor in an effort to catch up.
And when Sakura came across a set of opened double doors, she darted straight for them, practically bursting into the room and skidding to a stop in the centre of it.
"Sasuke–"
She cut herself off as she looked around herself, frowning.
She was alone.
Damn it! Why hadn't she just used her senses? Instead of blindly hoping, instead of using her human senses and instincts, she should have been using her vampire senses! Cursing herself, Sakura closed her eyes and focused hard on her surroundings but a second later, her eyes slowly opened.
She had been wrong.
She was not alone.
"I recognise your spirit," Sakura muttered though her voice was loud enough for it to echo around the large area. "Come out."
More candles were suddenly being lit and the difference it made was ridiculous. It had been more or less pitch black in the room, although her human senses had made her aware that she was alone and her eyes had been quickly adjusting, telling her that it was a large room. And it was! This part of the cave was stupidly huge. It was so big that Sakura couldn't believe they were still in the rock. Perhaps her earlier presumptions of them now being underground were right?
A single man stepped forward, his footsteps loud compared to her own. That was because while he was clearly a fighter, he was not a predator like herself. Sakura had to be quiet in order to survive. This man, however, did not.
"Kabuto," she recalled his name, snarling it.
Karin had warned her that he enjoyed experimenting, that she had to hurry before he got a hold of her parents.
"Sakura–chan," he called her name like it was a greeting, like they were old friends.
Refusing to appear as weak, refusing to be intimidated, Sakura stood strong and clenched her fists. In this area, they could fight. It wasn't small like the corridor and they would have plenty of room. All Sakura would have to be careful of was her strength. She couldn't allow it to touch any of the walls, or the floor or ceiling. "Where are my parents?"
He tilted his head to the side, his dark eyes being hidden by the light that reflected off his glasses. "Did you say you recognised my spirit? Do you not mean chakra?"
He was speaking to her like she was a child, like she was an idiot! Sakura gritted her teeth, her clenched fists tightening. "Where are my parents?"
"Your parents…" Kabuto sighed, raising his hands and shrugging. "Orochimaru–sama wouldn't tell me."
She snarled in response. "I find that hard to believe. You're his bitch!" When he laughed loudly, Sakura's eyes narrowed. "I was told that you would experiment–"
"Ah, so you met Karin, then."
"She–"
"Is a traitor. And traitors will be dealt with."
"Karin is dead, Kabuto." Even with his eyes being hidden by his glasses, Sakura could tell they had widened because of the way his eyebrows shot up.
Controlling his emotions, Kabuto smirked. "Well I know you had no part to play in it. It was all Sasuke–kun, right?"
She remained silent.
Glancing around the room out of the corner of her eye, Sakura found that it was nothing special. It merely looked like an empty hall with a few pillars here and there to obviously hold up the ceiling. Other than the pillars, there was nothing. It was all the same bland, stone colour with the candle holders attached to the walls. But… There was a set of doors behind Kabuto as well as the ones she'd just come in from. Unlike those, however, the ones behind him were shut and as Kabuto made his way down the steps to get closer to her, Sakura knew that she would have to defeat him to get to those doors.
But Itachi had told her before, back when they first crossed paths with Orochimaru, Kabuto and Karin, that she would have trouble with Kabuto, mainly because he was a medic and could heal himself, but also because he was Orochimaru's righthand man, his favourite lackey. There was probably so much that Kabuto knew, so much that it made him downright lethal.
Sakura slowly took a half–step back, forcing herself to remain strong as she slipped into the fighting stance Itachi had taught her, refusing to leave any openings that Kabuto could attack.
He stopped in his walk, raising an eyebrow and now that he was out of the direct lighting of the candles, she could see his eyes. "You want to fight with me?"
"I need to save my parents, even if it means killing you."
"Killing me." Kabuto was laughing again. "You haven't killed a single person–"
"You're wrong!" she yelled, voice once more echoing around the empty hall. "Did you hear about the massacre in Konoha not too long ago? Over thirteen men died, I believe, although it's all a little fuzzy."
Kabuto's eyes widened.
She smirked, leaning forward ever so slightly and whispering for dramatic effect, "That was me."
And suddenly, Kabuto was clapping, knocking the smirk right off her face.
"You managed to kill a few weak humans." His clapping slowly came to a stop and he gave her his own smirk. "Congratulations."
Okay, so maybe acting tough wasn't for her? Sakura refused to show her fear, her panic, and instead kept the determined expression on her face, she kept her stance strong and her fists clenched. Damn it! He probably wasn't taking her seriously because she was a small, pink haired female. A lot of people had underestimated her because of it.
Dropping his hands to his sides and once more tilting his head ever so slightly, Kabuto regarded her for a few moments, taking in her posture and her expression before he sighed, like it was all such a bother to him. "How about this, Sakura–chan? If you can defeat me, you can go on to look for your parents. However, if I defeat you, you will stay by my side until I am done with you. You will allow me to divulge the secrets hidden in your body and," He gave her a sickening smirk, "you will change me into a vampire."
Sakura couldn't help but take a step back, her determined expression cracking and revealing her shock. "Are you insane?"
"Perhaps. So, what do you say?"
"I am not changing you into a vampire!" she spat, lowering into a crouch. "So it looks like I'm going to have to put you down."
"Ah, you really are Tsunade–sama's student." His smirk widened and Kabuto also lowered into a fighting stance.
She didn't satisfy him with an answer as Sakura instead shot forward, momentarily surprising Kabuto with her speed and during his surprise, she swung for him, hoping to end it with a single blow to the chest, but she should have known better. Kabuto was quick to regain his composure and leaned backwards, watching as her fist went flying over his head. Damn it! Sakura cursed under her breath when she lost her balance, Kabuto immediately taking advantage of it by slapping his hand against her arm.
Leaping away, Sakura put some space between them and frowned. Had he seriously just slapped her? Orochimaru's most trusted, most dangerous lackey and he… He slapped her. It was amusing, really, how Kabuto hit like a girl–
No.
Sakura's eyes widened at the numb feeling that suddenly flooded her right arm, effectively causing it to hang uselessly by her side.
"What–"
"Medical ninjutsu, Sakura–chan," Kabuto informed her with a smile.
Very basic medical ninjutsu, she thought, glancing back down at her arm. He had numbed it completely, like when a doctor would numb the area he was about to perform a minor operation on. It wasn't permanent, but it would be a pain since all Sakura would be able to do, was wait for the effects to wear off. Bastard! It also proved Itachi's statement: Kabuto used his medical jutsu and knowledge, but not for good.
When Kabuto shot towards her, Sakura narrowed her eyes and her left hand grazed the Gunbai resting on her back. Would it be safe to use it in this area? It had caused quite a bit of damage when she used it in training, causing the ground below her to crumble and trees to crack in half when somebody was on the receiving end of it, being blown backwards. Could this area withstand such power?
She couldn't risk it.
Not with her parents being somewhere inside the cave.
She used her training with Tsunade to dodge Kabuto's attacks. Ducking, dodging, countering. That was all Sakura was capable of doing as she tried to pick up on his technique, tried to see if there were any patterns in his attacks. There were none. As soon as she realised that fact, Sakura was on the offensive and defensive at the same time, dodging Kabuto's blows, yet throwing some of her own.
Grabbing the wrist of the hand attempting to numb her left arm, Sakura yanked Kabuto towards her and quickly released him, slamming her fist into his stomach and immediately feeling happy at the cry of pain it caused. The moment she dealt the blow, the force of her punch was throwing him across the hall but before he had the chance to collide with the wall, Sakura was there, kneeing him harshly in the back and watching him drop to the ground.
But only seconds later and Kabuto was shakily pulling himself to his feet, utterly stunning her as he did so. That attack should have knocked him unconscious. Hell, the punch to the stomach alone should have done that! How was it that Kabuto was up? How was it that he was awake?
Healing himself.
Her eyes widened.
Kabuto was healing himself!
And like he could read her mind, he smirked. "I can heal myself before an attack even lands on me, Sakura–chan."
She really hated how her name sounded rolling off his tongue. It sounded sickly sweet.
Also, Sakura could recall reading something about such a jutsu in Tsunade's medical scrolls. If she could remember correctly (and she could!) then the jutsu Kabuto had just used was called In'yu Shōmetsu. Basically, it was a medical ninjutsu used in the area the medic anticipates the attack will land, allowing him or her to pre–emptively apply medical chakra to it, therefore being able to reduce all damage to that area and keeping it to a minimum. The medic would concentrate the necessary chakra in that area to begin the cell recreation process, even before that area being targeted, becomes damaged.
It also meant that he was easily reading her facial expressions and movements.
Damn it!
Again, Sakura cursed her right arm. Sending her own chakra to that area to try and counter the numbing technique or speed up the process of regaining feeling wouldn't only be useless, but also a waste of time and chakra.
How could she make herself be more unpredictable?
Biting her lower lip in thought, Sakura watched Kabuto's every move.
From what little she knew of witches, they, like humans, had a limited amount of chakra. Their chakra reserves could be large or they could be small but either way, they were limited unlike her own. What she needed to do was wear Kabuto out, force him to keep using his chakra and when he was weakened, she could land the finishing blow. All the while, she would also have to keep an eye out for any mind tricks and–
Her eyes widened.
That was why he had little trouble reading her movements! Kabuto was clearly no Orochimaru, but he was powerful in his own way and Sakura was guessing he was on a somewhat high level, one that made him a great asset to Orochimaru. Itachi had told her that most witches were able to read your mind without your knowledge.
But that was easily fixed.
After all, Sakura hadn't been a genius in school for nothing.
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Sakura slipped into another fighting stance and in her own mind, she began to loudly recite whatever came into her head as she shot forward. She went from old favourite songs to the periodic table to squared numbers and roots, she went from Shakespeare plays to verses from the Bible. She used anything and everything she'd learned back in high school and when Kabuto's eyes widened, when he was put on the defensive, Sakura began yelling them even more loudly in her own mind.
Slamming her hand down against his shoulder, Sakura smirked to herself, watching as he clutched at his now useless left arm. That had been a little bit of payback, she supposed. In return for numbing her arm, she had decided to numb his. Now they were both only able to fight with one arm.
"I will admit," Kabuto panted, narrowing his eyes on her as he pushed his glasses back up his nose, "you are stronger than you look."
Instead of thinking any of her replies (even though part of her wondered that, if he was such a great witch, why had he not fixed his eyesight?) Sakura ducked beneath the leg that tried to kick her in the head and slammed her hand down onto his thigh, her smirk widening at his shout of pain.
What, did Kabuto truly believe that he was the only medic in the world to know offensive medical ninjutsu? With her chakra alone, she had sliced his thigh muscles effortlessly.
But then, completely surprising her, Kabuto lunged forward, his hand glowing blue as he did.
Just as the blue–glowing hand was about to strike her, however, somebody flashed in front of her, easily capturing Kabuto's wrist.
"What–"
Sakura stared up at the sight before her with wide eyes.
"I will not allow you to harm Sakura."
Sharingan eyes narrowed dangerously a second before Itachi spun once, his foot landing firmly into Kabuto's chest and throwing him across the cave, slamming him into a jagged stone wall. It barely caused a disturbance with the cave and all that really happened was a few stones crumbling from the ceiling, looking more like sand. Only a second later and Itachi was turning, kneeling down in front of Sakura and assessing her wounds.
There were barely anything on or wrong with her, but the sight of her arm angered him.
"I–I'm okay, Itachi–"
"You left me," he murmured, eyebrows knitting together no matter how badly he fought for composure.
"Not because I wanted to," she whispered just as quietly, eyes stinging. "Orochimaru… He… He has them, Itachi. He told me that if I bring you with me, he'd killed them."
Itachi straightened up, glancing around the cave. "Where is Sasuke?"
"He's supposed to be looking for my parents, but Orochimaru wanted to see him alone and I didn't know what to do so I tried to follow and–
"Calm down, Sakura." He was on his feet in an instant, pulling Sakura to hers. "I will take care of Kabuto."
"Itachi–"
A small smile graced his lips as Itachi gently cupped her cheek. "Find your parents, Hime."
Just as the words left his lips, three others were joining them, standing in front of Itachi and Sakura as Kabuto shakily climbed to his feet once more, all of his weight onto his uninjured leg and watching them all with a narrowed gaze. And Sakura's breath caught at the sight of Fugaku, Mikoto and Shisui. Even though their backs were to her, even though she could not see their expressions, she knew they would be intimidating due to the sudden drop in temperature.
"You have fought well so far," he told her, pressing his lips to her forehead, feeling so very glad and grateful that Sakura was in his arms and alive. "But now I want you to focus on nothing but finding your parents. My father, mother and Shisui will accompany you in your search and they will protect your parents."
"But Kabuto knows medical–"
"I know," Itachi cut her off, wanting nothing more than to drag his mate against him and hold onto her tighter. Instead, however, he stayed where he was, his features as blank as they always were. "Go, Sakura."
Reluctantly, so very reluctantly, she pulled away, only to pause. "How did you know where we were?"
"You cannot control your emotions." He gave a small smirk. "And when they were intense earlier, I managed to look into your mind."
Instead of feeling embarrassed that Itachi had been reading her mind, Sakura felt incredibly relieved and grateful, so much so that she reached out to him once more and gripped the back of his head, pulling him down to her height so that she could kiss him on the lips, smiling into the kiss at his surprise.
"I love you."
It was the first time she had ever said the words to him.
No, it was the first time either of them had said the words, even though Itachi did not have the time repeat them.
Taking a deep breath to ignore the nervous fluttering in her stomach, Sakura kissed him one more time before finally pulling away. "Keep your mind empty, Itachi. He can read it."
He was still in shock over her confession, though nodded once, masking his expression as he turned to face Kabuto, ignoring the smirk his mother sent his way and ignoring the raised eyebrow Shisui sent him.
And as his eyes met Kabuto's, his Sharingan transformed into its new design.
"You will tell me where Sakura's parents are being held."
Kabuto warily glanced over the four Uchiha.
When he received no answer, Itachi then stated, "I do not like repeating myself."
Again, Kabuto refused to answer.
Sakura couldn't help but gasp in shock when Itachi suddenly appeared before him, gripping Kabuto's neck tightly and slamming him against the wall, glaring down at him with his Sharingan blazing. Kabuto was weakly trying to break the hold, his hands clutching a tight hold of Itachi's wrist, but the Uchiha was unmoving, merely lifting him higher up the wall until they were eye level.
"They may not be aware of it, but Sakura's parents are a part of my clan. They are under my protection." Kabuto's eyes went wide as they once again met Itachi's, time slowing down as they did so. "You will tell me where they are."
Frowning, Sakura leaned forward ever so slightly but when she took a step closer, Mikoto held out her arm, stopping the movement and keeping her behind them. "Itachi is using his Sharingan to extract information, Sakura–chan. He will never use it on you, but it best that you stay back. There is no telling how Kabuto will react when it is over."
The only thing was…
When Itachi released him from both his Sharingan and his hold, Kabuto didn't react at all. Instead, he dropped to the ground, unmoving. Instead, his eyes remained fixed onto the ground, unfocused and heavy and there was blood slowly trickling from his nose.
And despite Mikoto's warning, Sakura made her way straight over to the two men, frowning up at Itachi's expression as she knelt beside Kabuto. Through the bond, he was feeling confused and she knew it was because of Kabuto's condition. So, she made several hand seals as best as she could with only one fully functioning arm before her glowing hands were at the sides of Kabuto's head, examining his mind and trying to figure out what had gone wrong. At that moment in time, she was torn about whether or not she should fix it. However, considering all the pain Kabuto had caused, and the fact he wanted to experiment not only on herself but also her parents, Sakura was leaning on the 'do not heal him' side. Yes, she was a medic, therefore she should heal everybody without question and with all the power within herself, but…
This man was a monster.
"He's…" She frowned more deeply. "Not exactly brain dead, but… Close. Your Sharingan put a lot of stress on his mind, Itachi."
"He tried to resist and use his magic to force me out," he explained plainly, voice blank.
Extracting her chakra, Sakura stood up and away from Kabuto. Even though he reeked of rotting flesh like all the others, the blood that was trickling from his nose and over his lips was beginning to overpower the rotting flesh smell. "I guess that means you can help me find my parents, too." She tried to smile, but it came out as nothing more than a twitch of her lips.
Fugaku stepped forward, eyes narrowing. "We need to dispose of him. It could lead to trouble later on if we do not."
Instead of protesting, instead of trying to defend the defenceless man, Sakura closed her eyes and breathed deeply, nodding once.
"Go ahead," Fugaku ordered them both. "I will dispose of him."
Itachi took her hand without warning and walked past Kabuto's slumped form, heading straight to the double doors and opening them, entering without pausing for a second.
For several centuries now, he'd been made to live in an alternative universe. Not mere years, not days or hours. Centuries. Constantly torn between what was real and what wasn't, between what he was destined to do or be. Some days, he saw himself as nothing but an avenger and everybody in his path had to be taken out and all bonds had to be severed, all so that he could obtain his ultimate goal. Other days, he was back in the real world, confused as to what the hell was going on.
It was torture.
So when Sasuke heard others complaining and whining about how mundane daily tasks were 'torture', he couldn't help but grow agitated. When they were harmed in some way, or injured themselves and cried and begged for the pain to stop, he only grew angrier.
They thought that was torture?
If so, then they would not survive what had been going on up in his mind every day for centuries now. They would not withstand the amount of psychological and emotional pain that was continuously gnawing at him.
How would they feel if their sibling – the person they admired and looked up to most – suddenly turned on their entire family, without a reason, slaughtering them all like they were nothing but animals? How would they feel if that same sibling then went on to mentally torturing them by replaying the events over and over again for hours on end? How would they feel knowing they could never avenge their family, because their sibling – their brilliant, genius of a sibling – was ridiculously powerful and they were unable to catch up to them?
That was torture.
Growing up completely alone and isolated with a mind that was so very unhinged, focusing on nothing but becoming stronger and avenging his family. How would he do that? By killing the man who had taken them away from him. He would slaughter his older brother without hesitation for everything–
Inwardly, Sasuke shook his head and demanded that he snapped out of it. It wasn't real. None of it was real. Itachi was not the murderer of their clan and Sasuke was not an avenger hell bent on killing his older brother. His parents were somewhat alive and their eldest son cared dearly for them both, even if he didn't always show it. And that idiot Naruto wasn't chasing after him for years on end, demanding that he returned to the village where his entire family was slaughtered–
Focused.
He needed to stay focused.
Getting lost in those thoughts was nothing short of torture, so despite how difficult it was, how impossible it seemed, Sasuke demanded himself to not focus on them. After all, he would need to stay focused in order to defeat Orochimaru and once he defeated the witch, then the curse would be lifted. There would be no more being torn between realities and there would be no more vicious visions in his mind, torturing him.
He would be free.
After centuries, he would be free!
Narrowing his eyes a fraction, Sasuke continued to follow the lackey who was leading him to Orochimaru. Hopefully, Sakura would have caught onto what he really meant by saying "try not to cause any trouble" though if she didn't, well… Either way, she would grow angry. The only difference being that she would be acting if she caught onto his meaning. So, in other words, what Sasuke basically wanted her to do was take out the other lackey and investigate the place. If she came across her parents, then she would know instinctively to get them the hell out of this place.
He'd been separated from Sakura for around four and a half minutes now and already, he was growing bored of simply following his lackey. Instead of saying anything, however, Sasuke inwardly sighed and remained emotionless.
And then the lackey was pushing open a set of double doors, throwing them open and stepping to the side, smirking at Sasuke as the Uchiha stepped into the room. It was large and spacious, looking more like a training area more than an ordinary room and right at the back of the room, instead of an ordinary wall, there was a large snake head carved into the stone (the rest of the body positioned around it, like it was curling in on itself), with a candle in each of its eyes so it looked as though they were ominously glowing in the otherwise darkened area. It wasn't any trouble for Sasuke to see, however. His eyes rarely missed anything.
Which was why he was suddenly throwing his arm out to the side of him, katana pointed threateningly towards the witch standing to the side of the room and as it did, his lightning element lashed out out his hand, pinning the man's arms to his right shoulder as it pierced them.
"You're weak, Orochimaru," Sasuke muttered, a sly smirk on his lips. "Don't tell me your vessel has already deteriorated."
When he spoke, his voice was low, raspy, like he'd just been suffering from a coughing fit. Sasuke knew exactly how they sounded and how the person suffering from one would sound. After all, he'd cared for Itachi during his illness. "How do you know about my vessels?"
At the hiss his smirk widened. "Did you really think I wouldn't be watching you?" Pushing the bolt lightning further into Orochimaru's shoulder, Sasuke walked further into the large hall, his footsteps as well as his voice echoing. "While I was training, I watched you." The smirk slipped away and he was once more emotionless. "You made a mistake when you cast that curse on me, Orochimaru: in that world, you gave so much away, so easily. This includes your plans. It was a hunch, but I knew they weren't far from your real version's plans and watching you over the past couple of centuries confirmed that."
"So you decided to bide your time," he hissed in return. "Hiding away like a coward until I was weaker."
"No. I waited for the best opportunity to strike, but I was by no means quiet about it." Sasuke's Sharingan began to swirl as he fought hard to keep his mind from going back to the madness, into the other world. "It would have been reckless of me to attack you whilst you were still at full strength."
"But that is where you are wrong, Sasuke–kun." Orochimaru cackled, attempting to push against the lightning bolt. "I may be weakened, but I still have centuries of experience that you do not."
That he did not doubt. Orochimaru was around the same age as Tsunade and Jiraiya – meaning he was born over a millennia ago. There was no telling how many battles the witch had been in and how many of them he had just about survived, how many left him clinging to what was left of his life. It was said that Orochimaru was powerful, but how powerful was he? Sure, he could get inside of people's minds by simply looking them in the eye and sure, he was more or less immortal, however, Itachi had always taught him that everything had a flaw and nothing was perfect.
Somewhere, there was a flaw in Orochimaru's immortality and it amused Sasuke that it was looking at him right now. The flaw was the vessel itself. If the vessel was weak, Orochimaru was weak, which meant hardly any chakra. It was by no means a fair fight and was not honourable to take him out while weakened, while not at his best. But was it fair to cast a curse on Sasuke not long after his transformation, when his mind was still vulnerable? Was it fair to have tortured him for centuries since that day, never once letting up? Sasuke didn't even get any peace in his sleep because even then, Orochimaru and his fake world was there!
He wanted to be able to look at his big brother once more and not want to rip his throat out, to not want to tortuously kill him.
Not letting up on the lightning piercing Orochimaru for a moment, Sasuke walked closer to the witch until they were only ten feet apart, watching as he attempted to try and pull himself off the lightning jutsu. He simply shot it straight into the wall, pinning Orochimaru easily.
"Orochimaru," Sasuke stated blankly, eyes now devoid of emotion as he got serious, "you're weaker than me."
"Big words for a mere Uchiha hatchling!"
In response, Sasuke scoffed. He was hardly just a hatchling, considering how long he'd been around. "You want my Sharingan, right? You want mine because Itachi has always been too powerful for you to handle. The same goes for the rest of my clan, which is why you singled me out and waited until I was alone, attacking me while I was young, vulnerable and weak." There was a pause that lasted a split second. "That is why you targeted me, the hatchling. Isn't that right?"
Orochimaru's golden eyes fixed on Sasuke's, but the witch's attempts of casting another curse on him were wasted, thanks to the training Itachi had given to him as well as the book explaining clearly how to counter a witch's curses with the Sharingan. At first he had put it off as complete and utter bullshit because he knew how powerful Orochimaru's curses were. He knew how difficult they were to break. Surely, if it was that easy to brush off the curses like they were nothing…
Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Sasuke narrowed his eyes, his lightning jutsu widening, effectively widening the hole in Orochimaru's arms and shoulder.
"Perhaps in both this world and the one you forced my mind into you, you are considered as a genius, but you could never reach the level of an Uchiha. No matter how much of a genius someone is, they're nothing but mediocre in front of the name 'Uchiha'. You've even drugged and transferred your own body," the Uchiha said with disgust. "Before my name, your methods of obtaining the power of an Uchiha are laughable at best. Also, I dislike your methods."
He did not hear or see the three others that ran straight into the room. He did not see the hyperactive blond pouncing on the lackey who had remained frozen at the door, tearing into him like a wild, out of control animal. No, Sasuke was too busy desperately fighting for his reality. Orochimaru was pushing himself into his mind, he could feel him entering it and trying to shove Sasuke into the 'other world'. At that moment in time, while he was fighting for the freedom from that world, he could also feel his mind fading slightly, focusing on his 'avenger' self.
In his mind, flashes of what Orochimaru had done to innocent people in the 'other world' haunted Sasuke, confirming just how much of a monster he was. Like Kabuto, Orochimaru liked to experiment on people, keeping them chained to walls and half naked, just barely alive.
Not noticing the three behind him, the woman who threw her arms out at the two men, making them stop in their movements, Sasuke's hand shook with the pressure in his mind, but otherwise remained stoic, emotionless.
"You've been toying with life after life," Sasuke eventually continued in the same, disgusted tone, enjoying the fact that Orochimaru was beginning to sweat, that he was panting harshly against the strain on his body. The lightning jutsu was burning his shoulder and arms to a crisp, just like Sasuke had planned. "To reveal and divulge in the truth of this world or whatever, for your own selfish reasons, you view people as toys and continue to play with them." Red eyes narrowed, the tomoe in his Sharingan spinning not only due to his anger, but also because of it countering Orochimaru's spells.
Images flashed through Sasuke's mind again, images of the 'other world' and the monster Itachi had been. He was just a child in those images, barely even eight years old, yet he was laying on the ground, crying into the blood that was draining from his parents' bodies.
Sasuke growled deeply from within his chest. "You disgust me!"
And then he lunged.
The lightning jutsu never faltered for a moment, even as Sasuke drew back his katana, fully intent on ending it right then, right now.
But much to his surprise, just when he thought Orochimaru was watching in horror, the witch opened his mouth and something was leaping out of it, causing Tsunade to quickly jump out of the way, causing Jiraiya to grab Naruto and do the same. Sasuke followed the movement with narrowed eyes, releasing his hold on the now empty body that slumped to the floor.
And as he turned fully around, he saw the real Orochimaru.
It was an unpleasant sight to say the least.
Towering over them all was a gigantic, white snake, but instead of the usual snake head, this one looked similar to Orochimaru, in a way, although not entirely. It had his skin tone and hair and it also had his eyes, but this face was far too sharp and it had far too many teeth.
"A white–scaled serpent," Sasuke commented tonelessly.
"This is his true form," Tsunade hissed, gesturing for the other two to fall back. "Sasuke needs to be the one who defeats Orochimaru. It's the only way to lift the curse!"
Dry amusement was on the Uchiha's features as he stared up at the true form of Orochimaru without a flicker of fear. "In order to transfer from one body to another, you've repeatedly experimented, and in the end, this is how you turned out?"
Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity of silence, Orochimaru spoke up, hissing, "Now, Sasuke–kun… I'll have that body of yours!"
He didn't even blink as the head of Orochimaru's true form shot towards him. He didn't listen to Naruto screaming his name, telling him to look out (like he somehow couldn't see the damned thing). Instead, he leaped over the head, hearing how it crashed into the ground and causing it to shake ever so slightly before he was once more on the defensive. This time, it was from much smaller heads. He found they were easily dealt with, however, as Sasuke sliced through them with his katana, not in the least bit fazed.
He'd been waiting a long time for this day, after all.
Landing on his hand, Sasuke quickly flipped himself over, sliding across the stone ground on his feet for a moment before managing to stop himself and the second he did, Orochimaru was lunging for him once more, both his large head and the smaller ones that surrounded his body.
His Sharingan made predicting all movements easy and thankfully, he'd always been fast. That speed only increased when Itachi began pushing him during training, demanding that he be even faster.
But the heads kept coming.
By now, however, Orochimaru was panting loudly, clearly still weakened.
This would be easy.
"Even though the snake dreams of soaring through the sky, it is forever doomed to crawl upon its belly." Even as the snakes began to wrap around his body, Sasuke kept calm and continued to speak, not listening to the sound of Jiraiya restraining Naruto. "So in order to obtain wings, you targeted the hatchling in the nest, but have now become the prey yourself."
And then all of the snakes that had been surrounding him seemed to explode, though they all vaguely noticed that it was due to his katana slicing through them with unseeable speed.
"The prey of the hawk that shall now soar high through the skies."
Uchiha Sasuke had always enjoyed toying with his prey before devouring them.
Leaping into the air and attaching himself to the stone wall with his chakra, Sasuke dodged the snake heads that were once more trying to attack him, creating a blade made out of lightning as he did so, making it even easier to tear through them as he met the snakes head on.
But then Orochimaru's actual head was aiming for him, fangs bared as he yelled loudly.
Sasuke's eyes widened a fraction, though he was quick to fall into a defensive stance and lunge to meet this attack head on, also.
"Sasuke!" Orochimaru yelled with longing, wanting nothing more than to take over his body, to obtain his sharingan.
A/N - I haven't had time to fully edit this chapter, so the ending part (Sasuke's point of view), is more or less unedited. It's getting late where I'm from and I have to be up at six in the morning tomorrow. Please tell me if there are any mistakes!
Okay, bit of warning: I'm not entirely sure when the next chapter will be out, because I'm kind of still writing it. I usually make sure I'm at least five chapters ahead of the one I'm posting, but what with college being so demanding and for other personal reasons, I haven't spent as much time as I wanted on my stories.
Is anybody else excited for Naruto Part 3? Yeah, I get that it's not going to be about Naruto, but I'm still so happy it's coming out soon!
Oh... One last thing...
Next chapter is the final chapter. Is there anything any of you want to see in it?
Edited on: 02/09/2016