Oh dear God. Here is the too long awaited chapter for you, dear readers. I wouldn't really be surprised if I lost most of them, one reader told me to update soon and I am like "Yep that girl you're right."
I truly do apologize so much for the short yet long awaited chapter but I'll hopefully start working on the next one soon. I am so sorry but I had my personal reasons and I was considering abandoning this but the reviews did keep me going.
Sakura was in a trance.
She was floating over Konoha at night time, clothes flapping around wildly, the vast dark sky looming over her tiny swirling figure. She felt as buoyant as a feather.
Overhead cirrostratus clouds rushed by, looking like smudges of paint on a picture made by a careless artist; driven by the powerful roaring wind that whipped her hair.
Below, the artificial lights streaming through countless miniature windows reminded Sakura of twinkling stars. Though night had long embraced the land, many adults were still out; the swarms of lively voices formed incoherent chatter that hovered over Konoha, creating a warm atmosphere.
The full moon soaked her body in soft light, highlighting her lithe features. She heard the regular rhythm of her strong heart beating, pumping blood around her body perpetually.
Then she felt it.
A terrible feeling, a premonition. Fear seeped into her bones and trickled into her veins, spreading around her body like wildfire.
The temperature seemed to drop considerably. The pressure increased to a suffocating level. The thick uncanny tension lingered on the medic Nin's tongue, tasting like acid.
Sakura, still afloat, eyed Konoha warily. The civilians continued with their daily activities but she spotted a couple of people, most likely shinobi, stop in their tracks and look around. It occurred to her that she wasn't alone in thinking something terrible was about to happen.
Then something caught her eye.
Below, a dark figure with a suspicious aura suddenly materialized in an abandoned Konoha alley, his black cloak billowing in the harsh wind. Something about him and the way he materialized seemed strangely familiar but she couldn't quite place her finger on what it was. It wasn't helping that she couldn't see his face as it was mostly obscured by a dark hood.
His hands began to move swiftly and skillfully, forming hand seals, which she recognized as the summoning technique. He slammed his palm flat onto the ground causing inky black kanji to crawl in straight lines across the eroded soil in nine different directions.
BOOM.
A dome-shaped cloud of smoke and dust suddenly blasted fiercely into the sky, covering half of Konoha.
A malicious roar resounded throughout the village and the ground rumbled with fear. The mountains surrounding Konoha looked like 3D images, trembling back and forth, back and forth. A massive orange paw protruded out of the dust cloud, swinging around wildly with the purpose to eradicate everything in its path.
Then the dust cleared to reveal an enourmas beast, its bone-chilling growls poisoning the blood with dread. His body glowed with malevolent chakra and slabs of saliva dripped from its fangs. But the most prominent feature of this monster was its nine tails that had enough power to destroy mountains and cause tsunamis with one swing.
'The Kyuubi! This is the attack that happened 16 years ago!' Sakura thought, panicked, her mouth hanging open.
Even though Sakura had witnessed Naruto in his Kyuubi form many times before, she was still frightened; the true form of the Kyuubi was ten times more terrifying.
Houses soon turned to debris as they were crushed beneath his weight. The horrifying crash of shattered windows soon filled her ears.
Wondering ninjas immediately sprung into action while civilians shrieked like banshees and ran in all directions, abandoning their shops and homes in their terror.
Lights flickered on in all the houses, some people jumping out to join the ninjas in the fight while others escaping towards safety.
She watched as the fox swung its tail at attacking ninjas. This action caused a gush of sudden wind to blow violently, affectively blowing the hood off the man's face.
One glance at the cloaked figure and Sakura's blood ran cold.
Uchiha Madara, she mouthed the name silently; it tasted like acid on her tongue. This time, however, the man was wearing a different mask from the time she had last seen him; a smooth titian one with black lined patterns curling around the eyehole. There was no mistaking it – this man was Uchiha Madara.
But something didn't add up.
'Wait, what?! How could this be? Wasn't the nine tails attack a natural disaster? Isn't that what Konoha told us in the academy days?! What is going on?!' Sakura thought, bewildered.
She stared, wide-eyed, at the Kyuubi and her stomach seemed to drop a couple inches. Its intimidating orbs blazed crimson with 3 tomeos swiveling wildly.
Sharingan.
From that moment it became clear to Sakura that the nine tails was under Madara's control.
Konoha was wrong.
It wasn't a natural disaster. It was all that Madara's doing, everything. Or maybe Konoha lied to everyone; it wouldn't be the first time.
This sudden revelation came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks.
Everything she believed in was wrong.
Madara was, according to what Naruto told her, the shadow leader of the Akatsuki. In her time, it was well known that the Akatsuki were after the bijuu but if the Kyuubi was now under Madara's control, why wasn't the Kyuubi in Akatsuki's clutches by then?
Unless Madara failed, which he probably did seeing as the Kyuubi was safely sealed inside Naruto, at least in Sakura's time.
Or unless this was all just a dream and this was just all in her head but this…this Kyuubi attack upon Konoha was never in her head to begin with. Of course she knew it had happened based on what Naruto and Kakashi had told her but she never gave it a second thought.
She was always so worried about Naruto's safety that she didn't ever think or care to ask about how the Kyuubi got sealed into him in the first place.
She never thought that there was more to it, that there was someone behind the attack. But before she could think any further, a searing pain stabbed her in the head. She screamed and clutched her head in hopes of alleviating the pain.
Her vision blurred and everything began to twist in a spiral pattern until all that was left was darkness. Everything was gone.
There was nothing here – no time, no space, just a vast expanse of blackness. The roar of the Kyuubi and the screams of terror were drowned out until they completely faded.
Silence governed this dimension of nothingness.
Images flashed by in her mind, going faster and faster; they were memories, information, visions. It was hard to make out what was what. Her ears perked up to a faint sound that was distinctly getting louder – voices. Talking and whispering, shouting and screaming, voices and echoes that were all desperately trying to tell her something; they talked rapidly over one another. Flashes of people whizzed by: Sasuke, Naruto, Kakashi, Tenten, Sai, Lee, Yondaime Hokage, a red-haired woman she didn't recognize but they spun so fast she could no longer depict their faces. Sakura closed her eyes in a desperate attempt to shutout this madness.
It hurt. There was no oxygen in this pitch black expanse and it was suffocating. Her lungs strained painfully with the effort to gather as much needed air as possible. She wanted, needed to get out of here. Anywhere but here.
What was this place anyway?
Maybe she would be stuck here forever, floating in nothingness with a half-sentient mind.
But before her thoughts of doom could progress any further her nose registered a damp, chilly smell - air that was rich with oxygen. It was vague but it was something.
Flinging her eyes open, she spotted a tiny circle of pallid light that caused her eyes to sting. To Sakura's delight, she was moving closer to it, if the increase of its size was any indication.
She heard the faint sound of birds chirping and the low whistle of the wind. These familiar sounds gave Sakura a sense of tranquility. She was getting out of here!
'Closer, closer!' She chanted.
As she floated closer to the light, the melodies of nature amplified and the beams of light radiated with such brightness that Sakura had to squint to protect her sensitive retinas.
The gentle breeze morphed into a strong perpetual wind and then…she was within range of gravity's clutches and the powerful force suddenly yanked her down to the pits of hell.
She winced as the howl of the wind pierced her eardrums. Short strands of pink hair violently slapping against her face and the uncomfortable lurch in her stomach told her that yes, she was indeed falling.
Opening her jade eyes, she realized that she was falling head down at maximum velocity. Panicked, the kunoichi scanned the speeding-by blurry surroundings. She had to do something or at this rate even a shinobi would die.
Swallowing the nausea, she willed her body to move, thrashing around wildly to reverse her position and land feet down instead of head down. But instead of listening to her commands, an unforeseen tiredness took hold of her body and she started seeing stars.
Fatigue chipped at the edges of her consciousness and the last thing Sakura remembered seeing was two enourmas gates and the soiled ground that was rapidly coming closer.
-000-
Two men in standard shinobi vests sat on the chairs in a lackadaisical manner. Despite being tasked with guarding the massive village gates their attention was directed elsewhere; on the recent rumors that floated around Konoha and served as juicy news.
"Kawabata-san is dating him?" The middle-aged man whispered excitedly, his arms leaning on the wooden concession stand.
"Yeah, yeah man I'm telling you I saw it with my own eyes! She made out with him oh so sensually!"
"That doesn't mean she's dating him, she could be…" The middle-aged male trailed off as something caught his sharp eye.
"Hm? What's wrong?" The other shinobi replied, noticing his pause.
"What's that?" He pointed a stubby finger upwards and his partner's eyes followed his movement.
"It looks like…like someone is falling from the sky!" Exclaimed the younger shinobi.
True to the man's absurd claim, a tiny figure was rapidly falling from a lethal height. Judging by the said person's position from the sky, the stranger was going to fall near the Konoha gates. The unknown person appeared to be unconscious if the floppy and uncontrolled movements of the body were any indication.
Surprised, the younger ninja immediately took action and leaped into the air to catch the girl. The older shinobi, however, stood up from his chair and took a fighting stance. Years of experience with guarding the Konoha gates have taught the man to be suspicious to these strange occurrences.
"Be careful Totsune! This could be some kind of trap!" The man yelled as the said person landed gracefully on the ground with a pink-haired child in his arms.
Totsune let out a soft chuckle, obviously thinking that his superior was being ridiculous. The child, who was unconscious, in his arms appeared to be around six or seven years old. There is no way in hell that someone that small could be a threat!
"Relax Izumi, it's just a child."
The man named Izumi didn't seem to have heard Totsune as his charcoal black eyes scanned the child with an air of suspicion.
Although innocent in appearance this child could be a bloodthirsty monster, children could be just as dangerous as adults, if not more, and Izumi happened to know just one particular 7 year old prodigy from his own village that had the potential to be used as a lethal weapon in the future: Uchiha Itachi.
He had heard also rumors of child prodigies from other villages committing mass murders or being extremely skilled and powerful at such seemingly unlikely ages such as Momochi Zabuza from Kirigakure and Sasori from Sunagakure.
"Wait a minute…this kid…has a Konoha hitai-ate!"
Izumi blinked.
"What?! Totsune, I'll report this abnormality to Hokage-sama immediately while you get the child to the hospital and check all documents concerning the shinobi of this village to see if they have a file on her because I've never seen this child before and this could be a trap. Gather a team of interrogators to be ready to act when she wakes up."
"Yes sir!"
Finding a replacement to guard the gates of Konoha, Izumi sped towards the Hokage tower leaving Totsune to do his task. If Totsune thought that interrogating the pink-haired child was too cruel he didn't comment on it, after all, his senpai could be right.
Yes I decided to mention Sasori here, hehe. He is, by the way, 8 years old here and I figured he would be quite famous by then because I mean hello! He's 8 years old and yet he graduated academy when he was 7 and is already probably quite skilled at puppet technique. I didn't mention Akasuna, because I think that he earned that nickname at about like 15 years old or something?
By the way, did I mention that this is a Sasosakuita fic? Probably not, but don't worry Itachi and Sakura will probably have a platonic relationship I mean you can't really date someone at age 7.
By the way, thank you so much for the reviews! I REALLY REALLY appreciate them and everytime I see one, it just makes me smile like an idiot! If you have any questions you can ask me :D
Peace out,
Misscheekiness.