A/N: this chapter was hard for me to write. I guess the scenes in it were just awkward for me. So hang in there till the end I promise things pick up there!
Chapter 2- Uchihas
To say it was an easy fight would be a lie. Naruto knew that. In fact it would be a huge lie. Sakura had become something no one wanted her to be. She hadn't been lying when she said she was stronger. She was way stronger than he thought she could ever be. She had become something no one had any hope of changing. He came to this conclusion as his team limped home contemplating how they barely escaped. What scared Naruto the most was that he felt they had only seen a piece of her power, that she had just been toying with them the whole time.
"I can't believe Sakura would do that!" Hinata says holding her arm, which was bending at a weird angle.
"I couldn't either," Sai comments, " Until she tried, and almost succeeded in decapitating me."
There is a short silence. Nenji has a serious injury to his left eye, several broken ribs and a nasty gash on his back; Hinata has a badly broken arm, three deep cuts on her leg and a broken foot; Sai's right arm is cut to ribbons, has thirteen broken bones and an almost severed finger; Naruto has a grand total of 27 broken bones, one of which is his upper femur, a concussion, several deep cuts all over and a deep gash on his forehead. Sakura had done a number on them.
"Well, at least she's alive" Naruto says grimly, wincing as his leg throbs.
Nenji grunts, "I'm not sure that's a good thing Naruto…" he says bluntly.
Naruto is silent. Currently the whole team is riding on one of Sai's giant bird drawings toward Konoha. Sai sent a messenger bird ahead of them to warn the village about their state, telling them to have immediate medical attention ready, as well as telling them about Sakura and what she had become. Poor Kakashi Naruto thinks, he thought Sakura was being held captive. He'll be crushed. That's what they had all thought, that she was being held against her will by Madra Uchiha, who had been seen leaving the village, an unconvinced pink haired-nin in his grasp. Naruto was still having a hard time believing it, actually. How could sweet Sakura turn that heartless? That cruel? That powerful? What had they done to her?
As he sits contemplating the strange way she had acted, Hinata goes around treating the most severe injuries of the group with her medic jutsu. Sakura had severely injured both Sai and Naruto- seeing as they were at the front lines, while Nenji was long range. Hinata, being the medic-nin on the team had kept her distance and managed to avoid most of her attacks. She was so fast! She thinks. A speed to rival Lee's or even Sasuke's .She shudders at the memory of Sakura slipping past Naruto's defense and of appearing in front of her out of thin air, delivering a blow that she only just managed to block with her arm. If it had hit the intended target, Hinata's skull would have been crushed and she would be dead. What scared her the most about the incident though, had been Sakura's eyes. So cold. Empty and dead. Like someone had taken the meaning of living out of them. She shudders again at the memory of those green orbs staring into her own. And how she fought Naruto! It was as if she could care less about him! As if he was a rat on the street. Hinata feels tears build up in her eyes. As if we all were rats on the street. She thinks tears spilling over. Her Green chakra goes out in the middle of healing Naruto's concussion. She cries silently tears dripping down her face leaving wet streaks.
"Hinata?" Naruto questions looking at her face. She lets out a sob. He reaches out to her, bringing her to his chest where she buries her face and cries harder. "I know." He says stroking her hair gently, "It'll be ok. I'll get the real Sakura back, Dattebayo." he says lightly kissing the top of her head. A single tear rolls down his cheek as he looks back toward the forest they had barely escaped. Nenji calmly averts his one working eye. He's pretty used to the idea of them being together now, not that he was happy about it... The team sits quietly for the rest of the way, reminded of similar promise that had yet to become fulfilled.
Haruno Sakura was pissed off. Those little shits got away! She thinks as she storms down the hallway of the base. I almost had them too! I was about to put a genjustu on them that would knock them out for days. Uhg! She thinks punching the wall, which immediately crumbles to little bits, leaving a huge only she had seen that stupid kunai coming instead of bantering on about her strength and new jutsus like an idiot, they wouldn't have gotten away. She grumbles all the way down the hall following her partner. When the reach the end of the hall, her partner pushes open the double wooden doors leaving them open for her.
"Thanks" she grits out in irritation as she closes them behind her.
"Aa" comes the reply. She just rolls her eyes at the remark. Typical. Pathetic, he can't even form a whole sentence. She mentally sighs not like I should have expected anything else.
The room they are now in is large and round. The walls are lined with doors. A drop of water drips to the floor from the ceiling. They're far underground. She can almost feel the layers of dirt above their heads, putting pressure on her lungs, making it hard to breathe. Uhg, the soon were outta here the better. Her partner stands just in front of her, waiting patiently for something. Still impatient and bitter from her failure Sakura pushes past him roughly, walking toward one of the doors.
"Come on we better go see Madra." She says annoyed. Pathetic. She's pathetic. Couldn't even capture Naruto. What kind of shinobi was she? She silently promised to train even harder now that she knew this.
"Hn" he replies. She hears his footsteps start following her own.
"Would you stop using such goddamn unresponsive words?" she grits out annoyed. That's all they ever do- 'Aa' and 'Hn'. What the hell kind of language was that anyway? Stupid Uchihas. Anti-social freaks. Pathetic morons. She sighs; she can practically feel the eternal sharingan on her back as a result of her last comment. Let's not forget their horrible tempers too. Uchihas do NOT like to be bossed around.
"Keeps your creepy-red-eye-thingy to yourself would ya? Kami!" she mumbles under her breath in annoyance. She hears a quiet chuckle from behind her. She just keeps stalking forward, ignoring him, toward one of the doors.
"You're… entertaining… when you're angry." He states in a mildly amused tone. She just digs her nails into her palm, relishing the distraction the pain brings her from her anger. They continue across the large room in silence, not uncommon for them, even natural.
She wrenches open the door and starts down the hallway toward Uchiha Madra's room/ office. The Uchiha follows silently. The hallway is filthy and wet; she can feel the pressure here also. It sends Goosebumps across her arms. She's thankful that she's wearing her cloak. He would frown upon such 'expression of emotion'. Finally they reach the door that is the entrance into the room. She knocks twice, the sound echoing down the corridor behind them.
A smooth "Come in." sounds from the other side and the two Akatsuki enter the room. Madra Uchiha sits at a large desk covered in paper. As Sakura and the Uchiha approach him his eyes, the Eternal Sharingan and Rinnegan flip up to the two members, showing through the two holes of his mask.
"I guess this means that you didn't catch the nine tails, correct?" Madra says in a business-like manner, shuffling some of the papers on his desk.
Sakura folds her arms across her chest and turns her head, mumbling under her breath.
"Aa" comes the reply of the stoic man beside her. Madra sighs and shakes his head.
"Why were there problems? You should have been able to take him by yourself, Itachi. Sakura should have been able to as well. Together it should have been no problem." The leader of the Akatsuki says, his voice sounding more surprised than disappointed.
Sakura grumbles some more and whispers something that sounds a lot like 'pathetic'. Itachi just stares at Madra, his eternal sharingan showing no emotion.
"She got conceded and let them get away." He says simply. Madra seems to understand that this translates into 'I didn't help, it was her fault' and turns to Sakura.
"Well it's obvious you aren't ready to be part of this organization yet, then if you can handle an single ANBU team by yourself." Madra states in a demeaning voice. Sakura's head whips up, eyes wide at his words.
"I promise I'll train harder! I know im pathetic now, but give me a few more weeks! I get him then! Promise! I can be part of this! Please Uchiha-sama! I swore my loyalty to you! I will do anything for you, just don't make me leave!" she pleads eyes shining with purpose. Itachi looks at her from the corner of his eye, expressionless. Madra looks down at Sakura, considering.
"Very well." He says, his voice sounding business- ike, "Itachi, you will keep training Sakura until she is ready to take on the nine tails and his ANBU team." Sakura, once again composing her features, nodded politely.
"Hn" the Uchiha said bored, finally looking away from the kunoichi. Sakura turns to leave, mimicking her sensei's expression with precision.
"But…" Madra says pausing. Sakura turns to address him eyes flashing with with held anger at the catch he was about to state, "I expect one new member by the end of the week. It's time you got a partner." Sakura hesitated before nodding again, her eyes slightly worried. Where the hell am I gonna find someone strong enough andwilling to join Akatsuki? With that, she turns and exits the room, Itachi following close behind her. There is no speech as the student and master walk side by side through the long hallways of the main base. Nor are any words exchanged as the exit the base and head out toward the middle of the forest that surrounds it. The walk for miles as the sun sets behind them. It's around 10:00 before Itachi finally speaks.
"Sleep. Be up at 5:30 for training." Sakura doesn't reply, turning away from the Uchiha. She flashes several quick hand seals.
"Doton Idaina keisei no jutsu!" she states making giant rocks come from the ground to form a complex looking shelter. She then proceeds to enter said shelter and go to sleep. Itachi merely looks at her blankly before laying out his sleeping roll on the ground and falling asleep.
Sakura awakes the next morning to the presence of a foreign chakra. Oh my god it huge! Almost as big as Uchiha-sempi's! She immediately springs from her rock-and-sleeping-mat bed and returns the rocks to the ground with a quick jutsu. Looking toward where Itachi had slept, she finds only an empty mat. A quick scan of the area shows her that he is in a clearing to the east about two miles away. The foreign chakra is moving toward him at an incredible speed. Itachi could be in trouble! With that she takes off running toward her master.
She arrives just outside of the clearing, masking her chakra. She didn't know what was going on, and if the blond idiot had taught her anything other than how to fail, it was that rushing in head first never ended well. So she hides in the darkness of the early morning covered by trees, peaking into the field.
Itachi is standing in the center of the clearing looking bored, as usual, his ever present eternal sharringan focused on the direction the chakra is coming from.
That chakra… Sakura thinks confused, it seems…familiar somehow… like I should recognize who it belongs to...
She spikes her chakra just enough so Itachi can feel it, but not the unknown assailant. Itachi nods slightly acknowledging her presence. She makes a few fast hand signs and holds her chakra back, ready to activate the jutsu. The unknown chakra bearer arrives in the clearing just as she positions herself to watch unseen. She looks at the mysterious chakra owner.
Sakura freezes.
Itachi smirks slightly.
And Sasuke's mouth gapes at the man he thought he had killed.
A/N: CLIF HANGER! MUHA HA HA HA! I had fun adding 'Hn' and 'Aa' to my dictionary in word for this chapter. Made me laugh. I tried in this chapter to show just how strong Sakura has gotten since joining the Akatsuki. On the flip side I tried to show how much power Madra has over her. (To be explained later) I hope she isn't too OOC. Of course more of her new techniques are yet to come. Oh man! I almost forgot, in this fic Itachi isn't dead (bet ya'll thought he was Sasuke. Ha ha got you!). Yes the battle between Sasuke and Itachi did happen. You'll see later why he's still alive after Sasuke 'killed' him.
"Doton Idaina keisei no jutsu" literally means 'earth style rock formation technique' in English.
~Your Bismuth Killjoy, Lexi!~