Hello and welcome to the second chapter. I thank everyone who has added this to their alerts and favorites lists. As I have mentioned before this was previously written by SasuLovesSaku4Ever and I have adapted it from her. For those who have read her version, this story will mostly follow what she wrote, along the way I will add information which pertains to what I have planned for the story.
Chapter 2: A New Beginning
I winced, closing my eyes and I felt memories flood into my mind. It was a weird feeling as if the memories were trying to force themselves into my head and in a sense they were. I was age 15, and my name, was Heiwana Sakura (Peaceful Cherry Blossom). I was currently in my office in Anbu HQ; I was doing paper work which was never ending even on an easy day like today. I was the prodigy of the village, the Leading Anbu Captain. Though I was only age 15, I was well respected for my power and skills as a leader. Although almost no one knows that I am only 15 because I have kept my identity hidden from others unless they are a member of my top squad or close friends. My skill in medical nin jutsu was rumored to rival Tsunade's and maybe even better than hers. I hadn't met Tsunade in person yet though.
I opened my eyes and yawned. The Fourth Hokage was still in power right now. I sighed. I felt a flicker of chakra. The Hokage was calling for me through the chakra connection that we share as Anbu leader and Hokage. I pulled on my dragon mask and cloak and I used my teleportation jutsu, appearing in his office.
"You called, Hokage-sama?" I asked.
He looked up. Minato has wrinkles of worry across his face and if my thinking is right this is about the time of…
"You're here. Good. The Legendary Sannin, Orochimaru, has left the village to become a missing ninja. Your orders are to bring him back or kill him and bring him back if he resists. You are to leave immediately. Take whomever you like," the fourth Hokage, Minato, ordered.
I nodded while bowing at the waist and then teleported from the room and to my office. I grabbed my already packed bag and pulled it on. I left the HQ with my lieutenant, Arashi Mizuhi in charge of taking in mission reports and taking verbal mission reports for those who are too busy to give a written report. Arashi is a good second on the battle field but when it comes to paper work he can never figure out his information and mission demands, which is the reason why my third in command in charge of paper work.
I left the village, sensing for Orochimaru's sinister chakra. I smirked feeling it at the border of the Sound Region. I followed behind quickly and masked my chakra signature. I got to an area a little ahead of him and stopped. Orochimaru came into the same clearing as me and stopped near the edge of the clearing. I still had my mask and cloak on.
"You must be very fast to have caught up to me so quickly." Orochimaru hissed turning around as if to run from me.
I smirked and jumped forward before slamming him into a tree before leaping back. Orochimaru turned around to face me and spat out his blade of Kusanagi. His face was red in anger hopefully he will make a mistake but I doubt it. I smirked as I summoned my chakra sword. Not even the blade of Kusanagi could cut through chakra. Nothing could except for the special seals made by the Fuuma clan. We clashed and he hissed at me. I attacked him, harshly. Orochimaru swung his blade at me but I dodged under it and swung my blade at his chest landing a cut all the way down to the bone on him. We continued fighting for a few more minutes but it would not last much long because I tired of this and he was wounded badly. We both separated. I had blood on my cloak and I had healed my wounds easily. He was panting.
"Come back to the leaf village, or I will have no choice but to kill you." I said.
I sensed two chakras nearby, Tsunade and Jiraiya. They were in the trees watching. I choose to ignore them for a moment so that I could keep my focus on my target.
"No. In that village, I can't obtain the power I seek. I am not powerful enough. They hold me back." Orochimaru said. "You are. truly skilled to be able to hold your own against one of the three sannin." He said with panting breath from exhaustion of our fast pace fight.
"I'm not Head Anbu Captain for nothing. I don't wish to kill you. You are a ninja and comrade from the hidden leaf but you have betrayed the village by leaving without being forced to. The Hokage has given me orders to apprehend you and send you back to the village, if otherwise, kill you. I will be forced to kill you at this rate." I said.
"Hah! You are a child, but you are strong." Orochimaru said. "However, I will not bow down to the likes of that Hokage. I will not submit!" He roared.
I sighed. I had hoped that I might be able to stop Orochimaru early enough but it seems he is seriously twisted even now. There is only one way to ensure his autrocities of my time never occur here and that is to end his life once and for all.
"Very well, I will end it now." I said getting into position.
I disappeared and stabbed him in the gut. He coughed out blood and fell to his knees. Just then Tsunade and Jiraiya threw me back. My Chakra Sword was still in my hand. I still had not used my most special weapon. The weapon passed on to me by my father that was most likely the deadliest dagger in the world, the Poisonous Chakra Dagger.
"Please stop this! Don't kill him! He's our teammate!" Tsunade said blocking me from Orochimaru. Jiraiya stood beside her.
"The Hokage has given orders to me to bring him back or kill him. He will not come back. He knows our weakness and has already betrayed the laws of the village in many ways. He holds a grudge against our village for not making him Kage and will always be a threat to the village, so I must act upon orders and kill him." I said in an emotionless tone of voice.
I hated having to do that to them but if I acted any other way it would mean the end of my life for such weakness with my mask on. I knew of their older selves. This is going to be hard because I know their older style of fighting should they decide to fight me for their now x-teammate.
"We can convince him!" Jiraiya said.
"Too late." Orochimaru hissed, turning to mud.
Jiraiya cursed loudly and very explicitly well at least I know now where Naruto got some of his words from. Tsunade's eyes widened, in shock and worry. I whipped the blood off of my blade and sheathed it while sighing and trying to think of a way to salvage the mission. Nope, no way to salvage it now, he has just crossed the border with Sound.
"Your bond with your teammate will be your downfall; it will get you killed. Convincing him to come back is impossible. You can see that the darkness has completely devoured his entire being through his eyes. He is consumed by his lust for power," I said in as soothing a tone as I can allow right now.
"How could you have been able to wound him so badly?" Tsunade asked in shock.
"I'm the Head Anbu Captain. Nice to meet you, Tsunade-hime. Rumor goes that my medical nin jutsu skill rivals yours, though I don't feel like making a competition out of it. Your teammate has left the village which has caused me to have failed my mission. I will take full responsibility and explain the situation to the Hokage." I said as I prepared to leave.
"We should go after him." Jiraiya said which made me pause.
"Jiraiya," Tsunade said hopelessly and almost sighed.
"If you go after him, it will be only at a disadvantage. He is planning on doing something and we know our land better than foreign lands. You will get lost and you won't be able to track him. The best thing that I would suggest is to compose yourself and control your emotions, Jiraiya-sama," I said before he interrupted me.
"I am in control of my emotions and I will do as I damn well please," he growled at me.
"No you are not in control of your emotions or you would be calm right now," I told him.
"Oh you mean like you. You mean, I should be completely emotionless," he hissed almost exactly like his x-teammate did.
"Jiraiya," Tsunade gasped in surprise at his audacity. "I am sorry Anbu-san. My teammate has very poor manners and is in shock currently."
"I understand completely. Now, I advise you to return to the village," I said.
"I understand. We will head back to the village." Tsunade said with a slight smile at me.
I blinked at her. She had sad eyes, but she stood proudly. I thought she would have fought me to force her to return back to the village which will soon be in turmoil from the loss of a Sannin. I nodded in thanks for her cooperation.
"Tsunade-" Jiraiya protested.
Tsunade whacked him on the back of the head as if trying to whack some sense into him.
Hopefully it works better now than it did in my time. I thought with an internal sigh.
"She's right. She might be a kid, but she's Head Anbu Captain. And being able to wound Orochimaru so badly who is stronger than you, without being injured, you should know that she is not someone we should disobey!" Tsunade said.
Jiraiya nodded. I went back to the leaf Village. Tsunade and Jiraiya traveled at a much slower pace than me so I arrived at least three hours sooner than they did. Once I passed through the gates, I teleported and appeared in front of the Hokage.
"The mission was a failure. There was an … interference but I have no excuse." I said.
The Fourth Hokage, Minato, sighed. He rubbed his hand across his face in exasperation and shook his head as if he knew this might happen.
"I do not blame you. The Third Hokage taught his team to be close to each other and work as a team, unlike how I taught my team. You're dismissed. I want a report by tomorrow morning. Be ready for anything," The Hokage said.
I bowed and left the Hokage's office and went back to my office. I took back command and went training. I had many skills no one knew of, and that was why I was the most powerful Anbu in history. I teach some of the jutsu to some Anbu but they usually have to earn it. After a few hours, I went back to my office and toweled myself off. I looked over at the huge stacks of paper and decided right now would be the perfect time to take a night and morning break from paper work. I practically lived in my office because of all the paperwork. I thought I might as well visit some old family friends that I have not went and seen in a while.
I sighed. Uchiha Mikoto had been a close friend of my mother and I had helped with the pregnancy of Itachi. Uchiha Fugaku had deemed me very trust worthy and good company. He seemed to be stern to many people and strict, but when alone with his wife, he would let his guard down. He knew I was Anbu Head Captain and was one of the few people outside of Anbu who knew about my true identity. Uchiha Mikoto, Uzumaki Minato, and Uzumaki Kushina also knew me.
I cleaned up my cloak and mask. I made sure the stench of blood was completely gone before I went to the Uchiha residence. The guards welcomed me. I knocked on the door of the Uchiha Head Mansion and Fugaku opened the door. He smirked at me.
"It's been a while since I've seen you. Come on in." He said.
I smiled and bowed slightly. When he questioned me long ago on how one with emotions could take hold of such a position, I had told him, ninja were ninja, but they were also the person themselves and all people were equal and should live normally. I said right then, I wasn't a ninja at the time, but when I was on a mission, I was a ninja, when I was on duty, I was a ninja. But I was always alert and ready to go on duty at any time. Itachi should have been about age 6 or 7 right now. I hadn't visited too often, so he would not recognize me.
I walked into the kitchen and Mikoto was helping Itachi with his homework at the table when she looked up.
"Sakura! I haven't seen you in a long time! How have you been?" She said happily getting up and hugging me with a smile.
I smiled softly finally allowing my emotionless mask fall away with friends so near me.
"It hasn't been that long Mikoto-san. I've been doing well. However, one mission had a bit of interference which caused a failure," I said.
"Hm? What was it about?" Fugaku asked.
"Orochimaru has left the village. I was ordered to bring him back or kill him if he resisted. I was about to kill him, but his team stopped me. He substituted himself and ran," I said sighing.
"Hm. I heard he was researching and using forbidden jutsu," Fugaku said.
I nodded in confirmation of his statement. Mikoto gasped and Fugaku just shook his head in disbelief.
"He had been researching and experimenting on people's lives. The Third Hokage had hesitated in killing him, as a mentor. He will only continue to experiment and research and use forbidden jutsu. From the reports, I know that he seeks immortality, at least from the clues of all the research he's done." I said sitting.
Mikoto poured me some tea and I smiled in gratefulness.
"May I know your name?" Itachi asked politely.
I laughed lightly at his quiet and polite question.
"Looks like you've grown up. I haven't seen you in a while." I said.
Itachi blinked in confusion. Mikoto and Fugaku laughed in unison.
"This is Sakura, Itachi-chan. She's a high level ninja. You're both prodigies. Sakura helped take care of you when you were born and helped me a lot. Her mom was my friend. You were too young to remember her now but she often took care of you as a child and an infant." Mikoto said with a smile.
Itachi blinked in surprise.
"He's quite polite. He truly is a great boy." I said smiling.
Mikoto laughed lightly. Fugaku nodded with a proud look on his face at my praise of his son. To Fugaku it is great to hear such praise from me since I am a high up ninja and the both of us have gone on long missions together.
"So how old are you and what year are you at the academy Itachi?" I asked curiously.
"7. This is my last year at the academy." Itachi said.
Fugaku nodded in approval.
"Why haven't you come around in a few years?" Mikoto asked curiously.
"Paper work is a hack. Not only that. The Hokage constantly sent me on missions to lead the Teams and I constantly have to watch over exams and stay by the Hokage's side. Also, since the Fourth has had proper training, but he hasn't had experience dealing with the tests and all, he needed help. I had to arrange the guarding duty and patterns as well as look-out areas and lock down situations. Then the treaty had happened not too long after he became Hokage, so I had to deal with that too... it's been a hassle. I haven't had much time to relax. I still have some paperwork to do..." I said. Fugaku nodded in understanding.
"I can definitely agree with you there on the paperwork." He said.
"Well, you should come by more often and relax so we can talk like this. Why not hand down some of your paper work" Mikoto said smiling.
I nodded shortly before I said, "I will try to hand some to my third but he is already busy. Hopefully, I should be able to find some time to spend with you all."
"Yes. It's been too long," Fugaku nodded in agreement.
"I'll try." I said smiling.
I talked with Mikoto and Fugaku and then watched over Itachi doing his work while Fugaku left to the Uchiha Police Forces building while Mikoto went to do some house work. After watching over Itachi, he and I talked for a while.
"What rank are you, Sakura-san?" He asked in a polite tone.
"Just Sakura is fine for now, Itachi. Not many people know my rank, so keep it a secret ok? It's supposed to be kept secret." I asked. Itachi nodded. "Well. I'm Head Anbu Captain. I'm 15 right now, and I've been Anbu Captain for 5 years." I said.
Itachi blinked in shock.
"When did you become a ninja then?" He asked.
"Uh, Probably when I was 6? That was a little before the war was officially declared," I said sadly as some of my memories of family lost to war in both this life and my past life and I sighed.
I looked at Itachi. "Itachi, what's your dream?" I asked.
"Dream?" He asked blinking at me slowly.
"Yes. What do you wish for the most in this world? What does your heart yearn for?" I asked patiently.
"My heart...?" He asked.
I nodded. He looked down.
"I... wish for peace. I want this world to be truly at peace. No more war," Itachi said with a sad tone of voice.
I looked at him straight in the eyes and he stared back with an unwavering stare. I smiled.
"Good. You know yourself pretty well then. You will become strong. I can tell. You will become one of the strongest shinobi this world has seen." I said patting his head.
He blinked in surprise. I got up and sighed.
"Now, I wish you luck on your graduation. Study hard and you're sure to do well." I said.
He nodded. I bid goodbye to Mikoto and let her know I'd come by and visit some other time. I left the Uchiha district.
I had met Tsunade and Jiraiya many times around the village. We had time to talk about things. Tsunade and Jiraiya had regretted their decision to try and go after Orochimaru and bring him back to his senses, but I had told them to forget it. They brought news about Orochimaru's army. He wanted revenge against the village. Tsunade and I both talked about girl stuff and both loved to punch Jiraiya when he got sick minded. We got closer every time we talked.
Tsurara11: Well there you are the end of the second chapter. Microsoft word count it is 7 pages long.
Sakura: Any major changes to it?
Tsurara11: For past readers you might notice, I added a bit more of Jiraiya's bad moods to it. I have added more details to certain areas but nothing completely major.
Itachi: Why am I still a child? *growls*
Tsurara11: Well by my count there is only one more child version of you chapter left but if you want I can make it more. *Smirks evilly*
Itachi: No, no I am good thank you.
Sakura: *High fives authoress* Finally someone who can make him back down and cringe.
Tsurara11: Why, thank you Sakura. Well that is all for this chapter. If I can get it all done tonight I might update the final section of SasuLovesSaku4Ever's first chapter. Please comment and thank you for reading.