Hello, it's me again. I've managed to update once again! I'm astounded at my lack of writer's block. I highly recommend planning out chapters in advance haha, it really does wonders. A little bit of torture towards the end, nothing too bad. If there's any typos, I apologize but I like never proofread hahaha. Anyways, enjoy.
Running a hand through her hair, Sakura sighed. She'd had a relatively good night's sleep, but a small knot of nerves were gnawing at her from within. Yawning, she stretched her arms above her head. She wiped at her eyes with closed fists, dismayed at the makeup smudged along her fist. She was loathe to get out of the comforts of her bed, her nest of warmth and relaxation, for a day that she knew would be full of physical challenges.
But, more than that, she was excited to become a member of Konoha's finest. This had become her end goal and now it was finally within her grasp. She would be among the best of her profession, using her talents to further the goals of her country. This made the hard choice between her family and her career seem worth it. Because it was worth it. This was something that she'd found she had to tell herself once in awhile when she was brought face to face with the prospect of her loneliness. She was so incredibly alone at times. She didn't think of it as often as one would think, but it did come across her thoughts now and again. She was happy, and she knew that this was the driving force that kept her from repeatedly going back to such a difficult topic in her head.
She really was happy. She had everything she had hoped for: a career surpassing that of even her shishou, a group of friends that would die for her, and a set of skills that allowed her to finally feel proud of herself. She had no reason to complain and, for the most part, was so busy that she didn't notice how alone she was.
It would always hurt the way that her mom had left her, however. She couldn't understand how a mother could abandon her child, a child that was still growing, still learning. A child that hadn't even finished puberty. She'd left her out of ignorance, fear, and hatred for a job she had no experience with. In the beginning, Sakura had sworn that she would never forgive her mother. Deep inside, she already had. Sakura loved her family and it had broke her heart to choose her career over her mother. But Sakura wasn't stupid. It had been a challenge for her to adjust to the differences between civilian and shinobi life. Her way of thinking had changed in order to prepare herself for a mercenary lifestyle. Her mother had never made a distinctive thought pattern change and so could not handle what came with being connected to Sakura's world.
All she wanted was to see her mother's face, to see her smile softly as she sang songs to her when she was sick. She wanted to see her brother again, to hold him tight and make up for all the years she'd been away.
It was hard to accept that her mother would ever abandon her, but with that came the hope that she would one day find it within herself to swallow her pride and return.
Without Sakura, there was no telling how many lives would have been lost. How many families that would be missing pieces, how many children coming home to a fatherless house, or how many names would have been etched into the memorial stone. She was one of the pillars of Konoha, like it or not, and without her, there would be a considerable dent in its numbers.
Not that she wasn't just as lethal. Although out of the field more than she was in it, Sakura was a force to be reckoned with. Sakura oozed perfection when fighting. A fan of brute strength over finesse, she made crushing skulls and ribcages look as easy as it could be. She made it look like child's play. She didn't enjoy killing but, in a way, she did like the confirmation of her skills it provided.
That was just how she was. She was well known as a monstrously strong kunoichi that was an invaluable asset on the battlefield. Sakura was fought over for missions quite frequently but had chosen the hospital over an exciting life full of missions because it was where she felt that she could do the most. She'd initiated a medic training program, one that Tsunade had always wanted to start herself. This had led to an overall spike in medical skill and a lack of pressing need for her skills. All medical ninja were required to work some shifts in the hospital which would lead to her being able to take more and more time off. Sakura, at this point, was really only needed for special cases. The hospital had been the place where she could make the most difference. And now it was ANBU.
Finally finding the energy to crawl out of bed, Sakura wandered to the bathroom and peeled off the cute underwear that nobody had seen the previous night. She ran cold water in her sink and splashed her face, scrubbing away the makeup that she'd allowed to sit on her face overnight. Her sleepiness fell away and she pulled her hair into a tight, high ponytail.
Slipping into a fresh pair of cotton panties and a sports bra, she wandered back into her room to find some clothes. She smiled as she spotted her classic outfit from her younger days training under Tsunade. She zipped up the red shirt, now considerably tighter in the bust than it had been, and slid into a pair of black spandex shorts. Foregoing the pink skirt, she wrapped her leg with bandages and clipped on her weapons holster before putting on her shin and forearm guards. Smirking in the mirror, she pulled on a pair of sandals and made sure that she had everything.
Glancing at the clock, Sakura realized that she had ten minutes to get to the Forest of Death. Groaning, she bolted out the door, stopping only to grab a bottle of water.
Panting slightly, Sakura straightened up under the scrutiny of the proctors. Morino Ibiki was standing next to two unidentified ANBU members, each seemingly eyeing up the recruits. Sakura noticed that there were no other members of ANBU there and suspected that many of them were hiding in the forest to make it harder to find them.
"You were almost late, Sakura-chan." Sai smiled down at her, ignoring Ibiki as he began to talk.
"Shh! It's about to start!"
Turning to the scary man, Sakura tuned into his words.
"Good morning, fellow shinobi of the leaf. The examination will begin shortly. Each recruit will be placed in a team based on skill level and experience. These teams are set up to help you succeed, not hinder you. Therefore, you will likely be very familiar with your team members." Pausing, he let this sink in.
Sakura noticed that many of the recruits were visibly relieved at this, including her own friends. She, too, knew that she would perform to the best of her abilities with her boys.
"This is an information retrieval mock-mission. However, you must treat it like it is a real one. Each team will be given scrolls at random, each with a piece of information that you must protect at all costs. The scrolls will have something that you must find out as well. There will be operatives in teams within the forest that will be attempting to incapacitate you while you will be attempting to do the same. Keep in mind that you want them able to speak in order to gain the information that you need. You must retrieve the information and escape the forest with your captives. Be fast, be efficient, and leave little trace." He cleared his throat and gestured to the two operatives who began to read out team assignments.
As expected, they were put into a team but were not designated a leader. As the naturally bossy one, Sakura offered to do the job. As soon as they were in their teams, black scrolls were passed around.
Reading theirs silently, they rolled their eyes at the secret information they had to protect. Sakura had to cover Naruto's mouth to keep him from blurting out the ridiculousness of "Tomatoes exist in over 7500 varieties." Their object was to find out Ibiki's favourite colour.
"Well, this sounds ridiculous, but I bet that's what they're banking on. We have to take it seriously. They want us to mess up," Sasuke said, all seriousness.
"That's because you like tomatoes, teme," Naruto laughed, slapping him on the back.
Ignoring him, Sasuke turned to watch as Ibiki held up his hand.
"On your marks, get set, go!"
They were gone in a flash, disappearing into the depths of the forest. It had been a long time since any creature within the forest gave them a fright but they were wary of them nonetheless. They couldn't afford to get bogged down in fighting giant snakes and poisonous frogs.
Stopping, they warily got together to discuss a quick game plan. "I can summon my ninneko," Sakura stated, eyeing up the forest. "They'll split up and track any scents that they find."
Nodding, Naruto voiced his agreement. "I think we should stick together for now. We can discuss splitting up before we ambush any potential teams we find."
Agreeing, Sakura bit her thumb and summoned three cats. A large orange tabby, and a small black cat appeared in a puff of smoke. Sakura had kept her pact with the slug summons but with their specialty in healing, she had wanted some summons that were versatile and compatible with her personality. Kakashi had been disdained to learn that she'd picked cat summons.
"Momo, head east and see if you can pick up the scent of any shinobi, ANBU in particular," she gestured to the small black cat. "Bento, head west and do the same. Follow the trail for a bit and if you can identify the ninja, do so. Report back to me when you have a solid lead."
"Hai, Sakura-nya," they called as they disappeared in flash.
"We can head north and scan the environment. I doubt that they would be very close to the gate due to their time to prepare."
Nodding, they took off. Sai created some birds made of ink and allowed them to fly ahead and above, scanning the immediate area for any signs of another presence. They continued to run, the heat of the day gradually increasing as the morning became closer to noon, until Momo popped into place at Sakura's side.
"I ran into many other ninja while I was running, but none were ANBU," she mewed, turning her nose up at the other ninja listening intently. "But I did pick up the trail of several ANBU northeast of here."
Grinning, Sakura locked eyes with her teammates. "Lead the way, Momo."
Pumping a fist in the air in excitement, Naruto leapt ahead of everyone in a burst of chakra, following the black blur of the cat. She was agile and incredibly fast, leaping from branch to branch and staying in the safety of the shade. Not that much sun reached the ground through the gigantic trees that made up the forest.
Sakura wiped the sweat beading at her brow, feeling the exertion of travelling at such a breakneck speed in the heat of the morning. The Land of Fire was humid and hot for most of the year, with a small break from December to February. They very rarely got cold enough weather for snow and were not quite humid enough to be like the rainforests of Rain.
Sakura felt satisfied as she watched her leg muscles contract and relax, the muscle definition visible as they swelled under the heat and strain.
Slowing down as she saw Momo halt, she came to a rest beside the small furball. Bending down to scratch between her ears, Sakura whispered, "Are they close now?"
Nodding, Momo gestured ahead. "They are within five minutes that way and appear to be stationary although they were moving just previously-nya."
Thanking the cat, Sakura told her to relay to Bento that they were no longer needed. Momo nodded and disappeared, leaving them to coordinate a battle plan.
"With a four-man squad, we should try to take out two right away. If we concentrate our efforts on two rather than on detaining all at once, we have a higher chance of capturing them. With surprise on our side, we can definitely take them out right away and then split into two-man teams to focus on the remaining two." Sakura began planning the strategy, taking in Sasuke's and Sai's input to adjust it. Eventually, they had a smooth, uniform plan put together. Splitting into the pairs that would split once more when two were incapacitated, Sakura followed Sai up the side of one of the trees.
Reaching the top of the massive tree, they perched on the vast expanse of foliage. Sai quickly made a bird large enough for the two to crouch on top of. Sakura admired his look of concentration as a small crease between his brows formed. They hopped onto the bird and Sakura used a simple genjutsu to make them less noticeable as they descended through the trees towards their targets.
Sasuke was heading towards their targets from the west while Naruto would intercept them from the east. This left an aerial attack from Sai and Sakura. As they made out the figures from a distance, keeping silent, Sai directed the bird into a steep dive. They'd agreed that Naruto and Sasuke would attack the one closest to the south and that Sai and Sakura would attack the one closest.
Zooming towards the ground at an alarming rate, Sakura nodded to Sai. He dispelled the bird and they flipped their bodies so that they were heading towards the ANBU squad head first. As they came close enough to see their targets, they spotted a flash of orange and black as their other team members clashed with their target. Sakura, with a graceful arch in her back, flipped her body as they came within range.
Sai mimicked her as they came closer, knowing that the shinobi would be distracted with Naruto and Sasuke's entrance. As the ANBU operative beside the one that had disappeared in a cloud of dust took a step forward to enter the fray, he was met with an array of senbon in his back that paralyzed him. A kick from Sai's foot as he flipped into an upright position sent him sprawling to the ground, his mask clattering as it was sent sprawling.
Shiranui Genma lay on the ground, incapacitated and entirely unconscious thanks to Sai and Sakura. Sakura sucked in a breath and cursed. They had the unfortunate luck of finding Team Uchiha. Readying herself for a battle, her gaze immediately flew to the two leftover ninja. They were crouched low and standing a fair distance away from them. Glancing at where she knew Sasuke and Naruto to be, she saw that they had sealed up their ninja into a container of some kind.
Sakura knew that Kakashi and Itachi would never have been fooled by such a tactic and was glad that they had aimed for Genma and the other shinobi. She watched as the two ANBU turned to look at each other and then nodded. They disappeared in a flash, each going in opposite directions. Naruto and Sasuke immediately dashed after the figure they knew to be Itachi. Sasuke's sharingan was the best match for Itachi's own killer eyes.
Sai and Sakura nodded to each other before dashing after Kakashi. He was fast but Sakura's training allowed her to catch up in a short amount of time. Sakura pumped chakra into her legs as she followed his trail. Sai fell a small ways behind but managed to stay in sight as she gained on her ex-sensei. Seeing the man in the edge of her sight, she grinned. He jumped up as she sent a few senbon speeding towards him. Unrelenting, Sakura sent more at him along with an array of kunai and shuriken. Kakashi slowed down as he dodged the weapons, aware that he would soon have to face them.
Jumping straight up, he created two clones and began forming hand seals. Sakura rolled to the side as a fireball flew past her. He landed on a large branch, his feet sliding with the momentum that his running had generated. Sakura immediately launched herself towards him, knowing that she had the advantage in close combat. Kakashi, well aware of this, leapt away. The clones dove towards her, each holding a kunai. Sakura simply continued towards them, trusting that Sai would take them out.
Sai did just as she expected as he arrived, popping the clones out of existence as Sakura attempted to attack Kakashi. Kakashi changed his course and Sakura brought her arms up to block as his leg came down with considerable force. Sending her flying, she flipped to land on her feet, immediately heading towards him once more. Locked in combat with Sai, he had to leap away as Sakura rejoined the fray. Weaving around the two, Kakashi parried their blows and managed to keep them from damaging him.
With a cry, Sakura brought her leg around in a roundhouse kick that managed to finally connect with her sensei's side. He rolled along a tree branch, sliding off the edge.
Sakura and Sai were wise enough to not let the lucky hit go to waste. Sai immediately created two ink lions that dove after the man. Sinking their claws into either side of him, they held him in place as Sakura followed them through the air. Kakashi attempted to fight her off as they fell to the ground, but the lions kept kim in place as she bound his arms and legs tightly. They were saved from the hard fall when Sai swooped in with a flourish on a new bird. Landing softly, Sai dispelled the creatures and watched as Sakura effortlessly carried the man.
Leaning him against the nearest tree trunk, Sakura removed his mask. Smirking down at the man, Sakura threw a hand on her hip and eyed up the man.
"Well, well, Kakashi-sensei," she purred, her eyes glimmering in delight. She may have forgiven but she still hadn't quite forgotten the insult he'd paid her the night before.
"Yo."
Rolling her eyes, Sakura got down to business. "Listen here, Mister Mean Ol' ANBU," she said and grinned cheekily as she spoke. "We need to know something and you are going to provide us with this little piece of info, ok?"
Kakashi only continued to give her his characteristic eye crinkle. He kept his sharingan eye closed, knowing that they were too wise to look him in the eye.
Sai kept silent, choosing to prod at the man's face with his boot, a fake grin on his face.
Kakashi didn't seem to mind.
"What's Morino-san's favourite colour?" Sakura growled, changing her demeanour. She reached into the holster at her side and plucked out a kunai, twirling it around her finger.
"I'm not sure, Miss Scary Ninja-san." He simpered, entirely in his leisure. Brows furrowing, Sakura gave him a long, hard look. Sashaying closer to him, she gave him a smirk before pointing the kunai at him.
"Are you sure, sensei?" At his lack of reaction, she crouched down until she was eye-level with the man. Moving the kunai forward, she let it rest just above his sternum. In a flash, she'd cut the straps holding his chest guard up. With the edge of the blade, she slid it down to his waist, revealing his chest clad only on a thin black muscle shirt with the attached mask. She repositioned the blade at the top of her sternum and gave him a small smirk as she put a small amount of pressure on it.
His eyebrows furrowed as the tip of the blade entered his flesh, a trickle of blood escaping only to disappear into the black of his outfit.
"How about now?" Sakura whispered, raising her eyebrow at the silence she was met with. Sliding the blade slowly downward, she watched, expressionless, as he hissed in pain. His breaths came out slightly less evenly as she continued, stopping just as his ribcage ended. Twisting the blade a little before withdrawing it, Sakura waited to see how he would react. Swallowing hard, she knew that it had hurt him.
Sakura did not like to torture people for information but she knew that Kakashi had been through far worse than this and was likely not hurting any more than he could handle. They needed the information, however trivial it was, and she was prepared to hurt her friend if she had to. She would probably be the one healing him when it was all over anyways.
Sticking a finger in the wound, she pressed and dragged it along, watching as his eye twitched in reaction.
"Tell me," she whispered once more, wanting to get it over with. "Tell me before I'm forced to resort to drastic measures."
Rolling his eyes, he shot out a muttered reply.
"What did you say?" She cocked her head questioningly.
"I said 'like you haven't already.'"
Laughing, Sakura nodded. "Yes, well, I suppose it could get a lot worse, too. I know the most painful spots on your body, sensei, and I know exactly which places will make you want to die."
Kakashi almost sweat dropped at this. Since when had Sakura gotten so scary? He knew that it was an act to get the information she needed, but he needed to prolong this as much as possible. While she had been so busy trying to get him to talk, he'd been working on the bindings. He was now able to move his hands enough to form hand signs. He just needed the right distraction so that he didn't wind up right back where he had started.
Of course Sakura had to have cut through his shirt. She couldn't have picked part of his arm or something.
He knew that a distraction would be arriving soon enough. Itachi was smart enough to shake off Sasuke and Naruto. They hadn't split up at all, really. Itachi would have picked off Naruto and Sasuke right away. As soon as he was able to, Itachi would have then turned around and gone after Kakashi, knowing that Kakashi would let himself be caught. With this in mind, Kakashi would wait until Itachi came before breaking free, incapacitating the two leftover.
But first, he supposed that he could give Sakura what she wanted.
Groaning melodramatically, Kakashi shook his head. "Ok, ok, Sakura, I'll tell you the information. Just stop picking on this poor old man."
Shooting a grin at Sai, she turned back to Kakashi expectantly.
"His favourite colour, is, well, it's aquamarine, actually," he grinned under his mask, watching as Sakura looked deeply disturbed.
"I would have imagined it would be red or black or something," she muttered.
Seeing Itachi out of the corner of his eye, Kakashi formed an escape jutsu and smirked as the ropes fell away. Sakura watched with wide eyes as Sai crumpled with a precise hit to his neck. She was even more outraged, however, as she saw Kakashi making a break for it.
Realizing that it was likely a trap all along, her face contorted in what could only be described as full blown rage. Ignoring the dangerous Uchiha heading for her next, Sakura turned her back and took a step toward the entirely too gleeful silver-haired man. He made it two steps before her fist hit the back of his skull, launching him forwards and knocking him out cold.
She only had time to register that they'd failed before Itachi's sharingan had taken her into the darkness as well.
Well, I hope Sakura's little sadistic side wasn't too weird, but there's chapter seven, ahead of schedule. Feel free to drop me a review!