Chapter Twenty Seven
She panted, kicking the air again and again. Sakura had fallen behind in her training since the Akatsuki had reclaimed her and she had decided to go outside to get back into shape. She knew Pein would be furious with her for leaving her room, but he could stuff it in her opinion. He was too weak—not in strength, but in mind—to boss her around. Honestly, did he really believe that anyone supported his desire for peace?
Sakura was no fool, no matter what Pein might think. She knew that Naruto and Hinata were coming for her. She had overheard Kisame and Itachi talking about a group of ninja perusing the Akatsuki to retrieve her, and no one other than her friends would bother. It was sweet of them, but she knew that when they arrived, she would kick them back home. They didn't need to get involved in her life any more. They deserved better.
Much better, in fact, and Sakura knew that the only way they would get that was for them to give up on her. So, for that to happen, she would need to get a message to them, to basically let them know that she doesn't need rescuing—at least, not by them. She knew that her brother and the twins weren't going to come for her, since they would just wait until she gets out before they try to find her. They weren't idiot, and they knew that none of them stood a chance against an S-Class criminal. In fact, if Sakura were to truly become a missing nin, she would only be A-Rank at the most, a high B-Class nin if she didn't quickly find some technique to make up for her out-of-control Kekkei Genkai.
"Hello, Sakura-san!" She heard someone call from the door. Turning, her vision was filled with blue. Despite his size, Kisame really was fast enough to get from the door to her nose in the time it took her to turn around.
"Hey, Kisame-san." Sakura greeted politely. After all, Kisame was polite to her, so she had no reason to be rude—unlike a certain pair of long-hair Akatsuki members. "Can I help you?"
"No—I'm here to help you." Kisame stated with a serious expression. "While I can't get you out of here, I can hide you."
"Why do I need hiding?"
"Zetsu's hungry and Pein gave him permission to have some cotton candy." He said, tugging slightly on a lock of her hair. Sakura's eyes widened—Zetsu was way out of her league—and followed Kisame when he walked briskly towards the door.
'Great...If Zetsu finds me, I'll never survive the night.'
—With Naruto—
The trio finally made it to Rain with little resistance, but had to don hooded cloaks to prevent too much suspicion. Now, while Naruto believed that three people walking around with hoods over their heads was more suspicious than three people casually walking around the city, he was not going to argue with Jiraiya when they were potentially so close to Sakura.
"Hey, old man, how much further?" He asked, his voice croaking slightly due to lack of water.
"Not far. Hinata-chan, could you shut him up?"
"H-Hai, Jiraiya-sama." Hinata nodded, giving Naruto a quickly 'Gentle-Fist'-style hit in the arm. Naruto grumbled and rubbed his now aching limb as three men closed in on the group.
"Well, well. What do we have here?"
—With Sakura—
I have been hiding for three days now. Just going from place to place in the Rain Village, keeping my head down like all the others who lived here. I knew that Pein didn't like me, but I didn't think that he would actually feed me to Zetsu any time soon. Feeling familiar chakra, I paused and looked around, seeing three cloaked figures, one much taller than the others, being spoken to by Hidan and Kakuzu.
My eyes widened when one of them took off their cloak. It was Naruto. As in, the boy I had abandoned in Konoha. He really did come to find me—he and Hinata, I realised when the other small person dropped their hood. They had also brought the Sannin, Jiraiya. Is that boy and idiot? He knew that Akatsuki were after the beast inside him, and yet he came along to get her anyway
She saw that Hidan was about to knock out the blonde, while Kakuzu was readying himself to kill Hinata and battle with Jiraiya. Sakura knew that she could help—she knew Hidan well enough to know that if you kept his head away from his body, he'd be about as dangerous as a blunt kunai. As for Kakuzu—he was very powerful, but would leave you alone if you offered him enough money to do so.
Stepping forwards, Sakura took a deep breath.
"Leave them alone."
—Kakuzu—
"Leave them alone!"
It's her. The girl with the bright, twinkling eyes and the flowing—well, not since she cut it—hair, as well as that god awful, squeaky voice and the overly-large forehead. Or, as I liked to call her, the colossal waste of money. She ate our food, like a member, she used our water and electricity, like a member, and she had her own room, like a member. This girl wasn't even supposed to be a member in the first place.
She's just a brat who can't even complete a mission without her feelings getting in the way. I turned slowly and glared at her, though she didn't seem to notice in the least. Her eyes were trained on the Jinchuuriki. Hmm; I thought Zetsu was supposed to eat her a few days ago—she had disappeared, and it was only natural to assume. Well, I might as well end her little hero-act.
"Haruno." I called. "You betrayed the Akatsuki." I added, seeing her roll her eyes as if it were obvious. Well, it was rather obvious, but it's only natural that I say something like that. Adds drama and distracts people long enough for...
—Naruto—
"Let her go!" I growled, seeing the silver-haired one holding Hinata with a kunai to her throat. He grinned slightly, an insane look in his eye as he drew a line of blood from her cheek.
"Hidan! Leave Hinata-chan alone. This isn't her fight." Sakura told him calmly, somehow appearing beside him and pulling the kunai from his hands, kicking Hinata towards the pervy sage. Her eyes looked dead.
"Sakura-chan?" I called, my voice tight. I hadn't seen her since the Akatsuki took her and now, here she was, a girl who had turned her back on Yukigakure, Konohagakure and—from the sounds if it—Akatsuki itself.
"Naruto-kun...you're missing the Chunin Exams." She told me. I wanted to scream at her—she's more important that becoming a sticking Chunin. I could stay a Genin for life if she would just come back to Konoha and promise to stay there with me forever—of course, I would then become Hokage.
"This is ridiculous." The man known as Hidan groaned and the next thing I knew, there was a slight pinch on my neck and everything went dark.
--
I woke up in a tent—it was kind of warm, so this cannot be Amegakure. Sitting up instantly, I looked around. No Hinata, no Jiraiya and no Sakura. I didn't know why I was here—if the Akatsuki still had me, I probably wouldn't be waking up at all. The tent open and someone came inside—the pervy sage.
"Ero-Sannin...what's going on?" I asked. For once, he ignored the nickname and gained a sombre look.
"Sneaking in didn't work. They have Sakura and they had Hinata-chan now, but I managed to get you out of there." He told me. My whole body felt hotter as I became furious with him. The man opened his mouth to talk, but I spoke before he could.
"Why did you leave them there?! Sakura-chan's safety was the whole point of this mission! And Hinata-chan can't survive around those criminals—she's too delicate!" I roared at him. He sent me a guilty look and sighed.
"I know. That's why we're sneaking in tonight, to get them both back. We'll be going directly to the tower—that's where they're keeping them." Jiraiya said, handing me some dark clothes. I took off my usual attire and pulled on the black shirt and black trousers, wrapping dark grey bandages around the ends and pulling on the black sandals. I then wrapped dark grey bandages around my wrists to keep the ends of the shirt from catching on anything.
"Now what?" I asked, turning to see Jiraiya in a similar outfit. The older man pulled a mask over his head that covered everything except his eyes before handing a similar one to me. I pulled it on and nodded to the sage as we both left the forest, heading again towards Amegakure.
'I'll save them.'
—Hinata—
My eyes opened slowly in the dark, damp room I was being contained in. A vague recollection of being knocked out hit me like a cold fist. Soft breathing beside me drew my attention to my left, but I couldn't see anything other than a small figure with short hair. Squinting my eyes, I made out the facial features and I gasped.
"S-Sakura-chan?" I muttered, hearing the girl stir slightly next to me. Her eyes opened and blinked twice before meet mine. Her green eyes looked so colourless in the lack of light and I wished I could see the emerald shine.
"Hinata-chan?" She asked, her forehead creasing in a frown that I could barely make out. "Your eyes glow." Sakura murmured, her eyes lowering before snapping open again—they had obviously sedated her. She shook her head and I felt tears spring to my eyes.
"It's really you." I whispered, reaching out to her in the darkness. Suddenly, her eyes lit up a demonic red and she grinned, sharp teeth shining.
"Hinata!" She growled, reaching a hand forwards and clawing me across the face, drawing blood. I screamed as the vision melted away, revealing a lighter room—I could make out short pink hair on the person standing protectivly in front of me.
"Leave her alone, Itachi." She stated angrily, her tone sharp as the door closed and the person who was there left. Sakura sighed, settling herself down opposite the door while I stared at her.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Yeah, it's really me this time." Sakura told me with a nod. "Itachi got you with a genjutsu before. Don't worry about it." She added, looking away. "Are you hurt anywhere? Do you feel any pain?"
"J-Just my cheek." I replied, rubbing it. My eyes widened when I felt a trail of blood forming there.
"Sorry about that. It was the only way I could wake you up." Sakura said, looking at me with a shrug. "But, I think you'll forgive me, since I know how bad Itachi's Genjutsu can get."
"From experience, eh, Sakura-chan?" An amused voice called from the door. I looked up sharply and saw a blonde teenager standing there with his arms crossed, looking at me like I was nothing more than a scratch on his kunai. He turned to Sakura and his eyes changed. He looked at her...like she looked at Naruto.
"Deidara, get out of here." Sakura snarled, standing in front of me. "Unless you're going to help us escape, I don't want to see your face."
"But I have such a nice face." He whined, stepping towards her.
"Another step and that nice face of yours will be all over the wall." She threatened seriously, her eyes set on his face. I knew, from years of being her friend, that she was not only serious, but that she could follow through with the actions she was warning of.
"Sa-Sakura-chan." I called, my hand grabbing onto hers as I stood next to her, watching as her eyes flicked towards me and then back to him. The teenager, Deidara, smirked and tilted his head to the side.
"Yeah, Sa-Sakura-chan. You don't want to do that in front of your friend now, do you? And you know what would happen if you took any action against one of us right now." He laughed. "You're very much a prisoner here, Sakura-chan. In more ways that your little friend." He added, leaving and locking the door.
"What did he m-mean?" I asked, seeing her look away. She pulled her collar down and my eyes widened when I saw a curse mark on her neck. It was bold and free, no seal, meaning that it could still cause her unimaginable pain if she disobayed them.
"This is the reason, Hinata-chan. This little mark is why I entered Akatsuki and accepted the mission to become a Konoha ninja." She began. "I never meant to make friend, other than with the target, Naruto. That was only because I needed it to be easy when it came to lurring him out of the village."
"Then...why...?"
"Did I befriend you?" She suggested as I nodded. "I guess it was because I was lonely. You're a really nice person, Hinata-chan, and it's hard for someone not to like you. You and Naruto-kun are the reason that I abandoned that mission recently. I betrayed Akatsuki, not Konoha, and they set me up to be capture because of it. That was my punishment."
"For all of us to think you were a traitor?" I asked, my eyes welling up with tears at the thought of hating her. She nodded once and sighed.
"I really do love Naruto-kun, Hinata-chan." She confessed. "I know that you don't like it. I know you feel threatened by us getting closer because I was spending all my time with him and none of it with you." She smiled. My eyes widened a little when I realised that she was right. "I'll always want to be your friend, Hinata-chan, but we're both going to grow up and find love. I just found it first this time." Her eyes twinkled like they did the first time she managed to beat my father in a contest of words and take me out of the village to watch the wolves.
"Sakura-chan...thank you." I smiled. We heard footsteps and looked towards the door. I saw her eyes shift from green to yellow and then back. She was just as afraid as I was.
—Naruto—
The darkness covered our movements, though we still had to be careful. We were only on the outskirts of the village, and yet there had already been so many times that I nearly slipped up. No matter how determind I was to get the girls back, I was still a Genin. It would have made more sense for someone like Kakashi-sensei or Iruka-sensei to take the mission.
"Naruto, focus!" The old man scolded me, slapping me lightly on the back of the head. It reminded me of Sakura-chan, the way she would always hit me when I did something stupid. Yeah, I got hit a lot.
"Right, whatever, old man." I whispered back, covering my mouth and slowing my breathing when someone walked past me.
This was going to be a long night.