Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Beware…there are some spoilers for those who haven't seen past Ep. 50 of the Shipuuden arc or read any of the manga.
Chapter 2
Resolutely, she turned on her heel and began to leave the clearing. Before she could get far, however, three shadows leapt from the trees and into her path.
"Give us the scroll, Sakura," a low voice commanded.
The pink haired woman felt another bubble of sound gather in her throat and this time released the crazed laugh. Her heart filled with glee at the fearful looks on her comrades' faces. Her mind, already broken from the tremendous pressure of her loss, stayed clear and focused.
"You can't stop me," she grinned, placing the precious scroll in her cloak. "I'm a fuckin' Sannin now. D'you think I can be stopped by something as pitiful as you three?"
"Tsunade-sama didn't give you that title so that you could follow in the footsteps of her bastard teammate!" Kiba yelled out.
Sakura pouted at the comparison. "I'm not following in Orochimaru's footsteps," she shot back. "I'm doing something completely different."
"How is this different, Sakura-san?" Hinata asked. Pain flowed in her voice, but strength and anger prevented her usual stutter.
"I would think that you'd want this more than anyone," Sakura sighed, ignoring the question. "He'd be back, Hinata…don't you want him back?"
"It wouldn't be him!" Hinata screamed. "No matter what you did, it wouldn't be him!!"
Something in the white-eyed woman's voice struck a chord in Sakura's crazed mind. "Chiyo-baa-sama," Sakura whispered. Before it was violently pushed back, a memory of an old woman came to her.
They know nothing, the voice growled softly. This is more than what they think.
Of course it's more than what they think, Sakura argued. But it is also so much less…
They know nothing, the voice insisted. Sakura grabbed the side of her head in confusion and glared at Team Kurenai. They were whole—always had been. They were together—always would be. And they knew nothing about her pain.
"You know nothing," she repeated. The fury of her grief blinded her to the looks of worry on the faces of those before her. She threw her hand out to the side and sent several chakra strings into the trees to her left—in her blind spot. Shouts rang out as four bodies slammed heavily into the forest floor.
"Sakura," Ino panted as the chakra strings tightened around her body. "You don't want to do this."
"Don't be stupid," Shikamaru grimaced. "You're being selfish."
Sakura's thoughts whirled at the possibilities before her. Shika's mind for strategies outclassed her own, Chouji's strength could match her on an even keel, and Shino could drain her chakra in a heartbeat. Those three held the biggest threat to her. If she wanted to succeed, she'd have to take them out fast.
"Don't talk to me about selfishness, Nara. I don't need a lecture from you," Sakura sneered and lovingly tightened the chakra around him. When long streaks of red blood began appearing on his skin and his clothes began to rip under the pressure, a dark bloom of pleasure rose up in her chest.
The sight of those welts and the smell of the blood mixing with the rain intoxicated her.
It was beautiful.
But they'll heal…the voice taunted. And where will the beauty be in that?
No, Sakura smirked and allowed a bit of tainted healing chakra into her hold. They'll scar now. And they'll be beautiful forever.
"Stop it!" Chouji cried out.
Sakura shifted her focus just long enough for the Akimichi to bellow in pain as she treated him to the same jutsu as his friend.
"Your body is a Wonderland," Sakura sang and giggled as she continued to scar the two boys at her mercy with her chakra.
"Shino!" Kiba howled. "NOW!"
A smirk appeared on Sakura's face moments before Shino could even release his jutsu. As the swarm of Kikai bugs came toward her, she held out her free arm and released her latest weapon.