Writer's Note: Hey guys, I finally updated this story! WOOT. I'm pretty proud of this one, dudes. It took me a bit to write all this so I hope you guys enjoy it! R&R and let me know what you think!
Chapter 8
The next morning, Sakura was still absorbing yesterdays' events. She still doesn't understand this supposed power she has, considering Ryu didn't give a good explanation; that, and the fact that she'll have to remember the day to meet Sasuke two years from now.
'I'll have to talk to Ryu again. I'll do that when I have the opportunity.'
Sakura was in the kitchen, eating breakfast with everyone. Everyone was eating and having normal small talk. Ryu sat beside Sakura, watching her. Sakura ignored his stares. She knows he's waiting for her to somehow change into a wolf or something. If she really is a wolf, wouldn't she have been able to transform the way Ryu does? They're about the same age, well there's a short gap, but same age all the same. She'll have to come up with a list of questions for him.
When Sakura finished her breakfast she went into the living room. Deidara and Hidan were sitting on the couch. She sat beside Hidan, sighing. Hidan glanced at her, "Don't fucking sigh. Your training will be soon. You should prepare yourself if all of us are here to train you."
Sasori heard as he came in and added, "Indeed. I'm tired of wasting my time. We had orders and missions to follow up, but that was put on pause because of you and Ryu. Where are Itachi and Kisame anyway? They should've been back by now. All this waiting…"
Deidara laughed, "Funny, huh? How long has it been since we've all even been together? 5-7 years…?
As if on cue, Itachi and Kisame entered the base. They both nodded as they passed the living room. Minutes passed and they both came back, geared up and looking ready.
Itachi, toast in hand, focused his eyes on everyone in the room, "Sakura. Everyone. Get ready; your training starts now. Be outside. Zetsu will lead you all to us." Itachi took a bite and followed Kisame out of the base. Immediately after, everyone dashed to their rooms, getting ready and excited to see what the new recruits got to show for themselves. Sakura was nervous and so was Ryu.
Everyone was outside, meeting up with Itachi and Kisame. The area was secluded; it lied in the middle of a forest some ways from their base. Perfect for their kind of training; it was extremely wide and spacious and they were surrounded by thick-trunked trees. Sakura thought the place looked forlornly beautiful.
Itachi walked up to Sakura and Ryu, "Now, I will tell you the basics. Even though we are an organization, we only complete orders in pairs. We rarely ever see each other since our missions are always dangerous and extensive. Our usual way of contacting one another is usually Zetsu. He helps us spy exceptionally, but he also helps us communicate so don't forget that."
Sakura and Ryu nodded. Kisame grinned, "We're all already paired. Once you two have proved yourselves strong and independent, we'll let go of your hand. That means you two are a pair, a team. When we go on missions—which is where you prove yourself—you'll be paired up with either one of us in the meantime before we let you two go off on your own missions. We need to know if we can trust you to take orders and follow through. Understand?"
"We understand." Sakura was nervous. She had no idea what to expect. She knows that if she's a team with Ryu, they're going to have to train together and know each other well to be able to succeed as one. Even though she's nervous, she's very curious how the training will go and how well everyone can fight. She could only hope that she doesn't humiliate herself.
"So, how's this training going to work?" Deidara said picking his teeth. Kisame stood up straight and grinned.
"One at a time, we'll all get a bite of them. Share with them what we think is important and moves that'll come in handy; regular training, only a little more extreme. No matter how tired they are. Sakura, Ryu, you both better be prepared. We do have high expectations considering you're going to be one of us."
They both nodded.
Kisame stood behind Itachi as he stepped forward, "Now pay attention, you'll need to know their weaknesses and their strengths to know what to teach them. I will train them first. Ready?" Itachi waited for everyone's response.
This time, everyone nodded.
Sasori cursed under his breath, "This better not be a waste of time…"
Sakura took a deep breath, "Bring it."
Hours, days, weeks, Sakura didn't know how long their training was going to last. She felt extremely exhausted. She knew that by the end of all this, she was going to be a bruised blob. Ryu wasn't looking too good, either. He didn't get tired as quickly as Sakura, but he didn't last forever either. And they were still training with Itachi.
Sakura watched the sky turn every time of the day as she continued training with Itachi. Ryu was just as tired as she was now and they were beginning to wonder when this will all end. But they didn't dare ask because that could have been seen as a sign of weakness, a limit to their abilities. They need to prove themselves that they will not give up so easily.
Their training lasted almost 3 days until Itachi was willing to let them rest.
Hearing him say, "That's enough, you can rest now," was the biggest relief. They didn't even hesitate to sit down. They hit the ground at 'rest'. They were breathing hard, taking in big gasps.
After they recovered, Itachi said, "You need to be able to fight for days if you plan to win against someone extremely strong. You have to be at our level—S Rank. No one's going to show mercy, especially to an Akatsuki. You need to be malicious, willing to kill. You can't think for a second that you'll be spared. That's where you both are at fault. Sakura," He paused to check he had her attention, "You let your feelings, doubts, and thoughts interfere in your performance. You need to learn control. Ryu, you need to be more of a team player. Sakura had your back majority of the time. I had to remind you she was still there. You need to be aware of your partner. Never doubt your partners' abilities. Most importantly, you both need to work on your stamina and speed." He motioned for Sasori, "You're next to train them."
Sakura almost groaned. 'So this is going to go on until we're finished training with all ten of them, huh? What then?'
Ryu glanced at Sakura, wondering how long they'll last, but really, he was worried about how much longer it would take Sakura to crack. 'Please, don't let her snap during training,' was all that was on his mind.
Sasori summoned out two puppets. 'So he's like Kankuro, another puppet master.' Sakura positioned herself, and Ryu made sure to not forget she was there. As if he ever did.
After several minutes, Sasori's puppet wrapped itself around Sakura, squeezing her to the point she could literally explode. Ryu watched wide-eyed, praying that nothing would go wrong. He tried to get the puppet off of her but he had his own to deal with so it was difficult.
'Ugh, I can't get free… Agh, what—what is..?'
That's when it happened.
Sakura stopped moving. Ryu stopped and looked over at her and he just knew. He caught Sasori's eye and it was too late to warn him. Itachi realized it and cursed, "EVERYONE, EVACUATE THE AREA."
It happened so fast. Before Sasori could release her, her eyes shown a most stunning purple and her chakra surrounded her body. Itachi shouted, everyone moved out, cursing, while Itachi tried to reach Sakura. She let out a blood-curdling scream before he could do anything, and as she spread her arms, Sasori's puppet disintegrated. Her form was in the air and you could feel the power radiating acres away from the location. Itachi flinched. 'I have to do something!' was all Itachi thought. 'She has the power to destroy the world…'
Itachi began moving at a most startling speed toward Sakura. She turned to face him, her face smoldered it tears and contorted with pain, "What's going on…?" Her voice was cracking. Her voice sounded so delicate, so sad, so painful that when they all heard her voice, they all felt emotionally horrible; their hearts reached out, wanting to console what seemed so lost and broken.
Itachi jumped into the air, grabbed Sakura and pulled her down to the ground, frantically whispering words no one could hear. Ryu bolted toward them. By the time Itachi finished his chanting, Sakura was calming down, her eyes slowly changing back to normal. When the process was over, she immediately fell asleep. Itachi sat back, wide-eyed.
Everyone came back to the scene, circling around them, asking questions, demanding answers.
Itachi got to his feet, "Ryu will explain everything. I will take Sakura to our base located in the land of the wind. This incident has brought attention to this area and our base will eventually be found. Hurry and get whatever you need. I'll meet you all there." With that, he lifted Sakura onto his back and dashed into the trees.
Everyone was focused on Ryu, who felt cold. He cleared his throat.
"As you all know, I am a wolf. An apparent legend and myth. Well, I am not. We are not. I left for reasons of my own, as I'm sure we all have," he paused, glancing at everyone, "but something I noticed about Sakura was extremely unbelievable. I just found out about this yesterday. I apologize for not mentioning it sooner but I didn't think we'd actually train this extreme. Sakura is a reincarnation of a most powerful Ancient wolf of my clan. This Ancient's name was 心に生まれた (Mind-Born). He dates back to the beginning of everything. My clan, this world… His power was beyond anything we could imagine. The more he grew stronger, the more capable he was of destroying everything and everyone. He was greatly feared in my clan and assumed alpha for centuries. Eventually, his time came to an end. He had a wife and children, but they had disappeared along with Mind-Born. No one knew what became of them but I have an idea. I believe they ran away. Sakura herself, and her family, have my clans blood—Mind-Born's blood. I believe… I believe Sakura has inherited it from him, her Ancestor…" Ryu finished his explanation and everyone stood in utter silence.
"We could have died tonight…" Kisame slid his hand over his face, "Let's all sink this in while we get everything from the base."
"If anyone has any questions, please wait until we reach the next base. I don't like talking about my clan's secrets out in the open." Ryu left first, followed by Kisame and the rest. There was only one thing on everyone's mind though.
'Is Sakura alright?'
Itachi arrived and placed Sakura in her (new) room. He gave her water, nursing her back to health. She was exhausted and beaten from training. She took a lot of hits and made too many mistakes. 'We have our work cut out for us that's for damn sure,' Itachi thought.
After several hours, no one reached the base yet. Itachi grew impatient.
He went into the kitchen to prepare some tea for himself and to leave some for Sakura. He entered her room and placed it on the nightstand beside her. As he did, she began to stir.
"Sakura?" Itachi whispered. Sakura slowly opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings. She awkwardly sat up and looked at Itachi with a terrified expression across her face, reminding him of the time he got rid of his entire clan. He glared for a moment but looked at Sakura with longing.
"What's…what's going o-on?" Tears were already welling up. Itachi shot her a questioning look, which she answered back with, "I saw and felt everything… Why is everyone s-so-" She couldn't finish. She choked a sob and said, "Itachi, I don't understand… Why didn't you tell Sasuke?"
Itachi looked at her in disbelief. She couldn't possibly mean…?
Sakura coughed, "I know everything….everyone… It's all so sad… I can't stop crying." Itachi couldn't speak.
'What is the meaning of this? Did I miss certain details to this power she has? She knows. She knows everything…' Itachi hunched over, kneeling beside Sakura. He just couldn't believe it. Someone knows. Sakura—
His thoughts were interrupted by Sakura's sudden embrace. She hugged him, crying. Itachi couldn't move. His body was rigid; he didn't know how to react.
"You could've just told Sasuke and all his pain could have gone away! He wouldn't have had to leave! Why are you doing this to him!? Why are you doing this to yourself!? BAKA!" She cried and repeated herself incoherently. Itachi placed one arm around Sakura.
Minutes ticked by. Then an hour. Eventually, Sakura released her tight grip on Itachi, sniffling. Itachi stood up, "I'll get you another cup of tea."
Before Itachi could leave, Sakura asked, "Why?"
Itachi didn't turn to look at her. He merely replied, "You know why."
And he exited the room.
Sakura stared at her hands on her lap, suppressing more tears.
Because he was right.