Chapter 5:
He watched the graceful way that she twisted away from the assault of kunai, a smug smirk adorning her face as she landed in a catlike way.
"You're going to have to do better than that Naru-kun" she teased and danced away from the fox's senbon. He smirked at the annoyed look that flashed through Naruto's face, which was sporting a serious gash.
"You're vicious today Sakura. You sure you aren't pmsing" Naruto mumbled out, however a hint of pride could be heard in his voice. Sasuke sighed everyone was proud of her except him.
"She's grown up", He looked at his ex-sensei with annoyance
"You're going to give me a heart attack one day Kakashi" He mumbled as his eyes drifted back to Sakura. He heard Kakashi chuckle and sit next to him.
"Give an Uchiha a heart attack, wow and I thought that was highly unlikely" Kakashi teased as he ruffled Sasuke's hair.
"You do realize I'm not 12 anymore, the messing with that hair has to stop"
"In your dreams kid" Kakashi mumbled as he fell backwards to gaze up at the passing clouds, Sasuke looked at the stress lines adoring his ex-sensei face
"Hn", he growled when Naruto landed a hit on Sakura and sent her flying, however he couldn't help but admire her cat-like skills as she landed on two feet on a tree branch
"IN YOUR FACE SAKURA-CHAN"
"Don't get too cocky Naruto, you just got lucky" she hissed and pulled out her Katana from its sheath. Sasuke licked his lips; of all the skills she had he would have to say that wielding a katana was the sexiest one.
"What a beauty she's become." Kakashi remarked pride evident in his voice as he studied Sakura and her katana.
"Hai. She doesn't' need protection anymore" sasuke mumbled under his breathe.
"Could it be you miss the old sakura? I thought you hated the crush she had on you", Kakashi chuckled at the faint red tinting his ex-pupils cheeks at the memory of a sakura chasing sasuke around.
"Hn" sasuke muttered, he would deny ever liking fan-girl sakura even though he had secretly enjoyed her attention.
"She was and always will be strong. I'm proud of the shinobi she has become and so is Naruto. Why is it so hard for you to accept her?"
He was always careful to hide his feelings from Sakura, but you could never hide anything from the famous copy-cat ninja, "she was never supposed to be a shinobi" he mumbled and flinched when Naruto punched Sakura in the stomach blood shot out from her mouth. He narrowed his eyes at the kyubbi and wondered why Sakura was letting naruto land any hits. "War is no place for an Uchiha woman"
"Ah, had things turned out differently I don't think she would have ever let the elders dictate her life. She is very much like your mother only more headstrong" Kakashi said and looked at his former pupil, "She worked very hard to get where she is now Sasuke. We always doubted her while she was growing up. The least we can do is support her choices even if we do not agree with them."
"The stronger she becomes the closer he gets to her",
"Ahh" Kakashi sighed, "So it's not about Sakura, this is about your brother", Sasuke scuffed at the word, his eyes took on a red ting.
"From the moment that she was born they were inseparable. She was the only one capable of making Itachi behave outside his character. Fate separated them and that is something he will never come to terms with. I used to keep watch over her at night sometimes just in case he came for her, even now when she's at the compound I still watch over her. I've never seen him look at someone the way that he looks at her"
"They a bond Sasuke", sasuke sighed his eyes no longer on Sakura, it hurt to look at someone you will never have. "Not even Sakura herself understands that bond, why do you think she's letting Naruto brutally hit her? Deep down she knows there will come a time in which she will have to choose either Itachi or the village, and that something she can't deal with at the moment"
"She will never betray us" sasuke snapped
"I have no idea why he did what he did that night nor will I ever understand, but the one thing Itachi never gave up was a little girl with pink hair. You can never go against fate sasuke", Sasuke sighed when Kakashi walked towards Naruto, who was lying face down in the dirt. His heart constricted when Sakura smiled at him, her emerald green eyes dancing with laughter. Pain slashed at his heart when he pictured her in the arms of his brother.
"You won't have her brother" he silently hissed.
Danzo slightly shivered in his masters presence, he wasn't sure if it was the fact that he didn't know who it was or the massive waves of chakra that rolled of him, He could tell the boss wasn't too happy.
"Now tell me exactly why you need me here? You know I hate to waste my time with trivial manners"
"m-my apologies sir but this is urgent it appears tha-"
"Urgent!? What's more urgent than organizing a coup! YOUR MAIN PRIORITY SHOULD BE BRINGING THIS PATHETIC VILLAGE DOWN!"
Danzo looked at his master and simply nodded, he was lucky he wasn't one of his root nin or else "master" would have been dead for talking to him that way; He sighed and took a deep breathe; there was no way he was going to miss this opportunity to get rid of his biggest threat.
"Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame are in the village sir" Danzo couldn't help but smirk when he saw "masters" eyes peak with curiosity.
"Perhaps this was an urgent manner and one very beneficial", Danzo could hear the amused tone in masters voice. Why would he be amused Uchiha Itachi was a threat to their cause.
"Beneficial, I don't understand. Should we not worry about their presence in the village? The Uchiha is dangerous to the coup, if he were to find out-", the boss smirked and chuckled
"You know nothing of your enemy. Why would Itachi be here Danzo?"
"His younger brother sir, it is the only relevant tie he has left in the vill-"the chuckling cut Danzos sentence short
"Know thy enemy Danzo. Sasuke is not the only tie Itachi has in the village. Itachi was, well technically still is betrothed to a young lady in the village",
"What!" he couldn't believe it, all these years he had someone other than the young Uchiha brat to threaten Itachi with, "but that's impossible the Uchihas never allowed marriage outside the clan, and the village elders nor elites have any knowledge of this", he turned his eyes to masters when he laughed
"Do you really think the clan would let anyone know of this arrangement, the only ones that knew were a select few elite? The child was said to be quit powerful even while she was still in her mother's womb, surely a secret so big must be kept away from rival clans. It was the common belief among the clan's women and Mikoto that those two were soul mates and that it was not their first time meeting."
"We must find this girl and use her! This may be the only opportunity that we have to destroy the Uchiha!"
The boss chuckled, "how ignorant you are Danzo. The girl is untouchable".
"That impossible. You said so yourself no one knew about the engagement"
"Ahahaha, Danzo, Danzo, Danzo, I never said no one knew I simply said insignificant people didn't know. The Hokage was privy to this knowledge as well as a select few people of high rank and respect" Master taunted
"I demand to know who the girl is." Danzo asked, this time you could hear the anger radiating of him in waves, Master simply chuckled and place his hand under his chin before leaning forward towards Danzo.
"Let's see if these names ring any bells, I assure you, you're in for quite a surprise.
"Who are the parents of the girl?", he was curious to know, after all he would have to get rid of anyone who stood in between him and the girl.
" Akira and Mina Haruno, legendary shinobi of Konoha", Danzo eyes widened in shock, he could feel the onset of small tears trying to escape his eyes
"No that cannot be" he whispered and stepped back. He looked up at master waiting for his laughter to spill from his mouth, only there was none.
"Itachi's betrothed is none other than first anbu captain Haruno Sakura, apprentice to the Hokage Tsunadai"
"You lie!" Danzo hissed out, he knew it had to be.
"My, my, my does it hurt you to know that the daughter of the woman you love is the betrothed to your worst enemy? Or is it the fact that you yourself cannot touch her. Hmmmm or perhaps it's both. It must hurt to watch Sakura, who is the spitting image of her mother, be in the arms of another, like mother like daughter; hmm I forgot why was it Mina refused to even speak to you again?"
"Enough" Danzo whispered, his head was cast down. All he could see in his mind was a woman with long pink hair and glowing eyes looking down at him with amusement.
"Aww, what is matter Danzo? The past too hard for you to handle? Perhaps you wish Sakura was your daughter instead of Akira's"
"SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE MINE!" Danzo yelled, his eyes were blazing with anger.
"Good you're angry, direct that anger towards keeping Sakura away from Itachi. I refuse to allow that brat one shred of happiness. You are dismissed Danzo"
She sighed in bliss as the hot water hit her aching muscles; she looked down and saw the cuts and bruises adorning her body. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall, his face flashed though her mind.
"Oh how I wish things were different" She whispered and slid down the shower wall, she placed her head on her knees and for the first time in years she cried for him. "We were supposed to be happy" she whispered
He looked out over the village, the village that forced him to become what he is now. His looked at his approaching partner out of the corner of his eyes.
"It seems peaceful. One may find it hard to believe they order the execution of your clan", Kisame commented and took a swig of his Saki.
"Konoha has done many things in the name of peace Kisame, or so they say." Itachi replied. Images of dead parents and children flash through his mind, sad to say he was responsible for half those death.
"Pein sent a bird. Madara knows we are here"
"Hn, No doubt that Danzo told him. He must feel threatened by my prescience" He couldn't help but smirk, Danzo still feared him.
"Leader believes that Madara also told him about Sakura" Kisame said as he poured Itachi a cup of Saki. He smirked when Itachi glared at him but none the less took the cup.
"Hn. Danzo knows he cannot touch her" and even if he did he wouldn't get very far before he was cut down either by himself or team seven, "She is very skilled and would not let a rat like Danzo touch her"
"What makes you so sure?"
Itachi turned around and smirked at Kisame, "I trained her when she was younger. She could have become ANBU at a young age had it not been for Pein"
"What do you mean? Not to put the little lady down I always thought she was weaker than the rest of her team"
"Ah, that was the whole point. Pein sealed her Kekkei Genkai", Kisame spat out his Saki and looked up in shock at Itachi.
"H-how is that even possible?"
"She would have been a target once I left the village. Many people did not know of our engagement but the few that did had high ranks among root and ANBU. The night I murdered my clan my mother was spared only the elders did not want any loose ends. I was too late to save her but before she died she warned me what they planned to do with Sasuke and Sakura. I decided to leave Sasuke sharingan untouched after all why they would want to kill the last Uchiha with the sharingan. Sakura however was a different story; she showed signs of great strength while she was in still in her mothers' womb. Her mother could never activate the rinnegan but she was able to with Sakura in her womb"
"Hmmm so the true reason for the clan wanting the engagement so bad was because of her kekkei genkai. Your children will be able to ultimately control both" Kisame said as he put together the pieces to the puzzle that was Itachi Uchiha.
"Yes. A child born of Sakura and I would be the ultimate fighting tool, which is why it was kept in secrecy."
"So for now she is safe from Madara" Kisame finished
"Hai, and by the time he does find out Sakura will already be out of Konoha"