Recap: First phase ends in a victory for Team 7, while the second phase is still ongoing in the Forest of death. We see new jutsu and new abilities from Itachi and Naruto. Sakura really does nothing and Orochimaru makes his debut.
Chapter 6: I will protect you, always
Just out of the village, a group of chūnin was looking at the destroyed remains of Buddha statues, next to it were three faceless bodies. "This is...a ninjutsu?" The chūnin asked.
"...why don't they have...faces?!"
"Just...just report this to Anko-san."
Anko...
Anko was sitting on top of a wall eating dango drinking juice. "Ah, nothing like eating dango and having juice."
'Alright, I guess I'll head down to the tower.' Anko stretched her legs. "The fast ones need only about 24 hours." After finishing her dango snack, she precisely threw sticks at a nearby post, creating the leaf symbol.
A chūnin wearing glasses appeared before, he kneeled down. "We have a problem, Anko-san!"
"What is it?"
"They're bodies...three bodies..."
"What? Are they dead?"
"...Just look at them for yourself, they're very...weird-looking."
OoO
Anko followed him to the Buddah shrine. "After close examination, it turns out they are all shinobi who come from the hidden grass." One of the chūnin reported. "But their faces are gone, blank."
Anko bent down and studied the faces herself. '..! It's his jutsu...' "Give me the pictures of their faces, NOW!"
The chūnin gave her a stack of the grass-nin faces, she flipped through them until she recognized a face. 'The one gave me the kunai knife, it must be...' "Go! Report this to hokage-sama! Send in some ANBU captains to the Forest of death, go NOW, NOW, NOW!"
Quickly, the chūnin disappeared, whatever got Anko this worked up must of been bad.
Team 7...
Itachi remembered him saying those same words back at their second mission. "Naruto..."
The fox cloak once again wrapped around Naruto's body. "ITACHI!"
A long tongue came down and snatched Naruto up. "He-he, so the fox brat is still alive after all of that?" Orochimaru hissed, he weaved a hand sign.
Flames appeared at his fingertips. "I'm guessing when your emotions are uncontrollable, the power of the nine tails over flows, nice."
Orochimaru lifted his shirt. "And the seal is visible." He slammed his fingertips into Naruto's stomach.
"It's been 12 years since the seal and now their chakras are beginning to fuse. Minato's work isn't it?"
Orochimaru let Naruto out of his grasp. "NARUTO!" Itachi yelled, he took off from the tree and caught Naruto in mid-air, landing on a tree limb.
Itachi awakened his sharigan, and set Naruto down.
"Oh Itachi-kun, you want to fight me? Alright! You're going down just like your brother." he stated.
Itachi reached into his pack and got out a fūma shuriken with a string-attached kunai knife. "I don't deserved to be compared to my brother." Itachi stuck the kunai right behind him. He threw his fūma and it swiveled behind the tree Orochimaru was on.
"Multi-shadow clone technique!" A group of Itachi, all with kunai in hand, disappeared into the forest.
'What're you planning, Itachi?'
Itachi grabbed the kunai lodged behind him and threw it to one of his clones who was passing by. The clone caught the kunai and flung it into a far off tree behind him.
Another kunai knife came flying towards Itachi, he grabbed it mid-air. 'My jutsu's almost complete.'
Orochimaru ran for Itachi, but befote he could reach him, Itachi jumped onto his head and threw his kunai in another tree.
Landing on another tree limb, Itachi swiftly moved behind it, he clenched the string connected to the fūma shuriken. Once the fūma shuriken unraveled from the tree, it shot straight towards Orochimaru.
'What is this?' Easily, Orochimaru dodged the fūma in mid-air making it lodge into the tree behind him.
Itachi jumped over and grabbed Naruto, with one hand, he made a hand signal. "Now! Release!"
A ring of fire circled around Orochimaru, Itachi set Naruto down and opened up his hands. "Wind release: Godly wind from the mountains." A vortex of wind blasted through Itachi's palms creating a gigantic inferno around Orochimaru.
"YEAH GO ITACHI!" Sakura cheered, not too far from them.
"To be able to use sharigan so well at this young age. You are the one." Since his body was far too damaged, Orochimaru cracked open his mouth and another Orochimaru came out, scaring the hell out of Sakura. "I WANT YOU, ITACHI!"
OoO
'...I have to act fast...'
OoO
"That was really fun Itachi-kun, but I think you dropped this." Orochimaru held up their heaven scroll.
Itachi was shocked. 'How was he able to get that?'
"My name is Orochimaru. Pass the exams if you want to see me again." With one fellow swoop, Orochimaru burned their heaven scroll. "Of course there will be trials."
"What the hell?! We don't ever want to see your face ever again!" Sakura yelled.
"Too bad. Itachi will be seeing me a lot from now on, won't he?" Orochimaru weaved a single hand sign.
Orochimaru's neck extended and launched for Itachi, his mouth hanging wide open. Before he could bite him, a hand grabbed his head.
"Will you allow me to prepare him first?"
"Not you!" Orochimaru yelled.
"He'll be back and then he'll be yours for the taking." The masked guy touched Itachi's shoulders and together, they disappeared. "ITACHI-KUN!" Sakura yelled, right before her eyes, he was gone.
OoO
Itachi landed in a mysterious laboratory, just barely he could see the shelves were filled with glasses upon glasses of sharigan eyes. "..."
A dark figure approached Itachi. "My name is...Madara." With those lasting words, he left the room.
'...why do I recognize his chakra? I know I felt it somewhere before...'
Madara came back with a jar in his hands. "Your elder brother, Sasuke, requested I give these to you."
"..."
"These eyes once belonged to Shisu Uchiha, to my knowledge, you knew him once before, am I correct?"
XxxxxXxxx
Flashback...
*knock-knock*
"Alright, I'm getting it." Sasuke stood up from previously reading a book, he opened the door.
"Oh...it's you." Sasuke groaned. "What do you want, Shisu?"
An Uchiha with messy hair, smiled. "I want to see your brother." Shisu moved his head to see if Itachi was there.
Sasuke moved slightly to the left to block Shisu's view. "My brother, again? What the hell do you want him for?"
Shisu held up a summoning scroll. "I want to teach him summoning jutsu!"
"I don't want my brother to learn from a blockhead, in fact, I bet Itachi would rather learn from m-"
Hearing Shisu was here, Itachi ran past Sasuke in excitement. "Shisu-san!"
"What was that?" Shisu picked up Itachi and held him on his shoulders. "I promise, we'll be back before noon, Sasuke-Kisama." In an instant, Shisu disappeared.
Sasuke clenched his fist. "SHISUUUUUU!"
XxxxxXxxx
"Perhaps."
Madara approached Itachi. "Shisu always wanted you to obtain his eyes, and now you can finally have them."
Forest of death...
Orochimaru reeled his neck back. 'Then I will just come back for you, later.' With that, he left.
Sakura broke down into tears, she truly felt, alone. "Itachi-kun..."
Answering her prayers, the mysterious man came back, he threw Itachi to her feet and looked directly at Sakura. "I wonder, how much will you love this man when he kills everyone close to you."
"Wh-what're you talking about?!"
"You'll seem soon, because one day, Itachi will kill everyone in your pathetic village." With that, the mysterious man disappeared.
Sakura grabbed Itachi and hugged him to death, she thought nothing of the man's words. "ITACHI-KUN!"
"...sa-"
"You have no idea...how much...I've missed you."
"-kura..."
Itachi pushed Sakura off, his entire body felt like complete hell. The sharigan he now had, the greater powers he possessed, it was all too much for his body to handle. He grabbed his eyes as blood started pouring down.
"Itachi-kun!" Sakura squeezed his hand tightly, she looked down and saw, blood dripping onto her hand. "...! I...Ita...Naruto..." The only thing she could do was sob.
"It...it's going...to be ok..." Itachi murmured, she cried even harder.
Itachi clenched the bark of the tree as more blood poured out of his eyes. "I'm...sorry...all of this is my fault, I should've been...stronger for you. I should've...hated him more."
OoO
Anko, on the other hand, had finally found Orochimaru. "Have you come to kill the hokage?" She struggled to ask.
"No, not...yet. I've come to give this kid the curse mark. However...I failed, but I will keep on trying until I give him his curse mark."
"You must really like that kid, don't you?"
Orochimaru wiped his tongue around his face. "With his genius mind and that beautiful face, I love him."
"...That boy must be..."
Orochimaru stood up to leave "Just don't finish the exams right prematurely."
"Or the cause of Konoha's destruction will be certain." He finally vanished, leaving Anko to her own devices.
" ..."
Rock Lee's team...
Neji, Tenten, and Lee were resting in a tree. "In less than an hour, the sun should be up, since we've gathered our supplies let's attack as planned." Neji stated.
They all jumped down from the tree.
He dropped his kunai on the ground. "We meet back in 30 minutes."
"Got it!" Tenten affirmed.
"Roger that!" Rock Lee dittoed.
"Let's move!"
XxxxxXxxx
Sakura felt Itachi's forehead, not much of a fever, but he was still in pain. As well as Naruto. 'Itachi is still breathing heavy, but thanks to this rag his fever has calmed down and the blood has stopped as well.'
She stood up. 'I must protect them both!'
Three sound ninja; Dosu Kinuta, Zaku Abumi, and Kin Tsuchi all watched Sakura. "As Orochimaru-sama ordered, we'll attack our target; Uchiha Itachi at daybreak, then we'll bring him to master." Dosu explained.
"And the others, kill them if needed?" Zaku asked.
"Of course."
The next day...
-morning-
Sakura poured cold water on the rag, then squeezed it out. She placed the rag on Itachi's forehead. All night she was taking care of them. "...I can't fall asleep, not now." She sighed, the sun was up already. 'Great.'
*skitter-skitter*
Sakura shakily held out her kunai knife and slowly turned around. 'Thank goodness! It was just a stupid squirrel.' "Yeesh squirrel, don't scare me like that."
The squirrel continued to scamper towards Sakura. "Oh no!" Sakura gasped, she threw the kunai at the squirrel making it run off. "Too close."
OoO
"Ah, so she noticed the explosive tag, did she?" Zaku asked.
"No...that's not it." Dosu said.
"What do you mean?"
"You'll see, soon."
Ooo
Rock Lee was jumping off from tree trunk to tree trunk, that was until he landed on a branch with leaves. With the sudden jolt, the leaves started to fall off. 'Yes! If I can catch all 20 leaves, then Sakura-chan will like me, if I miss just one of them, then it will remain unrequited love and she'll call me bushy brows.'
Lee jumped off the branch, full with passion. "YAAAAA!"
Random narrator: Lee has a bad habit of making up his own training rules that are usually really hard on him.
Lee swiftly caught all nineteen leaves. 'One more!' Lee jumped towards the last falling leaf and cupped open his hands. Not looking where he was going, Lee ran into a tree and fell down. The leaf was almost at the ground.
He got back up and ran towards the leaf. "Come on! Come on! So close!"
Out of nowhere, a squirrel landed on the ground, however, on its back held an explosive tag. '...oh no!...I have to save the squirrel!'
Lee rushed to save the squirrel as the leaf fell onto the ground.
OoO
Neji was walking around, when he suddenly heard a rustling in the bushes. "Come out!" He demanded.
'This is so...troublesome.'
'I didn't think the hide-behind-a-bush trick would make work so I guess I'll have to try a different approach.' Team 10 jumped out of the bushes, Ino flipped her long, pale-blonde hair and winked at Neji. "Wow! What luck! I didn't think we would meet last year's top rookie Hyuga Neji-sama!"
"Can I get an autograph?!" Shikamaru excitedly added.
Neji loosened his stance and sighed. "It's only you guys..."
'Now it's time for some extra charm!' Ino took out her ponytail holder, showing off more of her luscious hair. She blew Neji a kiss and giggled. "It would be nice to know you a bit better." She said in her most sexiest voice possible.
Neji turned around and dismissed Ino's bait.
"WHAT?! MY SEXY CHARM DIDN'T WORK?!"
Shikamaru's hands were stuffed inside his pockets. 'Well I'm sure not surprised.'
Ino pumped out a fist. "DAMMIT, I'M BEYOND PISSED!"
Neji stopped, without even turning around, he could tell what gesture she was making. "Hey wait, since your pumping out your fist, does that mean you want to fight?"
"O-of course not!" Ino stammered. 'Jeez, is he like an owl or something?'
Shikamaru cocked his head in confusion. "Wait, you're not gonna take our scroll?"
"Taking a scroll from you scum, that's below me." Neji scoffed. "Now leave before I change my mind."
"Whatever you say!" As fast as they came out they went back in the bushes.
Neji shook his head in disappointment. "What a bunch of cowards."
"Alright then! Let's find someone weaker than us!" Ino whispered.
Team 7...
As Sakura was tending more of Naruto's wounds, she heard a branch snap. "Up all night were you?" A creepy voice asked, Sakura swiveled her head around. "...!"
"Wake Itachi-kun up now, we want to fight him." Dosu punched his fist into his palm. "And beat the crap out of him!"
Sakura took out her kunai knife. "There is no way in hell I'll let you do that!" She recognized their forehead protectors, they were definitely working for him. "...And I know who your leader is!"
"TELL ME WHAT THEY DID TO ITACHI-KUN!"
Zaku creaked his neck. "You know that much do you? Well we can't let you go no, can we?" He smiled. "I'll kill you and I'll catch this little weasel-kun of yours." Just as he was about to approach the pink-haired genin, Dosu stopped him. "Wait a second." He motioned to the dis-colored dirt on a rock. "You're very bad at this aren't you? A stone with different color dirt. It's a trap."
"..."
"It's useless, unless it goes unnoticed."
"Pft...stupid. I'm guessing that's why she threw the knife at the squirrel." Zaku scoffed. "Let's get her!"
As the team jumped up Sakura smirked, she used her kunai knife and cut off a certain string. 'Looks like my trap worked!' Once the string got cut, a giant log swung towards them. Acting indifferently, Dosu placed his hand on the log and blasted straight through it.
Sakura finally started to panic. "What?!"
"Do you think that would actually stop us? You have no talent, no jutsu and no skills. People like you have to work harder than us and now you will die for that." Dosu harshly stated.
Just before his hand could reach her, a leg swung out and blocked the attack. "LEAF SPINNING WIND!" Rock Lee yelled, kicking him in the face, Lee jumped back and got into a stance. "Even those with skill should work hard as well."
Dosu and his clan jumped away. "Who are you?!"
Lee flashed a smile. "The handsome green devil of the leaf; ROCK LEE!"
"Why are you here?" Sakura asked.
"Because you're in danger and I must protect you." Lee set down a squirrel and let it run off. 'It was actually because of this squirrel I found Sakura, thanks.'
Sakura was down on her knees, bowing before Lee. "Th-thank you so much for saving me!"
"Heh, there's no need to thank me, I will protect you with my life, always."
"..."
Seeing as Sakura was clearly amazed, he began squealing. "Yes! I'm awesome! Guy sensei I'm awessssome!"
Dosu took an earth scroll and rolled it out. "Oh what a shame, company." He looked over to Zaku who was exhilarated. "Zaku, you get Itachi-kun."
"I'll take care of these fools, no problem!"
'...I don't think Sakura-san is in any condition to fight...' Lee thought to himself.
Zaku licked his lips. "Bushy brow has some pretty advanced taijutsu, but getting Itachi-kisama will have to be good enough."
Dasu went head on towards his opponent , Lee dug his hands into the ground and pulled out a tree root. "I know your jutsu has tricks, I won't just dodge them. I've seen your attacks before."
"Pft..." Zaku scoffed.
Sakura gawked at Lee. "He's so ...strong."
'Three vs one I'm at a disadvantage, my only choice is to crush them all one by one.'
Team 10...
"Arrgh! We can't find any weak guys!" Ino yelled.
"As I said there are no guys weaker than us, well except Naruto's team...well minus Itachi..." Shikamaru pointed out.
"What's the possibility that one of the boys will give in to my sexy charm?"
"Zero."
Choji laid on the ground and stared at an opening where he could see the deep blue sky. '...we're going nowhere real fast.'
"ZERO?!" Ino yelled.
"Naruto barely likes you and Itachi I hear isn't even attracted to girls."
"You don't know what Itachi-kun likes!"
"And neither do you." Shikamaru rolled onto his side. "I mean, every girl loves Itachi and all but I don't even get why. Besides, to me, Itachi is a major creep. He rarely shows emotion and looks at everyone like he wants to kill them or something."
"GAHHH!" Ino shook Shikamaru back and forth. Take that back! Just how stupid are you?!"
"Yeesh I'm sorry, I'm sorry." 'Just say one bad thing about Itachi and she's immediately pissed.'
Choji turned his head and groaned. 'Why can't they st-' Choji saw what was going on with Team seven. "Hey look, at this!"
Ino stopped shaking Shikamaru and turned her head. "HUH?!"
Neji and Tenten...
"Lee is really late." Tenten said, she paced back and forth. "Lee should've been here by now."
"That's strange when it comes to time, he's usually accurate." Neji conspired. "Do you think he ran into the enemy?"
"Maybe...! No...you don't think..."
"No," Neji shook his head. "Of course not, let's just find Lee ourselves."
"Of course."
XxxxxXxxx
Flashback...
*BAM!*
Lee's leg and shot through the tree and split it in half. "Yeah I did it!" Lee exclaimed.
Guy walked up to him. "Calm down, Lee." He looked towards Tenten and Neji, both tired and worn-out. 'So is Lee the only one who mastered this technique?'
Lee started to dance around, still overjoyed. "I did it! I did it!"
"Hey Lee..." Guy started to say but Lee did not listen.
"I-"
Guy punched Lee in the face as punishment for not paying attention. "Listen up Lee. This is important."
"What is it?" Lee asked, crying in a comical way.
"This technique, 'lotus', is from now on a forbidden technique."
"...! What, why?"
"This technique puts too much strain on your muscle fibers, it's a suicidal technique basically." Guy explained. "A normal human only uses about 20% of its muscle power. Using 100% will destroy your muscles. Your brain normally holds down this power, but with this technique, it uses chakra to release the brain's limitation, increasing the muscle power and speed of taijutsu to its maximum potential."
"This is a very dangerous technique that puts the body to its limits. However, under only one condition may you use it."
"What condition is that?" Lee asked.
XxxxxXxxx
'Guy sensei, I'm going to use this without limitations...' Lee started to unwrap his bandages. 'Because right now, I must protect a precious one!'
Lee jumped over the roots and kicked Dosu in the jaw, before Dosu could react, Lee vanished right before him. 'What the...where is he?!'
In an instant, a barrage of jabs and punches hit Dosu all over his body sending him flying in the air. "Time for the finish." Lee said, his bandages wrapped around Dosu and he grabbed onto him.
"Dosu is going to die like that!" Zaku panicked. "He's in trouble now!"
"The final move!" Lee yelled, he started to spin them around. "INITIAL LOTUS!"
As Lee quickly jumped away, Zaku ran under Dosu just before he hit the ground. Lee landed back on the tree limb, his eyes widened. "No! He couldn't have!"
Fortunately for Dosu, Zaku created a cushion of material right before he hit the ground, stopping what could've potentially been the end of his life.
'Ugh...that much damage even with Zaku...what a technique.' Dosu spun around and held out his arm. "MY TURN!"
Lee's body was painfully strained. 'Dammit! My body is...this is bad!'
Dosu jumped over to where Lee was standing and attempted to strike him, but in the nick of time, he somehow managed to dodge. "Your moves are very fast," Dosu admitted. "but ours is at the speed of sound! Hardwork, no matter how much, can't beat those with talent!"
Lee got onto his knees and started throwing up, his vision, his mind, everything was just messed up.
"LEE-SAN!" Sakura screamed.
Lee clamped his ear while blood spilled out. My right ear!'
Dosu pushed back his sleeve and revealed an arm guard with holes in them. "You can't just dodge my attacks."
Sakura could only watch, she was absolutely terrified, as Lee started to shake. 'What did he...'
Dosu cracked his neck. "He-he-he! It's sound. You can dodge a fist, but you can't dodge sound."
"Huh?" Rock Lee asked.
"Do you know what sound is?"
"...Vibration." Sakura slowly answered.
"Hearing sound basically means your ear drums are catching the vibrations of air. However your eardrums will break at the sound of 150 MHz or more." Dosu explained. "Deeper in your ear lies the inner ear membrane, damage that, you lose your balance."
"He-he. Looks like you won't be able to move your body for quite some time."
"And," Zaku added. "Your dumbass taijutsu won't work with us...well I must admit you were doing decent enough to force me to use my jutsu."
"You see I can control supersonic sound waves and air pressure, that power can even destroy rock. Blasting the air into the earth, creating a cushion, peh, you underestimate me."
"There's a fine line between our jutsu and your dumb technique."
'Dammit...'
XxxxxXxxx
Flashback...
"The one and only condition when you're allowed to use this technique," Guy said. "is to protect a precious one."
"Protect a precious one?"
XxxxxXxxx
Dosu took out his arm and headed for Sakura. "Your turn!" Dosu yelled.
"CRAP!" Lee yelled, he jumped over, despite the pain, and tried to protect Sakura.
"What! Impossible!"
"Lee-san!" Sakura yelled.
Lee swung back his leg and spun it around, creating a tornado. "Leaf torna-!"
'Shit.' He stopped his technique due to the sheer pain he felt of his ear, Dosu grabbed Lee's leg and slammed it on the ground. "I knew the jutsu was affecting you!" Dosu hissed.
"And here I thought I was wrong!" Dosu brought back his arm.
Before the attack hit Lee, an arm blocked his attack. "I can't allow you to hurt him any longer."
"...!"
Lee and Sakura were speechless, it was Itachi of all people who stood up to protect them.
'Itachi?!'
"ITA-ITACHI-KUN?!" Sakura yelled. "Your condition! You're going to die!"
"Oh, this just got entertaining!" A blast came from Dosu's arm guard. "Small sounds are amplified to its full power with these. Like a speaker you could say!"
"But the sound doesn't just follow my arm," The sound hit Itachi making him violently vibrate. "my chakra can control it to always hit where I want it to!"
Despite having an eardrum ruptured, Itachi's face never once flickered from the pain. "...I promise, I will kill you..."
"...!"
Itachi collapsed before he could make another move.
"ITACHI-KUN!"
'Oh that was close.' Dosu's hand wrapped around his arm guard. "Now let's end this!"
"NO I WON'T LET YOU!" Sakura got out some shurikens.
Team 10...
Everyone peered at the fight behind the bush, it was getting way too serious. "Geez, let's go! They're in big trouble!" Choji whispered, sweat pouring down his face.
"Yeah, from the looks of it, Itachi and Naruto are just...dead..." Shikamaru pointed out, pushing down the bushes to get a slight clearer view.
Shikamaru looked back towards Ino who was in a panic. "What will we do?" He asked. "Lee is beaten up and Sakura is alone out there."
"What will I do?" Ino asked herself.
"Really, Sakura is in serious trouble," Shikamaru sighed. "I thought you guys used to be best friends."
"..."
XxxxxXxxx
Flashback...
Ino and Sakura sat on a bench together, enjoying the bitter afternoon. "...Hey Sakura, why are you so down?" Ino asked, noticing Sakura's mood.
"Ino-chan..." Sakura started to say.
Ino smiled. "Hm?"
"You like Itachi-kun too don't you?"
"..."
Sakura stood up, her back turned. "Then, from now on Ino, we are rivals."
XxxxxXxxx
'Why am I remembering that time?' "...!"
"INO! What do we do now?" Shikamaru repeated.
"What can we do?! If we jump out now, we'll just die!"
Sakura...
"No! I can..." Sakura threw her shuriken. "...I can fight too!"
Zaku shoved Dosu out of the way and used his air advantage to push the shuriken right back at Sakura.
'The air pressure! Of course!' Sakura used her arm to block the shuriken, before she could make another move, she felt a tug at her hair.
Sakura looked up to see, Kin, tightly grasping her beautiful pink hair. "Much more softer and silkier than mine." She spat out. "You know, instead of making your hair so pretty why don't you try some damn training?"
Dosu had enough of this. "Zaku, kill the blonde hair kid while he's still asleep and kill the Rock lee guy, after we kill both of them, we'll grab Itachi-kun and bring him to master."
"Nice!"
Sakura began struggling. 'No! I can't...I won't let them!'
"Stop moving!" Kin barked.
"Sakura-chan..." Lee mumbled, still unable to move his body.
'I thought maybe just this once, I could protect those I love, but I see that hasn't changed...after all the times they saved me, all I can do is sit here and watch as they kill them?'
Zaku grinned. "Let's not waste time, are we ready?"
Sakura gritted her teeth and held out a kunai knife. "I won't just sit here..."
"That's pretty stupid, you can't kill me like that." Kin scoffed.
"AND WATCH YOU KILL THEM!"
Much to Kin's surprise, Sakura slashed her hair, cutting off nearly all of that beautiful pink hair.
'I always thought I was a proud ninja, I've claimed to be in love Itachi and I would always scold Naruto as if I thought I was better than him. But the truth is, all I did was watched from behind...wishing to catch up to them.'
'They've always fought to protect me, Lee-san you told me you would protect me with your life and now...I can return the favor.'
Sakura stood up, this time, her back facing Naruto and Itachi. 'Now get a good look at my back, watch me...protect all of you!'
"Kin! Kill her now!" Zaku yelled, but it was too late, Sakura had already jumped back. She weaved several hand signs and ran towards Kin.
Kin rammed Sakura only for her to turn into a log. '...substitution jutsu I see.' Zaku shifted his eyes to the right, Sakura was going for him this time. 'What could she be doing with such academy level jutsu?'
Sakura threw a kunai knife at Zaku. "Bah! Useless!" 'Air pressure 100% go! Sound waves 0%' He held out his hands, reveling a machine like part in his palm.
Sakura weaved the same hand sign.
"Air slicing blast!" Zaku yelled as a blast of air burst out.
The air blast hit Sakura, but yet again, she turned into another log. This time from above, Sakura came down, Zaku threw a kunai knife at her and dismissed it. He looked back and studied the area for another one. Surprisingly, it wasn't a clone that was above him. Acting quick, Sakura drove down her kunai nto Zaku's arm. "GAHHH!"
When that barely worked, Sakura clamped down on his arm.
"Dammit! Let go of me!"
Ino watched Sakura from the side-line, her mind made. 'Sakura...'
XxxxxXxxx
Flashback...
-After school-
Sakura was crying by a tree, the kids were extra mean this time. She heard footsteps approach her. "...!" It was only Ino.
Ino walked up to her and sat down. "So everyone's making fun of that forehead of yours, huh?"
*sniff* "Who are you?"
"Yamanaka Ino, you?"
"Haruno..." *sniff* "Sakura..."
Ino poked Sakura's forehead "So this is the big forehead?" She lifted Sakura's hair. "I see you're trying to hide it with your hair, you shouldn't do that Sakura, you look like a ghost.
She nodded. "...ok..."
"Sakura, is it? Come here tomorrow and I'll have a nice gift for you!"
The next day...afternoon...
Sakura waited at the same spot and as promised, Ino came by with something behind her back. "Here's your gift!" She bent down and tied on a bright red ribbon, showing Sakura's beautiful face. "See Sakura, you look much cuter now."
"And you can keep that ribbon." She added.
Sakura stood up. "Thank you but..."
"But what?"
Sakura pointed to her forehead.
"So what? You have a cute face show it off, confidently."
'Ino-chan...'
"Hey you know what," Ino took Sakura's hand. "Let me show you some of my friends!"
OoO
Sakura and Ino finally were at the park where a bunch of girls was playing, one of the girls stopped when she saw Sakura. "Oh, who's the girl?"
"This is Sakura." Ino nudged Sakura. "Come on Sakura, say hi."
"Um...hi..." Sakura shyly squeaked.
**"...Sakura." Ino still watched as Sakura clamped onto Zaku, no matter what, she did not stop.**
One afternoon...
Sakura ran up to Ino who was with a group of girls, finally she had grown some confidence. "Hey guys! Guess what! I have a crush on someone!"
"Oh let me guess..." One of the girls teased. "It's Itachi-kun am I right?"
"...Huh? How did you know?"
Ino was shocked by what she heard, but she continued to smile as if it was nothing.
The girl continued. "Itachi-kun's the most popular guy in class, every girl has a crush on him."
**Ino watched and watched, her feelings started to swarm. "Sakura..."**
"Ino-chan!" Sakura exclaimed, walking up to her. "I heard Itachi-kun likes girls with long hair, so I'm growing my hair out!"
"Oh really?" Ino replied. "
**"Sakura..." 'you like Itachi-kun as well don't you?'**
OoO
"We're rivals from now on..."
OoO
Years later...
Ino was walking down a path, it was a windy day and the leaves were blowing by.
"Looks like your hair's gotten pretty long, Ino."
Ino swung her head back, a vein popped out. "What do you want now?!" Ino yelled.
"Guess what?!" Sakura stuck her tongue out. "I'm on the same team as Itachi-kun and now we can get closer!"
"...yeah so what?!"
The wind blew both their long hair. Sakura's expression drastically darkened. "Never again will I lose to you."
"Then..." Ino clenched her fist. "I will never lose to you either!"
XxxxxXxxx
Tears swelled in Ino's eye and splashed onto the ground. "Sakura..."
OoO
Finally, Zaku managed to throw Sakura off, but she got right back up. "I won't...no, I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!"
Zaku held his palm out. "Damn brat! Let's see how much you'll never give up when you're fucking dead!" He yelled, ready to blast. "READY! AIR SLICING BLAST!"
Just before it hit, Ino, Choji, and Shikamaru jumped in to protect her against the blast.
"Sakura..."
"Ino!"
Sakura stared at Ino's back.
Ino managed to look back at Sakura, she smirked. "Like I said before Sakura, I will never lose to you!"
Itachi's dream...
Itachi was standing in a field, somewhere. 'Why does this place seems so...familiar?' It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and birds were soaring across the clear, blue sky.
"Itachi..." a voice called out.
A young Itachi came running towards the voice. Itachi stared at himself in horror. '...could it be? That day long ago?'
Young Itachi smiled brightly as Shisu Uchiha appeared before him, Shisu kneeled down to his level. "Itachi...remember these words always, for this is your last lesson from me..."
"The day I die won't be when I perish from this world, it will be the day my dreams are forgotten...And I when I do perish from this world one day, I don't ever want you to forget my dream. You are the only one who is...precious to me and the only one who can carry out that dream."
"Wh-why are you crying, Shisu?"
Shisu bent down to Itachi's level and tightly hugged him. "Because I will miss you the most." He stood up and ruffled Itachi's short hair. "I hope I never forget, that sweet smile of yours, Itachi."
A/N: Day 6 of my re-edits, again, if you're reading this on July 16th, 2015, wait a day or two before reading the next chapter.
Old news: Just to be clear Itachi posses both of Shisu's eyes and Danzo has none. Just wanted to be clear on that;)
There's going to be a big surprise next chapter, very big. Not that big really...