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raidersfan777: Glad you like it, heres your update! Thanks for the review.
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Tengoku Kaiten: I'm glad you like how I'm writing this story! I was hoping that my darker side of writing would be noticed XD. Thanks for the review hun!
Echoes Come in Whispers: You love my story :'D YAY! Thank you for the review my dear! Heres your new chapter.
RomanceGirlXXTsundereLuverxx X: When I wrote Ino's freakout originially I didn't think it really fit as it was dull and unnoticed. I made this one really extreme as the situation is dire. I'm happy if you liked it though. I also agree that Minato and Kushina really make stuff lovely. To bad they are dead. :/ Thanks for the review!
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harunoanduzumaki: Hmm, Tsunade may have known to a degree that something was up but who knows. ;) Thank you for the review and I'm glad you like it.
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whitefang245: Sasuke will be appearing by the end of this chapter and most of next chapter I hope for it to be about he and Sakura having it out. Glad you like the story and thanks for your input! Thanks for the review!
happy everyday life: Thank you for all the reviews! They were extremely fun to read and I'm happy you like my story! Thanks for reviewing!
Tesaria Notira: I promise to continue this story to the end! :) Heres your next chapter! Thanks for the review!
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Tahkz01: Happy new year to you. Here's your update. :)
Sorry for the slow update everyone... Been busy is all I can really say. :) Anywho onto this chapter. I hope everyone likes it.
Chapter 4: What Has Two Eyes but is Blind?
Her legs were crossed and her eyes were diverted. Everything about this atmosphere made the rosette ever so on nerve.
From the pale dirty old floor tiles to the cob webbed windows, this office was far from its once glorious look.
Sakura stared down at the floor as she listened to her friend finish up her story. Everything Ino had spoken sounded like a total drunken fool's tale, yet in the back of her mind it was so believable it scared her.
Tsunade who sat ever so comfortably in her rarely used office nodded as she sipped tea at the blond's story. Tonton, the Hokage's small pet pig sat at the feet of its master softly snorting out in its sleep. Occasionally when Tsunade would go off giving both Sakura and Ino crap about how what they did was terrible, Sakura would avert her attention of the yelling busty woman and instead poke the pig's nose with her feet. However at the moment that wasn't her idea of a good thing. Her friend was back to silence and everything was at a loss.
"Ino, what did this red head that approached you look like?" Tsunade asked. The blond woman just grabbed at the bridge of her nose. She was obviously stressed and aggravated that her two students had disobeyed the simplest of rules that they were both fairly aware of.
Sakura turned her attention to the answering girl and grinded her teeth. Her mind was already on pace with her superior as to where this was going.
Ino looked at her superior and swallowed hard. The girl could feel herself shaking from within from the fear of that fateful moment.
Opening her dry mouth the girl closed her eyes tightly only to slowly reopen them.
"She was about my height a tad taller. Her eyes… her eyes were a pale grey with shards of purple. None of that stood out like her long red hair that was pin straight, and-"
"What!?" Tsunade instantly gagged out. Her eyes were large and full of fear. Quickly calming herself down the busty blond woman sighed. "Are you sure this is what she looked like?"
"Y-yes" Ino hesitantly responded.
Standing up the older woman went to look out her window. The room had gone deathly silent once more. Sakura nervously looked at her mentor with confusion.
"What is it Tsunade-sama?" the rosette asked.
Glancing out of the corner of her eye, the brown eyed woman frowned. "Who you met is no stranger to the Leaf. Her name is Kushina Uzumaki…"
"Uzumaki?" Sakura spoke out without thinking. Quickly the wheels in her mind turned and pieces began to stick together. "This wouldn't have any correlation with Naruto's family would it?" Sakura finally asked as she fidgeted with her thumbs.
Facing both of her students the blond woman came before them with a stern look. "What I am about to say never leaves this room. It is under strict law that the matters of Naruto's birth and parents be kept a secret. Do we understand?"
In that moment both girls nodded.
Sakura's large emerald eyes went wide as she gulped painfully down some spit in her mouth.
"Nineteen years ago on October tenth…"
xXx
Naruto stood on the corner of the street with a grin on his childish face. From behind Sasuke appeared with a brand new uneaten popsicle. Gently he removed the wrapper and snapped it in half.
"Here dobe." He muttered under his breath while handing half of the sweet purple treat to the blond.
Naruto grinned even more as he took it and took to eating it instantly.
The two of them just smiled in silence as they went down the village streets watching as people ran back and forth doing their own day to day activities.
School had been let out early today as today was a holiday to celebrate some ridiculous holiday that neither Naruto or Sasuke truly cared about.
"So Sasuke.." Naruto mumbled out while chewing on his cold treat. "Any plans for the weekend?"
"Nope." Was all the Uchiha boy stated while poking at his friend's cheek. "Don't talk with your mouth open dobe.." the boy grumbled while moving well along the road.
The blond merely shook his head and smiled wildly, "Well I'm going to go eat ramen with my mom and dad on our family day. You should come with us an-" Naruto instantly cut off as his attention was drawn to something behind them.
It had made a small noise that was barely audible but the young Uzumaki boy had caught on to it.
"What is it Naruto?" Sasuke asked while turning to watch the blond.
Naruto gently lowered himself and crouched towards a pile of trash on the side of the road. Slowly he got closer and closer towards it until what he had heard came into sight.
There were two vibrant eyes. One had the amazing color of emerald green and the other a vibrant blue that was clouding over the animal's pupil. It's slit eyes glared at the boy from behind a torn piece of paper.
"Sasuke, LOOK!" The blond finally shouted out as he reached into the pile of trash. His hands gently cupped up a small pile of fluff.
The Uchiha boy raised both eye brows only to then lower them. It was a kitten, probably not even a month old. Yet Sasuke felt a tad confused as he looked at his moronic friend's find. This kitten didn't act like a kitten or so the Uchiha thought, but what did he know about cats.
"That's great Naruto, now get rid of it…" Sasuke growled out as he turned away and started walking off.
Dumb struck Naruto just dropped his mouth… Looking down in his hands he stared at the small kitten only to bite his lip. "Don't listen to him Sakura-chan." The boy gently whispered to his new found friend. "I won't get rid of you! It's a promise of a life time believe it!" Naruto exclaimed with a beaming smile. Yet as those words escaped his mouth he was sent into a daze. His mind locked as if those words he had so easily spoken held a higher value then he though. It was almost as if he was reliving a moment that he had long forgotten, almost like déjà vu?
Shaking his head the blond lifted the kitten to the back of his summer orange hoodie. The kitten eyed the hood and simply mewed before falling into the hood. It's large good eye stared around at the orange fabric only to eventually curl into a ball for a nice long nap.
"OYE TEME WAIT UP!" Naruto yelled out as he chased after his friend.
A black eye glanced from behind and a dull smirk came forth. "Moron…"
xXx
They all still sat ever so still in the room. Everything made no sense. Not a single word of what had happened, who had appeared, the whole thing was a giant mystery and left the three women not even a step closer to figuring out the truth. Sakura just sat with her hands pressing on her temples.
"Seven Devils." Ino silently whispered out into the dull silence.
"What was that?" Tsunade muttered out. Her brown eyes dull from being lost.
Ino shook her head and gently grinned. "When I was threatened by the red head… I mean Kushina Uzumaki as you claim her to be, well she said Seven Devils are all around you." The blond explained.
Sakura's eyes narrowed as did the Hokage's.
"Seven Devils…" Tsunade repeated to herself as if it was something she knew so well. "That's a children's horror story if I remember right."
"My mother use to read it to me." The rosette spoke out. "But what does a child's story have anything to do with this?"
The blond looked to the two other women in the room and simply fidgeted with her thumbs. She remembered the tale and could feel the fear that came with that story. Cats were now her least favorite creatures thanks to that, seeing as every time she saw one she would avoid it at all cost. Even during her start of her ninja career when she had to find all those lost cats, never once did she dare to touch the creatures. They were bad signs, omens if anything.
Yet it dawned on Ino when she thought of omens. Her mind sparked with an idea and instantly she refocused on the debating two women before her.
"The Uchiha Clan." Ino finally spoke out, stopping any conversation that went on in that room.
Sakura lifted a brow and grew puzzled. "The Uchiha Clan? What the hell does that have to do with anything?!"
Ino grinned as finally she had been a step ahead of her friend and even her mentor. "The Uchiha clan wrote that story. It was written by one of its elders when the clan first came into existence. The cat with the eye was a symbol for the cursed of the clan who could see steps ahead of them before anything happened. It was used to communicate with the young of the clan."
"How the hell do you know that?!" Sakura asked out as even she knew nothing of that story's origin, seeing as it did little to really interest her.
"I ran into it when I was younger, when I was trying to learn everything I could about the clan to get well…. closer to Sasuke…" she finally admitted
While the rosette felt like smacking her forehead for how that one person seemed to be involved in everything something then struck her mind. The thought disturbed her greatly. Sakura swallowed down any disgust that was in her throat and stared at Tsunade who was still amazed at the fact that Ino of all people knew that.
"I need to speak to Sasuke." Sakura finally said.
Eyes focused on the rosette and the room was left in silence.
Tsunade caught her breath and sighed. "Sakura I can't allow you to do that. Sasuke is a wanted criminal in more than one nation and as long as that stands he is not to be seen until a decision can be found for his punishment."
Sakura grinded her teeth and squeezed her eyes tight. Finally she opened them and stared directly at her mentor. "Then I will have to break that rule Tsunade-sama." She spat out. "Sasuke could be the key to saving Naruto. None of us know what went down in those final minutes and any small piece of information could be useful…" turning her head the rosette hid her face as tears began to weld up in her eyes.
She swore she would never again cry, yet the tears came and even as she bit her lip they still threatened to break forth and flow down her face.
"Sa-Sakura…" Ino murmured as she reached to grab her friend's hand.
Sakura violently pulled from the blond and used her arm to quickly wipe away the tears.
"I-I swore I would never again be useless." Sakura finally exclaimed as she turned to face the other two women in the room.
"Naruto needs me now more than ever and I will be damned to hell if I let this opportunity pass me by." Sakura tightened her fists and narrowed her eyes at her teacher.
Tsunade stared in shock at her students resolve yet a smile came to her lips. Closing her eyes she smirked and felt pride in her student. Sakura wasn't an idiot that's for sure and even though Tsunade would like regret this in future days to come she knew it was the right thing to do.
"Sakura I" The older woman spoke out only to stop as the door swung open.
"MY LADY WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY DOWN AT THE HOSPITAL" Shizune bursted out as she came into the room. Her clothes were covered in blood as if someone had vomited all over them.
Quickly the Sanin came to her feet and made way for the door. Shizune nodded and quickly made a run back for the hospital. Stopping at her door way Tsunade through her head back and turned to look at Sakura and Ino.
"You have my permission to go and speak with him. But only this once… so be wise and quick." With that the Hokage took her leave in a hurry to catch up with her assistant
xXx
Kushina stood at the sink with her eyes welling up with tears as she tried to peel the onions for her stu. Occasionally she would wipe her eyes with her arms as they stung ever so painfully.
Rushing into the house Naruto came in with a huge grin on his face as he raced up the stairs to his family's living courters. "MOTHER!" he yelled out as he paced himself into the room, barely having time to take off his shoes.
"In the kitchen!" the red head yelled back.
Naruto raced towards the kitchen only to be caught by his father, who grabbed the boy's hoodie as he raced through the room.
"No running in the house." Minato gently pointed out at his son.
Naruto sheepishly grinned at his dad only to rub the back of his head. "S-Sorry dad."
Minato let go of the boy's hoodie only to eye the boys other hand that was shoved into this child's center pocket of the hoodie.
"So what do you have?" he asked with a grin on his face.
The blond child looked away and then back at his dad, "ummm something….I need to show mom first though." He explained as he knew his mom would be more understanding than his own father in these situations.
The man frowned at his son's response and began to clench his heart. "Uhhh you love your mother more than me don't you! You two are plotting something I KNOW IT!" he exclaimed with a joking smile on his face.
His son just rolled his eyes as he made his way for the kitchen.
Kushina smiled as she heard her son walk in. Pulling away from the dreadful onions she giggled at the comments her husband was now making about the plots between herself and their son in the other room. He was such a moron sometimes honestly.
As the woman turned around to see her adorable child she was stunned to find something else.
There Naruto stood with a beaming grin on his face but with a small little grey soot ball on his shoulders.
"N-Naruto what is that?" she asked out
The Uzumaki boy grinned from ear to ear, "I see you noticed her! That's Sakura-chan mom."
In those mere seconds that he expressed the cats name the red head went still with fire in her eyes. The kitten and her eyed each other deeply as if they were prone to tension.
"Naruto get it out now." She hissed out at her son as she lunged for the cat scaring her child.
The blond kid jumped from his own mother and slowly backed out of the room. She wasn't herself. Her hair rose up at the extent of her anger as she held onto the knife she had been previously using.
"NARUTO!" The woman screamed at her son.
Sweat poured down the blonds face as he grabbed the kitten from his shoulders and continued to back up. However he came to a halt as he rammed into something sturdy yet warm.
Turning his head and looking up he was met with his father's warm smile.
"Kushina what are you yelling about now." The Hokage asked as he grabbed his nose bridge.
Kushina stopped in her place and went wide eyed as she finally had been brought out of her daze.
"huh?" she murmured as her eyes went to her husbands'.
"You heard me.. Now are you going to put the knife down or what?"
Naruto stood scared to death from what had almost happened. Why was his mother so mad about a cat? The child wondered as he began to bolt from the room holding onto dear Sakura-chan.
Minato quickly turned to see his son run off and a sigh broke through.
"That is no kitten…."Kushina hissed out
The blond man frowned in response, "I know… I can sense it to."
xXx
Ino and Sakura had gone to the edges of the village and towards the place that only few really knew about. There was of course the normal Konoha prison and then a back one that held people of much higher crimes.
Upon their entrance Ino had taken hold of Sakura. She looked away from her friend and towards the dusty floors that ended. The building was all underground and was almost like a vacuum of freezing air and dirt. Yet the disgusting place had its purposes and Ino wanted to do all that should could in not going down that stairway.
"Sakura, let's think about this… Surely there is another-"
"No… This is the only way." The rosette responded forcefully. "We've wasted enough time already.."
Ino bit hard down on her lip and glared back at her friend, "You don't even know if he will help us out. He is more likely to say screw off then help us…"
Sakura pulled from her friend and began descending down into the darkness below.
"Then I'll make him." Was the last thing that Ino heard from her friend as the rosette finally disappeared.
Ino grasped tightly onto her blouse with her eyes shut tight. "If there is a god please let him help us."
Sakura turned in the dark catacombs with her hands to her chest as she feared the darkness of this place. There were the occasional few lit torches but other than that the place was dark, it almost seamed inhabitable until finally she caught sight of a familiar person. His pale skin and coarse dark hair was all a giveaway as he held tightly onto a canvas
"Sai?" she muttered out in confusion.
The man grinned as he looked up to see his comrade.
"W-what are you doing here?" she asked with a lost look
"Lady Tsunade commanded me to stay guard here until nightfall seeing as we are short staffed thanks to the war. Is it nightfall yet per chance? I am hoping you being here is a way of saying I am relieved and can go home." He finally admitted as he turned the artwork away from viewing, even though it was too dark to truly see.
Sakura smirked and looked up, "Nope only five in the afternoon. You still have a ways to go."
"I see. So why are you here then?"
The rosette flipped her hair from her face and grimly grinned. "You know why."
"I see." Was all he could say once more and with a dull fake smile he pointed her towards the cell far at the end of the long hallway behind him. "Enjoy and I'm here if you need my assistance."
Sakura glared down the dark mile and sighed. "I would prefer you go wander… I need this to be private."
Sai's fake smile turned to a frown and with that he got up and walked past her.
"I understand, however I will be listening and near." His eyes were sharp and yet he grinned as he told her his plans.
Sakura just shook him off as she walked closer and closer towards the cell. The dimming of the lights gave the place all the more of a scary look, a look that she wished would disappear.
As she finally came to an end and turned towards his space she felt her own heart raising up in action and fear.
She stared at him. His dark coal eyes started through her as hers did the same. There were no words that could really describe how she felt at this moment other than simply the feeling of being on edge.
"Sasuke-k" she caught herself before she dared speak that accursed ending that she loved putting on his name. Standing her ground she sighed. "Sasuke, I need your help." She finally said with the most serious look on her pretty face.
Sasuke snorted and looked away from her. She was worthless and not even worth his time. For a few minutes he even thought that if the blond visited him it would be a million times better, yet he didn't say that. Instead he just rubbed his tired eyes and looked to the dim lighted ground.
"What could possibly make you come to me for help." He finally growled out.
Sakura bit on her lip as she grasped her right arm pulling it towards her side with her left. She began to fall weak at the knees for the fear that she felt for going this far to ask for help.
"N-Naruto is in-"
"Danger…" Sasuke stated ending her sentence. "When isn't he? But what can I do about that? It isn't my fault that he is a pathetic moron."
A nerve snapped in Sakura's mind as he spoke so poorly of their teammate, who had done so much for them.
"Don't you dare insult him! If it wasn't for Naruto you would have been killed for sure."
Sasuke groaned and came to the bars of his containment.
"Would've been better than living in this holy hell."
Her eyes narrowed as she reached through the bars with no time to think and grabbed onto his white collar.
"You are going to listen to me whether you like it or not. Naruto could die at any given moment and I swear, so help me god that I will tear your head off if you are the cause of his death."
No longer was she going to succumb to her emotions for this man. No more, this time she was going to stand up and speak for a life depended on her and she would be damned if she failed the man who saved her so many times before.
Hanging a few inches off the ground the man sighed as he stared at his holder. He had seen this look in her eyes before but not under these circumstances. Yet his eyes diverted from hers as something new caught his attention. It was limply hanging around her wrist in the form of a bracelet. Green triangle shards encircle with a red tint shimmered under the dim light of the room. With her brewing anger the small shards lightly lit up as if they were dying flames being fed gasoline.
"What a strange secret to be hiding." He muttered from under his voice.
Her mind was caught off guard at his comment. Gently she lowered him and pulled a few steps back from the prison cell.
Sasuke's eyes kept on those small shards and watched as the light within them died.
Sakura caught onto his eye direction and pulled her wrist from his sight.
"What happened on the day you and Naruto finally fought?" she asked with no emotion in her voice. She had broken the simplest of shinobi laws by displaying her emotions with that action of anger just displayed.
The Uchiha man walked away from her and refused to look back. Yet something came to him at that moment that did in some way put a light grin on his face. "Sakura, why does it matter?"
"You know why it matters."
Sasuke stared at her from the corner of his eye and a thought passed that surely gave some interest.
"I'll make a deal with you. I'll tell you everything I recall, if you-" He paused as her turned towards the light of the dark room. His eyes strict as they stared into her failing emerald saucers.
"If I what?" She spat out quickly trying not to faultier.
"If you tell me how you came to posses that bracelet."
Sakura looked down at her wrist and squeezed her eyes tightly. Memories flashed through her eyes, he was there in the snow of a broken down compound. His ever so bright sapphire eyes that gave warmth, even though they themselves were that of cool colors. He smiled at her as he gently held out a shiny object to her. 'Promise me' was all she could recall him saying to her in those moments.
The girl bit down forcefully on the corners of her mouth till blood was drawn; finally she flashed her vibrant green eyes once more to her enemy. "Deal."
The Uchiha man grinned as he came up towards the bars. His demented smile tortured the girl as he finally began to recall all that had happened.
xXx
There was red. Red everywhere from the trees to the ground, it covered the entire area, killing the purified heavenly white on the ground.
Yet they stood ever so still next to each other with their hands through their backs as they looked over each other's shoulders.
Eyes dulled as the protruding object was pulled from his body.
There was an all desperate ugh that came from that moment as the same man pulled his own hand out of his friend's chest.
His blow had meant to kill while the other had meant to make a point and now it became clear how this was going to fall down as the black hair man came crashing down to the cold ground.
From out of the distance a scream could be heard as heavy footsteps approached. Her arms were open and reaching for not him but the other as he too came falling down.
"Blood… there was blood everywhere and yet this was only the half of it all."
'Chapter end'
I'll Try to update quicker this time I promise! :) Please leave a review! They let me know if I should continue or not.
Kushina's Truth of Hell