Transition

Sakura is perceived from the perspectives of others as she changes during the years into something else entirely. The people near her follows her transition closely and when she starts abandoning everything she held dear - she gets closer and closer to her goal.
/Non-Canon, Sakura-centric

Chapter 5

Through the Eyes of a Powerful Alcoholic, The Prodigy and a Man Without a Name

The Powerful Alcoholic Senju Tsunade

Tsunade still couldn't believe what her apprentice had told her two days ago. That plan was perfect to the core of it, even though it didn't really favour the keeping of the girl's life. But the information Sakura had gained and the paper copies she had brought which proved them to be true, since Tsunade knew the signature of Danzō, the Council members and Sarutobi's own, and she just couldn't see their humanity anymore. Tsunade didn't know what to make of it. She felt her anger directed at Danzō grow a thousand times over and this information proved to her that he wasn't just a bastard with a stick up his ass, he was a sick bastard with a powerful and influential stick up his ass.

Tsunade understood somewhat that he in a sense had protected Konoha; the question was if it had been the right way to approach the problem and the uprising. Tsunade understood as well that Sakura had somehow acquired highly classified papers and she guessed they were copies from the ANBU headquarter's archives, though the Godaime had no idea how that pinkette had gotten in there. The mysteries about that girl...

She needed to digest this information. And in what better way than with saké? She tucked out the hidden saké bottle from underneath a loose wooden plank on the floor and at that very moment Shizune came walking in through the door. Tsunade's eyes widened as she had the bottle at her mouth. She saw how Shizune's eyes darkened.

"Tsunade-sama. How many times have I told you not to drink while in the Hokage Tower?"

"Uhm, about 329 times. I believe. Not that I'm counting or anything." Tsunade muttered and painfully gave the bottle to her oldest apprentice, who took it with a glint of bitterness. "I really need that one later though." She added and the black haired kunoichi frowned.

"Did something happen?" Shizune asked as she put a stack of papers on the Hokage's desk, joining the other five towering paper piles. Tsunade growled.
"Yes, something happened. And I need to think."
"That's a surprise." Shizune said with a grin as she avoided a medical scroll flung at her head with trained movements. Shizune was too used to Tsunade's angry outbursts and violent flinging of things in the near vicinity, the Hokage thought with amusement. The best part about Shizune was that she never asked the Hokage what was on her mind; if Tsunade wanted to tell her, she would. If she didn't, Shizune shouldn't ask.

"You know what. I'll file these papers and you go have a nice little chat with Kameosa-san." Her apprentice said with a smile and ushered the Hokage up from her seat, so she stumbled up from her sitting position.

"Kameosa? Oh, Shizune. You don't know how much I appreciate this." Tsunade exclaimed and grinned, taking the offered saké bottle back to her safe hands. She tucked it close to her large chest.

"Kameosa is a haunted saké jar according to ancient lore and superstition. Because of your ethereal guidance in life, I see every saké jar as a Kameosa." Shizune remarked as she sat down in her teacher's seat, cracking her stiff back loudly.

"Thank you, Shizune. Have in mind that because of me you're the assistant of the Hokage as well. I'm going to have an intimate conversation with Kameosa now. See you tomorrow."
"Yes, Tsunade-sama. Have fun - and try that thing called 'thinking'."
"I'm starting to wonder if you're a devil in an angel's disguise or just plainly a sarcastic pig."
"Bye-bye now."

Shizune slid into the chair's comforts and started right away on the papers. Tsunade huffed and smiled as she went back to her empty apartment. What would she do without her oldest apprentice?

And Kameosa. Never forget Kameosa.

The Cloud Watching Boy Nara Shikamaru

"You and I both know that this cannot continue." Shikamaru said, his posture slack but his black eyes were piercing. The Hyuuga boy nodded slightly in agreement. They sat in Shikamaru's large living room, but they were alone. Heaps of books about old cursed swords were spread on the table in front of them. Neji had found that several cursed swords would be cleansed in either nightly full moon fires or in blessed rosemary leaves prayed to by a Shinto priest. They had been discussing the issue all day, going back and forth, trying to find loopholes in the contract Izanami had made with Sakura. They had found none and saw the only solution laid in front of their eyes.

"We burn it." The Hyuuga said, determination visible in his white eyes. His hand went to his hair, flinging some coffee coloured strands behind his ear. Shikamaru was silent for a few moments.

"Do you think Sakura will concede?" He questioned, cracking his vertebrae with a light snapping sound. Neji's shoulders tensed a little at this.
"No. That is why we take it from her, without her knowledge." The Hyuuga stated and clenched his fist.

"Oh, I see. She won't know what happened. She will be free."
"Precisely. The sooner, the better. I believe we should do it tonight, since it's the last day of the full moon."

"I agree."

"She can't kill a thousand men only to appease Izanami's hunger. She won't. I won't let her bow down to some bloodthirsty sword demon." The Hyuuga hissed.

"I know already. We won't let her." The lazy boy mumbled and he stood up from the floor.

The Hyuuga followed his example and they went out into the night, not seeing the last page of an open book flap open because of the wind. The last page told of never being in contact with the swords of Gods, since it meant the end of all.

They hopped on the rooftops of Konoha village, coming to a stop right above Sakura's apartment. Shikamaru sneaked in through the open window, ever so silently, and he noticed that Sakura wasn't there since there was no chakra presence in the flat. Shikamaru thought she might be at the Library of the Tower on one of her nightly visits to Kitsune. Lucky, Shikamaru thought as he found the cursed katana in the corner of her room. At first he hesitated. But he knew the scabbard was filled to the brink of restraining seals, so he produced the chakra enhanced gloves and picked up the katana. It was so heavy he almost stumbled. He couldn't believe Sakura could swing it around so easily...

He felt the chakra move around inside the scabbard, humming with smoky charcoal like power. It was like holding a restrained but ferocious predator animal. He was fast to jump out the window and up to the roof. The Hyuuga only glanced at the sword and shivered. Shikamaru frowned at the sword in his hands, the Hyuuga actually shivered; which meant that he saw that the chakra was moving inside the scabbard.

"I don't want to drag this out." Shikamaru whispered as they flew over the roof tops, his hands clenched the katana worriedly.

"We'll be at the mountain soon." The Hyuuga assured the Nara boy, not looking at the sword.

"You don't want to hold it for a few seconds? I think I'm going to puke."
"I-I'm afraid I can't. All I see is the smoke chakra reaching for me. I'm... I'm sorry, Shikamaru. These are times when I wish I could deactivate my own eyes."
"Oh." Shikamaru answered, it was the first time he had heard the proud Hyuuga boy actually stutter. It astonished him.

"Don't go all Hinata on me, old friend." Shikamaru tried to tease, but it just came out in a croaky voice. Even so, the Hyuuga smirked with strained eyes.

They arrived minutes later on top of the Hokage mountain; the moon shone the most clearly at the top. Shikamaru was fast to put the cursed sword down on the pyre they had prepared beforehand. Neji directly lit the fire with a torch and poured alcohol over it. The fire took a long time to start, but then it found the alcohol and with a spark, a blazing fire took hold of the pyre. The sword was settled in the middle of the small inferno. Shikamaru and Neji stood in silence and watched the cursed katana burn. The scabbard started to melt, smouldering in the heat. Shikamaru exchanged a glance with Neji; the blade itself was the same as before. The hilt as well, it was left unharmed. The only part of the sword that burned away was the protective seals inside the scabbard and the scabbard itself. The blazing fire produced a large geyser into the sky of thick, grey smoke swirl away into the night, covering the white full moon.

"What is going on?" Neji was puzzled. The sword should start melting by now, Shikamaru noted. Why wouldn't it? Shikamaru's heart clenched, and fear gripped his stomach likened to the feeling of ice-made butterflies fluttering about inside him. With razor sharp edges on their wings.

"It should be cleansed. It should melt." Shikamaru frowned as he said the words and shivered. What was happening?

Suddenly, a scream broke through the sparkling fire and the silence of the night. Shikamaru felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. It was one of the most painful screams he had ever heard. He was fast to turn his head to the side, to see what creature could produce such hurting vocal sounds. A woman staggered uphill in the green terrain, fell to the ground but got up just as fast, wailing like there was no tomorrow as she walked up to them, then past them towards the fire. He saw the stream of her tears in the moon light.

"Sakura?" Shikamaru couldn't believe his eyes. How had she found them? Why was she screaming like she was dying? Neji was frozen at his side. Like he had just understood something. The Haruno stood in front of the fire and screamed her lungs out, hulking and sobbing at the same time. She turned around, the fire's light played on her anguished expression and Shikamaru saw blood trickle out of her nose. What was happening?

"We... we are bound. She is a part of me." She wheezed and sputtered blood on the ground, eyes glittering white with pain, they were white, and then she walked into the fire. Neji gasped and Shikamaru felt his heart stop beating. The pinkette walked into the inferno like it didn't touch her and went to the katana, and screeched in a heart wrenching way as she grabbed the hilt and Shikamaru heard a sickly sizzling sound when she made skin contact with the sword. But Sakura didn't drop the katana, she gripped the hilt hard, turned around and walked out of the fire.

Shikamaru couldn't believe what he was witnessing. Sakura was unharmed from the inferno, yet she was still crying, now sobbing soundlessly and her nose was still bleeding. He saw the katana smoulder in her hand and he could see how it burned the flesh on her hand. Like a thin liquid film, green chakra covered her whole body and he realised she had let chakra flow from her every pore in a water like state to suppress the fire. If it was conscious or not, it was still marvellous.

Shikamaru made himself walk. Move. Then he ran up to her, held her close in an embrace which she didn't return. She was hot, like a fever ravaged her body.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, Sakura. I'm sorry." He mumbled into her hair. Her eyes were empty and white, the tears had dried on her cheek and she looked at him as if she didn't recognise him. The pain had made her numb.

"Wha-what have you done? Take the katana away!" Neji blurted as he hurried to her side and tried to lodge the katana from her hand. It didn't budge. Shikamaru tried to help, but the sword wouldn't fall from her grip. They tried to bend her fingers but it didn't work. It was stuck. The burn marks continued to dangerously rip at her skin, sizzling and smouldering. As if it was meant as a reminder to never to do anything like this again. Like it was a warning of some sort and that scared him.

"What in the world is going on?" Shikamaru whispered as his eyes glazed.

"Don't ever try this petty trick again. Or I will gouge out your eyes and cut out your heart."

Sakura's voice made them stop trying to take the katana away from her grip. They looked up at her and the moon's light fell on her face and Shikamaru didn't recognise the expression as that of Sakura's own. Her facial features were older, more mature, more cruel, more dark. Her eyes were plain white now, the same hue as the full moon and she looked at the two male shinobi with disgust. Neji sniffed in fear as he realised who it was that was actually speaking through the Haruno's body.

"Izanami." He breathed and Shikamaru fell down on the ground, his eyes never leaving her standing form as all of his muscles failed him. Neji's hands went limp to his side as he stood in front of the white eyes devil.

"When I burn, she burns. You fools." Izanami hissed through Sakura's mouth.

Then in the gust of the wind, the harsh expression disappeared from her face and the Haruno fell. Shikamaru had regained enough of his composure in time to catch the kunoichi as he scrambled to his feet. The Hyuuga looked with unseeing eyes into the fire.

"What have we done...?" Neji whispered. Shikamaru scowled.

"We need to get to Konoha General. I'll take Sakura there, you call for Tsunade. Hyuuga Neji, move now!" Shikamaru almost roared as he lifted the unconscious kunoichi in his arms. It was surprising how light she was, he absentmindedly thought. Neji jerked back and looked at Shikamaru, then at Sakura's slumped petite form in his arms, still holding the cursed sword in her grip. Even when unconscious, she gripped the katana.

"Yes." He stated and Neji was back and Shikamaru could breath again, as he ran away into the night with the girl in his arms. Neji leapt off the mountain into thin air, towards Senju Tsunade's residence. He would be fine, Shikamaru told himself. Tried to convince himself. They left the fire to die out.

"I've come to an insight. You're not troublesome anymore, Sakura." He whispered into her pink, fluffy hair as he ran. It smelled like flowers and sweat and burnt hair and salty tears. "You are a complete pain in the ass. You pink haired banshee."

The Prodigy Hyuuga Neji

He held his head in his hands, elbows on his knees as he was sitting down on a hospital chair. Tsunade had rushed to their aid and had tried to bend the katana from the girl's fingers, but nothing had happened. The Godaime had healed best she could around the hilt in Sakura's right hand, the flesh that had been burnt was healed swiftly. She stopped the inflammation, but the hilt of the katana was still there. The Godaime had healed the internal damage as well and she had been quite puzzled; since the damage to the girl's insides had been that of a fire victim. When Tsunade was finished the wounds had been healed to function normally and they all waited for the Haruno girl to wake up.

But Sakura was unconscious for a whole day, and the Godaime had bitterly told them that she had slipped into a coma. Shikamaru had told the Godaime the story about the sword when she had asked them, however - he had not told her the whole truth. Tsunade now knew that Shikamaru and Neji had tried to burn the cursed sword but Sakura had taken it from the fire, saying it didn't work. And then she had passed out from the pain. The Godaime believed the story but she had had a frown on her face. She had ordered them not to try it again, since it seemed that Sakura liked her sword.

Neji couldn't believe it all had gone so wrong. She was in a coma. It was supposed to have been swift, it was supposed to have freed Sakura from the demon sword. How could it have turned out like this? Neji was sure he had scanned every book, every scroll there was about demon possessed swords. He had memorised every word. The katana should have been cleansed. Sakura shouldn't have felt that the katana was burning, she shouldn't have been set on fire on the inside. What kind of bond did they have? What kind of bond let the sword have an emotional connection to its contractor? It was so wrong, everything was just so wrong.

Shikamaru was sleeping on the opposite side of the room, in a chair. It looked uncomfortable, but the intelligent successor of the Nara Clan snored. Loudly. Neji frowned and his gaze wandered to the hospital bed in the middle of the room. She seemed so peaceful, he noted. Even with the humming machines next to her, the respiratory mask placed over her mouth, the beeping sounds of the machine showing the rate of her heart beat. Her hair fell softly around her head, spreading around the pillow. The katana was placed besides her, wired with blankets to not let her hurt herself if she awoke. Her creamy skin shone with a light sheen of sweat on her bare arms and she just seemed so at peace with herself. Neji found himself wondering if she was dreaming. Then he was reminded of what her dreams consisted of and flinched. How foolish was he? Izanami was probably punishing her in her dreams. 'Training' her in that godforsaken battlefield with blank faced soldiers. Neji couldn't hate himself more in that moment.

A knock was heard from the door and Neji looked up. The Godaime peeked inside and scowled as she saw the prodigy was still awake.

"You, young man, need to sleep. It has been two days already. I'm sending you home." The Hokage growled as she stomped up to the prodigy, towering over him with a cocky stance. Her brown eyes glinted with concern.

"No." He promptly told her and crossed his arms defiantly, looking away to the hospital bed. Tsunade's frown deepened.

"Hiashi is here." She told him gently. Neji's head jerked up, eyes startled. In that moment, a man walked inside the hospital bedroom. He had a stern face, and the famous long, dark hair known to the Hyuuga's flowed behind his back, he walked up to the hospital bed with gallant steps. Not even glancing at Neji.

"So this is the girl who destroyed our training field." The Head of the Hyuuga Clan murmured as he took in her peaceful features. Then the patriarch turned his head towards Neji, making shivers of anger and fear go down Neji's spine as he patiently waited for the scolding. He felt how Hiashi's cold, marble white eyes bore a hole through his head.

"Stay here if you must. But a Hyuuga takes care of ones health, so I order you to sleep. If you will, then sleep like the Nara." Hiashi ordered the prodigy, then swiftly left the room, only leaving silence and a speechless Neji behind. Tsunade almost chuckled, but only waved at the prodigy.

"I will seriously put you on sleeping meds if you don't comply with your Clan Head's order." She sniffed and then strolled away. Neji noticed the slight smell of alcohol coming off the Hokage as she left him in the fluorescent light of the hospital room. It seemed like he wasn't the only one who had taken a toll at the pink haired girl's condition.

The next day and the day after, there was no change. He couldn't stay forever at the hospital, so he took up a few missions to pass time. The C-rank missions were boring and maybe he had been a little bit too violent against that rapist who he had been requested to apprehend in Tea Country. That man could no longer rape again, Neji thought sternly as he handed him in to the law enforcement in the little village, meeting the requester at the same time. It was a woman, accompanied with her daughter. When the woman saw the blood on the rapist's pants she let tears slide down her face quietly. Then she went up to Neji, and she kissed his cheek. There was no need for words. She had handed him more than necessary in the payment, and she had seemed poor from the start. Neji couldn't help but see the empty eyes of the woman's daughter. She was only thirteen, he heard.

Silently, he slipped an inconspicuous letter containing the double amount of money she had paid a few hours later. In the letter was a will from a deceased faraway relative to the woman and her family, saying they needed the money more than any other relative. It was of course something Neji had come up with in a moment of thinking, but it was worth it. When he hid to see their expressions when they found the letter, the daughter's smile was overwhelming. The mother seemed to not understand the amount of money in her hands. He left it at that and went back to Konoha. He felt the sudden need to go to the hospital.

One week - seven days - 168 hours from the day of the fire, she awakened. It was a long time since Neji had felt that kind of happiness, and he saw the same emotion reflected in Shikamaru's eyes. Ino cried and cried as she came to the hospital, hugging her best friend until the latter couldn't breath. Lee couldn't stop snivelling at her bedside. Everyone was happy, but Neji saw it. Maybe it was because of his perceptive eyes, maybe it was a trait special to the Hyuuga's, maybe it was just his unique way of noticing things none else did. She had changed again. When everyone had come to cheer on Sakura and later left because she still needed to rest, he found himself alone with her. And then her facade slipped off. Her happy grin was replaced with a stern line. Her glittering verdant eyes were replaced with sapphire-like, diamond hardness. They hadn't talked about the fire; it was a silent agreement between the three that they would never attempt anything like that again.

"What happened in your dreams, Sakura?" He dared ask as he sat next to her in a hospital chair.

"Very little, and very much." She answered as she looked at the katana stuck in her hand with wondering eyes. Neji watched in fascination as she spread her fingers from her grip easily and placed Izanami on her lap carefully.

"How-"
"So none would deliberately take her away from me." Sakura cut him off short sentence and he felt his ears flush. He couldn't meet her gaze. Those diamond hard eyes.

"This looks nice." Sakura investigated her hand. A large pink and reddish scar, a burn mark, was horizontally engraved into the palm of her right hand. It was a hideous scar, but Sakura looked at it like it was a piece of jewellery. Suddenly she wrinkled her nose. Neji's head jerked up.

"Oh." Was all she said, then it seemed she tried again with something. Nothing happened.

"What is it?" He inquired. He wasn't sure he liked her expression.
"I can't... can't produce healing chakra with my scarred hand." She blurted and frowned again. Neji's eyes widened. Uncalled for, she suddenly burst out laughing. The Hyuuga prodigy was perplexed, yet again, by the pink haired girl. The Haruno tried to breath but she just laughed, a tingling musical laughter was produced from the depths of her stomach.

"With my left hand, I can heal. With my right hand, I can kill." Sakura raised her left hand into the air. "The hand of life and...", she raised her right hand as well, "...The hand of death." She held her hands in front of her face, studying them with a grin on her face. Neji didn't understand her. What had happened during that week of sleep? What exactly had that demon done to her?

Sakura was suddenly watching him, with those diamond hard sapphire eyes, as if she had read his mind.

"I have died over a thousand times in my dreams this past week. I came to be the leading Captain Commander of the army in the battlefield. Last night, we won the war. That is why she let me come back. That is why she let me go."

Her voice was so raspy and devoid of emotion Neji twitched. Her pink hair had grown so long it stretched past her collarbones, her face had changed into that of a mature woman. She had almost regal features, a narrow nose and high cheek bones. She had this air of royalty and cold, hard brilliance. She looked different. He could actually picture her wearing a harness, he could picture her roaring orders to an army, he could picture her as a Captain Commander.

"I see. I am happy you did." He said with a pained look on his face. Change is not always a good thing, but it might be unavoidable. It might be necessary, he thought.

"I have enjoyed your company for these past months, Neji. Unfortunately, I will be on a lot of missions from now on. All you need to know is that I have come to appreciate our friendship deeply." Sakura smiled. This time she smiled with those hard diamond eyes, not that fake grin she had worn before, but she smiled with sapphires in her eyes. And it was such a knowing smile, so old and he didn't know diamonds could produce warmth.

"What are you saying, Sakura?" He asked, fidgeting in his seat. He didn't like where this was going, but he had to ask.

"For some months ahead, I won't have the time to meet you and Shika much." She explained, as if to a child. He didn't enjoy that condescending tone.

"Will you tell me your real reason, Sakura?" He asked, his opalescent eyes grazing her form.

"Perhaps in due time, Neji." She beamed again and he felt that muscle behind his ribcage protest.

"I am not particularly fond of farewells." The pinkette confessed and looked down at her scarred hand. The pink hair fell in front of her eyes, as if shielding her.

"So please, don't say good bye when you walk away." The Haruno frowned, but quirked her lips into a soft smile. Neji wrinkled his nose as he regarded her with opalescent eyes.

"That was the definition of cliché." He stated and Sakura chuckled, saying 'I know'. It did none the matter make it less true to her.

Neji rose from the chair and looked a long time at the katana. To him, it seemed like Izanami was mocking him; he couldn't touch the demon blade and he couldn't burn it. He shrugged his shoulders, then tilted his head and smirked at the changed girl in the hospital bed.

"Until next time, Sakura."

The Powerful Alcoholic Senju Tsunade

"Now, that we have finished the business of the start of a trust alliance with Sunagakure, again, I'm announcing the dismissal of my current apprentice Haruno Sakura." Tsunade declared to the Council members at the meeting table. Some whispers were heard, murmurs amongst the older members.

"May I ask why that is so, Godaime-sama?" One Council member asked, confusion visible in her withered wrinkly features.

"She's always questioning my authority nowadays; saying I'm too 'soft'. She believes that to protect Konoha, more severe punishments needs to be handed out to set examples of disloyalty."

"Questioning authority is never a good thing." The Council woman agreed, nodding. Another Council member at the far end of the long table cleared his throat.

"Why is it that she sees more severe punishments as a way to protect Konoha?" He asked with wrinkled eyes.
"She says that to set an example, on par to that of missing Konoha nin, the shinobi of our village will look at it and see that there is always consequences to ones actions and that betraying Konohagakure is the equivalent to paying the defection with ones life." Tsunade sighed heavily.

"Was it not her former teammate that abandoned Konoha two years ago? Would she still say the same for him?" A grey haired council member asked the Godaime, raising agreeing murmurs.

"Yes, Uchiha Sasuke did, and she told me once that she can't forgive him no matter what. She thinks his punishment should be public execution in Konoha. Can you believe that girl? She's changed so much since I took her on. I can't handle her anymore." The Godaime huffed exasperatedly.

"I see. That is troublesome. I heard she's accepting A-ranked missions now, even though she's only fifteen." One of the Elders commented, seemingly knowing of the Haruno. Tsunade was a bit perplexed by this, apparently the Haruno had started to make a name for herself.

"Yes, and I know that she has mastered Medical Ninjutsu to a very high level, but she has abandoned it for that cursed sword and the position of a fighter. Such a fool." Tsunade spat with disgust. Danzō's eye slid to Tsunade's hunched form and there was a light of interest in his expression. Tsunade silently sang a victory song in her head as she scowled on the outside. One of the Elders coughed and looked at Tsunade with a slight frown.

"Indeed, it is foolish. But I have heard she has come to challenge that kid Rock Lee in the physical department, and her taijutsu skills are exquisite. I also happen to know she has perfect chakra control which is very unusual amongst shinobi. And that sword you were talking about; I saw her on the training grounds three days ago, doing katas with her katana. I couldn't even see her move, but suddenly five iron bars that hung from two trees had been sliced into a hundred parts. The sword seems to fit very well in her hands. She might prove to be very useful for Konoha's benefit." The Elder concluded, then coughed again.

"That might be so. But she's just gotten so cold! So emotionless. I have to dismiss her as my disciple. I can't stand her anymore. She's not the sweet little girl I once knew." Tsunade almost wailed and thumped her fist hard against the table so it shook violently. The Council members shivered almost in unison in awe of her anger.

"Then you should take on someone else. Maybe the daughter of Yamanaka Inoichi? I hear she's gotten promoted to the position of Doctor in Konoha General Hospital." One of the Council members suggested and Tsunade's eyes widened. She hadn't even thought about that, and it was a good idea, but when she was about to answer one dark voice interrupted her.

"What are we to do about Haruno Sakura, then?" Shimura Danzō uttered his first sentence for the whole of that meeting. Eyes went to him and some looked down because of the weight of his authoritative voice.

"I don't care. Send her on missions or something." Tsunade sighed and slumped back into her chair.

"I see." Danzō said, retreating politely. "That will be taken care of."

Tsunade's cheeks almost flustered but she bit it down. The start of Sakura's plan had been set in motion, but Tsunade was not yet sure if she had made the right decision to help her with it.

The Man Without a Name

The man without a name stood at the door leading to a large spacious room in the hidden headquarters below ground. It was the entrance ceremony to be a part of Root; three shinobi Danzō himself had approached and suggested that they were to give their lives to the protection of Konoha. He had approached four, but only three shinobi had conceded to his suggestion. The fourth shinobi no longer breathed, he knew. The man without a name was supposed to act as a guard, as well as a third perspective to the entrance ceremony and lastly to avert any escapees.

The proctor for the ceremony stood in front of the three recruits, donning a white ANBU mask likened to an owl in its painted swirling lines. The owl masked proctor was tall and slender, his clothes grey and black. The three recruits had blank masks covering their features, clothed in black turtle neck tops and beige hakamas. They were allowed no weapons and had been put under chakra restraining seals. He noted that one of them was a woman, which was unusual for a recruit. Danzō must have had a special reason for recruiting that one, the nameless man absentmindedly thought. The two other male recruits were tall and broad shouldered, impressive muscles were seen through the tight fabric of the black top. In their stance, they seemed experienced and collected. Compared to the petite woman who stood rather casually, they towered over her like two giants.

"These three newest recruits has shown to have abundant potential and they have sworn to us that they are all willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater cause of Root. We appreciate your devotion to our section and thank you for joining this ceremonial trial."

The proctor's voice echoed in the large room, leaving silence and low heart beats behind. He knew that behind the see through screens of the opposite side of the room, there was Danzō and several other Root-devoted ANBU captains watching.

"However, only one of you will pass through that door." The owl-masked proctor waved to the door besides the see through screen and then walked out, brushing past the nameless man with a polite nod.

He knew what was going to happen in the next few moments; either they would be baffled as they realised the implication and try to negotiate with the now disappeared proctor... Or they would start about now to kill each other. The nameless man's eyes darted to the three recruits as he heard a snap. What he saw was that the kunoichi had somehow gotten behind one of the recruits, her hands pressed around his head and she had snapped his neck in one swift movement, leaving the man's head lolling for a bit before falling to the ground; he knew that the strength behind the force to snap a neck was not to be taken lightly. When the man slumped to the floor mat, the kunoichi was fast to duck and roll away underneath the high kick aimed at her head from the other male shinobi.

The man without a name watched in what one could almost call interest as the two battled in hand-to-hand combat. The kunoichi seemed to not have any kind of traditional martial arts school behind her attacks; it just seemed primitive and instinctive, every strike and movement and evasive technique. However sloppy it seemed, she was calculated and agile. The male shinobi who was probably a bit older had a distinguished style of wushu, aikido and a certain martial art deriving from Water Country which made him swift as water and every strike as hard as a tsunami's destructive force.

The man landed a strike in the side of the woman and she grunted as she stepped back several feet, he guessed the strike had made disturbing reverberations to her intestines and disrupting the flow of the blood stream in her body. The man saw his opportunity and ran up to her for the finish. The woman wobbled and fell to the ground as he swung at her and then he was suddenly kicked up high in the air with a cough of blood; the kunoichi had pretended to fall, to make him attack mindlessly and victory already in his mind, and had kicked him in the stomach from her lying position on the mat. The nameless man looked on emotionlessly.

The kunoichi jumped up and in a flash, it was fast for a new recruit he admitted, she kicked him down to the mat with the back of her feet while he still was in the air. There was too much strength in her kicks, so when he plummeted down the mat crumpled from the force of it, almost making cracks in the wooden floor underneath the mats. The man coughed blood and the nameless man determined a broken rib must have punctured his lung, or something else inside his stomach must have taken damage. The male recruit tried to move up, but the pain overwhelmed him and he sank down again with a grunt, trying to regulate his breathing. But it was difficult since his mouth was full of blood.

Then, as gracious as a feline, she moved to stand besides his sprawled retching body. She gently put her foot on his heaving throat. And then she crushed it. With a gurgle and blood splatter sound, he died, her foot still engraved in the gory mess left of his throat. The man without a name, being the closest to the scene, heard her say something which was muffled by the mask, but it was still audible enough to make him feel something like coldness graze his skin. But he had heard it and in some way it made him wonder what she counted as he with blank eyes stared at the goose bumps on his arm.

The silence was overwhelming. With a jerk of her foot, she shook it a bit to get away some of the tendons and blood from her shoe. The woman then wandered right to the screen on the opposite side of the room. With every step, there was a little splash sound coming from her right shoe. Thump, splish, thump, splish.

When she stood right in front of the screen, of which she shouldn't know that Danzō and the captains stood behind since the see through screen was only such from the other side, she could only see a simple beige screen. She bowed down to a sitting position and in doing so she showed submission and respect. She waited. Blood ran in currents down her blank mask.

The sound of clapping hands, applause of some sort, was heard behind the screen. It was a slow clapping, as if dragging it out. The screen was swiftly slid to the right, revealing several men standing stiffly in front of her. The one clapping was a tall white haired ANBU captain, who leaned casually at the doorway.

"Welcome to Root." The white haired ANBU captain said and smirked with empty violet eyes. The nameless man knew him as Fuyu, a man recognised for his bloodlust and overly violent ways with enemies. Danzō stood in the middle, his bandaged head looking down on the kunoichi. The kunoichi's facial expressions was hidden behind the mask as well as her hair. None knew who she was.

The war veteran and leader of Root walked to her submissive form and stood only a feet away from her. She didn't look up from the ground. In a quick movement, he ripped the mask away from her face so it bounced on the floor some meters away, revealing flushed cheeks, luscious lips and verdant adrenaline pumped and pale eyes. The man without a name recognised the adjectives he had used to describe her in his head and supposed most men would call her attractive. Her eyes seemed to almost bore a hole wherever she looked. Compared to his fellow Root members, her face was an open book. Though an open book in another language, and he only knew a few words of that language.

"When the blank mask is removed, your face is no longer expressionless. That is where your fault is."

"I am sorry it is so, sir." She said and looked directly into Danzō's eye, unwavering. The man nodded and produced two pills from his pocket which he held in his left hand in front of her. With a blank stare she took in the weight of those two pills; knowledge visible in her emerald eyes. He almost flinched at this; she just showed too much. As if she was naked, completely bare, she leaked her emotions freely all over her face.

"To show your devotion you will choose one of these pills. If you want to live, choose the red pill. If you are prepared to die, choose the green pill. If none - then leave."

The flushed girl with burning eyes didn't as much as frown when the man uttered the words of her fate, and she stretched out her hand directly as if the answer was obvious. The nameless man watched as she gulped down both of the pills and swallowed hard, gaping her mouth open so Danzō could check she had swallowed. Danzō's eye widened ever so slightly, one wouldn't have noticed it if not perceptive to emotion, as the nameless man was an expert in. He was very able to distinguish the movement of facial muscles, but he could not define the emotion in Danzō's eye.

"Not following orders already, I see. I said to choose one. Why did you take both?" His eye squinted at her, taking in every twitch of her expression. The men behind the screen flinched and some shivered; Danzō was a fearful man. That girl had disobeyed him.

"I want to live so I can die for Konohagakure's sake." She answered simply as she started breathing harder, sweat producing on her forehead. The pills effect seemed to have settled in her system already.

"I see." Danzō said as he walked back to the screen, to every Root member's astonishment in the room, as Danzō turned away from her sweating form. "It would seem that you will be paralysed within a few minutes. The effect of the red pill is deadly but the green pill will heal the damage done to your insides. Probably. You are the first to have chosen both pills, so I am not too sure of the repercussions of your choice. It is yours to deal with. Meet me tomorrow morning in my office at seven o'clock - if you survive the night."

The girl could not answer him as she had gone into seizures, shaking uncontrollably and her eyes rolled back as she fell to the floor with a thump. The man without a name watched the pain convulse in her body and she couldn't scream because the shaking prevented her. Fuyu, the ANBU captain, looked with violet eyed disgust at the kunoichi. He knew that emotion.

"Someone bring her to a bedroom. No medical attention to her is allowed." He said as he flipped a white strand out of his face and turned around to walk out of the ceremony room. The man without a name didn't think, he just walked up to the shaking girl and slung her over his shoulder in one easy movement. He didn't know why he did it, he just acted. The girl shook so violently on his shoulder he had to steady her with his hand. When he did, he felt something slick at her side. Blood ran down his fingers when he pressed her to his shoulder so she wouldn't fall off. That strike the male recruit had done to her side had been much worse than anyone could have imagined, he concluded.

The nameless man walked to a vacant bedroom a few dimly lit corridors away with the convulsing girl on his shoulder, and laid the kunoichi down on the simple bed. The black bandana covering her head strained at her shaking, so he removed it and as he did he was slightly baffled at the colour of her hair, which fell in cascades around her petite face. It was the colour of a pink sunset. He only laid the bandana on the floor and didn't think more of it as he went to the bathroom to wash the blood away on his hands. His eyes seemed to wander back to the kunoichi, whenever he wasn't aware while he washed his hands in cold water. The blood in the wash bin cleared away, only leaving pink trails of water behind on the white porcelain.

He couldn't help himself as he went back to her still shaking form. He reached for her turtle neck top and tucked it up to under her chest, revealing an inflamed and bruised wound oozing blood under her ribs, to the right from her stomach. The bed sheet was soaked in a matter of seconds. He knew that none else had noticed her wound, since she had acted as if she was unhurt and free of wounds. And she had been so casual, so cold and she had bowed down to Danzō - as if that hadn't worsened the blood flow of the wound at her side. He found himself looking for something to stop the red liquid flow, and he took the pillow at her head and ripped the sheet off of it. He bandaged the wound after having poured some alcohol over it so it wouldn't get infected, and when he was finished with the basic treatment he dragged her turtle neck top down over the wound, hiding it.

The girl's eyes were lolling around, sweat pouring down her creamy complexion, her breathing hitched, her teeth clattering - and he knew that there was a certain possibility that she would bite her own tongue off and drown in blood with those seizures. He took and folded her bandana, opened her mouth with little difficulty and stuffed it inside. She bit the bandana so hard in her shaking form, he wondered if she would be able to chew through the fabric material during the night. Blood started to seep out from one of her nostrils, trailing down to the bandana in her mouth. He quickly bound a part of the sheet around her form, fastened her to the bed so she wouldn't hurt herself while shaking. Blood from her ears started to seep down on the mattress. But the nameless man couldn't do more for her and she confused him, so he left her after pouring a glass of water and putting it beside the bed.

Then he disappeared in the dim light of the corridor.

Author's Note:

Hi guys!

A little darker chapter, this one. I rushed this chapter because I loved to write it, so there might be a ton of spelling mistakes or grammar errors. Please note me if you find any.

What do you guys think; is change a good or bad thing? Or is it more to it than a simple yes or no?

xx fascalia