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 6

Through the Eyes of a Man of Shadows, a Powerful Alcoholic

and a Merchant

The Man of Shadows Shimura Danzō

He was almost shocked when he heard a knock on his office door at seven in the morning, but then he quickly gathered the reports he had been reading into a neat pile. The kunoichi staggered inside his office, her hair was ruffled and there was a lot of dried blood on her face; probably coming from her nose, eyes and mouth. He also saw coagulated blood on the inside of her ears. It seemed like she had climbed out of bed without showering since she wore the same clothes she had donned the day before, probably too weakened to be able to do the actions necessary to freshen up. Her bleary, pale green eyes were heavily blood shot and a few droplets of red liquid was still in the corners of her eyes. It made the green colour in her eyes stronger and contrasting even more, making them lush and ever seeing.

"I am sorry for my misshapen appearance, Danzō-sama." She bowed her head weakly and then straightened. Her posture was strong, as if fighting her body's state with her mind and sheer will power.

"It is none the matter. You look livelier than the shinobi who chose the red pill. Sit." He commented, then looked down on her file he had in front of him, as well as her contract. He gave her a pencil which she accepted with shaking fingers as she sat down on the chair in front of his desk.

"You cannot be a part of Root." He said, mayhaps only to see her reaction. Her green eyes discerned him coldly. She didn't protest, she didn't beg for her life, she didn't ask him why.

"I see." She said, and only that. Her strong posture had not changed, even while sitting. Danzō almost smirked, but he didn't, and then locked his eye with hers.

"You cannot be a part of Root because you are not emotionless, as all else of our members are supposed to be. And that is where emotions called determination and devotion is a fact and doesn't exist within Root; but it can be used to Root's advantage in you. That also means you are not to act as the pawn of Root, and you are not yet expendable. Also, you will not receive a cursed seal since the shinobi of ANBU will recognise it and it would be most inconspicuous."

"Yes."

"You are to succeed in the ANBU test qualifications, get appointed ANBU by the Hokage and then you will act as an ANBU operative; I duly believe you will rise in the ranks. The Root-devoted ANBU captains will be our communication. You will give me information of what you have learned on every mission. Missions will be your life now. You are still young, so we will have training sessions here whenever you are not on a mission. Mostly you will have superior Root-members train you, but I might occasionally give you a lesson as well when I see fit. Understood?"

"Yes, Danzō-sama."

"I will appeal to the Hokage to try to make her appoint you as ANBU. I heard that you two had an argument so it might prove to be a difficult task."

"Yes. Our views on how to protect the village was... different." Her blank expression was almost that of a Root member when she talked about the Godaime - expressionless, free of all emotion. This almost intrigued the man of shadows.

"How come?" Danzō inquired, leaning over his desk with his left hand supporting his head.
"She's too soft." The kunoichi stated, and he noticed that her eyes had stopped bleeding and were plainly blank. Danzō tilted his head a bit, taking in her appearance and words. He didn't say any more and only gave her the contract for her to sign. She did and wrote her signature with trembling hands; seemingly an after effect of the intake of two pills.

"Get rid of the shaking until next time. Dismissed." He commanded and took the paper from her hands as he turned away from her. It was a chakra infused contract which didn't allow her to talk about himself or of Root to others; in case she did, he would know in seconds. In the corner of his eye he saw the kunoichi nod and then she limped out of his office, closing the door gently.

He huffed, since he was alone he allowed himself to do so, and put the contract in an archive file map marked with a pink note. He didn't find her fitting yet, but when she had swallowed both pills only to gain his trust and for the sake of Konohagakure... He wondered if she even feared death. Truly, what fool would swallow two pills given to her, when the origin of those pills were unknown? And all she did was trust the man giving them to her.

But that determination, iron will and devotion; he liked that. She would prove to be a very useful pawn if she could follow his guide lines. However, he had difficulty with the fact that she questioned authority. For the moment he found it a highly positive trait since she reckoned the current Hokage to be at fault; but what if he succeeded in becoming Hokage and she started to question him? He decided that for the moment, she would prove to be useful. But when the time would come, for it would come, for his succession of the Hokage title - he would make sure she swallowed the red pill only.

The Abandoned Boy Uchiha Sasuke

The underground hideout was dark, with not many candles adorning the walls. Orochimaru had an experiment going on with Kabuto, so he had let the Uchiha boy rest at the moment. They had been training constantly for the past week and Sasuke felt how his muscles had been shredded and now was growing even stronger. He had learnt many useful jutsus as well, there amongst a few genjutsus which were easy for him to cast with the sharingan activated. Over all, he was almost content with their training schedules. But he craved more. He needed to be more powerful, more cold, more calculated. To hate his brother even more, to deepen the emotion of revenge in his heart.

He regarded the sharp blade of his recently accepted gift from Orochimaru, balancing it on the tip of his index finger. It was a strange sword which he decided to call Kusanagi. He enjoyed the weight of it in his hands as he let it slide into the palm of his hand and gripped it. When he angled the blade a reflection of his black eyes stared back at him in the dimly lit room. He found not many emotions in those black eyes, but they reminded him.

Reminded him of his past, team seven - a lazy teacher and a blond idiot and an annoying girl. When he remembered those useless teammates he had to close his eyes. They had such preconceived ideas about him. As if he was actually a part of their team; but they had simply been means of him getting stronger, simple stepping stones. They no longer mattered, they never even had. They had turned out to just hold him back and now finally, he could find the strength needed for his revenge. He found no solace in their efforts to bring him back. His place was not in Konoha. His place was nowhere.

His place would have been death, if not on the whim of his brother. He sometimes wondered if his fate as the sole survivor of the massacre had been the better option. The angst still terrorised his dreams, the image of the bodies of his parents lying on the floor so cold, so cold haunted him, always. His brother's eyes blaring red in the moon light. His hands bloodied. That night haunted his nightmares ever so often that he found he almost couldn't remember his mother's smiling face anymore. It had withered away and in its place was her pale blank face and her slumped form.

All he saw nowadays was those cursed red eyes. And he could never look away.

The Powerful Alcoholic Senju Tsunade

"Well, I can't just appoint you ANBU. That would only seem suspicious. You need to prove yourself somehow... What about a S-rank mission?" Tsunade scratched the back of her blond hair, biting her lower lip. The kunoichi sitting in front of her in the Hokage's Office frowned.

"Tsunade-sama. I've only been assigned to one A-class mission, a S-class is..."

"That would make it all the better, wouldn't it? It will be dangerous though. Lots and lots of soldier pills." Tsunade said and then her eyes widened in recollection. "Oh. Hey, you know what I found yesterday? A really old scroll! I'll give it to you. It's an animal summoning scroll, and I know you don't have one! See it as an early birthday gift or something. Found it in that dusty old library the other day. Kitsune said she didn't know what kind of animal summoning it was though. Guess you'll just have to find out."

"Tsunade-sama. I am most grateful." Sakura bowed her head and earned a hard thump on it with Tsunade's fist. Surprised eyes looked up through pink hair, caressing her head gently as she questioned the Hokage.

"Damn, do you have a stick up your ass, girl? Seems like Danzō is rubbing off on you. When we're alone, call me Tsunade. At least you deserve that much." The Godaime scolded the pink haired kunoichi and sniffed.

"Just Tsunade, then. Thank you." Sakura smiled and that matured face of hers almost put the Godaime off. How could a coma induced sleep change a person so much? How could she look like she knew the secrets of the universe? Tsunade recognised eyes like that. She had seen them in Danzō, a war veteran, and she didn't know what to make of it.

"You're welcome, Pinky. So, you're going to take on a solo S-class mission-" Tsunade was cut off short-sentence by the pink haired girl.

"Solo?" She commented, green eyes gleaming. Paling.

"Yes, otherwise you wouldn't stick out! You need to prove yourself. Let the world see you are an excellent shinobi of Konoha. Make missing nin fear you. That way, it'll be less suspicious of me to appoint you ANBU two weeks from now." Tsunade grinned.

"I see your point. I will, Tsunade." Sakura's eyes glinted mischievously and the Godaime rolled her eyes. The Haruno really had changed since the coma.

"Good. Now where did I put Kameosa..." The busty blond mumbled and started searching around on her desk, the papers covered almost all of the space. Sakura sighed with amused eyes grazing the Hokage's form.

"It's in your desk drawer." She pointed out and Tsunade squealed with joy as she found it.

"Ah, there you are my lovely haunted jar of love. So, the S-class mission. I'll talk to the administration and search some piles of requests. I'll call for you tomorrow morning and then you'll be set up with the information detail. Yeah?" Tsunade stated and sipped from the saké bottle. Warmth rushed directly to her cheeks and she squirmed with comfort.

"Yeah. See you tomorrow, Tsunade." Her former apprentice smiled and was about to heave herself up from the chair. The Godaime jerked her head, she recalled her gift, her hands waving around.

"Hup hup-a. Wait, the scroll, the scroll. Oh, found it. Here." Tsunade cheered and gave the puzzled Haruno a withered scroll from the pile of scrolls on her desk. Dust flew everywhere.

"It's ancient. And is that a drawing of a... turtle?" Sakura sneezed as dust came into her nose. Tsunade chuckled in amusement.

"Yes, but the old ones are usually quite powerful. Try to get accustomed to it tonight. Say hello to them. And also, remember this one thing: be extremely polite. The old ones take traditional politeness very seriously. And all that crap."

"I'll keep that in mind. Goodnight!" Sakura smirked and put the ancient scroll in her backpack, then swiftly rose from her chair.

"Sweet dreams, Pinky."

The girl snorted at the Godaime's last sentence and walked out of the office.

The Fox Boy Uzumaki Naruto

They were in a village in the Mist to train Naruto's senses in the fog, but the day had gone by without the Sannin in sight and Naruto having several empty instant noodles at his side. Naruto had stalkingly left the training area in the rocky forest and started to search for his sensei. When he had found him peeking on the women's outdoor baths Naruto had almost imploded. The Sannin had hushed him to not make them seen by the naked women. Naruto shut his mouth unwillingly, but he had heard of the strength of Mizu no Kuni women; they were not to be in contact with. Sensei said it was inspirational research for the next book in his series 'the Nightingale of the Waters'.

Naruto grumpily sat down but couldn't resist a peek at the women. He could use it as research to better improve his Sexy-no-jutsu, he convinced himself. He winced when he thought of how Sakura-chan would react if knew about this; she would most certainly kill him. There were about ten women in the outdoor baths, most wearing robes or towels to hide their treasures. One woman was about to slide into the water and in the process she left the towel at the pool side. Naruto gasped while blushing red. That startled the women in the bath and eyes went to the bush they were hiding in. A few seconds went by, like a ticking bomb.

Chased out of the village with Naruto having one fractured arm and Jiraya having several bruises on his face, they scrambled off to another village four miles away. It was plain luck they hadn't died that day. Naruto saw something pointing out of his sensei's back and when he mentioned it, Jiraya tried to see over his shoulder. Unbelievably enough, a soap was actually stuck in the older man's shoulder blade. Blood flowed freely and Jiraya would have passed out if he hadn't broken into a fit of laughter. Mizu no Kuni women would never be messed with again.

After that Jiraya seemed to have been reminded of his apprentice and started training for real. During one training session in the forest Naruto saw a rabbit near the tree he perched on. The rabbit's innocent and frightened eyes darted around the forest, trying to identify the sound of leaves rustling. Naruto looked at the rabbit with a pained expression. It kind of reminded him of his pink haired teammate. He wondered in silence how she coped in Konoha.

Then Jiraya flung a sizzling blue Rasengan at him and he had no time to ponder further about it and leapt off the tree branch. The tree exploded as the raw force of the Rasengan imploded on it. As Naruto ran away to create a few kagebunshins, he didn't see the rabbit lying crumbled in the splinters of the exploded tree. The innocence and fear was gone from its eyes since it could no longer see the world.

The Flourishing Merchant Ukeno Tajima

He was outside his shop one day, drinking his black coffee in the early morning sun light. It was very still on the streets and Tajima was at peace with himself for a change. It was one of those mornings that told of a wonderful and abundant day, with no mischief and no devil's knocking on doors. He smiled into his coffee cup and took a sip of the black gold, and when he looked up to the street she was there.

The coffee squirted out from his nose.

A sleek weapon hung on her back, it looked like a tanto but he knew it too well to be mistaken; it was a katana. That cursed katana. Her long pink hair swirled away in the wind, leaving her face bare in its creamy skin tone and heart shaped features. Her eyes were unmistakably green and piercing. The black turtle neck top clung to her form tightly, revealing slightly a hour glass figure. The black top left her arms bare and her right arm was bandaged, and the woman's Konoha forehead protector hung from her neck. The black tight pants she wore was adorned with kunai pockets and medical field kit pockets on each thigh. She had a large moss green backpack slung casually over her right shoulder. And she still wore those ridiculous hand cuffs - whichever function they filled they were an abomination to good fashion sense. He coughed up the rest of his coffee.

"Y-you!" He stammered and accusingly looked at the morning sun. Why had it let him think it would actually be a good day?

All he remembered was white eyes and blood of the escort mission day so many weeks ago. The Konohagakure shinobi had left him with all those corpses and he had been awakened by a scavenger bird, pecking at his skin.

He recalled when she had stopped by his shop for the first time. He had sent his guards after her, even without hearing what she had to say. That day she had killed all of the guards he sent after her with her bare hands; crushing their skulls and with a punch to their bodies they collapsed in broken bones and destroyed internal organs. After that, no guard dared listen to his command to continue. That is where the fault lay in hiring mercenaries; if it wasn't worth the money, it wasn't worth doing. That day, all she had asked about was the katana he had lost to them. Izanami, it was called. But Tajima knew nothing of it.

She had then come to him ever so often since, buying weapons, scrolls and medical equipments in his shinobi part of his trade business. He had had to further develop the shinobi section only for her sake, so she wouldn't be displeased with his supplies.

"Hello, Tajima-san. Is that how you greet an old friend?" The woman smirked and eased her way to him, so silently and elegant he almost snorted. She was such a contradicting human being; so beautiful and graceful and yet she was his worst nightmare.

"What do you want, Cherry?" Tajima huffed, his face slightly tinted red. The pink haired devil laughed lightly, tingling softly in his ears. She seemed to have gotten used to his new nickname. The last one he had called her; 'Pink Haired Banshee' had made her eyes pale, almost turning white.

"I'm going on a little mission visit to Snow Country. So I need a snow specialised weapon's arsenal, because some weapons freeze and doesn't function normally in cold weather. And well, I need quite a few other special weapons. I brought a list, just for you." She smiled ever so prettily and showed him glinting sapphire like eyes. He gulped, but then frowned and turned away from her.

"I see. Come then. When was it that you decided for me to be your personal shopping bag again?" Tajima grumbled as he gallantly walked inside his shop, which on the outside sold women's underwear but was in actuality a illegal weapon's shop. It was not one of his more successful businesses since he hadn't started the marketing yet in underground circuits. But none the matter; the pink haired woman was his most regular customer.

"I think it's our anniversary tomorrow, actually. Three months! Oh, can you believe it's been so long." The woman cooed and followed behind him. Tajima sniffed and took a deep breath; he wouldn't let her see his fear. He'd never let her.

When they went past the guards, a few heavily locked metal doors and through chakra enhanced passwords he found himself in the weaponry storage. The pink haired banshee's green eyes grew bigger with anticipation and she looked around for a bit. Then she found a sword on a counter, a sleek and short old sword. Tajima watched her, waiting. The sword she was studying had been in his shop for years, since it was so old none wanted to buy it. It was so withered, yet it had been polished and balms had been carefully inserted into the sword. A few shinobi a hundred years ago had put a little amount of chakra into it; too keep it from rusting and falling apart. Almost none even knew what it was as well, except for him. It was a nihonto from a thousand years ago - he had learned this fact from the ancient swordsman who had sold it to him.

"Oh! Such a cute wakizashi." The pinkette looked lovingly at the sword. She was correct.

Tajima's eyes widened and tried to grasp the fact that she knew what a thousands of years old sword was called. She must be knowledgeable, he mused with a frown. But how?

"How do you know, Cherry? It's thousands of years old. You shouldn't know what it was once called." He commented, watching her reaction warily.

"Oh, is it? I didn't know. I once wielded a wakizashi. It's really convenient to hide in your boot." She cheered and put it back. Tajima frowned again and wondered where else in the world she had gotten her hands on a wakizashi, since they were long gone because of a law against wakizashi a few hundred years ago. They had been banned and destroyed because of the fear for annihilation of the Daimyos; except for this one.

The pink haired banshee seemed to remember why she was there and gave him a quite long paper note with a smirk. He accepted it and started reading.

"This is my shopping list. I need everything to be ready by noon tomorrow." She said and patted his back gently.

Tajima's breath came in short gasps. What-

"W-what are you going to do? This list is... Are you planning on the obliteration of a whole fucking country?" He sputtered.

"Perhaps. Who knows? You know I can't tell you, Tajima honey. Classified and stuff."

"B-but... The sheer amount of paper bombs, heavy explosives, swords, kunais, shields, senbon and a... a sledge hammer? And two battle axes?" Tajima read loudly and whimpered, wrinkling the paper in his hands. She was going to start a war or something and he would be her accomplice in it. He gave a small cry of indignation and waved with his hand helplessly.

"Are you serious, Cherry? You can't start a war on your own. You can't." He wailed and thumped his head against the counter, again and again.
"A war? Who said I was going to start one?" She grinned and ruffled her long pink hair. Tajima stopped banging his head against the counter since it started to hurt and he looked up at the white eyed devil woman. Her emerald eyes glinted like diamonds in the dim light of the weaponry storage. Lucky for him, they weren't white at the moment. But they were dangerously pale.

"I expect the items to be ready by tomorrow. Do not disappoint me, Tajima-san." Her eyes gleamed and her voice was filled to the brink of ice cold hardness. Tajima couldn't say anything, he couldn't move. The woman started to make her way out of the shop with a waving hand in a farewell and he heard her say 'bye-bye', not looking back. Tajima scrambled after her and when he got out of the women's underwear shop and out on the street, he saw her in a not so far distance. And what he saw made his mouth hang open in a highly unattractive way.

She had summoned a ridiculously big animal. And in a moment, Tajima wondered if they were under attack. But he saw nothing. Who summoned a huge animal just to... talk? And she was conversing with the largest tortoise Tajima had ever seen. It was black in its withered strong skin and hard shell, all he saw was the moving back of it, but he could see the old dried blood stains flecking the black shell in patterns. He knew what animal summoning it was and he fell to his knees on the sandy soil of the street in fear and resignation. Why was he even surprised anymore?

That Haruno Sakura had gained the animal summoning Genbu, the Fourth King of the North. The one of the most powerful heavenly animals; since Genbu had been a God once. He had been called the Dark Warrior and was known for his warfare, blood thirst and proficiency with handling as well as dealing death.

And in a moment of slight insanity, Tajima thought they made the perfect pair. They maybe even matched each others blood lust, the pink haired woman and the black tortoise of war. He heard the Haruno giggle beautifully at something the large turtle had said as they walked besides each other, and her quick response apparently made the Fourth King Genbu laugh. The turtle's rumbling laugh created vibrations on the ground akin to a light earthquake and Tajima wobbled on his knees.

The merchant stood up and scampered off inside to the safety of his shop. He needed to get going right away; the amount of weapons and the specially ordered sledge hammer and two battle axes would take some time to get his hands on and he would need to call on a few favours. But he would. Because no fate for him would be worse than that of a 'disappointed' pink haired banshee.

The next day he had gathered everything but he was exhausted. He hadn't slept a wink through the entire night and had worked on getting everything in place. The explosives were safely sealed in scrolls and the sledge hammer had just arrived. At noon, a knock was heard on the door to his large office, as he sat gulping his fifteenth cup of coffee behind his office desk. He called for her to come in, and she opened the door and bounced inside, pink hair swirling behind her. The excitement in her eyes were hard to miss.

"Tajima-san! Such a beautiful day today. A perfect day for the trade of swords." She chirped and settled in a chair in front of Tajima's desk. Tajima gulped again and gave her the note of the payment. The pink haired kunoichi glanced at the sum of money and produced a large bag and threw it on the desk. The bag opened itself by the sheer force and spilled golden coins on the table. It was by far enough to cover the expenses of her requested weapons. By far.

"You and I both know that is too much, Cherry." He mumbled as he stared at the golden coins on his desk, glinting in the sunlight from the window.

"You've been very hospitable, so I wanted to give you my thanks. You didn't even wet your pants when you saw Izanami this time!" She cheered, and he gave her a sour look.

"Please don't bring that up again." He coughed and was reminded of his gift.

"We're celebrating our trade companionship anniversary today, Cherry. So I have an anniversary gift for you." Tajima said as he slowly went up to his drawer and started searching. He heard a little delighted gasp from behind him.

"How lovely!" The Haruno chirped and clapped her hands. In a flash, she stood besides him, peeking over his shoulder. He jerked back. Unpredictable banshee, he thought grumpily. Then he found it.

"Here. Yesterday, I saw that you have succeeded in the animal summoning of the black tortoise Genbu, the Dark Warrior. So, since you were able to summon him, this might bring you some more delight." Tajima offered the ancient, withered scroll to her expecting hands. None could summon the animal inside the scroll. Most who had tried had died in flames, so none wanted anything to do with it. No matter how hard he had tried to sell it.

Tajima, somehow, knew she would probably be able to summon the heavenly animal. Or if not, she'd die in flames and the problem of a pink haired banshee would be solved. It was just a gut feeling really, that she'd be able to summon it, but he wanted her on his side. If he gave her something of her interest she might not kill him. Even... protect him if needed, perhaps. He hoped.

"A bird? Oh, how interesting!" Sakura gladly accepted the scroll and studied it with piercing green eyes.

"Now, we have finished celebrating. Let's go get some containment scrolls and seal all of this fucking war arsenal." Tajima sniffed and walked elegantly to the storage room, with the pink haired banshee following him.

When they were done, Tajima went to see her off. The streets were quite vacant of people and Tajima was reminded that there was a festival at the center of the town. When the Haruno picked up her backpack, which was full of scrolls, she cracked her joints and drew forth a map. Looking at it for a few seconds, she put it back into her pocket.

"Tajima-san. Thank you for the scroll. I will further study it and summon the birdie later. And here's my anniversary gift, by the way. It was the best I could think of, short notice and all." She reached out her hand and gave him a piece of paper she had produced from her pocket. Tajima took it, read the written words and his eyes bulged, then he smiled and looked up at her. But she was already gone, in the whirl of the wind.

The piece of paper told him that she owed him one favour. Be that as it may as an escort, protection, information gathering or assassination. She would do anything. She might be a pink haired banshee, he thought, but she was also a just girl who didn't like to owe anyone anything. And this time, it proved to be of his advantage. He knew giving the scroll was a good idea.

Tajima then went back to his sleeping quarters and slept for a whole day. This time, he had no nightmares.

The Martyr Uchiha Itachi

The freezing winds and the snow covered grounds did not appeal to him at all. It was a hassle, not that he had a problem sprinting on the snow with chakra enhanced feet to make it solid, but all the same. Snow was annoying. His cloak got caught in the wind and rippled like ocean waves, blurring the image of the red clouds on the black fabric.

"Oi. Itachi, wait." Hoshigaki Kisame called from behind. Itachi turned around with little interest and heard it before he saw what his partner looked at. In an alley of the castle like mansion of the Snow Daimyo, a little girl was battling several guards with one single katana; the clash of swords made the music of death ring in the snow muffled silence. With Itachi's ever seeing eyes he saw dark chakra swirl around the sword, as if it was alive. Itachi was not surprised to see a cursed sword, since Kisame wielded something akin to the one the girl held.

What caught is eyes was the flamboyant hair colour the girl had and her exotic green eyes. She donned a black coat, similar to the one he himself wore, but without the intricate pattern of clouds at the hem. The pink haired girl swirled, evaded, attempted a strike and was successful, then graciously backed away like a feline. The battle was quite elegant, he noted. The girl severed heads after heads, unwavering, swift in her movements. She had some talent, that little one. And strength in those slender arms. The guards roared, pained and furious, and rushed at her all at once. She was agile, so she easily evaded their mindless attacks. At last, she was the only one standing in the alley.

Heads rolled on the ice clad and bloodied ground and the girl huffed in exasperation, then it seemed she counted the bodies with her eyes. As if she was disappointed. Itachi observed for a bit and noticed a quite strong chakra presence sneak up behind the girl. He looked on as the Captain bodyguard of the Snow Daimyo struck at the girl with a huge Nodachi sword. It was a very large taichi and was excessively longer than 150 cm.

It turned into a dance of swords.

The girl was fast enough to meet his blade with her own, but she was forced back a few meters by the sheer force of the bodyguard's sword. In a blur he was fast to counter her next attack which should have cut off his arm. Itachi saw Kisame's murderous killing intent rise, but with a glance Kisame lowered it down to a minimum. The shark man always listened to his expressions, even when he was on the verge.

"Will you dance with me?" Itachi saw the girl mouth these words in a leer, as if she was living for this moment. The Uchiha wondered if she was high on soldier pills.

The petite girl darted forward and kicked off the snowy ground, pirouetting in mid air as she slashed horizontally at her opponent. A thud was heard as the man's head lolled to a stop at his body's feet which then crumpled down in the rain of blood from the severed neck. The Nodachi sword fell to the ground, abandoned.

"That was a short tango." The girl seemed miffed as she regarded the body and then silently bowed her head, as if thanking the still bodies for the fight. As if thanking them for giving their lives to her, as she mumbled a number again. This time he saw that she mouthed 'one hundred and three'. The Uchiha traitor understood what she counted. Endlessly, this hatred, these deaths, what is it worth?, he mused.

Itachi was no longer interested and nodded to the Monster of the Mist who seemed to have his shark-like eyes glued to the girl. And most of all, his eyes followed the katana.

"That girl; I remember her. That's Izanami, right there. She's grown up more than I expected." Kisame's face grimaced into a toothy bloodthirsty grin as he followed after Itachi. Itachi didn't ask. He had no interest in the girl nor the sword, but something nagged in the back of his mind. As if he had seen the same flash of pink somewhere before, years ago.

The Man Without a Name

He disliked the colour of her hair. It was distracting and too out of place. It was the colour of a blush, the colour of cherry blossom flowers. It was a colour he never would have thought a human could possibly grow before he had met her. It was most of all unfitting for a shinobi since most of the time shinobi are supposed to be invisible and not call for attention. Her hair always made people look at her twice.

She was so attention catching in a crowd that anyone could spot her directly, even without trained eyes. It was definitely an unfitting hair colour and he disliked it. That was the logical explanation he found in his head when he noticed that he couldn't stop looking at her. She sat in front of him, waiting for Danzō to call her inside his office for and update and probably her Root guise which she were supposed to use inside Root. The nameless man had been waiting as well in the Root underground headquarters for further instructions.

The kunoichi had recently come back from her first S-class mission and had earned recognition in the grey parts of shinobi society. They called her 'Cherry' in the Bingo Books, because none knew her name. He realised even he didn't know it, since he had never asked her before. She had succeeded in killing the Snow Daimyo, a request from an anonymous powerful nation to Konohagakure village, and she had destroyed the Snow castle to smithereens. Nothing was left of it, apparently. Only bodies. The body count was humongous, since the Snow Daimyo had a lot of money to hire protection from mercenaries and missing nin. And she had killed them all, left none to breath.

Now, she was on the list of possible ANBU recruits the Hokage had. The man without a name had been ordered to spy on the progression of Danzō's plan for the pink haired girl and it seemed to have gone smoothly. The Godaime would probably appoint the girl ANBU within the week.

"Oh, it's you!" Suddenly, a clear voice rang in his ears. He looked up to see her staring at him. His lips twitched and stretched. He had read about smiles, and smiles made other people feel welcome and appreciated. But did she actually recognise him? He had worn a mask that day. Maybe she was actually able to see it in his body language?

"Yes?"

"You're that one, from that day in the trial ceremony room. You... " She trailed off, remembering they had been ordered to not help her in any medical way. Ears were always listening somewhere in the Root headquarters. "Thank you. What's your name?"
"I have no name." He answered politely, bowing his head slightly with a 'smile' on his lips.

The girl looked baffled for a few moments, then it seemed she was reminded of Root's codex. No name, no emotions; only the mission exists.

"I'm Haruno Sakura. Nice to meet you. For a second time." She grinned and he noticed that her grin was slightly different from his own. He wondered what it was.

"Can I give you a name?" She asked happily, as if naming a pet. The man without a name only stretched the muscles around his mouth into a 'smile', but before he could answer her a voice seared through the humid air of the underground quarters.

"Haruno!" Danzō's dark voice was heard from inside the office. The girl's smile vanished and was replaced by a stern line, her green eyes shot emerald daggers. Such a swift change of expression, he though. It almost fascinated him. She stood and went inside, leaving him on his chair with her name on his mind.

Author's Note

Hiya! A little rant, but if you like my story, please read.

Finally, the two loveable idiots made an appearance huh! I found that I have a huge problem writing from their perspectives. A. Huge. Problem. Because whatever I write, it just feels so cliché. Like it's already been written so, so many times. A cheerful but knowing Naruto, the brooding little manpain Sasuke. I don't find it interesting even, to write from their perspectives. Maybe I've just been into so many Sakura-centric fanfics I've kind of forgotten about those two. But I want to write from their perspectives. I just can't- AH. I need a Beta Reader. Like, so much. It sucks to do to Beta-less stories. My grammar is chaotic, character development sucks, environmental descriptions are non-existent and I might have missed so many plot holes I feel like turning my bed into an igloo and never coming out.

Either way, I update the chapters regularly. Due to reviews, my little lovely reviewers I love you furrever and everrr, I take note of weird stuff that I have written and change it. So I'm sorry, sometimes it's a good idea to reread the story. Like, Sakura's katana is called Izanami. And I erased the fluff between Neji and Sakura in chapter 5 because it was just so uncalled for (Thank you, UchihaJennifer, for pointing it out!). I decided then that if there's going to be some lemony-ish stuff later in the story, there is going to be a well developed tale behind it.

And, just please, tell me if Sakura is starting to get on your nerves. I hope she does. She's in the middle of transitioning so she hasn't found herself yet, so it might seem like she has PMS or something due to her mood swings and change of personality. But I promise, soon she will find herself. All in due time.

And I love reviews. Can never say it enough. Reviews helps me as an author and every review is an important aspect of my improvements. I appreciate all kinds of reviews, even those who point out the bad stuff. Cause I need someone to point out the bad stuff.

Love you guys!

xx fascalia