"Sakura-chan! Have you and Shikamaru-kun come to join my most youthful team in our daily training?"
Sakura felt Shikamaru freeze where he was walking beside her and tried to bite back a grin. She was tempted to say yes to Gai, just to see what her lazy friend would do. She needed something to cheer her up after the disaster of a meeting she had with Jiraiya last week, where he had found out about her seals and one of her favorite hideouts and now Zetsu might just show up to eat her in the middle of the night.
She shuddered and put the thought out of her mind. She couldn't change what had happened, so it was best not to dwell on it.
"Sorry, Gai-sensei, I'm just-"
"Sakura-san! You look beautiful today!" Lee had rushed up to them in a handstand, grinning at her blindingly.
Shikamaru frowned.
He never changes. "Thank you, Lee. How is your training going? Have you beaten your sourpuss teammate yet?" Sakura could feel Neji's glare on her back and heard Tenten giggle while she skewered yet another dummy.
"Neji is a most worthy rival, Sakura-san. But if I do not defeat him today, I will run five hundred laps around Konoha!" He flipped smoothly back onto his feet and looked at Shikamaru for the first time. "Ah! Are you my rival in love?"
Shikamaru's eyes widened and he darted a look at her for a quick moment before intelligently answering, "Uh, what?"
Lee pointed at the other boy with a dramatic flourish. "Are you Sakura-san's boyfriend? I will fight you for the honor of her hand!"
Oh my god. Sakura was torn between being horrified and amused, with the horror edging into first place as Shikamaru actually seemed as if like he was contemplating Lee's challenge. She waved her hands at both of them and hissed, "Don't be ridiculous, Lee!"
He only gave her a thumbs up and a brilliant smile, looking eerily like Gai. "Never fear, my beautiful blossom, I will prevail!"
She sighed heavily and muttered, "That was not at all what I was worried about."
Shikamaru nudged her petulantly. "You don't think I can take him?"
Sakura threw up her hands in defeat. "You know what? Do what you want, you lunatics!" She was done playing nursemaid to the feelings of preteen boys for the day. Sakura whipped around and called out to the person she had originally planned on seeing before she had run into Shikamaru on the way there. "Tenten! Let's ditch these guys before I murder every single one of them."
The girl laughed and gathered up her weapons while Neji scowled indignantly at the very idea that she could possibly kill him. "All right, all right. We're just about done here anyway right, Gai-sensei?"
The man was blubbering behind her, eyes sparkling with happiness. "Oh Tenten, it makes my heart so happy to see how close you are with Sakura-chan! Konoha is strong with the power of love and friendship!"
Tenten edged away from him, waving her hand through his genjutsu rainbows like she was swatting flies. "Right, well, I'm going now." She waved to Neji who barely deigned to acknowledge it and jogged over to where Sakura was blatantly ignoring both Shikamaru and Lee's antics. Tenten took in the scene with amusement and bumped shoulders with her friend, pointing to a man who was sauntering toward the training ground. "Who's that?"
To Sakura's absolute mortification, Shikaku had come looking for Gai, but he seemed to be slightly more interested in eavesdropping on the conversation his son was having.
"Sakura doesn't need someone to fight for her. She's capable of doing more damage than either of us." Shikamaru's slouch was nearly aggressive.
"While true, only the strongest of shinobi is worthy of being her heart's desire!"
"You barely even know her!"
Lee was indignant at the implication. "To meet Sakura-san is to know the true power of love at first sight! I will not be defeated by a long standing association!"
"Association? We're good friends, not a corporation."
Sakura latched onto Tenten like she was a lifeline and dragged her away to a much further training ground. "I have a present for you! That was the whole reason I even showed up. I was not anticipating any of that." She wrinkled her nose. Shikaku was going to be even more ridiculous now.
Tenten sighed. "Lee will be unbearable tomorrow and it will make Neji even worse. Gai-sensei will just encourage it." She tilted her head in thought. "Come to think of it, they're like that every day, so I guess I can't blame you for it."
"Gee, thanks," Sakura said dryly, unraveling a generic sealing scroll that she had purchased on Team 7's last C-Rank mission. She tried not to show the true extent of her fuinjutsu skills to anyone. It was bad enough Anko and Kakashi were aware of her protection seal on the door. She just hoped that if Jiraiya ever got wind of it, he would still never connect the buxom and well-traveled adult Misaki-chan to the precocious eleven year old Sakura. She was lucky he hadn't come around to introduce himself as Naruto's godfather yet, though she was sure it was only a matter of time.
Tenten looked at the scroll with interest, but continued to poke at Sakura. "Neji is really gung-ho about defeating you, Sakura. He's nearly as bad about it as Lee is about him."
Considering how powerful she knew Neji would grow up to be, Sakura found it hard to believe he would think her a worthy opponent, especially when his fatalism was all mixed up with in a competition with a girl who wouldn't fight him. "I have no idea what to do with that information."
The other girl shrugged. "Just figured you should be aware of a crazed Hyuuga who may or may not be stalking you in the near future to look for weaknesses."
"Great, just what I need." Sakura sighed in resignation and then bit her thumb to spread blood on the seal, pulling out a two-handed golden battle axe.
Tenten's eyes were wide as she took in the weapon and asked breathlessly, "Sakura! Where did you get that?"
Sakura grinned at her. "On our last C-Rank, we ran into a gang who had the misfortune of splattering mud on Kakashi-sensei's newest copy of Icha Icha. While he was educating them on the importance of great literature, I saw that one of them had this and thought of you. So I, ah, liberated it."
Tenten ran her hand reverently down the handle. "You have the weirdest mission stories, Sakura. It's beautiful." She tried to lift it, but struggled. "And heavy, damn!"
Sakura shrugged. "You'll learn how to use it and use it well. I have faith in you."
Tenten carefully placed the axe back on the scroll and then threw herself at Sakura, hugging her tightly. "Thank you! No one's ever given me such a nice present before!" Sakura was startled, but accepted the affection happily.
Sakura had never been that close to Tenten in her time before the girl had manage to fall foul of another weapons master who used poison blades on a solo mission. She had cut off a portion of her own leg to minimize the decay and dragged herself back to Konoha, only to be forcibly retired by Danzo. The man had no use for what he considered to be broken tools and Tenten had faded into the civilian sector with haunted eyes.
She patted the girl on the back and then held her at arms length. "You need to get used to this heavy thing so you can scare the crap out of everyone just by summoning it. I'll help you train."
Tenten's grin was just on the edge of feral. "Let's do this."
Sakura sat in her sunroom later that evening after a long afternoon of sparring with an excitable Tenten. Her friend had taken to the heavy axe with an enthusiasm that would make Gai weep with joy and they practiced until Tenten could no longer lift her arms, let alone the weapon. Sakura knew her friend would regret the excess tomorrow during her team training, but she wasn't going to discourage such blatant happiness.
She stared out the window blankly through the curtain of her long hair and pondered her new future. How long would she have to play this game? She had been on edge one way or another for over four years and it was wearing on her. Her mistake with Jiraiya should have never happened.
Maybe I should tell someone.
She hugged her knees. It wasn't the first time she had considered the idea, but all her reasons not to do so hadn't changed. Sakura was in no hurry to be forced through a Yamanaka interrogation. While it would bring an end to this secretive portion of her stressful burden, it would do so by placing another worry on her shoulders. She did not trust that the information wouldn't find its way to Danzo. He had fingers in too many pies.
I wonder if Itachi is okay …
Sakura huffed. She actually trusted an S-Class missing-nin more the Council of her beloved village and if that didn't say something about the state of their government, she didn't know what did. Tsunade's ascension had certainly caused waves, but she was heavily embroiled in picking apart their medical corps and was not likely to pay too much attention to covert political disputes had started before she was even born.
"Sakura-chan?"
She startled, having been so lost in thought that she hadn't heard Naruto, of all people, sneak up on her.
Some kunoichi I am, she though wryly. Good thing that seal is there or I'd be murdered in my own house.
She didn't turn to look at him, just continued staring at her overgrown backyard. "What's up, Naruto? I thought you boys went to bed?"
He rubbed his eyes sleepily. "Yeah, I just wanted to grab a drink of water and saw you in here when I walked by. Are you okay?"
She smiled at him. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"
He shrugged, looking away from her face. "Dunno, you just seemed pretty … far away the past few days."
Sakura just hugged her knees tighter. "I just have a lot on my mind. You should go back to bed."
He hesitated. "Do you want to talk about it? You always manage to make us talk about our problems." He crossed his arms and pouted at her.
She snorted a laugh and rolled off the futon to stand. "I'm just gearing up for my future career as Ibiki-san's replacement, obviously." She pulled Naruto into a tight hug, surprising a squeak out of him before he wrapped his arms around her in return. "I'll be fine. Thank you for worrying about me, Naruto."
His reply was muffled in her hair. "You're my best friend, Sakura-chan. There's no way I'm not gonna worry about you when you're so sad all the time."
She held him for another long moment before gently pushing him away. "Go to bed, Naruto. I'll be on my way up soon."
He nodded, trying to be understanding of her mercurial mood. "Good night, Sakura-chan."
She smiled him out the doorway and then felt her mood sink once again. I need to get out of this house.
Sakura quickly tied her hair up and grabbed her gear before slipping out her front door quietly. She made her way past Kotetsu and Izumo, who had drawn the short straw for gate duty night shifts for the past month. They nodded in greeting and Kotetsu gave her a small smile. Sakura had established a history of insomnia that she used as an excuse to get past Konoha's walls, claiming meditation in the forest was helpful. A small lie, as nothing actually helped her insomnia, but it gave her plenty of leeway to speak with her summons when necessary.
She spent several minutes laying false trails through the forest before she hiraishined herself to a seal in a cave she had found on the eastern side of Fire Country, near the Haran Bay. She had stumbled upon it directly after the disaster of a mission in Esashi with an entire okiya full of assassin geisha.
Sakura cautiously felt around for chakra signals, but felt nothing, so she walked to the entrance of the cave and sat down with a sigh of relief. She was about to unwrap the tattoo on her wrist to summon Keiji when Itachi stepped into view.
She stared at him with wide eyes, completely frozen. In his own way, he looked equally surprised to see her, though it was only shown by his lack of movement and a partial twitch of his eyebrow.
"Sakura-san."
"Itachi-san."
That's one more hideout I have to get rid of, she thought hysterically.
They stayed where they were for several long, tense minutes while Sakura desperately prayed that Kisame was not around. While Itachi's loyalties were skewed toward keeping her alive for Sasuke's sake, she knew he had a cover to protect. Kisame would not find her presence here to be coincidental. He would kill her and Itachi could not intervene.
She had to say something to break the awful silence, so she might as well ask about her biggest concern. "Is Kisame-san with you?"
"No." He was studying her carefully and she did her best to look him over while not meeting his eyes. Itachi had not had his Sharingan activated the last time, but it didn't mean she would trust that to be true now.
Well, if he found Orochimaru, he came out of that fight pretty well. Not even a hair out of place, in the middle of the woods.
Irrationally, Sakura felt annoyed at his incredible poise when she couldn't even manage a half-way decent job at fooling a couple of eleven year old boys that she was just fine. "Well, that's probably for the best. I get the feeling he would have been … even more excessive this time around."
"Indeed." She saw his mouth move upward the tiniest bit and allowed herself to feel slightly more positive about her situation.
It's like he doesn't know how to use his own facial expressions.
"I see your meeting with your old friend went … well? I noticed that I haven't see Kabuto around lately."
Itachi coughed politely. "Sadly, my friend is now deceased."
She froze again, not quite believing what she heard. "Are you sure?"
He actually looked vaguely amused this time. "Quite sure, Sakura-san. I have some experience with this sort of thing."
Sasuke is free. She had a grin on her face and she couldn't stop it from growing. He's safer now than he ever was the first time around. "At the risk of sounding rude, I'm relieved to hear that."
Itachi was definitely amused now and Sakura was starting to think she'd live through this meeting without nightmares. "Somehow I find myself unsurprised."
Sakura shrugged, not willing to apologize for her relief at another's death. Especially not Orochimaru's death.
Itachi took a step toward her and she tensed. He noticed and just gave her a mild look. "Sakura-san, I'm not going to hurt you."
She just smiled weakly. "I just have an appreciable respect for your skills, Itachi-san. They are considerable."
"I see." He didn't make another move toward her. "Why are you here? I do not sense my brother or your sensei in the area."
Well, shit. Should I lie or tell a half-truth? Sakura wondered how he got his information on Akatsuki back to Konoha. She didn't think it was through Jiraiya, considering how little information he had on their movements or how shocked he was about Orochimaru. Was he able to send anything at all, being so consistently paired with Kisame?
She had been silent for too long, she knew. "What if …" she blew out a breath, wondering if she was about to blow her whole mission. "What if I told you that I know about the Uchiha coup?"
Suddenly, Sakura felt a kunai at her neck. She hadn't even heard him move. "I would suggest you think carefully about your next words, Sakura-san, no matter your relationship with my little brother."
Through her panic, Sakura thought, He didn't go to immediate genjutsu, point for me.
Doing her best to stay still as to not slit her own throat she said, "Through a variety of circumstances that I am not at liberty to discuss, I have come into knowledge of your status. I would like to extend an offer to you as a handler."
The pressure of the kunai didn't lessen and Itachi's voice was smooth and quiet. "What exactly do you know, Sakura-san?"
Better just go for the whole thing. If he kills me now, at least Sasuke is safe. He'll be able to help Kakashi keep Naruto alive.
With these thoughts in mind, she recited the barest summary of the information she had been able to cobble together during her decade of serving as Danzo's glorified secretary. "The Uchiha were under suspicion after the Kyuubi attack on Konoha, which bred mistrust and dissention among the clan. The council elders and the Saindaime were aware of the budding coup, but negotiations broke down time and time again. Danzo made the claim that the only way to avoid civil war was a wholesale slaughter of the entire clan." Sakura did her best to keep her voice level. After acquiring the intel and having the time to mull everything over, she could no longer find it in her heart to blame him for what had happened, despite the pain it caused Sasuke.
Through her recitation, he had been silent, almost as if he had forgotten to breathe. She continued. "He essentially ordered it done. You now have a secondary mission to keep an eye on the Akatsuki."
"How did you come by this information?" He had stepped away, the kunai no longer at her neck. Sakura was under no illusions that she was any safer than before.
She closed her eyes. "I don't suppose you would believe that I'm from the future?"
"You would suppose correctly."
Well, so much for telling the truth. "I was truthful when I said Danzo had not approached us. I did not say that I wasn't investigating him myself."
Itachi's iron control over his body language meant she had no idea how he took this information and Sakura wasn't likely to risk looking at his face. His continued silence prompted her to elaborate. "I put the pieces together. It took some time." She swallowed heavily. "You know who my other teammate is. I have a vested interest in keeping apprised of Akatsuki's movements."
"You are not a normal eleven year old."
She snorted. "Neither were you, Itachi-san. See the messes we got ourselves into?"
One day this flippancy is going to get me killed.
Thankfully, he did not seem to take offense. "Too true. How would you get any information back to Konoha?"
Is he considering it? I'm not dead yet, so there's a positive.
"I have a … contact who is a trusted go-between to the Hokage, who is unaware of my true identity. I am a nameless asset."
She could see that his mouth had turned down fractionally. "You are already looking into the Akatsuki." It wasn't a question.
Sakura could only shrug. She wasn't going to lie to him if she didn't have to. Itachi had so few people to trust and if she wanted to get help and be helpful in return, she would have to show herself worthy of that. "I mentioned the last time we encountered one another that I was speaking to my summons. They help with monitoring."
Itachi's voice was oddly fierce when he said, "And your team knows nothing of your activities? Not even Hatake?"
She shook her head. "I would never involve them. I told you I would keep Sasuke safe, Itachi-san. That is my entire goal, with all of them. Even Kakashi-sensei."
After a nerve-wracking moment he sighed, a weary and uncharacteristic sound. "You make it sound so easy, Sakura-san."
"Compared to what you do, I do have it easy." She could see that now. All her self-pity earlier had vanished. So what if she didn't fool the boys with her acting? She would just have to get better. Their lives depended on it and Itachi's would too, if he agreed. Sakura didn't have time for self-recrimination, not when Konoha was slipping further onto the path of destruction.
His voice was dry. "What I do. What I did."
Sakura found herself unexpectedly angry. "Konoha was wrong to use you that way! To ask you such things … it's beyond my comprehension."
"There was no other way for it to end."
Sakura hissed in annoyance, nearly forgetting where she was. Forcefully, she put her emotions in check and took a calming breath. "What's done is done. Would you trust me with this task?"
Instead of answering, he said, "Who is your contact?"
She saw no issue telling him the truth here either. "Jiraiya."
Sounding almost thoughtful, Itachi said, "Is he aware of … everything as well?"
"If he does know, it was not through me. You are the only one I have told." She gave him an awkward smile that felt more like a grimace. "And it wasn't news to you."
"How would this work?"
Considering she had not put any thought into the concept until she had seen Itachi standing in front of her, Sakura was somewhat at a loss. "Well, I give Jiraiya reports through my most inconspicuous summon whenever there's need."
"That would not work. Kisame is with me too often." He sighed again, this time the noise sounding strangely thick. Was he getting sick? Sakura couldn't imagine Itachi being anything less than perfectly level, perfectly healthy.
That's not fair. He's human too, Sakura. Don't forget that.
"Where is he now, anyway?"
She saw a small smile curl at the corner of his mouth. "My partner is enjoying the finest sake the nearest seven bars can offer."
Sakura thought of the trouble she had in Esashi, "Well, that's one way to get rid of him." She suddenly had a terrible idea. "I am a fair hand with fuinjutsu. Would you consent to a tattoo?"
"With good reason, perhaps."
"After far longer than I would like to admit, I've puzzled out the Nidaime's technique. It's how I got here," she waved her hand to the cave, "without my team."
She could tell he was looking at her with interest now, though she still stubbornly refused to look him in the eyes. "You are the one who placed the seal in the cave. That is the reason I came back here without Kisame." Sakura flinched, realizing she would have to be much more circumspect with her placements in the future. "I see. You'd like to have one on me."
Sakura winced at his flat tone. "I can play with the arrays for it to allow you to pulse chakra through the seal. It would allow you to contact me rather than waiting around for my summons. I can't promise that I will instantaneously respond, though."
He seemed like he was thinking about it. "It would make things more expedient." Itachi crouched in front of her. "Sakura-san, please look at me. It gets tiresome to speak to someone who will not meet your eyes."
She twitched slightly and screwed up her courage to see his dark eyes looking at her intently. "Like I said, appreciable respect." Sakura listened to him breathe for a moment and said, "Itachi-san, your lungs sound horrific."
She could see his eyes shutter. "Recently I have not had time to take medication for them. Now that my schedule is cleared, it will resume."
She had already gone into her medic headspace. "May I?" Before he could answer, she placed glowing green hands on his chest, her chakra leaking through the thick Akatsuki cloak he wore. His hands encircled her wrists immediately in alarm, but she was paying more attention to what her diagnostic scan was telling her and her eyes widened. "Itachi-san, how are you still standing? This is not just a mere cold."
"I am aware."
Sakura looked at him warily. "Will you let me heal you? As you can see, I have medical training."
He gave her an unreadable glance. "Some other time, perhaps."
She frowned. "My social calendar is free, Itachi-san. It's better to do something now."
"I must return to Kisame soon. It would not do to make him suspicious when we have just come to an accord. He is more intelligent than he appears." Sakura thought of the tales Lee had told her of the man. She wasn't likely to underestimate anyone these days, least all someone with such monstrous skills and tools.
"Still." With her hands still on his chest, she coaxed her way into his chakra pathways, healing as much damage as she possible before Itachi could tug her away. Sakura could feel his posture relax minutely when she fixed his cracked ribs, something that come from coughing and not brute trauma.
And he still managed to kill Orochimaru in this condition.
When he gently pushed her away, she allowed it and opened her eyes. "That was just a treatment for the symptoms, Itachi-san, not the cause."
"It was enough, for now. You need to return to Konoha."
She bit her lip and nodded, hating to leave any patient in such a half-healed state, but understanding it was for the best. Hurriedly, she unsealed her storage scroll and took out one of her precious hiraishin seals painted on a bit of paper. "Here. The next time you can, contact me and we can talk more about that tattoo." She held up her uncovered wrist. "I do have experience with that, you know."
Itachi nodded gravely. "Of course. You're a singularly talented girl, Sakura-san."
She grimaced. "It might be best if I come to you in the same guise I use as Jiraiya's asset, if only to avoid suspicion that I've been seen out of the village." She assumed the henge form. "This is Misaki."
He looked her over clinically and nodded. "Exactly his type. You think of everything, Misaki-san."
She crossed her arms and frowned before dispelling the henge. "Now if only he were so polite."
"Until we meet again, Sakura-san." Itachi turned and silently slunk back toward Esashi. She watched him disappear and then flickered back to the forests outside of Konoha, landing on one knee. The use of hiraishin and the healing had fatigued her, but she sped toward the gates with a lighter heart.
Maybe we can do this after all.
note: this story is now likely to follow a more traditional path, as far as the chronological plot goes, but i will go where the muse takes me. did you notice a distinct lack of kabuto? well, perhaps that is on purpose. or maybe i just forgot? ~stay tuned~