Founding Love
Chapter Fourteen
Sakura trailed her hands through her long locks with a deep agitated sigh. Rumors of a young boy stealing hearts was one thing, but hearing rumors of his name being Kakuzu was another. Stress lined her bones and she teetered back and forth. How true were these rumors? Even so, how old was Kakuzu then back in her time?
The information from her encounters of the man were limited to what she had read in the Bingo Book, her brief run in with the nin, and she didn't listen to the detailed excursion Shikamaru had with the Akatsuki member. Even so, Naruto's recount wasn't entirely resourceful with his boasting. What she did know though was that he was deadly and a formidable foe, one that had killed and despised Konoha.
Her anxious mind raced over the fact that Kakuzu wasn't necessarily the same man she had known about before. He very well was in the process of becoming him though based on the rumors.
But why was he this far from his village? Better yet, did he come from a village yet?
Sakura spent weeks tracking down tidbits of information- young, tan skinned boy with auburn eyes and black hair. She supposed he hadn't had his mouth or body stitched yet as none of the resident farmers and fishermen didn't seem to recall that, but that information couldn't be validated.
Grinding her teeth, she flicked a few coins to the fisherman and grabbed her belongings before departing the small row boat. Tossing her bag over her shoulder, she palmed her kimono to check for all her secured weapons.
After several small tasks for the surrounding towns, she had come into a coveted relationship with a small blacksmith. He had never produced kunai or shuriken before and he was hesitant to do so, but after bartering with him immensely he backed down from his prejudices enough to deal with her. She smiled triumphantly.
Apparently clans had their own weapon smiths and any blacksmiths outlined were either too frightened to deal with ninja or were already in partnerships with Daimyo's. Finding one on his own had been quite difficult.
Sakura waved the fisherman off and trudged from the dock onto the dirt pathway. The pinkette had traveled North in the Land of Fire and vaguely wisped to where she remembered the border of the Village Hidden by the Waterfall was. Or would be. She frowned.
"Sure, should be." She muttered angrily.
Scratching the back of her head, she sighed and stretched her back. The rumors were extremely vague and her assumption was that he would be floating near this vicinity. A rough bump from behind had her spinning around.
"Hey! Watch it!" She barked in a huff.
Looking down she spied a young boy with dark hair. He responded with a huff and flicked his hair from his green eyes. He made a disgruntled noise in his throat before sliding around her.
"You should be careful to watch where you're going, hag." The boy responded, continuing to stammer away from her with an impromptu gait.
"Hag?!" Sakura sputtered, whipping around to keep him in her line of sight. Raising her fist, she shook it at his backside. "Why you-"
A glint in the light had her pausing.
The boy was spinning a kunai around his index finger, leaning back casually. Hand fumbling to the inner fold of her kimono, she found one kunai in particular missing.
"Hey! Give that back!" She shouted, startling the few nearby fishermen.
The boy froze before glancing at her over his shoulder. He grinned deviously and took off, long spindly legs carrying him away quickly. Darting after the boy, she gave chase. He darted through a small throng of people and she shifted around the group to keep pace with him. Leaning forward, she angled her body to keep up with him even as he zipped towards the tree line.
Grabbing his collar just in time, she pulled him back with a menacing force. The boy grunted at the abrupt impact and she shook his kimono collar tightly.
"Let go or I'll scream!" He jerked, waiving the kunai at her.
"Listen here, you little thief." She jerked him closer to her. "Drop my kunai."
"No!" He growled back.
Cracking her fist, she grabbed his wrist and squeezed it tight enough for him to hiss. The kunai fell into the dirt with a clang, and, as she eased her grip, he screamed. Jumping slightly at the shrill noise, she froze wide eyed. Murmurs behind her had her twisting nervously to glance at the crowd.
"Look at her handling that boy."
"Poor boy looks terrified!"
"What is going on over there?"
Blanching, Sakura swallowed and attempted to ease their concerns. "He stole something from me-"
"Release that boy now!"
"How could you harm an innocent child?!"
Her grip loosened and the cool skin of the child slipped through her fingers. She was distracted enough to partially notice the motion, but when she turned back fully, the boy was running already. With a huff, she moved to pick up the discarded weapon to find it missing.
"Why you little rat!" She screamed.
Kicking the dirt, she shuffled along in pace to happily desert the upset crowd. She was fuming, angrily stomping about before breaking into the tree line to find another path.
"Stupid kid." Sakura murmured.
Shaking her head, she readjusted her kimono and bag on her back to hug it closer to her body. How good of a shinobi am I if I manage to get robbed by a kid of all people, she chewed her lip and sucked on her teeth.
Stopping to release a tight breath, Sakura rubbed her face with a hand. Focus, Sakura, focus. Deciding to simply let go of the incident, she continued to stammer up the path. If her calculations were correct, then about four miles Northwest from here would be a small town.
Scuffing at her luck, she adamantly went about her trek. Kicking at the dirt, she cracked her fingers and counted to herself how many times she would ring that thief's neck if she found him again. If I even see him again.
The trip itself was quiet enough, and by the time she arrived at the small town her anger had long since simmered into an annoyance. Tipping her hair over her shoulder, she approached a weary older man who coyly cocked his finger at her. He looked vaguely like the description she was told a couple towns over.
The older man seemed honest enough, wrinkles splitting his brow and skin fairly colored from working the fields. His weathered hands clutched a piece of parchment tightly, wringing the paper tirelessly.
"Miss, are ya the fabled kunoichi from the Southeast?" The man asked, tired eyes shifting around worriedly, his accent heavier than where she had spent most of her days in this era.
"Depends on who is asking." Sakura murmured, stepping up to him politely. "Are you Kagero-san?"
The man in inquiry nodded sharply. He waved for her to follow him as he turned away from the dirt road and towards the town center where the energy was buzzing with intensity. She sucked on her teeth and discreetly patted down her remaining weapons. You never know, she thought eyeing his hunched backside.
The man entered a small home, sliding open a shiro door and slipping off his worn sandals. Sakura deposited her own, careful not to drag the bottom of her kimono along the ground as she stepped up into the home. Resting her bag near the door, she bowed her head towards the other person in the foyer. A stout woman nodded kindly before exiting at the older man's request. The pair sat at a low table in the center of the room beyond the foyer.
She had been asked to head this way by a neighboring town to locate the source of the organ thief. Her last job stated Kagero was a chief of a civilian town ruled, but overlooked by a Daimyo. The job request had stated hints of an organ thief plaguing the younger samurai in training had come rushing through the small town. This tidbit was the only information specifically relating to Kakuzu's possible whereabouts. Sakura had accepted eagerly.
"Miss, I was made aware you were capable and interested in handling a particular situation harassing our town." The old man's white hair gleamed as he bowed his head towards her. "Please let me confirm this."
Sakura folded her hands in her lap, and bowed low at the waist. "Yes, Kagero-San. I was informed of this organ thief, but I do need some more information."
Kagero sat, settling the parchment before her. As the parchment unfolded Sakura's gut twisted. Inside the parchment were miniature explicit drawings of men in various states of dress and various states of battery. Curling her fingers over the parchment, she drew it closer to her chest to further inspect the drawings.
Seven.
"Seven men, young samurai in training on our grounds, were murdered. Seven different organs were extracted brutally." Kagero's words slipped past quivering lips. "The Daimyo was going to pay a hefty price for these men to be in service to him. Our village will be in ruins if more are murdered."
Sakura felt the knot in her stomach grow. There was no doubt in her mind that this was the works of Kakuzu. According to the disturbing images, the cuts were in precise locations of vital organs. "Where were they found?"
Kagero sighed, chest heaving upwards as he inhaled to speak. "They were found near the dojo."
"And when were they found in relation to when they went missing?" Sakura's brows pinched together.
There was a pause, one long enough to draw her attention up to the speaker. She raised a delicate brow, dropping the parchment onto the low table. "When were they found?"
The elderly man bowed his head. "They were assumed to have been summoned to the Daimyo as letters were found near their bed rolls. Each person had been missing for a week or so at a time."
"How far apart were they assumed to have been summoned?" Sakura pressed, arms settling into her lap.
The man looked sheepish as he tried to piece together the series of murders together. "Perhaps a day or so for each from when a body was found."
"Once a body had been found, another samurai would just miraculously be summoned?" Sakura surmised, studying Kagero's tight face.
Realization dawned on him, his mouth parting and Adam's apple bobbing in his throat. His eyes welled and he choked on his words. "Y-yes, I would suppose so."
Sakura sat in silence as his body shook violently. Shoulders slumped as the elderly woman entered the room with what seemed to be tea. She set the cups on the low table, scurrying to the man's side. His wife, Sakura, deemed with a sad nod of her head.
"Tell me, was your son one of these samurai?" Sakura whispered, an aching heart spilling on her sleeve as she leaned across the table to touch his shoulder gently.
The man broke into a sob and the woman followed suit, angry and heartbroken tears staining their cheeks.
"Seizo, our son, trained endlessly to get the dojo recognized by the Daimyo." The woman hiccuped. "We thought he was summoned when we saw the letter. We assumed he was needed quickly and unable to inform us personally."
Sakura nodded, other hand falling to the woman's shoulders. "And when the body was found?"
The man took a deep breath. "We thought he was killed by a bandit and that the Daimyo summoned another samurai from the dojo in his place."
Sakura sat back, rolling the parchment up. "Do you have the letter still?"
The woman nodded, rubbing her sleeve over her eyes before standing and exiting once again. The man covered his face with his hand, taking long breaths to stabilize himself. The woman brought the letter with shaking hands. Quickly reading through it, Sakura pieced together the story with the new parchment.
"Do you have the other letters?"
"No, the sensei at the dojo does. Saigon, the sensei, will be able to give you more information and he knows to expect you." Kagero whispered, shaking his head. "I will pay whatever price it is needed to rid the world of the vile evil taking these young men."
"I will find him, but do not expect him to come back alive." Determination flooded her and Sakura's shoulders snapped back.
"How much?" The broken man shuddered, hands curling into his kimono around a sack of coins.
"None."
The man froze, limbs weak and painfully dropping the coins on the table. "What say you, kunoichi?"
"I require no payment." Sakura's green gaze darkened as she stood. "Consider his death as payment enough."
Sakura spun away from him, taking the parchments with her as she stormed from the home, their broken cries echoing behind her. Her fist grew tight and she dipped her head in brief mourning as she maneuvered towards the dojo with her pack on her backside.
The dojo complex was easy enough to locate. The facility was impressive with stone walls built around it. There were no gates, but it was guarded. The men seemed unimpressed with her appearance and gruff, but she bid them a 'good afternoon' nonetheless. They sneered openly at her and she was quite tempted to flip them off, despite knowing they wouldn't know the colloquialism.
Shifting around them, she entered a large outdoor training ground where several young men in their early pre-teens to young adults practiced. In her opinion, their stances were too narrow and their elbows too loose, but she bit her tongue in an attempt to make a good show of sportsmanship. Nodding at the approaching men, she paused in her path to bow to an approaching middle aged man.
His long black hair flowed after him with a sharp snap of his neck, his pale face mockingly contorting to inspect her. Flipping her own hair back, she stood straight with a tilted chin.
"You must be the prized kunoichi Kagero hired." The man sneered, teeth flashing in the sunlight.
"And you must be Saigon." She returned the sneer with an annoyed snort.
"Saigon-sensei to you."
She barked a laugh and waved off his comment. "I haven't had a need for a sensei in a long time and I have no interest in learning from you more than what's needed to get rid of your murderer."
Saigon flicked his own fringed bangs back from his angled features and he snorted. "You shinobi are so cocky and foul tempered. You aren't needed."
Sakura smiled sweetly, "I wouldn't be if you were able to catch him yourself."
His narrowed almond eyes had her snickering.
"Come, kunoichi." He beckoned, rudely turning away from her with another sneer.
The pink haired vixen returned a sneer to his backside and nearly outright laughed as his colleague, a quiet young man with glasses, blatantly gasped in surprise. Dismissing the poor boy, she shifted past him to follow the samurai sensei who was sauntering towards a small offset building. She studied the training students with makeshift interest and disregarded the staring cluster of boys.
The sensei snapped open the door to a stable and demanded the two ten year old boys to step out. The boys scattered quickly and her senses were overwhelmed with a dreadful scent. Scrunching her nose, she parted her lips slightly to breathe. It smelled rotten and pungent. Once inside, he led her to the back of the stable behind two mares. There in the hay laid the bodies of the samurai where the putrid scent wafted from.
"You didn't bury them?" She remarked, feet crunching the hay as she moved around him.
The young man stayed back, eyes watering and sleeve covering his nose. The sensei remained unaffected and barely acknowledged her question. His brown eyes bored into her back as she knelt down. Swatting the flies away, she examined each body carefully.
Her fingernails scrapped off dried blood and she peeled the soiled kimonos of the men back to stare at the bruised flesh. Some of the bodies were in various states of decaying as the flesh changed in various tones and the muscles sagged underneath.
"We were hoping the Daimyo would send a healer to investigate." He shifted away from her. "But you shall do."
Sakura would have growled had she not been so close to the decaying flesh. "Kagero-San says you have the other letters. I need to see them."
Snapping caught her attention and she shifted to watch as the younger man stepped forward with six other pieces of paper. She stood, haven seen enough of the bodies to know several different organs were harvested, and retrieved the paper from him.
"And exactly where were each of the bodies found?" She prodded, coaxing what willing information he would give from him.
"In the courtyard just behind this stable." He moved away, sandals scuffing on the hay as he left her.
The younger man pointed timidly to another set of barn doors at the back before scampering off to follow the insanely rude leader. She glanced back at the bodies, careful not to inspect their faces least they were to be engraved in her memories. Sakura quickly hightailed to the courtyard, bag clicking against her back while she surveyed the area.
The courtyard was empty excluding a few ill placed trees. Poor coverage. The space is too open for any civilian to attack someone without being noticed. Underneath the tree was a dark stain where the grass was flattened and brown. Coming up to it, Sakura frowned. All the bodies must have been left here. There's no other sign of blood or a struggle otherwise. But why bring them back once they've been harvested?
Sakura's frown deepened.
The samurai weren't killed here.
Judging by the lack of blood splatter, the untouched grass in most of the courtyard and even the blooming flowers, Sakura gauged the action took place elsewhere. But where?
She shimmied over the courtyard quickly before taking to the closest rooftop. She searched every nook and cranny, measured the distance from the courtyard to the stable, and even mapped the dojo. Once her inspection was done, she cornered the assistant to the samurai sensei and asked when the last body was found.
"Two days ago." He muttered, voice shaking violently.
"Is anyone missing?" Sakura asked.
"No, not yet." He stammered.
She pried him for more information about the dojo which he willingly spilled, unused to being spoken to in anything other than a demeaning way. He mentioned increasing the night shift rounds and patrols, but to no avail. They were unsure of how the killer was entering. She though had a better clue.
As night fell, she watched the samurai draw straw for night watch, pairing up together for additional safety. Most were uncomfortable and on edge despite the extra manpower. She couldn't blame them.
There was a killer stalking them.
One of which was seasoned.
Sakura disguised herself in the overhead leaves of the courtyard tree. It only took three patient nights for said killer to arrive.
The evening drew quiet and she counted the samurai passing. When one passed under the tree she sat watch it, she vaguely recalled none having a solo run. The man was walking too tight, arms too close to his body and stance wide. As he continued walking towards another pair on duty near the stable, she leaned in to listen closer. He must have relieved one of the samurai guards as one slipped away in the darkness of the night.
Heart hammering in her chest, she crawled over the tree branch to get a better view.
Lips turning into a sneer, she almost chuckled. Gotcha.
The man in question quickly grabbed the other samurai, hand enclosing over his mouth as his arm wrapped around his throat. His body twisted, shifting to wrestle the other down. Waiting for just a moment, Sakura sprung into action once she was certain the intruder wasn't going to let go.
The man, completely startled at her sudden appearance, cracked the neck of the samurai. His bicep bulged as the body slumped into his arms. He leapt back, the body slowing him down considerably as she let loose a few kunai. He followed through with his own. They weaved back and forth in the courtyard and she cornered him at the edges of the stable.
She studied his features lit from the skylight and her adrenaline came pouring forth.
"So you are the shinobi hired to kill me." The man hummed, his green gaze piercing her.
Sakura cracked a fist excitedly. "You must be Kakuzu."
The man let the body slink against his own as his tanned face morphed into anger. His features were thin, sharp pointed nose and distinct jaw line. So this is how he looked when he was younger. The Bingo Book really didn't do him justice. She watched his muscles bunch under the haori as he readjusted the dead samurai against him.
"What makes you say that?" He barked, voice gruff and nearly raspy.
Sakura shrugged nonchalantly, cracking her knuckles lightly. "Just a hunch."
The man didn't respond further, instead he knocked the body with his hip, discarding it to the side. It fell lifelessly to the hearth, head twisting at an odd angle. He lowered his stance considerably, forearms bunching at his clenched fists.
"Mind your business, kunoichi. I don't kill women in particular, but you wouldn't be the first." He growled.
The blood in her veins was beginning to boil and she ground her teeth together to not snap. She'd rather snap with something better than her tongue. Her fists were more interested in doing the talking for me.
She leapt forth and weaved as black tendrils of steel shot forth. His fingers moved into several different signs and she twisted away as steel struck up from the ground. Sakura could feel the dirt exploding beneath her as she opted to grab a chunk of the tendril with her monstrous strength. He jerked, biceps flexing to pull her to him as she tugged.
Gathering chakra into her arms, she grabbed another tendril that sprung from the soil to entrap the two in a massive tug of war. Not willing to be outdone and driven by the insane energy of destroying another Akatsuki member, she roared. The strength in her arms poured out as she flung the tendrils up, out of the ground, and whipped him about like a rag doll. She hollard against the fight still in him as she smacked him into the ground and against the trees of the courtyard.
He fought to regain his footing and to stop his body from being tossed around, but she couldn't allow him to have his reprieve. Settling in her stance, she began to rapidly drag the tendrils like a rope connecting them to her. His tanned skin became broken and bruised on the debris and she gritted her teeth to reel him in. He hooked a leg under him to stand, but his heel couldn't find purchase as she fought his body strength to yank him to her.
"You stupid bitch, I'll have you head!" He growled, arms bulging in an attempt to gain the upper hand.
Sakura jerked him the rest of the way, releasing one tendril to close her fist. Whipping it back as his body drew near, she cracked him with a chakra infused punch. His jaw smashed and his teeth shattered. She let go of the other tendril to let his body fling back from the impact.
The fight was short and part of her was expecting a more exhilarating challenge especially from a man who in her time was ferocious and cunning. She exhaled sharply and trudged along the ruined soil to his crumpled form, and his narrowed gaze found her. She loomed over him, twirling a kunai she ripped from the inside of her kimono.
Raising her leg, she stomped his thigh, his femur shattering under her heel. She repeated it all the same to his other leg. His groan was barely audible between the snapping of his bones. Digging a heel into his bicep, she cracked bone there as well. He hissed which turned into a strangled gurgle. Sakura hovered over him, pink locks drifting into her line of vision as she bent at the waist to yank his free arm up.
He struggled, body contorting as she pulled the limb up to her.
"I want you to think of the samurai who you've disemboweled." Sakura's smile was borderline manic. "I want you to think of them when I shred your organs from you the same way you did to them."
His eyes widened and he profusely began to squirm. Sakura snorted, grasping his arm tightly before she yanked the arm from the socket. He screamed and she could hear the thumping of several footsteps.
Leaning closer, she dragged the kunai along his mouth. "Is this how you got your stitches?"
His brows furrowed and she vaguely remembered seeing in her mind Shikamaru's distraught features when he returned from Asuma's funeral. The kunai pierced the man's eye socket, blood spraying over her hand and forearm.
"I guess not." She murmured.
Straightening herself, she looked at the approaching samurai and their bewildered faces. She wiped her kunai casually on the deceased man's haori and drifted past them.
"Your murder has been solved." Sakura grumbled, anxious to depart.
Part of Sakura knew she was unsatisfied with the battle. Another part of her was disgusted with her raw need to be physically and mentally challenged. Her mind kept drifting in those moments as she departed the complex to aimlessly wander to the closest stream outside of the village. The pink hero certainly didn't feel like a hero then as she stripped herself bare to mindlessly wash herself of Kakuzu's blood.
Instead she found herself questioning the Will of Fire instilled in her while imagining the sheer power of just who could reignite herself.
The morning came after a slumber less night with a newfound sickness in her stomach. She reasoned with herself that Kakuzu had in her time become a conniving murder, an evil force destroying lives and villages for his own sick greed and satisfaction. She told herself that killing him was a necessary evil and a justice well served considering the states of the samurai bodies.
However, her mind replayed how animalistic her own need for dominance had become. Sakura knew she had lost a piece of herself when she was entrapped with the Uchiha, and since her departure from them, she had rediscovered her passion for the shinobi life. But last night, she also discovered her own twisted truth.
When she rentered the village, she was treated with veiled fear underlying the villagers' taught smiles. She could hear the murmurs of their questioning, 'did you hear? She bathed in his blood.' 'I heard she strangled him with one hand.' 'Do you think she'll turn on us too?'
It was unnerving.
Her mind was racing as she dipped to deposit the letter at Kagero's home. He had red, swollen eyelids and his lips were chapped with worry. He thanked her with a hiccup, and she whisked herself away before her chest could hurt any further.
She listlessly slid through town to gather some small rations of food, not wishing to stay any longer least the whispers increased, and as she paid a food stall, she felt a bump at her hip. She twirled around to find a mop of brown hair zipping down the dirt road, a familiar kunai gleaming in the sunlight.
"You dirty rat!" Sakura screamed, launching herself into a spring after the boy.
He was quick.
The thief was darting around corners and in between unsuspecting couples. He was a lot faster than she expected and she ground her teeth in annoyance. She pursued and pushed her legs faster to catch him. He led her far out from the village as the trees grew denser. She jolted to a halt as he whirled around on her.
His face was blistering red and he sputtered. She frowned, teeth grinding together at finding the same thief from the dock.
"LIsten here, you-"
"Shut up!" He screamed, hands clenching at his sides.
Sakura, startled by his outburst, snapped her jaw shut. Studying his anger, she folded her arms over her chest.
"You have no right to talk. Who do you think you are stealing?" Sakura scolded, her own cheeks tinting red.
He growled, stance dropping. "I am Kakuzu, son of Suzu, and I shall avenge his death!"
A.N: Hey all! Sorry for the delay. I've been working on this for awhile, and even though I'm not happy with it, here it is! I have been struggling with this chapter because I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to portray her own sadistic development outside and away from the founders. I also wanted to give her a bit of realistic mental health changes considering her circumstances. I don't think I did a great job envisioning this for you all and I apologize, but I need to move on with the story and not get caught up on this chapter. So bare with me for this chapter. Our founders will make there way back soon and we'll get to some really growth in their relationships. Happy reading!