Ch: 12 The Confrontation

Thank god she'd been the one to receive the map. Sakura held the scroll in front of her face, summoning the chakra pen.

Itachi,

We're coming.

Wait for us by the river, 30 miles southeast of Tannabi bridge. We'll be there an hour before midnight. Attack on sight.

-Sakura

The plan was moving along nicely, albeit after a slow start. Knowing Itachi, he would've been able to predict their route with just the few details she provided earlier, and was probably already waiting for them.

It was now just a matter of leading the Jinchuriki into the trap.

Tekisuto no jutsu.

The Jinchuriki and Sasuke beat her to the front gates.

Her blonde teammate wore a similar cloak as hers, with his signature orange pants and black cargo jacket underneath.

Sasuke's attire contrasted sharply with the two of their white cloaks. He wore a loose black turtleneck with a bandana wrapped around his head. He also wore a grey armor vest over his torso which matched with his grey pants. She'd never seen him in such attire, but she supposed she hadn't seen much since they grew up.

"Oi! Sakura, why do you think Kakashi isn't coming with us?" the blonde called to her from across the field.

"Naruto, it's obvious…" said his teammate apathetically, as if he'd long figured out the village politics. "If we needed Kakashi, we'd be pretty useless."

Sakura nodded in affirmation. "Shishou and her teammates completed missions without Lord Third in their prime. We should do the same."

The three of them felt a powerful chakra approach, interrupting their conversation with a violent rumbling of the air. Speak of the devil.

"Lucky strike!" A figure emerged in a puff of smoke, striking a kabuki pose in an over-the-top fashion. "Is that my favorite disciple leaving already?!"

"Pervy-sage! What're you doing here?"

"I heard my apprentice was heading out of town!"

"Eh?! Does this mean you're coming with us?!"

The old geezer laughed. "No kid, you're on your own. I've got something big to work on."

"You mean something big to perv on?" asked the Jinchuriki incredulously.

"What—no—don't say that so loudly in front of other people!" The toad sage whispered harshly, despite their conversation being heard by all. "People will think I'm some kind of closet pervert!"

"Old man.." said the blonde, with his voice low. He put a hand up to his face and whispered, "I wouldn't say you're a closet pervert…"

"Right—I am not a closet pervert!" the legendary sannin exclaimed in revulsion. "I… am a SUPER PERVERT!"

Sakura deadpanned. It was no wonder Tsunade's fists found regular purchase to the side of his head. The man was completely reprehensible, and proud of it.

"But let's not get side-tracked. I came for one purpose only," the Sannin said with a smile. He put a firm hand on the Jinchuriki's shoulder and beamed. "I just came to wish you luck. Make me proud out there."

"You know I will! We'll get ramen when I get back, okay?"

"Naruto…" he said with a loud cackle. "This mission should pay you nicely! I expect you to treat me once in a while."

"Hey—I've seen your bank notes. You can afford to treat the whole village every once in a while!"

"Who, me?!" The hermit exclaimed with a hearty laugh, throwing his arm around the Jinchuriki's neck and putting him in a choke hold.

"Ah!—let me go—you're embarrassing me!"

The toad sage cackled some more, clearly enjoying torturing the blonde, before releasing his hold and forming another hand sign. "I'm out of here. Ja ne!"

Sakura and Sasuke watched with amusement as he disappeared in another puff of smoke. It was certainly affectionate how the old man came all this way to the front gates just to see his apprentice out.

Enjoy it, geezer. It would be his last goodbye before Akatsuki came to take the vessel.

The Jinchuriki dusted off his pants and readjusted his jacket, grumbling to himself. He fixed his collar and then nodded at Sakura, signaling that he was ready to go.

With that, Team 7 headed into the woods.

They ran without pause for at least three hours.

The openings in the trees were a familiar sight as they neared the 20 mile mark before Tannabi bridge. Sakura had flared her chakra intensely for the last ten miles.

Anytime now, Itachi, Sakura said to herself.

She got curious looks from her teammates. "We're in our home country, so we shouldn't sneak around," she explained. "You guys should flare your chakras too." It was stupid, but she didn't think Itachi was going to take this long.

"Good thinking, Sakura! We can take turns; I'll start when you stop flaring yours."

Sasuke was a little more apprehensive. "No, both of you—that's a terrible idea. The whole point of being a ninja is not to be detected."

Obviously, he was used to leading—not taking orders.

The Jinchuriki elbowed him in the stomach. "Just do it," he hissed. "It's the first time she's captain."

Thank goodness Sakura could rely on the blonde's stupid affection for her to overpower Sasuke's unrelenting logical personality. It made things a lot easier.

By this point, the Jinchuriki had taken the lead.

Sakura felt herself falling behind after only a few minutes. She was desperate to help Akatsuki find them more easily, but she wouldn't be able to keep it up much longer. Surely Itachi would still be able to find her, so maybe he wouldn't mind if she stopped signaling and took a little rest—

"Sakura. Watch out!"

She felt herself get yanked backwards by her hood.

"I got you," she heard Sasuke whisper. She felt strong hands grasp both sides of her arms, holding her upright.

She squirmed and shoved him off. "What the hell was that for?"

"You must be really tired," he said, pointing to something beneath them. "You ran straight into that trap."

Sure enough, there was a rudimentary wire crossing their path, and it was rigged with an explosive tag. It was probably leftovers from someone else's battle that they hadn't bothered to clean up.

She really must've been out of it.

She watched as Sasuke cut the wire with a kunai and deactivated the explosive tag, causing it to go up in smoke.

"It's because you're expending too much chakra—stop wasting it. You'll pass out."

Tch. He was getting on her nerves.

"Naruto, wait up!" he shouted. "I'm serious," Sasuke pressed, looking to her again. "Call a break, Sakura. Before Naruto gets too far from us."

From the looks of it, the Jinchuriki had left them in the dust.

"Stop interfering," Sakura snapped. "You can't help but be a pain in my ass, can you?"

And just then her blood ran cold.

Someone was coming—and it was someone with a lot of chakra.

She didn't have the ability to determine who it was at this distance, but she assumed it was her partner.

Itachi was making his move.

In her peripheral vision, Sasuke sighed in exasperation and ran a hand through his hair. "Just forget it."

"Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry," she muttered, apologizing only half-heartedly.

The chakra was getting stronger by the second, and she reached into her pocket to where she kept the dark medical scroll from Princess Tsunade, which would give her an immediate edge against Sasuke in battle.

She'd activate it first thing.

Sakura wondered what it would do—freeze his cells before exploding them? Or would it just stop his heart altogether? She hoped it would be the latter; it was less messy that way. She'd find out in about five seconds.

Then a loud, crass voice bellowed from a shadow in the nearby trees. "What's up, guys? I felt someone's chakra disappear, so I figured it was my turn."

Sakura nearly jumped out of her skin.

"Naruto! Don't sneak up on us like that," she yelped. She felt the slow rising prickles of embarrassment reaching her ears, thankful to the night for hiding her flushed cheeks.

It then occurred to her that the large body of chakra she felt earlier was standing right beside her.

Damn. False alarm.

Itachi wasn't here. Something was wrong.

"Let's stop here and take a bathroom break," Sakura said. "I'll be right back."

Feeling weak and clumsy, she made her way towards the nearest cluster of trees by the river and pulled out her communication scroll, ensuring that the sounds of the stream drowned out the unraveling of her paper.

Itachi was never late. He should've been able to sense her from even 30 or 40 miles away, which was plenty of time to prepare an attack. Something must've happened.

Itachi,

We've stopped. I'll wait for you.

-Sakura

It was late in the evening.

Earlier in the week, Leader notified Kisame that he'd have some sort of announcement for them. Itachi and his partners were waiting for midnight to roll around. Just another half-hour and he'd be able to finally go to sleep.

"Lord Jashin," Hidan cried from the kitchen, fully aware that Itachi and Kisame could hear every word. "These shitheads are fuckin' boring!"

"How do you think we feel?" Kisame asked, balancing Samehada against the back of the kitchen stool as he entered the room. "Lucky that you're not us. You would've been driven insane."

He gave a toothy grin to Itachi, who entered behind Kisame and slumped into the far couch with a sweaty brow.

"By what?" Hidan asked innocently. "Somethin' happen?"

Kisame allowed the silence to linger as he opened a package of dried nuts and began munching.

Revelation dawned on Hidan as he finally understood the implication, and he narrowed his eyes. "Hey—asshole, got somethin' to say?! Just say it!"

"Of course not, Hidan. Poor Samehada's looking skinnier by the day," Kisame said, changing the subject.

"It's too noisy in here," Itachi said. His patience was wearing thin.

Hidan tsk'ed and made a comment under his breath as he opened the fridge and began rummaging.

"Kisame, that reminds me—wouldn't you say it's about time to switch off?" Itachi asked. He'd reluctantly given Kisame the communication scroll partnered with Sakura's, upon the shark's own request. His loyal partner wanted to lighten his load even if it was just for a little.

Kisame nodded and left the kitchen to fetch it from his room where he promised that it was kept out of Hidan's hands. Not like the cultist would be interested anyway, but they hadn't been partnered long enough for Itachi to trust him with anything.

When Kisame returned, he handed it to Itachi. "As you already know, the thing hasn't done anything in the three weeks I've had it. When was the last time you heard from Sakura?"

"Did anyone save some spare ribs for me?!" Hidan interrupted.

"Feel free to go grocery shopping and buy some more," Kisame said without looking up.

Hidan shot them a sour look and went back to the fridge.

"Not since she notified me of Sasuke's return to Konoha," Itachi said. "Knowing how the village operates, delays are understandable."

Kisame nodded.

But Itachi left some things unsaid. To be honest, Sakura was being less communicative than he was comfortable with. He would've at least liked a projected date for when the Jinchuriki planned to leave the village.

No matter. It was ten minutes to midnight. "Kisame, did Leader give us a code for this one?"

"Right. Hidan—what was it again?"

Hidan's bored expression became irritated at the mention. "Fuckin' prick. I still have to pay ya back for interrupting my ritual…"

"Right, right, you can do that later. Hurry up and give it to Itachi."

"I'm getting it, ya blue-gilled freak..." he grumbled as he went upstairs.

Kisame sighed.

A second later, they heard hollering and frantic running down the stairs.

"Kisame! Where's that blank bundle of paper?!"

Itachi closed his eyes to meditate, as the boiling blood in his veins wouldn't be good for his condition.

"What're you talking about? Bundle of paper—"

"That scroll on your desk. It was there," said Hidan.

"Why were you in my room?"

Itachi held the scroll up. "Are you talking about this one?"

Hidan relaxed. "That's the one—I wrote the code inside."

"You what?" Kisame looked at Itachi nervously.

"What's the matter—dontcha remember asking me to remember it, Fishface?"

Itachi slowly opened his scroll. Sure enough, there was a string of letters and numbers written messily inside. "Once configured, the communication scroll is robust to environmental mishaps. There's only one thing that would completely deactivate it," he said.

"Don't tell me…" Kisame began, eyes fixated on the dried-up brown ink Hidan used.

Itachi nodded in affirmation. "Blood."

"Hey—stop being cryptic," Hidan demanded in a panic. "Kisame—what's he saying?!"

"You messed up, and it wasn't a small thing," Kisame said.

Itachi put his head backwards and looked up at the ceiling."It means we haven't been receiving any of Sakura's messages."

They were dark.

"We should stop while we're still ahead. We don't want to get exhausted," said Sasuke.

"Tired already?" Naruto jabbed, already taking off his backpack to unfasten his sleeping bag.

He saw Sasuke shoot a glance at their quiet pink-haired teammate when she wasn't looking. He probably wasn't used to the fact that he didn't have the same charm as he used to. Sakura was no longer fawning over her precious 'Sasuke-kun'.

He'd tease the man about it later.

They found a flat clearing near the river hidden by monster trees and boulders. Like clockwork, Naruto and Sakura started to gather logs and dried leaves while Sasuke began a bare-bones trap in a protective circle around the area.

They had a cozy camp in minutes.

Naruto made sure to set up his sleeping bag next to Sakura's so that he could protect her, like he always tried to do when they were on missions together.

"We're still in Fire country, so the chances of being attacked by enemies are low," he said, showing his more mature and tactical side. "They would sooner try to run past us undetected than try to start a fight."

"Agreed. We can set up a basic trap but let's avoid anything more complicated," Sakura said. She wouldn't want to make things difficult for Itachi.

Naruto nodded along thoughtfully as he took a handful of the trail mix prepared by Sakura. It didn't taste great, but he loved it anyway.

"I completely disagree. My experience tells me we should set traps anyway," Sasuke said.

Naruto grew solemn at the thought that Sasuke probably learned the hard way.

"But I wouldn't want to interfere with anything," he then added sarcastically.

Sakura shot him a look of death, and Naruto wordlessly told Sasuke to cool it. They didn't need to fight on their first night together.

"Say—wasn't Orochimaru's hideout around there?" Naruto asked.

"He had many hideouts. There was one near Grass," Sasuke confirmed stiffly.

"If he weren't dead, he'd be my first suspect for the recent shinobis' disappearances," Naruto said.

"Maybe," said Sasuke as he grabbed his toiletries and left. He clearly wasn't ready to talk about his past just yet.

Sakura and him stayed behind, keeping the campfire going.

"Hey Sakura, shouldn't we create a signal at least, since we might be close to enemy hideouts? Or since I'm the Jinchuriki..."

"This is our country," Sakura said. "If someone like Orochimaru or Akatsuki wanted to attack, they'd go straight to the village. They wouldn't bother with us."

Naruto could see that she was getting irritated. And while he didn't particularly agree with her, he didn't want to push the subject. She probably had her reasons anyway—she was always careful, so maybe she had something else in the works and he should just drop it.

"I'm getting deja vu with the three of us on the road again."

Sakura crossed her legs on her sleeping bag, sitting up stiffly. "Yeah."

"The last time it was just the three of us… that was when we met Idate, huh?"

Sakura nodded, although she didn't seem to really be there.

"Man, we were so young back then," he added quietly.

These days, it was rare for him to see her true, unguarded self. Sometimes it would make an appearance, but it was always brief—something foreign would always flash across her eyes, eventually pulling her back into distant withdrawal. He wanted to shake her shoulders and tell her to wake the hell up.

After a few minutes, Sakura got up too. She put her toothbrush in her pouch and trekked in the opposite direction that Sasuke had gone.

Naruto reflected on his previous words

She still loves you, you know. Kakashi too. We'll be a family again.

But what he didn't know was if Sakura was still in love with Sasuke.

x

Itachi,

We missed you at the rendezvous point. We'll be in Yukkao by tomorrow evening. Meet us there.

-Sakura

It was in vain, she knew.

Fuck!

Doom and panic began to nibble at her insides. Everything was going very, very wrong.

She took out her toothbrush and aggressively brushed while looking at her reflection in the water, the blank paper sprawled across the flat rock beside her.

Think, damn it.

At some point, Itachi stopped receiving her messages—they weren't coming.

Had she mishandled the scroll?

She didn't know what was more frightening—the fury that would be unleashed on her if it was her fault that the scroll stopped working, or the fact that now she'd essentially have to live in close quarters with her enemies for the next three weeks with no obvious way out.

21. Straight. Days.

What if she was found out? Sasuke had a knack for always doing exactly the opposite of what she wanted, and it wouldn't be far-fetched for him to become even more suspicious than he already was, for whatever reason she didn't know.

And the Jinchuriki. He kept watching her every move—it felt like she didn't have room to breathe.

But the worst part of all—what if someone attacked them? She couldn't let either of the two run off and get killed. What would she say then?

"Oops, my mistake?"

That wouldn't go over well with Itachi.

No, she needed to keep them alive, like her life depended on it. Because now it did.

Get a grip, she screamed inside her own head.

She splashed her face with some cold water.

Alright. New plan.

She had to turn this around.

Think.

Now, she was going to Iwa to deliver a scroll on behalf of Hidden Leaf, whether she liked it or not.

In any case, it would be bad for Akatsuki if the two villages formed an official alliance.

The Tsuchikage was an exploitative individual. Yes. She could somehow use it to her advantage. If he came under the impression that Akatsuki would win, he'd want to be on the winning side.

That was a start.

No matter what she came out here to do, she couldn't deny that now, at least until she had a better alternative, there'd have to be a Team 7 again.

x

Her teammates were already in their sleeping bags when she returned. The Jinchuriki was passed out, snoring with the empty trail mix bag on his stomach. Messily, he sprawled atop of his sleeping bag with a smile in his sleep.

Jeez. He couldn't even get inside his sleeping bag.

Not to mention, he'd positioned himself right next to her, and that meant she'd probably have to fall asleep listening to something intimate like his breathing. Obviously he was a living creature and so he had to breathe, but thinking about it weirded her out. She was humanizing a vessel and she didn't like it. It was too close for comfort.

Akatsuki always slept in the cold, in the dark.

Now, they'd set up around a blazing campfire, under the stars, like their stupid Genin selves having a slumber party.

Disgusting.

She dropped her pouch next to her belongings and laid down, bundling up her cloak and putting it behind her. As soon as her head hit her makeshift pillow, she felt fatigue begin to overtake her. Her eyelids become heavy. Sweet sleep was just around the corner when—

A gasp. Troubled breathing.

Sakura opened one eye.

She lifted her head and looked around, craning her neck to locate the perpetrator.

It was coming from their own camp, she realized. Not only that—it was coming from Sasuke.

Sakura rolled her eyes and turned to her side so that her back was facing both of her teammates. She pressed her bundled cloak against the exposed ear, trying to muffle the sound.

It took a few tries, but she found just the right spot.

Ah.

That was better.

Again, her eyelids become heavy. Sweet sleep was just around the corner when—

Should you really leave them like that?

She opened an eye.

Who was that?

She looked around and saw nothing.

It was a voice in her head, from nowhere.

Aaaand she was crazy—officially. Wonderful.

Sakura reshuffled in her sleeping bag and laid on her back again, this time arms behind her head so that she could press the bundled cloak against both of her ears. Her eyelids didn't get heavy this time, but she refused to give up. She forced her eyes closed, making the entire world to go black.

She'd have to fall asleep eventually, she told herself.

She just had to stay very very still… and then maybe she could—

They'll get sick.

It was that voice again.

Okay, now she was getting irritated.

With a silent huff, Sakura threw the sleeping bag off and sat up cross-legged. She stared at the fire, trying to trick herself into being mesmerized by the dancing flames as ashes cracked and popped under the wood.

Within a minute, the nagging sensation came back.

It seemed the universe wouldn't allow her to get any peace until she did its bidding.

With an exasperated sigh, she pushed herself off the floor and decided to tend to the man who apparently forgot how to breathe in his sleep.

She walked up to Sasuke's sleeping form hesitantly, unsure of what misfortune awaited her if she actually had to help him do something as simple as breathe.

Her face fell at the sight.

His eyebrows were furrowed and he was sweating. Not from heat—likely from some form of night terrors. His entire body was tense and he was breathing hard, almost like he was running from something in his sleep. She'd never seen anything so severe.

There was no way his body was resting properly. He'd just be a burden if she didn't do anything about it now.

Sakura placed a glowing hand carefully on his forehead, pushing away his raven hair to soothe him with her chaka. While matters of the brain were not her area of expertise, she could at least compartmentalize his nightmares and prevent them from disturbing his sleep by balancing his electro-chemical signals.

His pained expression fell away, and she lifted her hand to observe her work.

He looked so young when he slept. Flashes of his twelve year old self suddenly came to mind. Back in the day, she'd steal glances at him and revel in whatever morsels of him she could get, like an amorous pup at the dinner table. He looked so harmless right now; so vulnerable to the world. It was almost hard to picture how he could wake up and be infuriating all over again. Almost.

Satisfied with her work, she got up to leave.

Along the way back to her own sleeping bag, she sauntered over to the Jincuriki's sleeping figure and pulled the thin blanket across his stomach. She only could have guessed that he was dreaming about ramen with that goofy look on his face.

He shifted comfortably.

Sakura laid down with her eyes looking at the stars, now thinking too much to fall asleep.

Back in Konoha, she was Akatsuki and the two young shinobi were her enemies. It was cut and dry; black and white.

Out here, the lines were getting blurrier by the second. She could only hope for Itachi to find her sooner rather than later.

Someone set fire to her lungs.

Sakura clutched her throat and shot up from her sleeping bag. The haze of sleep was shocked out of her system as she struggled to breathe the smoky air—it was laced with something she didn't recognize.

She strained to keep her eyes open, but she couldn't see anything through the stinging air which triggered heavy tears to roll down her face.

Suddenly she felt a blade tracing the skin underneath her jaw, its pointy mouth threatening to shed blood at a single wrong move.

"Stay still and you won't get hurt," a man said into her ear. "We came for the Uchiha."

To be continued…