THREADS

Chapter 7


Flashback

The clouds were heavy and the room was dim. It was a rainy day. Sakura woke up in a restless state this morning. It was the day they took Sasuke away.

It's the day she'd been dreading. She promised herself that she would take care of Sasuke as long as he suffered in the leafs prison.

He had gone through enough in his life, it was time she could finally help him out.

She got up and fixed her clothes. She threw on her raincoat on top of her signature pink top, black belt, and white shorts and headed out.

The hospital was empty when she arrived. Voices here and there. She looked around to see if any members of the Anbu were here, but she found no signs.

She made her way up to Sasuke, and Naruto's room. She opened the door to find something obscure.

Naruto and Sasuke say opposite to each other with their new arms entangled in what seemed like an arm wrestling match.

"I'm going to beat you just you wait" She hears Naruto say enthusiastically.

"Hn. Good luck" She heard Sasuke say back. A smirk was painted on his face like he knew he had the win. Arrogant as always she thought.

"HEY YOU TWO" the pinkette yelled.

"DO YOU WANT YOUR ARMS TO MELT OFF?" She yelled some more.

"Sakura-chan I-" The blonde tried to defend.

"SHUT IT NARUTO. I'M NOT KEEPING YOU GUYS IN A HOSPITAL ROOM BECAUSE ITS FUN. YOU CAN'T PUT EXTENSIVE FORCE ON YOUR PROSTHETICS."

A guilty look crept up on Naruto's face. Sasukes smirk had been wiped off.

In the middle of her angry outburst the time had finally come. The Anbu stepped into the room. Sai was among them.

"Sasuke Uchiha, you are under arrest for treason to the leaf and your sentence begins right now." One of the members loudly spoke.

Naruto came up behind Sakura and put a hand on her shoulder as a desperate act of comfort. If it were up to him, he wouldn't allow him to get punished for any of it.

He walked towards the men still in his hospital gown and offered them his hands. They brief his hands, and put a cloth over his eyes. His rinnegan made him a "dangerous" prisoner.

She watched as he was escorted out of the room. He stopped to look at her for a second and his lips moved, but she never caught what escaped his lips.

Present

Sakura was pulled down onto the ground. Sasuke had switched places with her. Purple hues covered all of their surroundings.

Sasukes Susano was fully activated. He took an offensive stance as all of his armour mainly covered Sakura. Naruto entered Kyubi mode as soon as he saw the kunais flying towards them.

Sasuke observed with his mangekyo sharingan to see where the attacks were coming from, but it seemed they were distributed equally. His Susano warded off most of them.

Sakura took her stance and walked out of the Susano. She had seen what the others hadn't. There was a genjutsu around the castle.

She lunged towards the walls chakra surrounding her fist and she crushed the barrier. The true castle showed. It was even older than it had been displayed, but it seemed cleaner. As if someone had taken care of it.

The others watched her in awe. They quickly followed behind.

"There's someone here, it was not a boobie trap. If not one, probably multiple stay on your guard." Sakura said as she observed the place.

"Naruto, go into sage mode. I need you to see how many people are here"

Naruto immediately complies and sits down with his shadow clones.

"You should get rid of your Susano for now, we don't want you to waste chakra." She says without turning to look at him. His coat still draped around her.

Sakura knew how to fight in the front lines, she would only become a medic if she needed to. She was here for all of it today.

In the blink of an eye his Susano disappeared. He noticed Sakura had taken the lead.

"LOOK OUT" she screamed at Sasuke before she jumped in front of him.

She caught the kunai that was headed straight for his back.

"Why are your senses so dull today Sasuke?" she said critically.

He responded with an annoyed sound.

Naruto got up from the ground. "There are 4 people here who posess Kaguyas chakra. None of them are exactly Kgauyas. I think these are descendants''

"I figured… tell me their locations"

"All of them are 200 meters away. One is at four o'clock, another one at 12 o'clock, one at 6 o'clock, and another at 8 o'clock."

"Hmm, a strategic formation. Everyone line your backs up to one another. Don't let them get your blind spots."

They all neared Sakura.

"Hold steady" she said before she punched the ground hard enough to run cracks through the entire structure. 4 pale otsutsukis were revealed through her attack.

"WHY ARE YOU HERE" one of the men yelled.

"WHERE IS KAGUYA" the only woman yelled.

Naruto and Sasuke smirked. These people clearly had no clue what went down half a decade ago.

"Kaguya isn't here. She's been sealed away." Sakura said.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" one of them yelled as he flew towards Sakura preparing his attack. Sakura was already prepared for whatever was to come next.

She pumped her fist full of chakra and shifted behind the Otsutsuki mid-air and hit his spine. Shattering all of his bones and leaving him on the ground like a sack of flesh.

The others were shocked to see this type of brutality from her. Sakura wasn't going to let Kaguya otsutsuki come back to life once again to terrorize this world.

She had to make sure every one of her direct descendants were dead.

Sasuke followed in her attack and took the opportunity to catch the woman in surprise. His chidori stream ran up his arm and he struck it right through her.

Naruto grabbed the other two transformed as Kurama and pounded them to the floor hard enough to kill 10 people if they were there for the impact.

One of them still hung onto life and Sakura went up to him. She wanted to end their lives, but she wasn't cruel. She made a chakra scalpel and made a slice somewhere on his body so he would die without pain.

Which is why she had attacked the first man directly on his spine.

Sasuke watched the woman who he saw grow up become a completely different person. She was fearless, did what needed to be done, and she made no apologies for it. There was something about her that now he couldn't remember, but it was the same damn thing that made his heart surrender year after year.

He never forgot about her, not for a moment. Not even when he was training with Orochimaru, or when he'd gone on his journey.

When he had nothing to comfort him he thought about Sakura. He thought of her in the mornings, on long journeys, and at night before he slept.

He did what he had to. He won't take those actions back. His affections for Sakura only seemed to grow. He couldn't risk getting engulfed in all of it before he atoned for all his sins.

Sakura looked in his direction with a strong expression on her face. It wasn't for Sasuke, it was who she was. Sakura showed him who she was time and time again, but this time it was different. There was no hidden incentive, and there would never be again.

Flashback

The first week was pure agony. He hadn't gotten used to his arm yet, and an uncomfortable sensation ran through it. No visitors were allowed for the first few weeks and he was in pure solitude.

They had blind folded him, and he hadn't seen in weeks. They feared the ripples, and tomoe in his eyes.

The day the visitation restrictions had been lifted the first to visit him was Sakura Haruno.

He hadn't been this relieved to hear Sakura, or anyone ever.

She sat down with a basket alongside her. She stared at him in shock. A metal contraption surrounded his eyes, blocking any sight from what she could see.

"They did this to not let you use your eyes! Is that even legal!?"

A snort escaped Sasuke.

"They thought these measures were necessary" he said.

Sakura's chakra flared furiously. Sasuke knew how to read chakra, and hers was less than pleasant.

"How's your arm?" She changed the topic.

"It's fine, but there's an odd sensation once in a while."

"Oh that might be blood clots. Your arm is still getting adjusted to all the artificial nerves, and sometimes the process can be a little painful. After a full month it should be fully developed. It's happening to Naruto as well." She concluded.

An awkward silence develops between them. The hostile air of the environment only made things worse.

"I brought you some food. Here are some rice cakes, and tomatoes. I'm sure the food isn't that good here." She tried to salvage the conversation.

"You didn't have to." Sasuke replied.

"I wanted to." Sakura said.

He took one of the tomatoes and bit into it. Slowly, and in silence he ate the meal in front of her with a satisfied look on his face.

"I know it's bad in here, I'm just trying to make it bearable for the next few months. You have suffered enough" she heard herself saying.

Sasukes heart did that thing again. All of this kept happening against his will. He wished he knew how to respond. He only stared at the basket she had brought in.

"I should get going, I have a busy shift at the hospital" she sheepishly smiled.

Sasuke felt a cold hand touch his. Cold or not, just as comforting.

"I will do what I can about your eyes. I will stop this foolishness."

He heard her steps slowly disappear along with her determined chakra signature, and that misery came crawling back.

He slept with a little more ease that night. Naruto had been on a mission when his restrictions were lifted. He couldn't visit him for another week or so.

He found himself missing his friends. All the hatred that invaded his heart had been slowly washed away. All that remained was the business of misery, and the new threads of hope Sakura had laid.


Quick update. Enjoy.