Chapter 3

After Death Comes Life

Team Asuma and Team 7 arrived at the hidden waterfall village and took in its beauty. It didn't carry the name for no reason. The leaves were too green, and wildflowers grew all around, the waterfall there was huge and crystal blue. It looked as if fairies had to live there.

"Why would they be here?" Shikamaru questioned. "Tailed beast must be around somewhere." Asuma answered him. "Proceed with caution." Kakashi told them.

They searched for a few hours to hit the jackpot. They spotted them. A man that had medium-length grey hair that was slicked back and distinctive purple eyes that stood out from afar. His partner was glued next to him unfortunately unlike Sakura's last mission. She supposed she got lucky. The second one was a very tall, tan-skinned man with long dark-brown hair. His eyes had an earth coloring: green irises, with no pupils. If you asked her, they both looked terrifying.

Her hands began shaking and a churn formed in the pit of her stomach. She had a bad feeling about them. "Do you think it's smart of us to confront them without knowing their abilities?" Sakura asked Kakashi and Sasuke in a hushed tone. Kakashi had a feeling she was right.

Asuma formed a plan for them to confront the two in battle and Team 7 to remain hidden as an element of surprise. Sakura tried to protest, saying there would be strength in numbers and these guys looked dangerous. But her efforts were in vain.

Shikamaru, Ino, Asuma, and Choji appeared in front of them, and the two men stopped. The man with slicked back hair with the scythe resting against his shoulder frowned. "Who the hell are you guys?" He asked. He tried to move but remained frozen. Hidan looked down at his feet to see a shadow jutsu. "You guys lookin to fight?" he asked with a grin.

That sent chills down Sakura's spine from afar. Her grip tightened on the tree she was hiding behind.

Kakuzu attacked Shikamaru forcing him to jump back to dodge the attack and release the jutsu. 'How did he break free?' Shikamaru thought to himself trying to refrain the vein from popping out of his head.

Asuma took the lead and battled Hidan, he nicked Asuma in the cheek with his scythe when he dodged causing a small amount of blood to splatter. Hidan's partner veered off to the side and remained out of the battle.

There was a circle around him now, looked like some kind of ritual. "You guys wanna see something cool?" He asked them. Asuma was frozen in place. "I can't move." He announced to his team with deadly eyes locked on Hidan.

Choji and Ino began to attack Hidan full force and that's when Hidan stabbed himself in the knee causing Asuma to drop to the ground grunting in pain. Ino and Choji stopped and turned to look at their teacher. "What happened?!" Ino yelled to Shikamaru. "Whatever happens to that guy is happening to Asuma! Do not attack!" He shouted at them.

Sakura looked to Kakashi, "This isn't looking good."

Hidan his ritual that caused all damage done to himself to be inflicted on Asuma as well. He stabbed himself over and over and seemed to take no effect on anybody, but Asuma who was screaming in pain. "Stop! Stop it!" Ino screamed.

"We need to figure out a plan to stop him." Sakura urged. Kakashi's mind was running a million miles a second trying to come up with a solution. "I'm going to jump in the battle Sakura. You and Sasuke remain hidden. I'll let Shikamaru know what I found out." She nodded and watched him go.

Kakashi landed beside them and Hidan raised a brow. "More reinforcements?" Kakashi ignored him. "We got to get him out of the circle, and it'll save Asuma." He told him. "Hes bleeding out." Ino said on the brink of tears. She was right, he didn't have much time left.

Sakura jumped out of cover and Sasuke followed. "What are you doing? I told you to stay hidden!" Kakashi almost yelled. Sakura shot him an angry look, "He's bleeding out Kakashi, he's going to die if not treated." Sakura's hands began to glow around Asuma who was panting in pain on the ground. She could see how much damage was done. She was unsure if she could save him even if he wasn't hit again.

Hidan laughed violently. "You think you're gonna save him? Think again." With that Hidan stabbed himself in the chest and Asuma grunted loudly and coughed up blood. "NOO!" Shikamaru shouted dropping to his knees at his teacher side with Ino next to him.

'They are going to attack while were distracted.' Sakura thought, letting the glow die from her hands with an angry look.

"What are you doing?! Keep healing!" Shikamaru barked at her. "She's right… Theres no use, I'm going to die. I can feel it." Asuma groaned. Ino and Choji started sobbing.

Sakura stood up and filled chakra in her fist, "No Sakura, you saw what he did to Asuma." Kakashi warned her. "I don't care." She told him. "I'm going to make him come out!" She growled. She threw 5 paper bombs over at his feet causing him to leave the circle, finally jumping out of the way. They exploded on the ground.

Sakura sprinted over to him throwing wild punches, seeing nothing but red. He dodged them all with a smirk on his face. "What's so funny?!" she asked him. She picked up an entire tree ripping the roots from the ground and spun around chucking it at him. "CHAA!" His eyes widened, knowing that was going to hit him. It made the impact and then everything was dead silent.

"His partner ran off." Sasuke told them. "We'll catch him." Sakura said through gritted teeth. She walked back over to Asuma's now dead body watching them all greave. Kakashi's face remained solemn along with Sasuke's. Right before Sakura opened her mouth, a scythe spun around hitting Ino in the chest.

It was like time froze. Ino's blue eyes were wide open with tears streaming down her face and blood forming out of her mouth staring back into Sakura's. "S-Sakura…" were her last words before dropping to her back with a hard thud. Sakura's whole body was trembling in anger. Ino's body laid there with blood oozing out of her chest with a scythe stuck in it.

Sakura dropped to her knees and screamed in agony. They could hear the pain in her voice. She felt an intense burning in her eye and clutched it in her palm continuing to scream. "Sakura?! What's happening?!" Sasuke shouted next to her trying to pry her hand from her face. When she removed the hand from her eye, they all gasped.

Tears ran down Sakura's cheeks and Sasuke was the first one to speak, "S-She has the same eyes." He stuttered stepping away from her. Sakura didn't know what they were talking about. Kakashi looked at her one eye that was all purple now and had a swirl in them. "It burns!" Sakura screeched. "He's coming back!" Shikamaru announced.

They saw Hidan walking up to them smugly. "Oh? I managed to hit one? Ten points!" He said giddily with a grin. "You bastard! I'll kill you!" Shikamaru shouted. Sakura stood up fumbling to get to her feet and walked in front of everybody blocking their vision. "Sakura, wait!" Kakashi shouted and she ignored him.

"Come at me." She said waving her fingertips to Hidan who actually looked nervous and gulped. He sprinted over to her, and she weaved past him before anybody could blink, even Kakashi and Sasuke's Sharingan couldn't keep up with her movements.

Sakura hit him in several parts of his body cutting off the connection to his chakra. Once his knees were wobbly, she punched Hidan to the ground creating a giant hole. The wind from her blow threatened to knock everybody off their feet, digging their toes into the ground to stay balanced.

As Hidan was lying in the dirt he squirmed a bit with fear in his eyes, "No! Please!" He begged. Sakura frowned. "What a worm, begging for mercy after slaughtering our friends?!" She held a palm up at him stepped down in the hole slwoly and grabbed his face lifting him off the ground. Everybody could see the life being sucked out of him before she threw his body like a rag doll.

Kakashi looked at her astonishingly, and not in a good way. He was worried. "Team Asuma…." Sakura said. "Yeah?" Choji sniffled. "You guys head back and take Ino and Asuma with you. Kakashi and Sasuke you can go with them. I'll track down the other one." She said with tears still running down her face. "You're not going alone." Kakashi told her. He looked at Sasuke, "Go with them. Let Tsuande know what's happening." Sasuke nodded; he didn't even know where to begin with this situation.

Sakura and Kakashi walked wordlessly to find Kakuzu. After a few hours he started to grow more anxious. "Sakura, I really think we should retreat. This mission has gone sideways and new events have occurred." She ignored him.

After a moment of silence, he tried again, "Sakura – " He began to reached an arm out for her. She whipped around letting her long hair hit him in the swing and slapped his hand away meeting his gaze with her purple eye, "Your more than welcome to go back." She bit out harshly. "I'm finishing what we started." He looked sad. "This isn't you."

Maybe he was right, this wasn't her. But she felt like she died right when Ino did. The final moments of her death kept replaying in her head like a broken VHS tape. She was going to kill his partner.

Kakuzu was collecting money for a bounty he had picked up on the way while he let Hida have his fun, or so he thought. He was faced with a pissed off Sakura in front of him and Kakashi tailing behind her.

Sakura raised her palm and sucked him towards her in an instant. "What the hell?!" He shouted being pulled. Sakura raised her fist and hit him to the ground. Looking at his half dead bruised and broken body in a crater, she threw a dozen paper bombs on him and simply walked away. It was that easy. And she did it without a moment's hesitation is what scared the hell out of Kakashi.

They heard the explosion leaving the battlefield without sparing even a single glance back. "Mission complete." she said coolly. He stared at her like she grew two heads.

Team Asuma returned before Kakashi and Sakura and delivered the news to Tsuande who was sad and angry. "How could you come back without her?!" She yelled to Sasuke. "She scared the hell out of me." He replied and she knew he meant it. He informed her of the same eye she acquired as the leader of the Akatsuki and she fell flat in her chair in disbelief.

Kakashi and Sakura finally returned to the village a day later than team Asuma. They arrived at the gates, and she received terrifying looks. They were checked in and was told to go to Tsuande's office.

Once she arrived to the Hokage tower with Kakashi she entered the office and the older blonde woman ran to her. Tsuande pulled her student in a crushing hug. Sakura remained expressionless like she had been the whole walk back. "I'm so happy you're okay. I'm sorry for your loss."

Sakura was taken in the hospital to do exams on her eye, Kakashi waited outside the room demanded by Tsuande while they investigated this. After a couple of hours, they found nothing that would have caused the new formation in her eye.

The Uchiha elders were outside of her hospital room once they were informed about the new development, one including Itachi Uchiha. On the way in her room Kakashi shot him a deadly look and Itachi matched it walking by.

Once in the room Sakura was like an empty shell and Itachi noticed the difference in her personality as well. "Were here to inform you about your new eye." Itachi explained to her. She didn't respond. He gave her a minute. "You may show our elders respect!" He barked activating his own Sharingan.

She finally looked up at him with her expression remaining the same. "What do I need to know?" She finally spoke. "Your eye is called the rinnegan my dear. It's the power of the sage of sixth paths. An Uchiha secret. Legends say our eyes can evolve into those somehow." An older lady educated her with her arms in her sleeves and white hair tied up into a neat bun.

Sakura stood still. "We are worried this power might become too much for you. If you don't learn how to hone it or wield it, it will consume you. It will overpower you." Another elder told her and she seemed not to care. "I see." She said quietly while sitting on her hospital bed. "Itachi here is going to help you hone it and hopefully you will learn how to manage it." The older woman informed her, and she nodded. "Yes madam." They all left her in the room to her thoughts after telling her.

Sakura wanted to go home, but Tsuande was putting her under surveillance in the hospital for a week despite having no injuries. They finally allowed Kakashi in the room and he entered hesitantly. It was like he was walking on thin glass. "Hey." he said sheepishly.

He sat on the bed beside her hearing the creak in the mattress and rubbed her arm gently in comfort. "I'm sorry about what happened." Kakashi apologized. Her eyes were cold, "I told you all it wasn't smart to confront them without knowing." She spat with her hard gaze fixed on him.

He flinched at that. "Sakura we couldn't have possibly known – "Before he could finish, she cut him off. "Enough! Leave!" she demanded angrily thrashing her arms. He sat there in silence staring sadly before nodding and exiting the room. Before he left, he said, "I'm here if you need me. You know that."

Sakura sat up all night alone with her thoughts and something didn't sit right with her. The elders told her it was an evolved version of their eye, yet she wasn't an Uchiha. She was demanding answers. And that was starting at home.

Sakura leaped onto the window ceil and jumped out of it escaping her hospital lockdown. The moon was in the shape of a crescent and the village was silent. It was unlike her, but she had done a lot of things these past couple of days that were uncharacteristic of her.

She entered her childhood home late at night and her 'mother' was still awake. She was shocked when she arrived through the doors. The woman ran to Sakura wrapped her arms around her neck and started sobbing. "I heard about your mission! I'm so glad your ok!" Her mother wept.

Sakura pried her off and spoke, "I have questions." Her mother nodded with a hand wiping her tears. "Of course." Sakura crossed her arms together. "I'm not your daughter, am I?" she asked with a scowl. Her mother gave her a long look and sighed. "Who told you?" she asked sadly. "You just did." Sakura admitted and then she continued. "So where do I come from?"

Her mom motioned to the chair in the kitchen. "Sit down. I'll explain."

Sakura walked to the kitchen and sat down in a chair crossing one leg over the other. "Here's some coffee." The Mebuki Haruno handed it to her. Sakura clasped the warm cup in her hands and sipped it. "I want you to know I always have and always will consider you my daughter." She told her lovingly.

"But it's true, I'm not your biological mother." She paused. "You mother was a civilian from another village, apart of the Uzamaki clan like Naruto's mother. She moved here and was – " She found it hard to explain to her daughter.

"You can say it." Sakura urged her to continue. "She was raped by an Uchiha she told me. She didn't have any friends or family in the village besides me and I supported her through her pregnancy." Mebuki signed. "Who was the man?" Sakura eyed her shaking her leg in anticipation. "Setsuna Uchiha. He's now dead." She answered while shifting nervously in her chair.

"The woman who gave birth to me?" She asked another question. "She died in childbirth. Her name was Ayame Uzamaki, I took you in as my own after that. We were unsure if you were going to inherit the Sharingan. The Uchiha clan had no clue of these events. And if they did, they'd surely take you from us. But you didn't." She finished.

Sakura scoffed, setting her cup on a coaster on the table. "I just got a whole different eye all together." Mebuki looked at her troubled, "I'm sorry dear."

Sakura snuck back to the hospital unnoticed and the next day she convinced Tsuande she was fine even though they all knew she clearly wasn't. Despite that, Tsunade discharged her with an agreement that if anything went wrong, she would go to her right away. It was unusual for Sakura to protest being in the hospital as a medical ninja.

Sakura walked to the training grounds and found Itachi there waiting for her. She was wearing a sleeveless tight black combat shirt, with her pink skirt with black shorts underneath and black boots. "Your late." He said and she just shrugged.

He eyed her carefully for a moment and began again, "Let's begin then. Nothing too excessive. The power of that eye is great, we don't want to destroy the village testing it out." He told her and she nodded. "I've seen some of the power firsthand. First, you're going to lift that boulder up with just your eye. Be careful on keeping it in the air and how you drop it."

Sakura did as she was instructed. She concentrated on the medium sized boulder lifting it in the air with her eye, her shoulders trembling and hands formed into a fist from the effort. "Focus." She heard his voice. "Use that perfect chakra control on your eye. This is no different from healing."

After a minute of struggling, she released the boulder, and it dropped a bit faster and harder than she intended. It landed, shaking the ground beneath them. She panted for her breath keeping her gaze on the rock. "I assume the prowess is difficult to control." Itachi noted.

"How'd you get roped into doing this?" Sakura asked looking at the ground. Itachi raised a brow at that. "Pardon?" Sakura shook her head and shut her eyes. "Into training me. How can you even look at me when I have the same eye that killed your best friend?" Her voice strained at the end and tears threatened to fill her eyes. She didn't want this eye. She didn't want this power. She never asked for it.

Itachi walked closer to her hearing her mention Shisui and put a hand on his hip. "You're not the one who did." He paused for a minute and continued. "I assume this has something to do with your last mission." His voice was soft. Tears were spilling down her cheeks. "Ino was cut down in front of me. Where was this power when I needed it? How can I live with that? I murdered both those men in cold blood." Her brows furrowed.

"You and I are a lot more alike than you realize. Same thing happened with Shisui. We all grieve differently Sakura. And for the record, I was the one who volunteered to train you. I was not roped into doing anything I didn't already want to do." He said standing next to her. "Use that power now that you have it."

The next thing he knew was the dead grass and rocky terrain turned into green grass and flowers grew all around them in front of his eyes. The land was being fixed. Itachi's eyes widened and he looked down at her with his mouth hung open. She was fixated on the area around her with immense focus. "Did you do this?" he asked astonishingly seeing a butterfly flutter in front of him going to its new home. "Amazing." He stated, feeling breathless. "Your eye can provide life."

He glanced back down at her to see her eyes roll in the back of her head and her falling to the ground. "Sakura!" Itachi called out grabbing her, breaking her fall. "No….Hospital." Sakura murmured leaning her head into his forearm hiding her face.

He inspected her further to notice it was chakra depletion that caused her to pass out. He smiled and lifted her in his arms bridal style. "Foolish girl."

Itachi didn't really know where she lived, so he took her back to the Uchiha compound since she said no hospital. He walked in the house with her in his hands still asleep and Sasuke jumped out of his seat, "What the hell?!" He exclaimed. Itachi glared at him. "Hush little brother." He walked past him, and their mother looked down at her carefully, "Is this her?" Itachi nodded.

Itachi carefully placed her in his bed tucking her in. She exhaled loudly when she cuddled into his pillow inhaling his scent that lingered. He couldn't help but stare at her. She was remarkable, even before getting this power. She was strong and she was the most beautiful women he had ever laid eyes on. He moved a strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. He went to sit on the floor keeping an eye on her in case she woke up. He didn't want her to be startled and destroy the compound.

Sakura managed to sleep through the evening and the rest of the night. She woke up early the next morning confused, the sun peaked its way through the curtains, and she heard running water outside. She rubbed her eyes and sat up trying to get clarity on just where she was at. Her vision was still blurry and all she could make out was a shirt hung up with an Uchiha crest on it.

She looked to her right and noticed Itachi sleeping resting his back against the wall. "Itachi?" she asked groggily, wondering if this was a dream or she was imagining it.

He opened his eyes and smiled, that smile caught Sakura off guard. "Good morning." He told her. She blushed deeply. "Good morning." She greeted him back in a small voice. She tried to recall yesterday's events. She assumed she passed out while training. "I'm sorry." She told him.

He didn't move from his spot. "What for? I'd never be opposed to having a beautiful woman in my bed." He said smoothly. Sakura's blush turned into a full red face at that point. Itachi noticed that and smirked, gaining his confidence. He swears he could see steam come out of her ears.

Itachi and Sakura headed out of the compound together with people staring at them. "Can I take you to breakfast?" Sakura nodded. They stopped at a place and ordered tamogayaki. Sakura sipped her green tea and Itachi almost paid her no mind. "Did you need a break from training today?" He asked her. She nodded. "I think I overdid it on my mission and yesterday." She explained feeling embarrassed showing weakness. "I understand." He told her.

Ino and Asuma's funerals were held separately that day. Sakura attended Asuma's which was first and learned Kurenai was pregnant with his child he would never get to see grow up which added more onto Sakura's guilt. After that was Ino's and Sakura couldn't manage to shed one tear. She felt numb to it all. She was in denial that Ino was actually gone.

After the services were over, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto approached Sakura. "How you are holding up?" Kakashi asked her. She shrugged her shoulders in response. "I didn't even see you leave the house this morning." Sasuke said and Kakashi's eyes went wide, and he raised a brow. Looking back and forth from him to Sakura. "My brother carried her in, and she stayed with him." He told Kakashi answering his questioning look.

He looked at Sakura with the most betrayed expression on his face and faked a smile. "I see." He walked away from them with his hands in his pockets and Sakura just stared at Sasuke. "Why would you bring that up now?" She spat. Sasuke looked confused, "What? You did." Sasuke replied and Sakura chased after Kakashi.

They were out in the middle of the village and Sakura ran from behind him and tugged on the back of his shirt. "Kakashi!" He stopped, not looking back at her. "It's not what it seemed." She told him. He shrugged. "It's fine Sakura. You don't owe me any explanations." He told her coldly. "Nothing happened." She explained further. Kakashi turned around, "Then why? How?" He asked. Sakura gulped. "I-I passed out using my rinnegan." She told him. "And that's it?" She nodded and repeated it back to him. "That's it." He exhaled and pulled her into his arms hugging her.

Sakura nuzzled into his chest and wrapped her arms around him. "I can't tell you how sorry I am Sakura." He whispered holding her tighter. "I know."

A/N: This concludes chapter 3! Sasuke is quite the shit stirrer huh? Hope you guys liked it. I kind of had an idea that I wanted to give Sakura a special ability and finally figured out what. Now we just have to wait and see what she does with it. Don't hate me for not having her shut completely down for a year after Ino's death. Everybody copes differently and they are in the midst of an oncoming war, so I don't think Sakura has the time to spare moping around.