They had taken to travelling by the trees. Had it been their genin days, Sakura would have found herself already panting and tired due to lack of stamina and endurance. But this was clearly not their genin days thus she had no problem of keeping up with the boys as they raced past the trees at high speeds. They had been travelling for two hours now, Sasuke being the guide as he had located a nearby town. Just then, her ears caught the sound of an ongoing battle a fair distance away. She glanced at Naruto who had apparently heard it before she and Sasuke had. With a silent agreement, they headed towards the sound where the battle was. It seemed really immature as they were rushing towards enemy ninja in an unknown land with a resolve to help them, or those who deserved the help. But then again, they were Leaf ninja and that's what they'd been trained to do. The sound of the Earth rumbling echoed loudly the forest and they actually felt the vibration of the shockwave in their bodies.
They arrived at the battlefield, which was at the mouth of a cave, similar to the one from before and saw a hooded figure dressed in all black involved in taijutsu battle with three other people. Several other men were sprawled out on the forest floor away from them in large, muddy crater. Bones were everywhere, with some of them stuck on the hooded figure's back. Apparently, the three men seemed intent on capturing their victim, their eminating killing intent testimony of that. The figure dodged a few bones which had been fired and jumped back, retreating further into the cave. 'The Kaguya clan,' the trio thought simultaneously, all of them reminded of the Rabbit Goddess they had fought less than a year ago. The three of them knew the story of Rock Lee vs Kimimaro Kaguya and were well aware of their clan's signature moves and their infamous bloodlust. "We'll take care of the Kaguya. Sakura, go and find the person who just entered the cave," Sasuke instructed as he eyed the three Kaguyas firing their bone projectiles into the cave. The kunoichi nodded. Her two boys jumped down and she silently moved to the mouth of the cave, her teammates already engaged in battle with the Kaguya.
She stealthily made her way into the cave. The hooded figure was a fair distance into the cave, clutching a bleeding arm. The face was still covered by the hood of the dark travelling coat and Sakura wondered how the person was able to see if anything at all. She could hear the victim's laboured breaths and knew she could barely stand. "I'm not going to hurt you. I want to help you," the pinkette said as she slowly approached the hooded figure. "Sakura?" the figure croaked hoarsely. She frowned as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "How'd you know my name?" she asked as she stopped in her tracks. She tensed slightly, her ninja antics kicking in and making her on gaurd. The figure staggered towards her. "I...h-have-" she sputtered and dropped down onto her knees, coughing up blood and still cluthcing her left arm. 'Ninja antics be damned!' Sakura thought as she rushed over to the kneeling figure. The medic within her took charge as she laid the figure gently on the cave floor.
Pulling down the hood, she gasped as she saw what might've been the biggest shock of her life. The figure was herself! She gaped at the person lying beside. She had the exact same features as her. Same face, same complexion, same nose, same mouth, same eye color, same hair, bizarre color and all except it was longer. She even had the Byakugo seal on her forehead. Her mouth opened and closed, unable to form words. The person seemed to have trouble keeping her eyes opening as they dilated and undilated. "Who...who are you?" she whispered in a barely audible voice. "I-I have t-to...touch m-my eyes," the girl struggled to say. Sakura stared at her confusedly.
"You have to touch my eyes, p-please," the woman begged. Her eyes bulged out. "What?!" Sakura exclaimed, not bothering to hide her shock. The sounds of battle outside the cave was long lost to her. "P-Please. My c-clan... protect..." she mumbled. She seemed to be on the brink of death. "If you do anything to hurt me or my teammates, I promise I won't be so kind," Sakura warned in a hard tone. Reluctantly, she placed her palm on top of the woman's eyes. The pain that followed overwhelmed her, making her scream her lungs out before passing out cold.
"Sakura, wake up."
She blinked her eye open. "What? Where am l?" she asked herself. She was standing in an empty landscape with only grass. There weren't any trees or mountains except grass and the sound of a river nearby.
"Sakura."
She turned around to only to find herself looking into a mirror image of herself. And screamed. Then swung her fist towards the impostor.
"You!" she snarled with a coldness that could almost rival that of Sasuke's. The woman dodged to the left, avoiding the blow before jumping away to create distance between two of them. Sakura, not one to be messed around with, channeled chakra to her fist as she rushed towards the woman and swung it again with precise aim. The woman swung her fist as well and their punches collided creating a shockwave that created a crater around them. Sakura continued to push forward and so did the woman, their chakras both clashing strongly against each other. Her frustration increased as the woman seemed to be able to use chakra the way she did. She added more chakra, hoping to overpower the woman but she also increased her chakra. The crater around them widened before their chakras blasted them a few metres away. Sakura landed neatly in the ground and saw the woman land gracefully like a cat. It only fuelled her anger further.
Without a moment to waste, she ran towards the woman, throwing a several shuriken. The woman dodged them all before pulling out her own kunai and charging towards her. The two became involved in a battle of kenjutsu before moving to taijutsu. They copied each other facial expressions, did each other's signature moves with the same hard determination, did their famous cry of "Shannaro!" as they battled. They were yet to land a hit on each other.
Sakura jumped away from the woman, her face red with anger. The unusual thing was that the woman was the least bit confused about the whole situation as she was. C'mon, she was fighting herself! Literally, metaphorically, realistically and all! "Who are you?" she asked through clenched teeth. "And where did you take me?" she added, not hiding her hostility. The woman smirked in a typical Uchiha manner.
"My name is Sakura Haruno. Or as you may know me, Inner Sakura and we're during the warring states period."
"Are you sure she's gonna be okay?" Naruto asked for the umpteenth time that night. They were still mid-fight with the Kaguyas when the had heard Sakura scream her entire being out. They had immediately ended the trio's lives with their signature moves before rushing inside the cave to find Sakura out cold on the ground. There was no sign of the hooded figure, only the cloak on top of Sakura. "Sakura-chan!" the blonde cried out as he rushed over to her side. He had yelled her name as he not-so-gently shook her, begging her to wake up. Sasuke had seen that the dobe was on the border of hysteria and had punched him before telling him to calm down. Sakura was fine, she was a medic after all. Nothing was going to happen to her, the Uchiha had told the unconvinced jinchuriki.
"She's going to be fine. Now stop asking questions and shut up. Or get some sleep. I'm taking first watch," he said as he stood up and walked into the dense forest. For a moment he wondered whether or not the teme actually cared about their pink-haired teammate but dismissed the thought, it was for another day. They had decided to camp in the forest as Sakura had been unconscious since afternoon and it would be troublesome to travel with an unconscious female ninja. Females were heavy after all, despite their small statures. Naruto sighed as he eyed his female teammate who was sleeping on a futon. Her face was blank, neither peaceful nor in pain, as though her soul had left her. "Please be fine Sakura-chan," he said in a silent prayer.
I'm done with chapter two. Hope you enjoy it. So Sakura met Inner Sakura, in her physical form, what a shocker! I hadn't original planned for Sakura to fight "Inner Sakura" but it seemed kinda interesting for her to fight herself and not know that she was really fighting herself. Anyways read and review.
Tozoonana
AfricanFire
