(Tim Seltzer, seltzer@seltzerbooks.com) Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. I do not own Wedding Peach.
I do not own any great quantity of money or property. I'm a STUDENT; that's
why I'm poor, okay?
Author's Notes: I forgot to put up a note for last chapter:
Pseudomembrane - these are real things, usually showing up in bacterial
infections like Diphtheria. The bacteria in the throat makes a toxin, and
then the toxin can harden with dead human cells at the back of the throat.
This can lead to sudden death by suffocation. I twisted the same thing
into this story to work with Orochimaru's chakra, since Kishimoto seems
to really go into the stuff. Warning: I am not a specialist in medicine.
The farthest I went in biology was Microbes and Human Health last semester
that's how I learned about this stuff. So if you're in medicine, and
see anything horribly wrong in Sakura's actions in the last chapter, tell
me via review.
Thedarkowns1: If you're wondering about that note in the last chapter,
I was simply congratulating you for actually figuring out that Sakura wasn't
going to kill Sasuke. Everybody else who reviewed that chapter was panicking.
"Sasuke?"
Sasuke was not moving. He seemed frozen to the spot.
Sakura walked up to the raven-haired boy. He was almost a head taller
than her now. But his posture told her that the usual confidence he once
held was now gone. This both surprised and confused her. Sasuke's dark
bangs covered his eyes; he turned away when she tried to look closer at
him.
As Sakura calculated it further, why else was he wandering the forest
near Konoha? To attack it? Hardly not. There would be more Oto-nin around
if Orochimaru planned something like that. Sasuke would have some backup
if he were a real enemy. Sakura practically removed his curse, and nobody
interrupted her when she performed that quick operation on his neck. Sasuke
was completely alone.
Sakura finally caught a glimpse of his dark eyes. What she saw startled
her: they were tired, defeated. He did not want to run away. He probably
did not even want to live. Sasuke had wanted to follow her to Konoha from
the start. But when the kunoichi displayed a rock-hard exterior, cruelly
ordering him to "run" whatever hope he had of starting over was crushed,
like a newly hatched caterpillar picked up by an unforgiving sparrow.
Was Sakura happy now? The high-and-mighty princess of books and kendo
did not need the heir of a practically dead clan, not even as a friend!
Sakura had traveled across space-time, trained with celestials, came back
and freed Sasuke from the curse and then tastefully finished it off with
a cold glare to the broken teenager.
In the end, she really was no better than what Sasuke had been two years
ago.
Sasuke felt a warm body crush against him. His heart seemed to stop.
His black eyes trailed down to a form that was lightly embracing him.
"I'm sorry," Sakura whispered.
Sasuke was confused. She was apologizing to him, when he committed all
those horrible things against her and the village? If anything, he was
lucky that she did not execute the scum that he was.
"Do you want to go home together?" Sakura offered. Her voice was hesitant.
But the tone was also coaxing and gentle, like that of a mother.
She was giving him a free choice now. Sakura was offering her friendship.
She was forgiving him.
Sasuke had no idea what to say or do. The 'duty' part of him had clear
enough answers. Sasuke would be in big trouble if he went back to Konoha.
He could live and train alone if he had to. Sakura was only a distraction.
But another thing inside him said: 'This is your LAST chance.'
Last chance for what? Sasuke was not exactly sure.
"They'll probably interrogate you, and put you under surveillance,"
Sakura continued. "But I've been missing as well. I'll be going through
the exact same process."
A chill went down his spine. He wanted to tell her that it was not as
simple as that. There were no ninja reports on her movements, but Sasuke
had obviously served Orochimaru. Sakura had probably been doing something
peaceful, like traveling the countryside and healing people. Sasuke had
already killed a few rogue ninja. Still...
Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, but his throat burned. He
had to make more effort to speak.
The silence passed by.
The pink-haired girl felt a lump form in her throat: Sasuke was not
responding.
"If you don't want to go, I understand," she said. Her arms loosened
from his form.
Itachi rubbed his bandaged shoulder. The wound was sealing up fast with
the ointments underneath. The blonde's remedies were quite good. "You have
your instructions. I have to trail and shut up my partner now."
"Oh, I'm sorry to have injured him with that arrow, but I had to in
order to keep things clean." Minoru flashed a smile. "Send my apologies
to your lover." The elf ducked the incoming shuriken, which prickled into
the tree trunk behind him. 'They're small, but sharp,' Minoru noted with
amusement. 'He's not bad in aim.'
"I'll tell my partner in work," Itachi paused here, and continued, "that
I made quick work of you." 'That is, after I get the tengu to do a forbidden
jutsu on Kisame to erase his memory about my brother...'
The Uchiha glanced sideways. Something was moving towards them. It seemed
like more work had to be done.
Minoru sensed the movement as well. "Animals," Minoru identified. "Two...
no, three. I can tell that they're not aiming to kill. Maybe... to capture
something."
Itachi closed his eyes, and listened. There were exactly four snakes
on the ground, not the three Minoru estimated. From what Itachi knew of
Orochimaru, the sage must have sent trailing snakes as a last-ditch attempt
to retrieve Sasuke. Both Sasuke and Sakura were in poor condition for fighting
anything.
The Uchiha kicked off the branches, readying his shuriken. Minoru followed.
The snakes had to be stopped before they reached Sasuke.
Minoru's blue eyes caught three snakes on the ground. They looked normal
except for their size. The elf had never seen natural anacondas as large
as these before. Who needed monsters, when these kinds of animals were
in the forests? In slight shock, Minoru's boot scraped off one of the branches
in an irregular manner. He slipped and began to fall.
Itachi frowned. Minoru did not even know how to put chakra in his feet
to stick to surfaces. The last thing the Uchiha needed was the duty to
take care of some weirdo from another reality.
Minoru shot a vine tendril out from his wrist. It attached to another
tree, saving him from a drop of death.
This was normal practice for him. Minoru swung, and let go of the newly-made
vine. After a flip in the air, he landed quietly on the ground.
The elf looked up to meet the disgusted look of Itachi. "What?" Minoru
asked casually. "I can take care of myself."
That was not the point, in Itachi's opinion. He used one word to describe
the real situation: "Incoming." Minoru was on the ground, directly in the
way of the snakes.
'At least he makes a good decoy,' Itachi thought. He expected Minoru
to be devoured any split-second now.
The elf quickly pulled an arrow across his shaft, and let it loose in
the direction of the snakes. It streaked through the air, and stabbed into
the forehead of the first anaconda. It fell to the ground dead, and another
slithered over its carcass. Its wide-open mouth aimed at Minoru tongue,
fangs, and larynx nicely visible for him to see.
Two shuriken penetrated its eyes, thrown by Itachi from above. It let
off a reptilian scream. Minoru's hard boot connected with the anaconda's
chin in a high kick. The elf frowned as it continued to hiss in pain
'It's still conscious?' and let his leg fall back down in an axe-kick.
His heel crushed the animal's head into the ground.
Itachi's hands let fly three shuriken. The assassin then flicked his
hands together into some hand-seals. 'Kage-Shuriken no Jutsu.' The three
flying weapons multiplied into nine.
The snake stealthily dodged all of the shuriken: the animal was more
trained and intelligent than Itachi first thought. No problem. The prodigy's
hands, still hidden within the folds of his Akatsuki cloak, formed another
sequence.
Something sprouted out of the ground in front of the snakes. It was
a narrow little stick, but shot up unnaturally fast. It revealed itself
as a sprout, which turned into a tree. The roots began to crawl and entrap
the snakes.
Minoru's brow furrowed. He realized that Itachi was using an illusion.
That tree was only an image. But what was strange was that the animals
seemed to believe it was real. They squirmed around to free themselves,
from an object that was nothing more than a mirage.
Using this chance, the elf walked up to the struggling reptiles, and
shot an arrow in each of their heads. The blood spurted out onto his boots.
The tree disappeared, and the snakes lay dead at his feet.
Minoru looked up at Itachi. "Three down."
Itachi frowned. "There were four. Didn't you kill the last one?"
"I said that three were coming. You saw a fourth?" The corner of Minoru's
eye twitched. "Oh, damnation," he whispered in a hoarse manner.
The fourth snake was probably far off. There was no way that the two
of them could catch up and defeat the animal without revealing themselves.
"Amateur," Itachi snapped under his breath.
"It would be advantageous if you SPOKE more often," Minoru said through
gritted teeth. He glanced at the sheathed kanata on his back. 'He and I
cannot catch up with the last snake without showing ourselves to Sakura
and Sasuke. But at least my abilities are developed enough to work with
items like these.'
"No. I'm coming."
Sakura froze. She looked up, surprise lighting her emerald eyes. "What?"
she asked.
Sasuke turned his head slightly. His inner self snarled: from how his
face felt, his cheeks must have been turning red. It was a damn good thing
that it was the moon, and not the sun, illuminating the two of them. "You're
not facing that insane Morino Ibiki alone," Sasuke mumbled.
Sasuke huffed. He was uncomfortable with the look of utter shock on
Sakura's face. The young Uchiha desperately wanted to bang his head against
something dense and hard, realizing how dangerously sentimental his answer
was. It sounded like he had feelings, of all things. 'Well, you actually
do ' some random voice in his head trailed off.
Sakura looked down. She refrained from smiling; Sasuke would probably
grow upset if she displayed her happiness of winning him back to Konoha.
She picked up the now-cold lunchbox from the ground, and held it out to
Sasuke. "You still want to eat?"
He shook his head in response. Sasuke had no appetite. His body felt
strange, as if a heavy burden had been lifted. He was sure that if he ate
anything at the moment, he would throw it up in sickness, which would be
poor thanks indeed.
Sakura slipped the lunchbox back into her bag. She then began to walk,
allowing the young man to trail her without any touching. One hug was a
huge step for Sasuke, even if it was between friends. "This way. It's going
to be at least one hour to the gates..."
The pink-haired girl gave a sudden gasp. She clutched her chest, the
green cloak bunching in with the shredded red fabric. Another aura was
calling at her soul. Somebody was touching Tennyo.
Sakura glanced in the direction where she had laid the katana, underneath
shrubs and fine moss. A deity or spirit, working in favor of her, now possessed
Tennyo. But what disturbed Sakura were the vines, which had suddenly grown
over the spot where she had placed the weapon.
A foreign voice burst into her mind. 'Sakura-san! Something is coming
at you!' The kunoichi froze at its sound. Time seemed to stop for her as
she heard the warning signal. 'Keep on your guard AT ALL TIMES!'
"Sakura!" Sasuke's harsh voice suddenly entered her sphere of listening.
Sakura came out of her trance. She straightened her posture, and shook
herself off. "Sorry, Sasuke. I was just a little distracted." The pink-haired
girl glanced around. Wonder and confusion churned in her mind. 'Why was
that voice so similar too...'
Sasuke tensed. Through the surrounding area, a familiar sound rustled:
scales of keratin over bark and wet leaves.
An anaconda shot out from one of the bushes.
Immediately going with her survival instincts, Sakura threw a fist at
the animal. "HAH!"
The animal went off flying, and skidded back one hundred meters.
Sakura blinked that hit was too strong for her level. She glanced
to her side, and saw Sasuke's arm in a similar position. The face he made
at her was one of total disbelief. How in the world did the two of them
simultaneously land a hit on an anaconda?
"Hey, we made a double-punch," Sakura said with a grin. She glanced
back to the slithering heap.
The animal was still moving strong. It untangled itself, and made another
go for them.
Sasuke put his hands together in a hand-seal. He growled as the anaconda
rushed towards them. There was not enough chakra molding in his body. At
this rate, Sasuke would never be able to make a proper jutsu. 'Damn! Not
at a time like this!'
Sasuke pulled out several shuriken, and threw them at the snake. Only
a couple hit; a moving target was harder to hit than a still object. The
few that did manage to hit the snake were flicked off. The Uchiha kicked
off the ground with chakra in his legs.
Sakura jumped away. "Sasuke!" she yelled. "The best way to hurt things
like that is "
The kunoichi felt a jolt through her aura system. Sakura felt her knees
hit the ground. 'What?' She tried to get up, but little ki went through
her leg muscles.
Sasuke was in the air. He then noticed the trembling form of Sakura
on the ground. She wasn't moving out of the snake's way. What was she doing?
He then remembered: she used the Chiyute no Jutsu on him. She had spent
too much of her aura while trying to save him, and now she was in danger.
Her ki was flickering like the flame of a candle it took her effort to
even stand.
Even after she redeemed his life, Sasuke was still weak. He could not
protect her.
"DAMN IT!" Sasuke roared. He vented all his anger and frustration into
his system. The black eyes reverted into the blood-red Sharingan.
Sasuke's index finger found the tooth of a shuriken, and pressed down.
The blood seeped out. He performed the hand-seals, and slammed his hand
on the ground.
"Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" he shouted.
A loud explosion sounded out.
Out of the smoke, a second anaconda burst forth. It was nearly identical
in size and strength to the first one.
Sakura gave a wry smile as she witnessed the scene. So Sasuke learned
from Orochimaru how to call anacondas. Ironic, how a snake was now saving
instead of attacking her.
The two reptiles whirled and twisted around each other's forms. Sasuke
got ready his shuriken. After skillfully clicking them around his hands,
he let them fly around the fighting anacondas.
The shuriken thudded into nearby tree trunks, missing the snakes by
a long shot. Sakura bit her lip.
'Now.' Sasuke's left arm snapped upward. The nearly-invisible strings
connecting the shuriken closed in around the snakes, and trapped them to
a tree. From what Sasuke could tell, the combat between the animals was
even, and they were nearly finished. But he could not risk the fighting
animals to get close to the pink-haired girl.
Tied up in strings and mutual defeat, both snakes disappeared in a poof
of smoke.
Something akin to fear creeped into Sakura. She gulped. Sasuke could
be fast. What made the kunoichi wonder was how he got all that chakra in
his weakened state, to summon such a large animal.
Sasuke turned his head towards Sakura. He saw her give a brief shudder
as their eyes made contact.
He then realized: his eyes were as yet in the Sharingan. They sometimes
turned on automatically when he felt anger. And masters of the bloodline
trait could keep it on for extended periods of time. He willed the eyes
back to normal before anymore chakra in him was wasted.
Sasuke walked toward Sakura, and lowered his hand to her kneeling form.
She stared at it, confused at what he was doing.
"Aren't you coming?" Sasuke demanded.
Sakura gave a weak smile. "Oh. Yeah."
As Sasuke helped her up, he noticed the callous marks on Sakura's hands.
They formed an odd shape within her palm. He would keep that feeling tucked
in his memory for later reference.
Sakura brushed the dead leaves off her cloak with both hands. "Did the
two anacondas kill each other?" she asked in concern. "It's not often that
summoning animals fight against their own species."
"No. They were just tired," Sasuke said dryly. "It was a tie, and both
gave up and ran away from each other."
"HOKAGE-SAMA!"
Tsunade snorted out of her sleep. Somebody was banging on the door of
her house, each sound callous to her ears. She picked up a nearby clock,
cursed under her breath, and pulled a blanket tighter to her voluptuous
frame.
"Hokage-sama, this is important," one chuunin's voice drawled. "Don't
deny that you're awake! You're a light sleeper, even AFTER you drink."
A nerve popped out of her forehead. Whoever said that had some guts.
The banging continued.
A circuit in Tsunade's patience exploded. "It's friggin' three o'clock
in the morning!" she roared. She angrily pulled off the covers, and stomped
to the door. Three chuunin and one jounin were at her door. "This had better
be good," she muttered.
She then noticed the five or so jounin behind them, and a few ANBU.
It was the nightly patrol group of this week. A pink mop of hair appeared
amidst the collection of face-masks.
"Do you have to hold me so tightly?" a feminine voice snapped. "It's
not like I can DO anything against you, you know."
Tsunade's hazel eyes widened.
Haruno Sakura slapped away a hand of one of the ANBU. The girl looked
up, and then saw the dazed look of the Fifth Hokage. Sakura immediately
let her hands drop to her side. Not only that, she dropped to her knees
and bowed, her nose nearly touching the cold stone of the street. "Godaime-sama,"
she said respectfully.
Before Sakura left, she usually called the blond lady as 'Tsunade-sama,'
which was a little more personal than 'Godaime-sama'. But these were special
circumstances. The pink-haired girl was nervous: knowing Tsunade, she would
at least get a scolding or two for turning up missing. Sakura also wanted
to get on the woman's good side as soon as possible, for the sake of a
traitor who was not far behind.
Sasuke stumbled on the ground, right next to Sakura. He glared at the
ANBU member who pushed him in front of the Hokage. This ceremony was such
a joke in his opinion. Then again, he did not have much choice in the matter.
He was already here, chakra depleted and all.
The Fifth Hokage crossed her arms. "Haruno Sakura. Uchiha Sasuke."
Sasuke let off a disrespectful growl. A second afterwards, he felt a
tremendous shove on top of his head.
The Uchiha weakly turned his face, finding that it was Sakura who had
forced his head down in the traditional position of humility. 'How dare
she!' Her new-found energy had nearly broken his spine in that maneuver.
Then again, it was kind of nice being touched by her once more, although
he would have preferred some places other than his scalp
The nearby ANBU were quietly laughing as Sakura nearly plowed Sasuke's
face into the street. The jounin kept straight faces, as they did not have
the luxury of a face-mask.
Tsunade groaned as she massaged her temples. "I think we have a long
night ahead of us."
Notes:
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please tell me! If
I suck, by all means tell me. In an intelligent manner.
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