Blackdragon: Hello! It's another SasuSaku fic, a little bit different from Treasure Map. Hope you'll enjoy this, though.
Disclaimer: Rights aren't mine…but the fanfiction is!
The Uchiha Rose
Chapter 1: Fragrance
It was a whiff of what was to come...
A rose is many things.
We can take it at face value, or we can decipher the underlying meanings behind them.
But whatever the case, a rose can symbolize so many things, love, beauty, and even surprisingly…war.
It's odd that something so lovely can represent something so ugly.
But that's exactly how to describe Sakura Haruno. Yes, she's beautiful, has pink hair, jade eyes, and an ideal body.
But that's the surface, of course. On the inside, she's a kunoichi, a female shinobi, skilled in the arts of brutal battle tactics and warfare.
On top of that, Sakura is a renowned medic-nin, second under Tsunade after two years of blood, sweat, and tears. It is rumored that Sakura may have even surpassed the Godaime, but Sakura knew that wasn't true. Tsunade knew so much more than Sakura, and had the advantage of experience as well.
Sakura got out of her apartment complex and locked the door, excited for the upcoming day. The beginning of missions was always exciting.
Tsunade never let Sakura go on missions while she was learning.
But now, two years later, Tsunade finally let Sakura go on an important mission.
As she was walking to the gate, a few personal possessions in her bag, Sakura whipped around as someone called her name.
"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Sakura only knew one person who had that voice.
"Naruto!" She smiled at him, hand in hand with Hinata. She smiled even wider.
Over the years, Sakura had become much closer to Naruto; she no longer shoved him away in order to get to Sasuke. In fact, she thought bitterly, there was no Sasuke anymore.
The damn bastard had pushed her away, told her more times to shut up and go away than Sakura had ever gotten irritated at Naruto, too.
Pushing the thoughts aside, Sakura waved. "Hinata!"
Demure as always, Hinata nodded. "Sakura-chan."
Naruto trained under Jiraiya, and even advanced to Chunin level. Sakura knew better than that; Naruto was better than Jonin, in terms of strength, but his brains were barely Chunin level.
Given the proper time, Naruto's head would catch up with his strength. Then, that deadly combo would help him achieve Jonin status.
Until then, Naruto's even deadlier combo of strength and lacking brain would just have to do.
But that was fine, anyway. Sakura knew he was in good hands, since Hinata tutored him in various subjects everyday.
Heck, even Sakura was in good hands, too. Naruto had spent the whole month after Sasuke left comforting her, visiting her, telling her to get a life and that mourning for the damn bastard wasn't even worth it.
"Sakura-chan, you've got to be joking! That teme isn't even worth it!"
How she finally saw Naruto as a friend after that.
She remembered thinking to herself that crying over some kid who had done nothing for her wasn't worth it. Then she fondly remembered screaming, "Screw you!", scared half of her neighbors in the process, and demanded Tsunade to start training so vigorous that she lived and breathed medical jutsus and knowledge.
Two years later, Sakura walked down the streets of Konoha, Naruto to her left, and Hinata holding hands with him.
They met up with Lee, Shikamaru, and Neiji.
Smiling, Sakura waved to the guys. Lee enthusiastically waved back. Sakura had given up her seemingly undying love for Sasuke; Lee had not for Sakura.
"Your youth becomes you! The pink of the lotus must not be vanquished! My dear blossoming lotus Sakura, I shall protect you forever!"
"Morning," Shikamaru cut off Lee smartly.
Sakura nodded, and did the same to Neiji.
Neiji, top ANBU captain and no surprisingly, captain of the mission, nodded in response.
After a short briefing to make sure things were set, all of the Anbu members put on their masks.
Donning her hawk-like one, Sakura nearly rolled her eyes as her breathing was cut shorter with the porcelain mask on her face.
With the Neiji's signal, all six team members sprinted into the forest, arriving at the designated location three hours later just before entering the Cloud Village.
It was rumored that Kabuto was spotted here.
"Oi, what are we doing, following Kabuto?" Naruto asked, annoyed that he'd just spent the past three hours running through trees to follow some stupid rumor.
"Kabuto always follow Orochimaru." Sakura answered quickly. She as nervous, about what, she didn't know. Whenever something was associated with Orochimaru, Sakura always felt slightly anxious. The snake eyes, the pale skin, the sinister feeling all made
Sakura close her eyes in disgust. She opened them as Neiji rested a hand on her shoulder.
"You'll be fine."
Sakura nodded. That was why Neiji was the top ANBU captain. An uncanny sense of the emotional and physical turmoil of his teammates helped Neiji make the right course of actions for everyone.
Sakura willed herself to think of all Orochimaru's done. Then she willed to think of his little lackey, Kabuto.
Tsunade's most prized and only apprentice did not let any opportunity go to waste.
Especially not when it concerned two of Sakura's most hated individuals. Granted, Sasuke was not very nice to her, but taking Sasuke away was unforgivable.
Well, it was his choice, but if Orochimaru hadn't showed up with his sick promise in the first place, Sasuke wouldn't have left and broken Team 7.
She turned a steely jade gaze onto the village, and felt ready to do some pounding.
"All right, your youth knows what to do!" Lee exclaimed.
Shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"Wait! So I'm standing back here with Hinata, in case he comes out?"
Shikamaru rolled his eyes again.
'Naruto, yes. I'm supposed to be with you guys. Whatever happens, Kabuto has to be eliminated. He will not escape."
"Oh." Naruto was certainly not the sharpest kunai in the pack.
"Fall out," Neiji quietly commanded.
Everyone but Naruto, Shikamaru, and Hinata vanished, leaving behind falling leaves in their wake.
Neiji entered the village, heading straight for the inn that requested protection, and along him were Sakura and Lee.
Neiji picked out this team, well, simply put, because he was good at ninjutsu and had Byakugan, Lee in taijutsu, and Sakura in genjutsus.
With his intuition, Neiji also knew Sakura wanted to pound Kabuto to the next village and feed Orochimaru a new type of poison Gaara had given her.
Upon arriving in the shadows in the inn, the innkeeper bowed lowly, and then got on his feet. "I beg you, please help me!"
Sakura was the first to respond in a quiet voice, "Sir, we're already here. Just leave it to us." She gave him a reassuring pat on the back, before melting back into the shadow of a wall.
The elderly man took a shaky finger and pointed them inside.
"Sakura, wait." Neiji had a hand on Lee and Sakura's shoulders. "Let me do this."
He activated his Byakugan, scanning for any signs of Orochimaru or his lackey.
When Neiji found an outline of Kabuto, he remained silent. When he found Orochimaru, he smirked, and when he found another man, his smirk turned into a frown.
"Sakura, I think it's best if you go back, and ask Naruto to come along," he said softly.
Grabbing the front of his loose shirt, Sakura hissed. "Hyuuga, if this is about Sasuke, I am not going back."
Raising his brow, Neiji simply nodded, knowing that an angry kunoichi was in the works if he did not accept. Even Lee could be seen fuming with fire in his eyes.
"Yosh! My rival!"
"Give it a break, Lee." Neiji said simply, and cautiously approached towards the room where the three men were.
But with a captain's intuition, Neiji didn't know if letting Sakura into the inn was a good idea. Emotions affected the way shinobi act, especially with kunoichi. Last time he brought a kunoichi, the girl cried for hours on end for a dead rabbit on the road.
Even though Neiji knew Sakura wasn't the weepy kind of kunoichi, he didn't know how Sakura would act if she saw Sasuke. Heck, he didn't even know if she'd even gotten over him yet.
Before they could even reach the room, a kunai shot straight towards Sakura. She effectively dodged it and hurled it back to the origin.
"Quicker than usual, Sakura." Kabuto emerged out of nowhere.
Sprinting into action, Lee quickly shot Kabuto several series of punches and kicks, before moving apart.
Kabuto fell back, rubbing his hands. "Now, we can get ugly, or we can remain diplomatic."
"Since when have you ever been diplomatic?" Sakura hissed, before charging at him herself, and pushing chakra into her hands and punching Kabuto square in the jaw.
He went flying and hit the wall and the end of the hall, nearly thirty meters away.
The whole hall was suddenly covered in missing nins, and Neiji and Lee went immediately to take care of them.
Suddenly, Kabuto reappeared in front of Sakura. "As you wish, Sakura."
His arm shot out to punch her in the face, but she leaped onto the ceiling, before coming back down to kick him.
Kabuto was certainly taken aback as he was kicked in the stomach. He never knew Sakura had gotten so fast, or strong.
Only one way to subdue her.
He made a couple of hand seals before dodging another one of her kicks, and jammed a needle straight into her back.
Sakura threw her head back and shrieked. Cold liquid entered her body, leaving her shivering as she stumbled to lean against the wall.
The missing nins didn't know what was happening, as they heard a feminine scream from the falcon-masked shinobi. Neiji and Lee took advantage of that to dispose the rest of them. The various missing nins slumped all over the place, fully subdued, and the two Konoha ninjas quickly ran over to Sakura.
Lee headed straight for Kabuto, and engaged in heavy a taijutsu battle.
Neiji, however, tried to calm down Sakura. She writhed on the floor, gasping in pain, cold sweat adorning her brow.
"Sakura, do you need to go back?"
"No!" She quickly stood up, and held onto his arm for support. She gathered chakra in her hand, and slowly began drawing out the poison.
A man came out of nowhere and tried to hit Neiji, but he simply ducked with Sakura and moved her towards the end of the hall. He thrust Sakura to the innkeeper, who was trembling in fright.
"Take care of her."
The innkeeper nodded dumbly, before dragging Sakura behind the information desk. Sakura hissed as another wave of agony tore through her body, threatening far worse if she didn't take out more of the poison.
In the moments of frenzy, she lost her headpiece. Sakura cursed herself, and fought the urge to gag as she slowly drew out poison.
The moment she finished drawing out the poison, she felt blood splatter all over her upper torso. When she looked up, Sakura could only put her hand over her mouth in horror.
A snake went straight through the elder's head. It turned its head to look at Sakura, forked tongue sliding out of its mouth.
Sakura quickly formed a few hand seals, and blew out red hot fire in front of her, but that wasn't enough to stop another snake coming from behind the desk. It wrapped itself around Sakura's waist, before hoisted her up none too gently out of the desk.
Digging her nails into the snake, Sakura cut three before she was wrapped in thirteen more. The snakes moved her straight to a sketchy looking room, with Neiji and Lee nowhere to be seen.
With some quick thinking, Sakura formed a few complicated seals, and blasted it through all thirteen snakes holding her captive.
If there was anything that was living and had muscles, her new jutsu worked just fine. It caused muscle atrophy, and within seconds, Sakura pulled herself from the snake's bind, before coming face-to-face with the person who she hated the most.
She didn't even acknowledge him as she took the first moment she could to spit in his face and punch him to his rightful home, Hell.
"Why, Sakura-san, you've grown since I've last seen you." Orochimaru commented on her fuller figure and faster speed.
Sakura didn't even waste her breath in answering, and continued her torrent of attacks.
One punch grazed his stomach, and sent Orochimaru flying back.
"So you really are Tsunade's apprentice." He commented, noting his former teammate's strength in Sakura.
Sakura was really angry. Very furious, since Orochimaru made the dumbest statement of the century. No shit, Detective Orochimaru, I'm Tsunade's apprentice!
How could Sasuke want help from this snake-brained disaster?
"You bastard, where is Sasuke?"
Thousands of snakes shot from Orochimaru and wrapped around Sakura, who used her fist and sent them flying in tens.
"Sweetheart, he's right here." Orochimaru hissed, and the snakes went back into his body.
Sakura didn't even look for Sasuke as she threw kunai and exploding tags at Orochimaru.
Stretching her chakra over her skin, Sakura pulled out a bottle of poison and smoothed it over her skin. It only takes a coin's area of contact to be killed by the nerve poison.
Punching Orochimaru's snakes away, Sakura found no one at the other side of the room, before thousands of snakes engulfed her, rubbing every bit of poison off her body.
Damn.
Snakes fell away dead, but before long, snakes just kept coming, a sign that there was no poison on her body left.
She gritted her teeth, and punched through the wall snakes.
Orochimaru smiled, a sinister act, and turned his head sideways. 'Sasuke, your little flower has quite the fire, doesn't she?" He reappeared beside Sasuke.
"You might want to calm her down, before the fire burns the flower into ashes."
"Hn." But Sasuke was already on it.
The snakes fell away as Sakura stood, alone on the other side of the room. She panted in exertion, took out a kunai, and flung herself at Orochimaru again.
She clashed with a sword a few feet from him.
"Sakura, calm down." Sasuke said, smoothly.
"Sasuke, don't tell me what to do!" She snarled, pushed away, and tried again for an attack.
She was met halfway again with Sasuke.
"Calm down or he will take your life." Sasuke said, again.
She laughed bitterly. "Sasuke, the moment you left, you took my life." Propelling herself upwards, Sakura aimed for a kick on Orochimaru's head.
She never made it.
Sasuke punched her, and left Sakura sprawled on the floor.
She got up on all fours, before standing up, leaning on the wall.
"Where are Neiji and Lee?" She spat.
Orochimaru leaned casually against the wall. "I disposed of them. Not that it was hard, either. Both begged for their lives."
"Sasuke," she commanded. His gaze flickered to the kunoichi. "You are an idiot to try to follow this one to get power."
"Sakura, don't mess with us. We're not here for you."
Orochimaru smiled. "On the contrary, Sasuke, I have a deal for Sakura."
Sasuke looked at Orochimaru with the barest of emotion.
At that point, Sakura disappeared, and reappeared in front on Orochimaru. She aimed for his face, but Orochimaru merely grabbed it and held it in place.
"If that's what you want," Sakura ground out, her other free hand wrapped around his neck.
Orochimaru's face contorted in pain and Sakura burned the skin away and shot poison through it.
He slammed her against the wall. "Let's make a deal."
"And why would I want to make a deal with you?" Sakura hissed.
"Sasuke, please bring in the prisoners."
The genius looked at Orochimaru with distaste, and disappeared through the doorway.
"Now, Sakura. You've grown into a woman. I have no doubt that you want your precious Sasuke back."
"What if I don't? That's not even Sasuke." She bit back an insult.
"That's the first time I've ever heard that. But doesn't matter. Now, Sasuke's been with me for nearly two years. He will undergo the most extensive training in the next year."
"Do you think I care?" Sakura snarled, and attempted to free her hand.
"Orochimaru." Sasuke spoke coolly, depositing a gagged and bound Neiji and Lee.
"You do care." Orochimaru smiled, and his grip on her hand loosened. Refusing to gag at his disgusting smile, Sakura wrenched her hand from his and rushed over to her comrades.
Sakura wasted no time to check on Neiji and Lee. Rushing over, she felt the two for any wounds. Their chakra was heavily depleted, and Sakura used up the rest of her chakra to take the sleep-causing liquid out.
"You see, if you accept my…proposition, your two comrades will live. If you don't, both will die. By your hands, actually. I know a temporary body possessing technique. Quite useful, I should say."
"What's the deal?" Sakura didn't like where this was going. It was her life, or both Neiji's and Lee's.
"Don't worry, I'll let all three of you live, if you-"
"Sakura, don't you dare go because of us." Neiji interjected.
She was by his side in a second, gently pushing him down. "Neiji, stop it. It's my decision, not yours."
Sasuke stood on the side, casually watching over the scenes of his old comrades.
"Now, now, sweetheart, no need to get touchy. But if you come with us, not only will I spare their lives, I will spare yours. How does that sound, hmm?"
Life, the only true beauty in the world. Life, something we throw around so casually. Life, something we also fiercely protect. To have life, that was the most important by now.
"You and I need to negotiate," Sakura motioned not-so-patiently and stepped into the blood spattered hall.
"Sakura, Captain's orders, you are not to accept!" Neiji raised his voice. But Sakura didn't hear him, because she already disappeared through the door.
"It's her decision," Sasuke quietly murmured.
"What's the deal?" Neiji asked, getting angrier and angrier.
Sasuke made no answer. In truth, even he didn't know what the deal was.
"Heh." Neiji chuckled darkly. "You know, Sakura didn't leave her apartment for a whole month after you left."
Sasuke narrowed his blood red eyes. Did they expect him to care?
Lee spoke, momentarily forgotten and awake and aware of the situation. "But now she's someone different, too. She has her goals…she's almost like you now. But unlike you, Sakura is a known sensation in all the villages. They will not let my lotus blossom wilt!" Lee struggled with the bonds that held him captive with flames in his eyes.
Kabuto silently hit him at the nape of the neck, causing Lee to sag in again.
"Orochimaru, what's the deal?" She asked, not sure if she should have left Neiji and Lee alone.
"You will just have to heal Sasuke every evening, after our training sessions."
"Why can't Kabuto do it?"
"Kabuto expends much of his chakra healing my injuries. Sasuke won't let Kabuto touch him, anyway. I insist on the best." Orochimaru smiled cruelly.
"And…I shall treat you well as long as you heal Sasuke everyday."
Sakura felt a major headache forming from major chakra depletion, and even more as this mission continued.
It didn't take Shikamaru to figure out her choice, did it? "I have no choice but to accept, don't I? But I have conditions, too. You will let me write to whoever I want, I will not live in a prison, I will not be harmed by anyone in Sound, and if I find that you have harmed anyone dear to me," Sakura's glance slid down to his burned neck, and with a dangerously low voice, finished, "I will not hesitate."
"Then we have reached an agreement."
Sakura's shoulders went limp, and walked back tiredly into the room. She had no idea where that backbone came from. Here she was, nearly dead and exhausted, demanding prepositions from Orochimaru. If anything, she was good as dead.
Sakura took out her kunai and began to cut the cloth that held Neiji and Lee down.
She didn't meet their gazes, and it didn't take Neiji a second more to know that she accepted.
Sakura felt the gauzy cloth loosen, and she put her arms around Neiji. She whsipered to both of them, "Get out of here and warn the others."
Sasuke stiffened at her actions.
"Haruno, didn't I say not to accept?" Neiji said quietly, suddenly relieved to live, but angry to lose Sakura. Curiously enough, Sakura was a prize kunoichi. She handled well on her own, and was one of the few shinobi, and perhaps one of the only few kunoichi he really respected. He was angry, of course. But if he were in that position, he would have done the same.
Finishing the rest of the bonds, Neiji and Sakura both knelt on the floor to get Lee's bind undone.
Once finished, all three rose, and Sakura put her arms around Lee, before giving each of them a small kiss on the forehead.
Neiji felt Sakura trembling.
"Neiji, will you tell Tsunade…?"
He nodded solemnly.
Sakura sighed, and stepped back. Kabuto grabbed her arm and shoved her towards Orochimaru.
Sasuke stepped between Orochimaru and Sakura. "Let's go," he murmured quietly.
In a second, snakes wrapped around Kabuto, Sasuke, and Sakura, before disappearing to Sound.
Orochimaru remained left behind. "Hyuuga, tell Tsunade I appreciate the fruits of her labor." He smiled cruelly, and then disappeared.
Lee was immediately angry. "The fruits of Hokage-sama's labor? Sakura is a lovely lotus blossom! I will beat you in our next meet!"
Neiji heard static, and quickly pushed his headpiece into the proper mode.
"Naruto, can you hear me?"
"Yeah! Where've you guys been? Have you seen Sakura? Her headpiece is nothing but static!"
"Later, Naruto." Neiji replied. He felt upset. This was the first time he had ever failed a mission, and lost the Hokage's most cherished pupil. Tsunade would surely be seething when she hears. Naruto would be seething, too.
Neiji looked up to the sky, grey clouds swirling.
You better take care of her, Uchiha.
End notes: Keep in mind, this is just a whiff of what's to come, a prologue of sorts. I just need to get things started…before the real snazzy stuff comes along. Chapter 2 is nearly done. Feel free to make suggestions or comments.
-Blackdragon