The Two of Us

01 | Team Taka

Two people were wandering around the forest as a certain dark-haired man with onyx eyes asked them to leave. Sasuke has been injured from a previous fight, leaving him with bandages around his forehead. He wasn't wearing his usual white robe as well and changed it to black. Staying with him in a abandoned house in the middle of a forest was Juugo, while Karin and Suigetsu were the ones he asked to leave as he can't stand their constant bickering while he was regaining strength.

"It's your damn fault Sasuke asked us to leave! If you could just shut your mouth for at least one day, maybe you wouldn't be in Sasuke's nerves!" Karin screamed at Suigetsu. He rolled his eyes in response and continued to irritate her. "We were sent out! Not just me! If you weren't so desperate for Sasuke's attention, we wouldn't be kicked out."

Karin was quiet for a few seconds instead of answering back. Suigetsu was finally able to shut this woman's mouth.

"No response? Damn, that's new. I guess I–"

"Shut up, I can sense some chakra. It's only one, though." Karin informed him. "Just one? I can take him out myself. Where is it?" Karin directed him to the rivers and upon arriving, it was awfully quiet. Perhaps too peaceful to be infiltrated.

"Um, its a her." Upon inspecting the river shore, Karin saw a woman, a pink-haired woman lying unconsciously on the ground. She saw the Konoha headband and alarmed Suigetsu in case this was a trap.

"How can a beautiful woman be just lying in here? I wonder what happened." Suigetsu looked at her with amusement and Karin scowled at his remarks. "How can you be so careless? We could be ambushed right now!"

"Karin, you said it yourself that there's only one chakra in this area and I assume its hers. Why don't we just bring her to our place and get some information out of her."

"What kind of information could we possibly get from a Konoha kunoichi, dumb ass?"

"Probably something about Akatsuki? Aren't they one of the villages who's in their trail? She could provide answers and bring us closer to Itachi. Sasuke would be happy about this. C'mon now, Karin, if I'm the dumb ass, why are you the one asking stupid questions?" Karin bit her lip in frustration due to Suigetsu's last remark but she couldn't help but agree that he was right so she just let him carry the pink-haired ninja towards the little house they settled in.

Arriving at a small two-story house, Suigetsu and Karin found Juugo outside, doing his usual routine—talking to birds. He turned towards them and had a look of curiosity in his face. "What is that?" Suigetsu beamed at him, "This is a gift for Sasuke!"

"You know that Sasuke-sama isn't interested in woman, right?" Juugo refused to look at the woman in Suigetsu arms to avoid triggering his killing desires.

"This is not just any woman, Juugo! This is a Konoha kunoichi! One that could bring us closer to Sasuke's goal!"

Juugo only looked at him as he went inside the house followed by Karin. He then followed suit.

"Sasuke-kuuun!! I brought you a gift!!" Karin called from downstairs until she heard shuffling from upstairs going towards the stairs.

Upon arriving downstairs, Sasuke was shocked to see a familiar person in Suigetsu's arm.

"...Sakura?"

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"I can't believe I lost her!! This is all my fault! Everything is my fault! I'm so fucking clumsy, I always end up hurting my friends! First, Sasuke, and now Sakura-chan too?! I can't fucking believe this!! I hate myself!!" Naruto was on the ground arched on his knees, head touching the grass as he slams his closed palms on it. He screamed with guilt and regret and pain that no one felt.

Just moments ago, he lost control again, releasing his four-tails and accidentally sent Sakura flying and wounding Sai. It has been an hour of looking yet there was no still sign of Sakura. This lead to Naruto blaming himself.

"Naruto, enough! Nothing will happen if you just blame yourself. Right now, Sakura could be held hostage by some Akatsuki and crouching there punching the ground wouldn't help her in any way. Stop now before you lose control again!" Kakashi touched his shoulder in an attempt to calm him which he did. Naruto looked up to his sensei with eyes full of tears yet with determination.

"You're right, Kakashi-sensei. I'm sorry for breaking down, I just can't afford to lose another friend." Naruto said as he stood up to Kakashi's level.

"You won't be losing anyone, Naruto. I believe in you and I know you can find her." Kakashi smiled at him knowing that the unpredictable ninja will do his best to find Sakura.

"Yossssh!!! Let's go, Yamato-taicho, Sai! We won't stop until we find Sakura-chan! Kakashi-sensei, you better keep up!!"

Sai gave a fake smile and thought, "This idiot forgot he has injured me as well,"

—————

It was the next day since Team Taka found Sakura. Sakura opened her eyes and realized she was at an unfamiliar place. As her eyes adjusted to the light, a huge figure appeared above her, looking at her with murder in his eyes.

"Must. Kill. Pink. Haired. Woman!" Juugo exclaimed. His curse seal has been activated the moment he saw her eyes open. His skin turned to a darker color and his eyes appeared black. Before he could slam his fist to Sakura, she reacted first and with a chakra infused fist, she punched him to the floor, sending him to the first floor of the house, alarming the other three in the house. Sakura looked at the hole she made and saw that the man she punched was unconscious, slowly turning into human again.

Sakura furrowed her brows upon realizing that the marks this man have is the same one Sasuke had during their Chunin exams. "A cursed seal?" she whispered to herself.

"Sakura."

Shocked with the voice who called, she averted her attention towards the door of the room she has awakened from. There stood the man who left her at the bench three years ago; the man whom Naruto promised to bring back; the man she only loved...

"S-Sasuke?..."

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hello! krakowi here! i hope you guys liked the first chapter. im actually just typing it on my phone... at 5AM-ish so im sorry if it comes out sloppy or disoriented. i got bored reading so i decided to make this on impulse haha. dont worry, the plot has been in my head for weeks now and its only a matter of time before i start to writing it.

IMPORTANT: PLEASE READ
i will be doing a time-skip. first few chapters will be sakura's journey with team taka into finding itachi. after that fight, i will skip to the aftermath of 4th great ninja war, so i wouldn't be going into much details about the battles that happened. im pretty sure you all already watched those haha.

see you all next week! or maybe tomorrow because i feel like writing again, just let me get my sleep for a while haha.

Published: 21 January 2021
Words: 1222