The interrogation disguised as friendly conversation back at the police department must have gone well enough for Sakura, as she did not hear from Naruto and Shikamaru about a followup. Naruto checked in with her frequently, and Sakura maintained a friendly front.
The two had met for lunch a few days after Sakura visited the department. Naruto wanted to clear the air about Hinata. He prepared this long speech about how Hinata was born and raised into a cutthroat environment, how she had not harmed anyone and spent her life in fear and hiding. He talked about how he fell in love with her, how sweet of a girl she was, and how complicated love could be.
Sakura stood there with a fake smile on her face as her disdain for Naruto grew with every additional second of his hypocrisy. There was a lot she could have said in response, but she did not want to defend Sasuke in front of Naruto. So, she sat there like a good obedient girl and nodded. She saw how stupid Naruto was, and how much sense it made that Sasuke made a fool out of him for years. He could not see a conniving bitch when she was served on a silver platter - more so, he married her. What hope would he ever have of catching someone like Sasuke?
She went home that afternoon and grieved the person she used to be before all this. The innocence, the naivete, the strong sense of justice, her moral grounds. It had all been turned upside down, which made her deeply resentful. No one here understood her anymore, and she had to silence her thoughts to fit in.
Her protests remained hidden, her longings stayed unspoken.
It was early September, and Sakura's last semester was supposed to start in a week. Except, the problems she anticipated months ago had started to accumulate. First, her enrollment was temporarily on hold due to 'standard procedure' until she was cleared from the suspicions of mob association. Tsunade again claimed it was all 'typical' in longer term hostage cases. Then, she realized that without her summer income, her rent was barely affordable for her now. What if she lost her apartment?
She called her landlord, panicked, asking for an extension on that month's rent. Her jaw dropped to the floor when the confused landlord reminded her that her rent had been paid in full for the next five years a month ago. She hung up to collect herself. Was it Sasuke? A month ago? Why didn't he tell her? Still, a win was a win, and she needed them.
Having her pistol brought her a lot of calm. Sakura was now much less worried about the Akatsuki. She carried the gun on her under her dresses, skirts, in her boots, always hidden.
Speaking of the Akatsuki, Sakura started to lose her mind from boredom in her small apartment. She started going for walks, reading, and doing whatever she could to pass time. Finding a job wasn't quite feasible for her at that moment. She kept checking with Tsunade about when she would be cleared as a 'potential mafia affiliate,' and the response was always vague and unclear. Her random hobbies only went so far in terms of curing her boredom. She missed her job - her real passion. So, in her free time, she slowly started working on her laptop again. She understood why Sui had sent it to her. It still had all the Akatsuki data on it.
She spent her afternoons working on the data analysis while Ino was at work. She encrypted her entire process, and focused on detecting patterns or predictable elements in the Akatsuki activity over time. She analyzed their known locations, financial activity, recruitment criteria, and the nature of their operations. It was a difficult task due to the scarcity of the data. They were good at covering their tracks. In the evenings, she hung out with Ino like she used to before this whole ordeal.
The only person she trusted in Konoha was Ino, who was dating Shikamaru - the person most suspicious of Sakura.
Indeed, he had crossed some of his ethical boundaries to gather intel on Sakura. His job was to investigate, and the sinking feeling that Sakura was hiding crucial information weighed on him heavily. Thing is, Sakura could be a great asset if she just turned on Sasuke. She could provide eyewitness testimony and give up his secret schemes and protocols. Instead, she stayed silent - he was sure of it. Was she blackmailed? Paid off?
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~Bulletproof~ SasuSaku Mafia Story
Fanfiction"I will burn this whole city down for you" ---------------------------------------------------------------- Sasuke Uchiha, the evasive international mob leader, is caught for the first time when a rookie police intern, Sakura Haruno, devises a bril...
