Watch My Back As I Move On

Chapter 44: Forgive Me

Sakura glared at Naruto. If looks could kill, surely Naruto would be lying on his own pool of blood right now. They lunged at each other at full speed. Enough to make Konan stare at them in awe. 'To think that Sakura's gotten this strong with just Itachi's, Sasori's and Deidara's trainings.' Konan thought. Naruto made shadow clones to render Sakura's attacks. But what shocked the three Akatsuki is what happened next. Sakura was about to punch the real Naruto's head off until a hand with chidori emerged from the ground, aiming for Sakura's abdomen. "Sakura!" Konan shouted.

Sakura had no time to dodge. The attack hit her right through the abdomen. Sakura spit blood. Naruto was about to attack her with a resengan. But his hand was stabbed with a rod that came flying from a far.

Sakura gritted her teeth and grabbed the arm that is right through her abdomen. 'To think that you'd try to kill your own student, Kakashi-sensei.' Sakura thought, smiling as a tear fell from her left eye. 'But you never would've thought that your own student would kill you. I'll be taking another life, forgive me.' Sakura thought as she rapidly sent a huge amount of chakra into Kakashi's arm, makng him scream in pain. Naruto's eyes widened at the scene before him. He was about to claw away Sakura's hand until she shouted. "Katsu!" With that Kakashi's arm exploded along with his body, killing him in the process. "Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted as he was blown away by the explosion.

"Sakura!" Konan, Tobi and Pein shouted from a far as Sakura fell on her knees, with her hand on her abdomen. Her intestines are out. She sent a small amount of healing chakra as she put her intestines back in place gently. "SAKURA!" Naruto shouted out of anger as he ran towards her at full speed. But midway towards Sakura, he was stopped by Pein. "You lose." Pein said just in time when Konan appeared behind Naruto and hit his pressure point hard enough to make him faint.

Meanwhile...

Bang!

An explosion was heard in the resort, making the Akatsuki members stop abruptly from the fight. "Now that's not a good sound. Specially if it's not from Deidara." Zetsu said. 'Sakura.' Everybody thought as they try their hardest to focus on their fight.

"Everyone! We're heading back!" Pein shouted as they entered the resort. Pein had Naruto on his back and a limping Tobi hanging on his shoulder. Tobi's in the verge of fainting from chakra loss. Konan had the bloody and barely breathing Sakura in her arms.

"We're not letting you take Naruto away." Gaara said, glaring at Pein. Gaara was about to attack him but a wave of pain stopped them. One by one, the konoha and the sand nins fainted. "Sorry, little brother. Maybe next time." Itachi monotonously said, his sharingan spinning dangerously from the recent genjutsu he inflicted on the enemies.

"Deidara." Pein called out. "Hai, un." He said, making a huge clay bird. "Sasori, Kakuzu. Try to make Sakura's bleeding stop." Pein said as the bird took Naruto in its beak. He sat Tobi on the bird and the bird flew away. Konan gently lied Sakura down on the bird and scooted away. Giving Sasori and Kakuzu space to check her.

"What f**k happened to her?" Hidan asked from another clay bird. "She was attacked by the copycat nin. Then she made him explode." Konan briefly explained. "Where is the copycat nin now?" Kisame asked, raising an eyebrow. "Probably dead, un." Deidara said. "Dead he is." Pein said. "And Sakura is in the verge of dying too." Kakuzu said, staring at Sakura.

"She won't die." Tobi whispered, trying not to faint. "Sakura-chan promised." He said. "Hurry up, brat. She's losing a lot of blood." Sasori shouted at Deidara as Kakuzu tried stopping the bleeding. "I'm doing it as fast as I possibly can, un!" Deidara shouted.

"Sasori, her pulse." Kakuzu said, making Sasori's eyes widen. Itachi stood up and jumped on their clay bird. He forced open Sakura's eyes and activated his Sharingan, putting Sakura in a genjutsu.

Inside the Genjutsu...

"Have I lived a good life? Am I good enough to live? Am I worth protecting?  Do I deserve a life? I've killed people without regretting what I've done. And now, I'll die, still not regretting killing people." Everything was pitch black. All Itachi could see is a silhouette of Sakura on a swing. Itachi approached her.

"You lived a good life and you should continue living for a better. You're good enough to live but you should never be just good enough. You are worth protecting. Not because you are special, but because you are loved and appreciated. You deserve a life because you're just another victim of this horrid game. You've killed people who tried to harm those special to you, that's why you feel no regret. And you will not die. For you have not accomplished your goal yet." Itachi monotonously said as the silhouette of Sakura looked at his way. Everything slowly gained color. Itachi looked around and saw themselves in a park.

"I am useless. I am weak." Sakura's silhouette said. "You are never useless, dear. You are strong just because you continue to play this horrid game called life." Itachi replied. "But what is my goal? Is it to be strong? Is it to feel regret when killing? Is it to be appreciated?" Sakura asked. Itachi stared at her as her silhouette shed tears.

"Your goal is to tell the others you are worthy to be called strong, worthy to be appreciated, and worthy to protect those important to you when the world tries to take them away." He said, giving Sakura a small smile. With that, Itachi undid the genjutsu.

Itachi opened his eyes and saw Sasori check Sakura's pulse. "It's stabilizing for now." He said. "What did you do?" Sasori asked. "Hn." Itachi simply answered.

To Be Continued...