An Uchiha At Heart || SasuSaku

14. Face Off

Hey everyone! First of all, I want to apologize for being away for almost two months (oh my God!) Writer's block totally sucks. Second of all, 11.3K reads?! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH, I LITERALLY CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!

Without further due, here's the next chapter; hope you enjoy!

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"I don't know if you're a complete idiot, or just a cocky son of a bitch to come back here like this...Uchiha Sasuke!"

So they figured out who I am, Sasuke quickly noted to himself as five other members of the organization appeared before him and Sakura. They ran towards them to launch an attack, but the two Sannins were quickly out of the way.

The deep-voiced man took another go at Sasuke only to be met by Sakura's raging expression and fists. Before he knew what hit him, literally, he was already displaced god knows how many feet away from where he was just standing. With his back to the ground, the pink haired woman popped up in front of him yet again, but this time he had a few seconds to spare in order to dodge her attacks. What the hell kind of ridiculous strength is this anyways, he wondered at the back of his mind.

"Since the moment you've set eyes on me, you've been underestimating me!" the kinoichi howled, her eyes fiery, full of a mixture of determination and fury. "Take that you misogynistic asshole!"

He suffered a few more brutal beatings before he decided he was sick of the humiliation. He quickly weaved some hand signs for a water jutsu, creating an assembly of spinning water swords and directed them towards Sakura. She easily dodged his attacks, moving swiftly, left and right in an almost dance-like motion. The Black Wolf in return weaved another set of signs, manipulating both air and water this time. The swords became frigid and razor-edged, one of them barely nicking Sakura's cloak. He gradually increased the number of weapons with each charge, finally sending a ginormous hoard of icicles that took a little more than average effort to dodge and counter attack.

Sakura was impressed, really, that he could summon so much water for his justsu in a desert, with no apparent water sources nearby, except—the oasis.

Before the Kurookami could make his next move, to his surprise, Sakura started running away.

He started chuckling hysterically. "Are you trying to prove me right about you being a coward?! What a lovely surprise!"

With her back to him, Sakura halted in her step then slightly turned her head, peeking at the man with a smirk on her face. "Me? A coward? You're the nameless nobody hiding behind a mask!"

With that, she continued scurrying away, leaving the man still amused at her actions and words. He followed her with a renewed excitement, his body itching to tear the little thing apart.

The pink haired kinoichi hadn't gone far. In fact, a slight glimpse of panic crossed her green eyes as she scanned her surroundings, which only made the man laugh even more. "This is far too entertaining, so I'm going to give you a surprise," he taunted.

He slowly walked towards Sakura as he reached for his mask to reveal his face. He had a deep scar, as if someone had peeled his skin off after a major burn. It made it hard to pinpoint his age, but that wasn't relevant at the moment.

"I am Akio of the Kurookami. Now you know my name, my face behind the mask, yet you will still die a coward." Akio dashed towards Sakura and was right in front of her in less than a second, immediately inducing a hand to hand combat. For whatever reason, he seemed faster than before, and his scar made him all the more intimidating and blood thirsty.

But it was nothing Sakura couldn't handle. Her fast reflexes aided her as usual, but what she needed to do was get away from the sand since Akio manipulated natural elements for his jutsus.

Running towards him preparing for a major impact, Sakura blatantly aimed her fist towards the man, only to quickly duck to the ground and twirl, allowing her to slightly trip Akio. Even though he predicted her move, she still caused him to lose his balance in which Sakura took advantage of. Still on the ground, she punched him in the abdomen then hopped up and aimed for a kick that she missed, but resulted in the ground shattering.

Akio disappeared from sight as a snake-like figure wrapped Sakura from behind and tossed her across the sand. She ended up a few feet away from the oasis, wheezing and coughing from the sand that had involuntarily entered her respiratory system.

Akio chose that moment to show himself to Sakura, standing a few yards away. "Dry throat?" he sneered. "Why don't you have a drink?"

Sakura spit out the last of the sand and regrouped herself to get back into combat mode. She stood up as the Kurookami member approached her yet again, like an animal sniffing out its prey before the attack.

She stood there composed, taking a deep breath with her eyes closed, refocusing her mind. Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

The medic-nin opened her eyes fully ready to strike. She ran towards Akio whose eyes were-closed? Why were his eyes closed?

With Sakura mid-sprint, Akio opened his eyes, unveiling a pair of glowing, neon blue irises with red in place of his eye whites. Not only that, but Sakura's own body stopped moving, even though she didn't remember telling it to do so.

Because it was Akio that did.

She struggled against her body's wishes, but it was no use. She couldn't move her limbs, and her eyes felt just as paralyzed; looking in no direction other than the man's strange eyes as if they were locked together by an invisible chain.

"Neat, isn't it?" Akio said, sounding even more antagonistic than he did before. "This is....my Kekkei Genkai." 

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Question of the Chapter:

WHO'S HYPED ABOUT OUR SASUSAKU MOMENT ON NARUTO NEXT WEEK?! (I'm so sorry, Sakura...for everything....) Gaahhh!