Sakura back in time ❦ (Naruto BIT fanfic)

16

"Hey there, little lady," greeted an older-looking man, his long black hair hanging loosely at his back except for at the top where it was shorter and cropped like Sasuke's hair-style.
"Hi," replied Sakura warily.

"Oh, Sakura, this is Uchiha Madara," Itachi told her. "He'll be... helping us."

She bowed respectfully and he only chuckled in return. "No need for such complaisance in our organization. That'll just get you walked all over."

"Like Tobi?" asked Itachi with a smirk.

"Shut your mouth, Uchiha," Madara replied, jabbing Itachi in the side with his elbow.

"Who's Tobi?" Sakura asked.

"Yours truly," answered Madara. "Pein is the Leader, but I created Akatsuki and follow Zetsu-san."

"That doesn't make much sense."

"Well, it does if you were in my shoes, not wanting to get caught by my enemies."

That did make sense... sort of... "So, you both have Mangekyou Sharingan?" asked Sakura, changing the subject.

Both men nodded.

"Well, I was studying different types of doujutsu for a friend of mine with Byakugan and I came across an article on Mangekyou. Apparently it renders the user blind?"

"Eventually, yes," answered Itachi.

"Well, I don't know how much help I could be, but I was a medic-nin back in my time, trained by Tsunade-sama herself, so I'm sure I could help out somehow."

Both men looked to each other, smirking.

"A medic-nin would be invaluable in Akatsuki," Madara told her. "We'd better keep good care of you, sweetheart."

Sakura smiled, blushing slightly. She was help now. No longer was she Haruno Sakura, the nuisance... She was "invaluable", as they'd said.

"Today is the day," Itachi told Sakura. "Be prepared. I sent Sasuke out training. I told him I'd help him with his shuriken jutsu if he practiced really hard, so he should be gone awhile."

Sakura nodded, pushing the thoughts of how cruel this was out of her mind. "What would you like me to do?"

"The Uchiha are most surely going to fight back, we need your help to get all of them before they get us."

"Okay."

"Oh, and I have something for you," Itachi said, pulling out a box and handing it to her. "A great shinobi should never go into battle unarmed."

She opened it to see a complete set of both kunai and shuriken, each adorning a red cloud on its handle.

"They're the best anybody can find. Virtually unbreakable and they've got the Akatsuki insignia on each of them."

She smiled happily and threw her arms around her boyfriend, hugging him tightly. "Thank you!"

He chuckled, patting her back. "Well, we'd best get Madara and get a move on."

He handed her a weapon's pouch and a katana along with a sheath and she placed all of her new weapons inside the weapons' pouch. She was a shinobi again. Of course, she went to her room and changed out of the civilian-wear she wore and donned the outfit she'd worn when she was first sent back in time.

"Sakura?" Itachi called through the door. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, just a minute," she answered. She heard Itachi walked off, and as he did, she readied herself for what she was about to do. "Sorceress," she said to the room. "I know you can hear me, we need to talk."

The sorceress appeared and looked at the kunoichi before. "Quite the plan, Sakura, to agree to this, then kill him."

"That isn't the plan," she told the sorceress. "I'm actually going to help Itachi, then join Akatsuki. I was a nuisance in my time, but I'm not here. Now, my headband, if you please."

"What?" asked the sorceress, "But you can't do that!"

"But I can," she answered. "And I will. Now, if you wish to be the first one to have their blood stain my kunai, don't give me the headband. It's your choice, really."

"In case you've forgotten," the sorceress said, scowling, "I brought you here and I can just as easily bring you back!"

"No, you can't," Sakura corrected. "I'd noticed from the very start how low your energy was. Let me guess, you were going to have me kill him then you were going to leave me stuck here?"

The sorceress' scowl darkened. "So, you are a smart one. You're right, that was my plan. I am, in fact, Uchiha Sakumo, one of the very few Uchiha left alive. Itachi knew of my powers and he founded a jutsu where one can absorb the chakra from another. The jutsu I used on you was actually a time-travel jutsu. I used the last of my energy to bring you here and was going to have you kill him before I died so that the effects of the jutsu would be reversed, but..." Sakumo scowled, needing not continue.

Sakura took out a kunai and told the sorceress, "I'm not a pawn, you nasty witch!" she threw the kunai at the sorceress, piercing her chest. She died with a pain-filled howl and Sakura retrieved her headband and her kunai. She left to go find Itachi so they could start.

"Well, well, well," Madara commented, the three meeting outside the Uchiha compound. "You've got a headband, huh?"

She nodded.

"But there's something missing," he told her, feigning puzzlement. "Ah, that's right!" He lunged at her and she flinched. He swung a hand at her and she blocked, but he didn't hit her. Before she could realize what had happened, she was perfectly fine and her headband was gone.

She looked at Madara curiously as he knelt over what was probably her headband. "Hey, what are you doing?"

She heard the sound of metal hitting metal and she flinched again. He stood again and tossed her the headband. She inspected it to see nothing but a crack across the symbol of the leaf...

"Now, you may wear the headband with honor," Madara told her, smirking. "Welcome to our world, Haruno, the world where everything is for keeps. Welcome to Akatsuki."

"Well, that was a nice speech and all, but shouldn't we get to killing now?" she asked, tying the headband on her head the way she usually did.

Madara laughed and slapped Itachi on the back, "During these hundreds of years I've lived, I've never heard somebody say something so Itachi-like!"

She ignored the odd-sounding comment and looked to Itachi for orders. "Let's go," was all he said as he began to walk into the compound.