Avenger's Destiny: Chapter 22

Chapter 22- The Difference Between Life and Death

二十二 – 生和死之间的分别

Sakura stayed in that position for a long while, unmoving and utterly defeated. Her pink locks were dull and matted, her brilliant emerald eyes had lost their usual bright spark, and blood had dried upon her cold, clammy skin, leaving unsightly marks.

Sakura felt cold. So very cold… her frail form shook as she tried to erase the horrible memory from her mind, but it was there, right in front of her, staring at her in the face, not allowing her to forget it. All her friends… the village… the screams… the blood… fire…

“Sasuke,” she whispered painfully, hugging herself as she tried not to look at the Uchiha’s pale face. "Sasuke…”

Her cold, trembling fingers, at long last, reached out to touch Sasuke’s blank, peaceful face. A sudden jolt of pain coursed through her system, and the cherry blossom let out a soft gasp.

Images began flashing before her frozen emerald eyes, showing her what seemed to be the future. Things that she did not want to see. Rows and rows of coffins… everyone in Konoha was dead, save for her. She was the only one left, alone, burying the dead. Fearful, echoing voices called to her, some pleading her for help, some cursing her inability.

“Help me… Sakura… help…!”

“What were you doing girl? Whimpering, and watching us die?”

“How could you, Sakura? You watched us fighting for our lives, and you did nothing!”

“Everything’s your fault! If you’d been stronger, this would never have happened!”

The pink-haired kunoichi clutched her head, tears streaming down her face as she tried to convince herself otherwise. ‘It’s just a genjutsu… nothing happened… it’s not my fault… I did nothing wrong!’

“Open your eyes,” a firm, commanding voice ordered, and against her will, Sakura was forced to look up. “Watch!”

She saw herself.

Beaten. Worn. Dead. Her own emerald eyes stared up at her blankly, frozen forever in an expression of shock. There were two Sound nins. Her mirror image was unclothed. They were using her body as their doll, to fulfill their desires.

Yes, it was a dead body, but it was her dead body. Sakura tried to turn away, but she couldn’t. an invisible force kept her eyes open and kept her facing the ghastly scene, making her register every detail, every movement. “How – how – could they – “ her own voice choked at seeing her own dignity being violated in a way she couldn’t bear to imagine – even in death!

The two men were done with her body, laughing with satisfaction as they drew out their weapons.

“Pity we got her dead, eh? Should’ve been a lot more fun if she was alive, kicking and screaming,” one of them mocked a sigh as he traced a finger over her smooth skin. Sakura, watching the scene, nearly threw up. She wanted to scream, she wanted to punch him until every bone in his body was broken, but she couldn’t make a sound, she couldn’t move.

She knew what they were about to do.

A slash. Then two. More kept raining down upon her lifeless body as the two men tore their blades through the dead girl’s skin, grinning like they were having fun. Blood spattered through the air, leaving crimson stains upon the ground. They kept at it until her body resembled nothing but bloody pulp, with only her face intact. The rest of her body – was nothing but spilling guts, organs and broken bones.

‘Horrible’ couldn’t even describe the scene. How could anyone watch their own body being mauled like that? Yet Sakura couldn’t turn away. A single hand covered her open mouth as her heartbeat raced and bile rose in her throat. She couldn’t hold it back anymore, and threw up.

After seven years, Haruno Sakura was about to crumble again.

The image faded, but the memory stayed. The lone, terrified girl remained sitting by Sasuke’s body, sobs racking her fragile frame as the tears she had held back for so long spilled out freely.

A slight breeze blew, and a soft, coaxing, musical voice accompanied it, like a siren’s song.

“You are the only one left now… wouldn’t it be easier if you just end your life? After all, it would be the end of your pain… and you’ll be with Sasuke again, won’t you?”

Sakura found herself glancing to the right. A kunai lay on the ground, shiny and new, untouched by the grime of battle. Without really registering it, the pink-haired girl picked it up.

Slowly, she lifted the kunai and held it against her neck, poised to cut.

One cut, one quick movement and she would be dead.

The blade drew blood.

Then a sudden, violent storm lashed out, rainwater soaked through her torn clothes, and washed away the matted blood upon her skin. Lightning danced in bright, thunderous flashes, striking dangerously close to where the pink-haired kunoichi knelt. An invisible force seemed to pull her hand away from her neck, trying to wrench it out of her grasp.

Sakura slowly lowered the blade and lifted her tear-streaked face to the skies. She loved rainstorms. The water that poured down felt so refreshing… everything seemed twice as clear to her emerald eyes, and the sudden wave of clarity that washed over her senses jolted her sharply back to earth.

The cherry blossom dropped the bloodied kunai she was holding in shock, and her left hand reached up to her neck, where a small cut had been made, and blood oozed out freely.

“What… happened…?” she asked herself in confusion, feeling as if she’d just woken up from a long sleep.

‘You got rather… carried away by the genjutsu,’ her inner self grumbled.

‘Genjutsu…?’ Sakura was still confused, before realization struck her. ‘Itachi… the Mangekyou Sharingan!’

‘Yeah, now you come to your senses. Thank kami, at least you haven’t killed yourself yet,’ the annoying voice in her head said mockingly. ‘Now please get your butt out of here because this place is giving me the creeps,’

For once, Sakura welcomed the little voice at the back of her head, even if it annoyed her like hell. At least its presence was a comfort. And her inner self was scared? That was something new…

Sakura smiled slightly, even though it came out rather like a grimace. Reaching for the kunai again, she braced herself and plunged it into her upper thigh.

N

The raven-haired Uchiha didn’t know why, but a burning, furious sensation was coursing through his veins. He had carelessly allowed Itachi’s sword to nearly strike him – and only weak people were careless. Carelessness was something he couldn’t afford right now. Especially not when –

His gaze fell upon Sakura, who had suddenly thrown up, coughing and choking. Every muscle in his body wanted to move in her direction, but he had unfinished business with his brother. The skin of his palm prickled as blood seeped out, staining the black fabric serving to cushion his hands. At least it was his left hand. If it had been his sword arm, this battle would be over.

Sasuke soon realized, however, that being weak wasn’t what he was furious about. There was a vicious, churning feeling in his system, his adrenaline level rose rapidly. Someone was going to get hurt, and preferably, that someone would be Itachi.

The Uchiha growled at his brother as the four males held their ground in a silent battle, blades against sword and sword against flesh. The adrenaline charge in Sasuke’s body was inexplicable – and for the first time in his life, Sasuke almost understood just why Naruto always won his battles – even after being mauled for the hundredth time. Perhaps it was because of this feeling, this emotion that made him feel stronger than he had ever felt. Like he could do anything.

His palm had begun to hurt badly. Deciding that it wasn’t worth the risk, Sasuke yanked his hand off the katana blade and swiftly leapt upwards, using Asuma and Kakashi’s outstretched arms as a lever and swung himself across just as Itachi’s sword thrust forward, before moving upwards in a quick slashing motion. Sasuke avoided it narrowly and aimed a kick at Itachi.

The older Uchiha swerved. Sasuke had anticipated that. Swiftly twisting his lithe body to the left, he managed a slash down Itachi’s back – only to have him disappear.

‘Kage bunshin… damn!’ Sasuke swore quietly, adjusting himself to land on his feet. Itachi was on his left. Probably another bunshin, but Sasuke couldn’t take any chances with that. He didn’t have time to create bunshin of his own, he would leave that to Naruto. Darting to the left, he thrust his sword at Itachi, but the bunshin easily avoided the attack and threw a punch at Sasuke – hitting him on the face.

Five of Naruto’s kage bunshins were scattered around the clearing, whopping every single one of Itachi’s look-alikes that they could find. But Itachi hadn’t become a Jounin at thirteen for nothing – for every twenty punches Naruto threw, it was either Itachi got hit once, or Naruto himself was pummeled twice as hard. ‘Even his bunshins are up to his par,’ Naruto thought grimly, receiving yet another blow to his stomach.

“Come out here you cowardly bastard! I know you’re not among these bunshins!” Naruto hollered, mad. He hated people who snuck out of a fight leaving their bunshin behind.

Sasuke stayed silent and focused on finding the real Itachi among the thirty-plus bunshin that surrounded him. Naruto was probably right, Itachi would’ve left his bunshins to do the work until his little brother got tired out. Spurred by anger, the younger Uchiha moved twice as quickly, disposing of bunshins with lightning speed. In a blur of movement, ten bunshins were down.

He knew the sole weakness of the Sharingan was its high chakra consumption. If Itachi had used the advanced Mangekyou Sharingan and the Kage Bunshin Technique, he should be running low on chakra – this would be Sasuke’s advantage.

‘Found him!’ Sasuke thought victoriously, as his lightning chakra-enhanced sword met real flesh. But it was just a small cut compared to what Itachi could, and would do to him once the older man started taking this battle seriously.

Itachi successfully avoided Sasuke’s blows, but he could tell that his younger brother was no longer to be underestimated. His speed could almost match Itachi’s own, but it was the spark of viciousness in every move that made Sasuke dangerous right now.

‘Hn. He does care about that girl, doesn’t he?’ Itachi thought smugly, dodging an uppercut. ‘I’ll have to do something about that…’

Thoughts were the worst distraction. In seconds Sasuke had managed a slash down Itachi’s back, tearing through his Akatsuki cloak and drawing blood. The raven-haired younger Uchiha growled. It was, again, another cut that was only skin deep, unable to do much harm. Not even halting to survey the damage done, Sasuke darted to the right and dealt another blow to Itachi’s left cheek, sending the man reeling backwards despite an attempt to block the punch.

“He sure is giving his brother a harder time than we ever did,” Asuma watched, an eyebrow raised.

“Itachi used the Sharingan too much,” Kakashi observed quietly, watching the two brothers attempting to kill each other. “He should’ve been out a long time ago, using both the Mangekyou and Kage Bunshin jutsu like that,”

“But Itachi isn’t your average Uchiha, is he now?” Asuma cocked his head sideways. “I remember him from ANBU… that guy kills without blinking – half a dozen Mist shinobis out in less than three minutes,”

“KAKASHI-“ Sasuke yelled, dodging Itachi’s sword before executing a perfect roundhouse kick, backed by Naruto. “-WATCH SAKURA YOU IDIOT!”

The two men whirled around in alarm – and spotted the cherry blossom, with her eyes closed, in a sitting position, lifting a kunai that had dropped to the ground – and raising it to her neck.

Kakashi skidded forward on his knees, grabbing hold of Sakura’s hand in a steel grip. Asuma held her down by the shoulders firmly to make sure she couldn’t struggle.

Blood seeped down from a small gash upon her neck, she had cut herself. Kakashi swore, Sakura’s strength was hard to fight. “Dammit! He’s trying to make her kill herself!”

“He was serious when he said that this was an advanced version of the Mangekyou,” Asuma growled. “That bastard… he’s even found a way to transfer the effects of his genjutsu into real life… do you think we can use ‘kai’ for this? Kurenai mentioned something about a release technique that could work on the Mangekyou, but I never found out more about it…”

“Knowing Sakura, she’ll be fighting the genjutsu, so maybe the normal release technique might help. But the Mangekyou genjutsu… no human had ever survived it yet,” Kakashi released Sakura’s hand, she’d stopped struggling. But before he could stop her, she drove the kunai into her own thigh. The Copy nin smiled slightly. She was fighting.

“Well, she’s no ‘ordinary human’,” Asuma chuckled. “At any rate, Kakashi, we’ve got to do something. And I don’t think we’ll be losing Konoha’s Cherry Blossom to death anytime soon,”

The silver-haired Jounin raised an eyebrow. Asuma smiled lopsidedly.

“Darn it. I sounded like Gai, didn’t I?”

“You have no idea. C’mon,” Kakashi shifted to kneel behind the pink-haired kunoichi, and both men placed a hand each on Sakura’ shoulders while forming their handseals. With a swift glance at each other, they shut their eyes tightly.

“Kai!”

N

A certain Hyuuga prodigy’s arm caught the falling kunoichi by the waist swiftly, while leaping out of the way of yet another small explosion, panting heavily.

Neji’s opaque eyes scanned Tenten’s limp body for vital signs, and he was slightly relieved to see that her chakra was channeling to her charred right arm. But he knew that she was no medic nin, and that her own chakra was simply not sufficient for healing.

“Hinata,” Neji breathed, fighting to stay calm. “Can you – heal this?”

“I could try, but I’m not sure,” Hinata looked worried, pulling off the weapons mistress’ hitai-ate and stroking Tenten’s sweaty forehead. “I still think that getting Sakura-chan to heal it will be safest,”

Neji nodded, turning to look for Sakura while holding his unconscious teammate securely in his arms. A sudden instinct made him whirl around – his eyes widened as he saw a dark, charred figure staggering towards them at a considerable speed, a dagger held aloft.

“Why isn’t he dead yet?” Neji spoke through clenched teeth, preparing to defend. But he never got the chance.

Hinata swerved and placed herself between her cousin and Hakujo. Her opaque eyes flashed dangerously with an unusual spark of viciousness as she braced herself for Kaiten, but the expected blow never came.

“Baika no Jutsu!”

A large, spinning thing shot out of the forest, crashing into an opposite tree before slamming into the startled Hakujo. He collapsed and disappeared under the huge mass crushing him with a strangled cry.

“Chouji-san!” Hinata spoke with a mixture of surprise and relief, bowing slightly to say her thanks as the shinobi decreased in size to reveal a mop of reddish-brown hair and a chubby face.

“Nasty piece of work,” The Akimichi heir dusted himself, glaring at Hakujo’s broken, motionless body in distaste. “Hinata-san, Neji-san… what happened?” he caught sight of Tenten’s limp form in Neji’s arms.

“We’ll explain later. We need to get Tenten to Sakura fast,” the Hyuuga prodigy spoke urgently, turning to leave. “Arigatou, Chouji-san,”

“No problem, but you’ll be better off having Hinata-san heal Tenten first,” the chubby boy said darkly. Hinata and Neji glanced at him, confused.

“I just passed Team 7 battling Itachi. Sakura’s been trapped in that traitor’s Mangekyou Sharingan genjutsu – he says – he says that she won’t live,”

The two Hyuugas froze.

Losing two teammates now was something they couldn’t think about. Hinata closed her eyes, shaking slightly.

“Tenten… Sakura…”

Unbeknownst to the trio, Hakujo was shakily standing. He had about half his arms broken by Chouji’s attack, he was suffering from first-degree burns from the explosives, but his hatred, his desire to kill, kept him alive.

Once again, he charged towards Hinata, his dagger still clutched tightly in his right hand – the only hand he could now use.

“Hina – “ Neji let out a warning call, but the Hyuuga heiress was already facing Hakujo, angry tears stinging her opaque eyes as she moved.

The kunoichi darted forward, dodged the clumsy dagger easily and dealt a single, killing blow to Hakujo’s neck, breaking it.

The exiled Hyuuga slumped to the ground, lifeless. His face was frozen in shock. Hinata’s tears were contained no longer – when she had been taught to deal that blow, she had never wanted to use it. But she had no choice. When she spoke, her voice was a low, vicious hiss.

“Die,”

N

“Oh, c’mon, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Kisame mocked, chuckling. “Bugs? Is that really the best you can do?”

Shino merely glanced at him from behind his shades, completely unaffected.

“And what makes you think that opponents that tiny can't overpower you?” the black-haired boy asked indifferently, hands in his pockets and his head cocked slightly to one side.

“Aw, shut up, kid,”

Kisame lifted the Sameheda, and brought it down upon the motionless shinobi. Shino didn’t budge. The sword halted in mid-air, unable to penetrate any futhur, regardless of how much strength Kisame used. The shark-faced man glanced up in utter surprise.

Shino’s bugs, after having quickly and efficiently absorbed the chakra in the Sameheda, had formed a barely visible, shimmering chakra protection shield just between the passive boy and the angry Akatsuki member.

“You – “ Kisame started angriy, but quickly backed off when the black bugs scampered towards him, searching for an opening to attack. He grudgingly admitted to himself that the boy was right, he couldn’t underestimate his attacks before he knew how they worked.

Meanwhile, behind Shino, Shikamaru discreetly whispered a plan to the four remaining boys – Sai, Gaara, Kiba and Lee. When he finished his instructions, all four nodded curtly to him and quietly took up their positions.

Shikamaru shook Ino, trying to wake her. The blonde girl stirred, rubbing her eyes groggily. “Ugh… what…?”

“Stay awake, Ino,” the Nara genius ordered, pulling her up. “You’ve got to look for the Hyuugas and Tenten – there was an explosion and I think they may be involved. Go help them, okay? After that, rejoin the rest of them, or report back to us here,”

The kunoichi still looked pale, flexing her arms to get her blood circulation going, but her eyes had its alert spark restored. “Yes, Captain,” she smiled tiredly. “You guys can handle this?” she motioned to Kisame.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got a few moves of our own, even though this is troublesome,” the Nara genius faked a yawn.

Ino playfully slapped him on the shoulder. “Good luck, genius,” she said quietly before darting off through the trees.

Shikamaru rejoined the boys, a slight smile hidden.

N

Sakura could feel the jolting pain coursing through her thigh, but somehow, that wasn’t enough to dispel the illusion. Quickly forming the required handseals, the cherry blossom prepared to execute ‘kai’, but a sudden, deep voice, devoid of emotion, interrupted her.

“Trying to escape, Haruno?”

Emerald eyes, filled with fury, met Itachi’s black stare. The older Uchiha stood some distance away from her, his face porcelain-smooth. Their gazes remained connected, with unspoken emotions conveyed through the intense stare-down.

“It’s impossible,”

“I don’t believe in the impossible,”

“Funny, you gave me a different impression when you were so close to giving up just a few moments ago,”

“I made a mistake,”

Sakura let out a small gasp. Itachi had suddenly appeared right in front of her, dangerously close. From the corner of her eye, she could just see the glinting tip of a sword.

She tried to move, but her body was frozen.

“You’re making more mistakes if you think you can get out of here,” the Uchiha said in an eerily soft voice, pressing against her as one hand snaked around her waist and held her close. “The only way out – is death,”

“I’m not going to die here,” Sakura drew a shaky breath, aching to pull away from Itachi, he was holding her too close for comfort. But again, she couldn’t move. “Not before I pummel you,”

Itachi chuckled in a low voice, leaning into her and bending down slightly to place a kiss on her neck before pressing his face against the side of hers, making her shiver involuntarily. “I’d like to see you try,” he whispered flatly into her ear.

Then he drew back quickly, still holding her by the waist. In a single, swift, thrusting motion, he plunged the sword through her heart.

Her eyes widened, blood spurted out of the wound. A scream of pain escaped her lips, but she was quickly silenced by Itachi’s hand over her mouth and nose, blocking her airways.

“Don’t scream, Sakura. Keep all the pain inside,”

He stabbed again. She jolted, excruciating pain torturing her body.

She could not scream.

“Can you… feel it? Isn’t pain wonderful?”

Yet another stab.

Sakura crumpled, but Itachi held her limp body upright, against him.

“I’ll rip your heart apart,”

The blade drove right through her body again.

Now, her body was shuddering, a muffled moan escaped her clamped lips.

“I told you. It’s useless to resist,”

He drew the blade lightly down the nape of her neck, drawing fresh blood, smearing her skin and tearing her uniform. The cherry blossom had tried, several times, to summon her strength, but every bit of it seemed to have left her completely.

The pain soon numbed out all other sensation as Itachi dropped his sword and grabbed hold of her hands, forcing the girl to turn her back to him while twisting her hands behind her back.

It was a miracle that Sakura was still alive, but that was the point of genjutsu. It tortured a person to the brink of insanity before killing them. Itachi wasn’t done with her yet.

“You saw what those Sound nins did to your dead body, didn’t you? Before they cut it to pieces?” he asked softly, caressing her skin. “I can do that too… but perhaps I won’t. It’ll probably break Sasuke’s heart, won’t it?” he smirked, using his knee to brace Sakura’s back.

Sakura felt sick again. It might be an illusion, but every part of her that Itachi had touched with his sickening intimacy felt raw to her. It felt real. Like a living nightmare. Her head hung limply, she instinctively knew what was going to happen next, but again, she was powerless to fight it.

With a swift, powerful tug, Itachi yanked the cherry blossom’s arms until he heard a satisfying ‘crack’. The same method of torture Sasuke had used on one of the Sound nins they’d met at the Chunin exam, so long ago.

Sakura screamed and whimpered, hot tears rushing down her bloodied face as her broken arms fell limply to her sides, providing no support while Itachi simply let her fall to her knees. She was powerless against her captor, and she knew it.

Warm, rusty liquid rushed into her mouth, and nearly choking, Sakura began coughing uncontrollably – coughing up blood. Itachi towered over her, watching the suffering girl kneeling at his feet, his face blank.

“I always won over Sasuke when we were young,” he spoke flatly. “He could never, and will never be able to beat me in anything,”

“Arro-gant- much - ?” Sakura spat weakly, between bouts of coughing. Her chest wounds hurt immensely.

Itachi ignored her. “I’m the kind of person who will resort to any means to win… and since you mean so much to my brother – I will kill you – to break him,”

Sakura felt her anger rising to a dangerous level. “I- mean- noth-ing- to- to him!” blood trickled from the corner of her mouth, and Sakura suddenly began to feel dizzy. She’d lost too much blood.

“Oh, you do,” Itachi smirked. “This is my genjutsu – and I’m in control, you pathetic little kunoichi,”

Amidst all her pain and her blurred mind, Sakura somehow realized that Itachi was trying to coax her to use the Nanabi’s strength, to allow him an opening to weaken her even more in the process.

Her body shaking, Sakura bit her lip, her eyes tightly shut.

‘My arms… I need to heal my arms…’

She was out of chakra, so there would be only one way out.

‘Nanabi,’ she whispered to the dormant demon within her. ‘Help me,’

‘I was wondering when you were going to ask,’ the demon phoenix smirked. ‘Don’t worry. I suppose you’ll only allow me to heal your arms?’

Without waiting for a response, the seven-tailed Bijuu sent out a light wave of healing chakra to Sakura’s limp arms.

N

“Kakashi!” Asuma spoke sharply as he felt warm liquid coming into contact with his hands. “Whatever Itachi’s doing to her in this genjutsu, it’s killing her!”

The silver-haired Jounin, who had been trying to dispel the genjutsu, looked down at Sakura, suddenly jolted by a spray of blood and her piercing scream that stopped just as abruptly as it had started.

Deep gashes appeared on her body, as if there was someone really stabbing her – again and again, with no mercy. Both Jounins watched in horror as Sakura’s body shuddered, a gash was slowly drawn down her neck, and a moment later, there was a loud, sickening ‘crack’. Sakura’s rigid arms went limp.

Then she started coughing. Bouts of blood. Fine crimson droplets sprayed upon the earthen ground.

“We have to keep on trying,” Kakashi said grimly, drawing a long breath. “Or she definitely won’t live,”

N

Itachi stared at the girl at his feet, who seemed to have quietened down a little. He smirked inwardly. ‘Pathetic… dead already?’

Before he registered it, a fist shot up, slammed into the bottom of his chin, and sent him flying some distance away. The pink-haired girl stood slowly, clutching her crudely-healed chest, a spark a fury dancing in her emerald eyes.

Itachi stood unsteadily, his eyes narrowed at her, yet holding just the slightest trace of bewilderment. “You – “

“Pain, Itachi,” Sakura said quietly, every word she spoke hurting her. “Pain dispels illusions. You got so caught up with torturing me you forgot about that, didn’t you?”

The cherry blossom could feel a certain force tugging at her, trying to release her from the genjutsu. Someone was trying to help her, back in the real world. She would have to do her part if she wanted to ever get out of this nightmarish world.

Shakily forming her handseals, Sakura tried to ignore the stab wounds hurting her immensely. She just wanted to leave. Forget this illusion ever happened to her. Forget the Sound nins raping her dead body. Forget Itachi, touching her.

“Kai!”

Her world turned blur for a moment, blotting out Itachi’s pale, emotionless face, before coming back into focus. Every part of her body hurt, she could only manage to heal her wounds rather crudely. Everything seemed to spin around her for another few moments and Sakura took a deep, shuddering breath to steady herself and regain her balance.

Itachi broke away from his fight and stood, staring at the pink-haired kunoichi defiantly staring at him with hate-filled eyes. He knew how much pain he’d caused her. Heck, he enjoyed doing it. He enjoyed watching her crumble, testing her strength and immunity to emotional issues.

And he was rather surprised that she’d passed his test. Not very happy about the fact that a mere kunoichi had just discredited his fatal genjutsu, though.

His blood red eyes narrowed.

Naruto was watching her with his mouth open. The kind of wounds she had… with that amount of blood lost… Sakura should be in a coma! Sasuke himself stared at the scene with a blank expression, as if frozen.

Kakashi and Asuma stepped back cautiously. They knew Sakura’s outburst symptoms – and they definitely did not want to be in the way of an angry kunoichi – the Godaime Hokage had taught them that much with her fist.

For several moments, the only sound that could be heard was Sakura’s heavy breathing as she fought to stay upright and conscious. When she spoke, her voice was cold, like icy daggers, slicing through the tense air, flat and devoid of emotion.

“You wanted to kill me?” she asked softly, dangerously, fists clenched.

Itachi stared back with equally passive features, not flinching. The cherry blossom continued, her voice ringing with a deadly tone that sent shivers up the spines of all those who heard it.

“You’re messing with the wrong girl, Uchiha,”