Chapter 29
Chapter 29: Save with bloody hands
Sakura successfully slipped back to her team at Tazuna’s house. Luckily, Kakashi didn’t notice anything amiss when she switched herself out with her blood clone, and with the release hand seal, her clone vanished.
The next day, still bruised from her secret battle, she was on guard duty at Tazuna. In the distance below her, Sasuke and Naruto attempted the water-walking exercise, failing miserably and often falling into the cold water below. Kakashi was with them, flipping a book in his hands, his single eye crinkling at their suffering. He shot a smile at her from the bridge above. She smiled back, then turned her attention back to her duty. Some of Tazuna's men were busy hammering and sewing together steel.
"I need to get to town now... are you coming, Pinky? I need to buy stuff for dinner," the old bridge builder said, wiping sweat from his brow. Sakura nodded. "Perfect for me. We need to talk, the two of us, privately. I'd rather my team doesn't find out," she whispered. The old man raised an eyebrow, confused.
Below the bridge, Sakura heard Naruto scream, “Cold, cold, cold! Kakashi-sensei, YOU’RE EVIL!” Kakashi chuckled. “Come on, you guys, Sakura didn’t complain. No work, no gain!” he mocked. The boys groaned.
“I hate you, Kakashi-sensei. From now on, you’re Bakashi!” Sasuke complained as he crawled out of the water.
Sakura rolled her eyes at her team's antics. Divas, who knew that the son of the 4th Hokage and the son of the police chief were such divas? Then with a sigh, she followed Tazuna to the town. She rummaged in her pocket for a scroll to ensure she was far from her team. It was silent between the two until she spoke up. “I know about Gato. He’s dead. I killed him. "
Tazuna besdie her stopped. His face fixed on her in disbelief.
Sakura’s eyes hardened as she thrust the scroll forward, Gato’s severed head spilling onto the ground like a grotesque trophy. Tazuna recoiled, his face pale as he stared at her in disbelief.
“I killed him,” Sakura said flatly. Her voice was calm, but her eyes burned with unspoken fury. “Your lies nearly got my team killed. Don’t ever do that again.”
Tazuna fell to his knees, trembling, as Sakura continued, her voice colder now. “Your life isn’t in danger anymore, but that doesn’t erase what you’ve done.”
She leaned closer, her green eyes piercing her voice stone cold. “Never. Lie. Again.”
Tazuna’s eyes widened, mouth agape, as his mind processed her words. Then Sakura, with another hand, pulled out a huge file from the scroll and handed it over to the man, who was still speechless. The file contained Gato’s business ledger, passwords to bank accounts, and bank cards—he was filthy rich.
“I got his money and business. I’m willing to give you most of it under one condition. First: Don’t tell my team. Second: Build a business relationship with Konoha once the bridge is finished. Lastly… let me heal some of the children and feed them while you continue to do your stuff and go back to the bridge. Your village situation is deplorable.,” she said calmly.
Tazuna fell to his knees, tears of relief and happiness streaming down his face.
The man who had threatened his life was dead.
Suddenly, Sakura’s hand was on his throat, lifting him off the ground. “I was mad when you came to the office back then saying you needed protection from bandits. If I didn’t send a shadow clone ahead on our route, WE’D BE ALL DEAD!” Her green eyes flashed with anger. “Never lie about a mission again, okay? Even if your finances were bad! The Hokage is a reasonable man. He would have negotiated a deal with you, getting you a Jonin to help!”
What hypocrite she was. To preach about morals after ending someone's life and stealing is stuff.
She dropped Tazuna back to his knees, healing his bruised neck. Tazuna was shuddering but nodded, gasping for air. Once done, he stood up again and went to buy dinner.
Good, Sakura thought. She turned to the children and went to work.
She had to heal as many as she could... so many lives she needed to save. Her mind swirled with memories of her time in ROOT again, the children she killed, the things she suffered. She needed to repay those sins. So she went to work. She set up a huge soup kitchen, fixing the problem of starvation by feeding the villagers. After that, she went to work healing bruises, cuts, gangrene—anything she could. Her mind zoned out, her hand coated in green soothing chakra as she mended wounds and talked to the villagers.
"I need to save more," she thought. "I have to save many more to make up for what I have done."
Sakura’s heart ached as she stepped into the makeshift village clinic. The children’s suffering was unbearable, the wounds on their small bodies a painful reminder of her dark past. She worked tirelessly, her hands moving with precision and skill as she healed the sick and the injured. Her thoughts never strayed too far from her past—the children she had killed, the lives she had taken in the name of ROOT. But now, this was her chance to atone for those sins. She could save lives instead of taking them.
Her mind was focused when, before she knew it, someone was shaking her shoulder as she hovered over a child's weak frame.
“SAKURA!”
Startled awake, she turned to see Kakashi, his singular eye was looking at her worried and also glad. “It’s nice that you’re healing people but you need to stop it. Come on, let’s go back. You need to eat.”
How didn't she sense his chakra? Had she been this focused?
Sakura numbly nodded and followed him, subconsciously rubbing her bruised side from her battle with Tobi that morning. The moon was bright. But at dinner, she didn't make her fake smile. Her mind wandered to her fight with Tobi from yesterday.
Kakashi beside her stared at her his singular eye was scanning her. While he seemed stoic inside himself he was panicking. He noticed earlier that day when he was training Sasuke and Naruto how Tazuna and Sakura went to town, Tazuna after an hour on his return, saying Sakura was helping out in Town.
Uh...what? Without informing him, the team leader? Okay, something Sakura never did she was sa stickler for rules.
So he makes a clone, leaves the clone with the boys he goes to find out what Tazuna means by helping out hoping she is okay. There he finds her working almost to death. She was gentel and kind helping every single starved child and adult she came across. Her eyes filled with desperation as if she was trying to hide/run from something. But every move was calculated, filled with professionalism as she helped the town.
Each time she healed one person she would mumbled a number:" 1620....1619...."
The number became smaller.
What did it all mean?
The Jonin wondered why Nami seemed so...poor he hadn't picked up anything weird so far. Tazuna had mentioned mentioned was having financial difficulties but...half the town was starving...what was going on? When he dragged Sakura home he looked at the mop of pink hair. Her face was stoic more ite of emotions than usual which was a Stark contrast to the Sakura he sees at the Konoha hospital who yells at patients to stay in bed and take their medicine with an angry look. Vs the one he is seeing now who gently looked so dead inside. It reminds him of his anbu days.
Inside Tazunas home they were greeted by an impatient Naruto and relived Sasuke. Both boys quickly picked up Sakura's somber look. Something must have happened! At the dinner table, Kakashi watched the girl robotically eat her plate, stand up excuse herself and go to, her bed. Her steps quiet were like a ghost. A Genin shouldn't be able to do this! He noticed her hands sometimes hover over her side glowing faintly green. Almost invisible.
Did she get hurt? When?
Kakashi wasn't blind, he saw Tazunas eyes look at Sakura in fear, respect, and guilt.
Sakura was hurt and he needed to find out what it was. Okay they were, shinobi. Getting hurt or traumatized comes with the job but something was eating away at her and as her team leader he needs, to find out.
Once they were back at they were village, Ino, and her team would do it. Kakashi hoped it won't break Sakura but he had to find out the truth.
In Konoha
" Shisui we shouldn't! This is against the law you should know you are a police officer!", Itachi still wearing his cleaning apron trailed after his cousin, slapping his face. His complaints were completely ignored. Shisui didn't care his steps determined they headed to the address. Pass busy streets, vendors, and people, the further they went the emptier it became. They were heading to the abandoned district.
Shisui suddenly stopped in his tracks and turned to Itachi:" This is... where she lives?"
Itachi shrugged:" I dont know much about Haruno-san. I heard her say this house belonged to her parents before they died..."
Shisui halted: "Hn.....ophaned?"
Then continued onward as swiftly as nothing happened. The house was overgrown with plants. The entrance was overgrown with weeds, though a small patch of well-tended plants stood out near the door. The word ´Haruno merchant´´ washed away by nature, rain, and sun was at the gates posted. They jumped over it like professional anbu they were.
" Shisui we shouldn´t...", Itachi looked around as Shisui worked on breaking the door lock with some hairpin:" It's for a good cause... remember the sleepwalking incidents I told you about?"
" What about that?", Itachi asked curiously as the door swung open.
" It was Sakura...the girl who always kept sleepwalking in the last 4 years doing my patrols was Sakura."
Itachi eyes widen:" And?"
"Don't freak out...she has Sharingan."
" Sharingan...?", Itachi said to him as if he pulled his leg.
"Sharingan. 3 Tomoes spinning!", Shisui chirped as of matter of fact.
" Really?", Itachi asked in disbelief.
" Really!", Shisui gestured his hands wandering to his eyes flashing his to emphasize the point:" Glowing red Sharingan trust me!"
Itachi beside him hesitated. How does a civilian like Sakura have...? She isn't Uchiha! Only Uchiha with Uchiha blood can...
Inside the house, their instincts screamed at them. Something wasn’t right. The interior was too clean, too empty. It lacked the warmth he associated with Sakura’s cheerful demeanor. Itachi eyes looked around:" This doesn't match the Sakura I know..she is always so cheerful and full of life. Why aren't there Posters, and you know stuff? I mean she has a colourful garden but inside it's so empty..."
Shisui looked around and agreed without saying a word. This was wrong.
They stepped cautiously into her bedroom. It was full of plants. Some were poisonous.
The first thing they noticed was the trap—a paper bomb mine hidden expertly beneath almost everywhere. Itachi disarmed them swiftly, his chakra suppressing the activation by reaching his hand to the wall and slamming his hand againts it.
Why is her room booby-trapped? They wondered. For a civilian-born kunoichi, this level of paranoia seemed excessive. Their gaze swept the room. Then the sound of empty wood was heard when they stepped on the wooden ground. It was hollow as if there was space below he looked at Itachi without a word both dropped down on their knees and pulled the wooden planks to the side, the smell of blood came to their nose. It was stairs leading down.
The creaking floorboards echoed ominously as Shisui and Itachi descended the hidden staircase. A metallic tang filled the air, growing stronger with each step. Reaching the end of the steps their eyes widen at the entraption. Shisui mumbled:" OH Kami Itachi...is that...is that..."
" An Iron Maiden? Yes..", Itachi's stomach turned.
“This... is wrong,” Itachi whispered, his Sharingan scanning the dark chamber.
At the bottom, their breath hitched. The room was a macabre shrine to pain—an iron maiden loomed in the center, its rusted spikes stained dark. Chains hung limply from the walls, and the floor was smeared with old blood.
“Who... would do this to her?” Shisui muttered, his voice shaking. Shisui knelt, picking up a single pink hair from the ground. His fists clenched. “We need answers. Now.” Someone or something was secretly torturing Sakura!
" I never notice she always seems so...happy.", Itachi spoke in disbelief.
" So if, no it must be true if my theory is correct. Who?", Shisui said icy.
Itachi took a second his eyes widening in shock:" You're saying someone had Sakura out of wedlock and kept her hidden..here? You gotta be kidding...." In his hand, HE was still holding Sakura's pink hair. Whenever Sasuke dragged her and Naruto over she always seemed happy.
" Let's make a DNA test to find out what's going on....", Shisui spoke up. They ascended back upstairs.
Once Sakura is back they had to get to know her and find out who her Uchiha parent is and arrest them for child abuse.
Sakura back in Nami swore she sneezed four times.