Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sasuke's New Found Love for Sakura ❯ A Slit in the Throat ( Chapter 19 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

afternoon began to slip into night as the warm glow of the sky slowly churned into a dull blue. It was fairly cold, hence, the sudden sense of body heat next to her spine made her shiver. She immediately jumped up in shock and within a seconds notice, she was set into a perfect defensive stance; kunai directed towards the intruder and left palm grazing over her weapon pouch. She had sensed a slight hint of him coming but thought it was mere illusion. She backed away, appearing a few feet away from Itachi and focusing her eyes on his cloak, taking precaution of his sharingan. A blue skinned assassin watched from a hiding spot within the wilderness around them as well as her ANBU comrades.

There was that feeling again, stronger now. She kept detecting small hints of different chakra natures from all angles, making her tense even more.

For a grudgingly long while, Itachi merely stood there, not moving a single muscle as though waiting for something to happen.

‘Come now, my little brother..’ Itachi said silently. As though understanding his intention completely, Sasuke and Natuto gladly jumped out of their own confinement. Immediately, Naruto created five shadow clones while Sasuke performed a series of seals and hurled out a striking fire.

Sakura was much too surprised to realize that they were the source of her unusual feeling. ‘They’ll get killed!’ was her first thought and her eyes automatically fell on Kisame who stood with a hand gripped around his enormous sword, waiting for Itachi‘s orders.

“Sakura-chan! Go! Run Now!” Naruto shouted frantically as he began the Rasengan.

The young kunoichi couldn’t have disagreed more with what he said; she would rather die first before ever leaving a comrade in this kind of situation, besides, she had no clue where this location was, making it almost impossible for her to escape from Kisame.

Itachi blissfully countered all of Sasuke and Naruto’s attacks without moving from his spot, then threw a row of needles and Naruto’s clones poof-ed in unison. After a quick punch on both nins, he paralyzed them with the glare of his sharingan.

“I am not interested in fighting…” Itachi announced blandly. This only made Sasuke struggle even more at the power of the sharingan.

Sakura hid her hands behind her back and desperately began making seals but her fingers froze all of a sudden and her feet dragged her towards Itachi. She tried to resist the force but failed tremendously. The older Uchiha briskly hooked an arm around her shoulders and held the kunai, which Sasuke had thrown at him earlier, up against her neck. Naruto was obviously outraged and managed to gain a trudging step forward; the kunai was now lightly scratching her throat. The boy gasped as he heard Sakura’s soft whimper and willingly stepped back.

“If you want Haruno Sakura, you must exchange her for…Uzumaki.” A devilish smirk was hidden beneath his collar.

Sakura flinched and trembled softly. ‘This is why he took me…to get Naruto..’ Her eyes were wide and because of her shivering, her throat drew a bit closer to the kunai, her porcelain skin now scarred. ‘naruto…no…No…’

“NO! 221; Tears flooded out of her eyes as she screamed; a drop of blood ran down her neck. Itachi’s grip grew tighter around her, his eyes roaming from his bewildered brother and a stunned Naruto.

‘This is what the Kyuubi said as well..’ The boy was torn between saving her but not wanting to give him the Kyuubi. ‘This is my chance to prove to Sakura-chan how much I love her..’ He, himself began to shiver at the thought of what the Akatsuki might do to him and the immense possibility of a young death. But he was a shinobi and Sakura’s life came first. Naruto felt a pair of flabbergasted eyes staring at him; Sasuke was as completely lost as he was, not knowing what their next move should be.

‘I should’ve known…’ Sasuke left the blonde’s figure, avoiding Sakura’s awe-struck expression, and rested upon the ground. ‘I’m the one who should go…it’s my duty anyway..’ Feeling trapped, he knew that he was the one who should go-not Naruto. He recollected himself and stared back at Itachi.

“Take me instead.” he said surprisingly firm. Sakura shot Sasuke an astonished look.

‘Sasuke…he can’t…but, Naruto..’ She couldn’t just stand there as bait for one of her teammates. ‘I’m getting in the way again…’ She had promised herself ever since Sasuke left that she would become a true shinobi and never get into another situation where she was putting more danger into her partners. Yet here she was, waiting for one of them to save her. ‘I vowed never to do this to them again...’ A fresh tear trickled down her cheek.

Sasuke began leaking out his inner chakra and his anger helped pump up his power.
The stiffness of his muscles loosened and he could fidget his fingers more certainly…

Sakura leaned forward..

He was breaking free of his paralysis just in time..

The kunai injecting much deeper into her throat..

Naruto had seen her desperate eyes for a solution and was struck when Sakura had attempted to suicide herself. This finally brought out the Kyuubi’s virtue within him and he released it with pleasure. He was flaming now and didn’t resist an attack on Itachi.

Sasuke seized Sakura and laid her down several feet away from the clearing but couldn’t leave her alone. He heard weapons clash and chakras collide as he unwrapped his bandages and rewrapped them around Sakura’s neck. She was unconscious which made the situation even more nerve wracking. All of a sudden a flash of fierce chakra approached him. When he turned around, Kisame headed towards him with his samehada but right before he could reach another foot, there was a blur and the shark-man was sent flying several meters away.

Everything was happening too rapidly for him to decipher who countered Kisame but there was an almost inhumanly immense amount of chakra emanating from the stranger. He peered a little closer, letting his sharingan focus and saw Tsunade attacking Kisame again. She managed to look back at the Uchiha and nod; almost commanding him. He understood and with a final look at the wounded nin beside him, he left to help Naruto.

Itachi had to admit, not only was Naruto displaying the Kyuubi’s power perfectly, his younger brother had grown intensely strong. Both Hidden Leaf ninjas avoided his eyes which added a challenge in their combat.

Naruto slammed against a tree, panting viciously with a kunai deep below his ribcage, as Sasuke worked around the assassinator.

Itachi grabbed his collar and coldly whispered into his ear, “Well done, my brother, but you still lack…bitterness and power.” The younger Uchiha could imagine his evil smirk which only enraged him even more. His whole body quivered from the interminable chakra that flooded from his core and before he could fully process his next move, his foot planted a strong blow at his side though Itachi still managed to partially block it. His fingers danced vividly to perform seals and the two Uchiha heirs fought each other as though it would be their last encounter.

The blonde Uzumaki staggered to a sitting position as his vision began to clear. He then gripped the bloody kunai that Itachi had thrust in him and plucked it out strenuously, giving a stifled scream from the shot of pain. Though still slightly numb, he was just about ready to return to the fight when he saw a series of commotion; thick spiky hair and an oversized frog. After that, everything went black but right before he trudged back into unconsciousness, he caught a glimpse of Kakashi who caught him in mid-fall.


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//Aha! Finally! Your awake!// Inner Sakura coaxed her into fully regaining herself.

‘Are they okay?’ was the first thing in her mind. She hesitantly tried to move around but could only flex her index finger.

“Ah! Finally! Your Awake!” an even louder and overly cheerful voice echoed her inner thoughts. Even though she just awoke from a painful sleep, she didn’t have the will to stop the automatic smile that the blonde brought to her face. She opened her eyes half way, blinked a few times to let her pupil adjust to the light, and then she found herself staring up at a 100watt grin. A soft but a bit raspy giggle came from her lips which made his smile even brighter; now seemingly blinding actually. He refrained for a quick moment but then leaned down to meet her cheek and gave her a loving peck. Sakura was now smiling genuinely with a pleasant tint of pink painting her pale cheeks.

“Ah haha, welcome back Sakura-chan!” Naruto turned a bit red and scratched the back of his head, “You feel alright?”

“Mhm,” was all she could muster; still with that pretty smile on her face.

The two nearly forgot about the silent Uchiha watching from the corner.


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A/N: Eh, that was a pretty rough ending. I admit, it’s pretty rushed but I wanted to get this over with so I can turn to the sequel..

Yes! There we go! This fanfic is officially-FINISHED! GaH! I know you all might be panicking by now but I have a method to such madness! Hehe, I stopped it here because I want to begin the sequel already! I have soo many ideas for the sequel that I just wanted to get the whole ‘Save-Sakura’ mission thingy, done with. So do not fret! I am now working on the first chapter to the sequel and I will continue there. Thank You All sooo Very Very much for supporting me and following up to my first ever fic. ^.^ You have no idea how much I appreciate all of you viewers. Heh heh, I know Im being a bad author and leaving a cliffhanger but-its gotta end somewhere, ne? Another thing, yes, Sakura acted pretty idiotic trying to kill herself like that but I couldn’t think of anything else at the moment. I might come back to this ending some time in the future and fix it up. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please contact me at: lorelei35@hotmail.com

Also, I made an AMV on you tube. it’s a SasuxSaku Tribute that relates somewhat to this fic so please watch it when you get a chance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paOqJ9vkC_Y

You may also contact me there on youtube, my username is also: sasuluvssaku4now:^.^