Since the dawn of time the Uchiha have put friends and enemies alike under a spell with their Sharingan. But what happens when a certain medic unknowingly puts the Uchiha prodigy under a spell with her own mesmerizing eyes? "I will have her," he said possessively, "She's mine."

ItachixSakura

Rated M

A/N: Hello all! Vera Lucia here, with my very first fanfic! Haven't written one before, so I'd love if you'd R&R, the more people that do the faster I'll update!

Cherry Weasel

Taken

Itachi knew he was in trouble the very second that she opened her arresting green eyes. Innocently wide, taking in everything around her, and yet hard from years of her lifestyle, calculating. He stilled even more, if possible, becoming one with the tree branch that he had been perching on for the past few hours. Peering through the green leaves with his Sharingan, Itachi looked once again at the pink haired kunoichi, scoffing at her position on the ground a couple hundred yards away.

He had been watching her train from a distance since the crack of dawn, profiling her, taking note of her weaknesses and strengths. Kisame had long since grown bored and left, claiming he needed to scout out the area ahead. She was much too far away to make out any defining details, save for her waist length petal coloured hair, pulled into a long french braid. So Itachi had pulled out the scope from his pocket, held it up to his left eye and activated it. The device was modeled after Deidara's own scope, but he hadn't told the arsonist that he had taken his design, the moron didn't deserve Itachi's acknowledgment. As stupid as Deidara was, the scope he wore was quite useful for getting those easy to miss details when staking out a target, since the Sharingan couldn't magnify as close as this device could.

However, as soon as he put it on and looked back at the girl, she had opened her perviously closed eyes and looked directly back at him, narrowing her green orbs suspiciously. For a second, Itachi was floored, had he given his position away? His chakra was completely masked, there was no way she could sense him, especially at this distance. And yet, as she stood up from laying down on the ground, her eyes never left the branch he was sitting on. Then Itachi felt it too, the enormous chakra that was coming barreling from behind him, heading right towards the woman. The owner of said chakra was still quite a distance away, only an inkling of the powerful chakra could be sensed, but both of the ninja could tell who it was.

Though he would never admit it, Itachi let out a little puff of breath he had been holding in anticipation. Running would have been easy, had his position been compromised, no one came close to matching his speed, not even Pein; fighting the woman would prove interesting, but it was not time for such actions yet. His mission as of right now was to gather information on the target and to not get caught, equivalent to a D-rank mission for this missing nin.

The woman in front of him let her guarded expression drop as realization crossed her exotic features. The massive chakra, so potent it was almost visible to the naked eye, blasted its way through the forrest and into the training clearing. An orange and yellow blur sped its way up to the woman, tackling her in a voracious hug.

"Sakura-chan!" The voice called out in exuberance, much deeper than Itachi remembered it being since the last time he saw the boy, Naruto.

"Naruto!" She cried out, laughing freely. The boy had her in a bear hug, twirling her around as if she weighed no more than a small child, which in comparison to him, she might as well have been.

Itachi deactivated and removed his scope, gathering enough information for one day. He didn't want to stick around in the same place for too long, especially with the demon-fox in the same vicinity. He may be powerful, perhaps the most powerful ninja in the world even, but he knew when not to engage, for along his immense power, Itachi also possessed the intellect of a genius. He would follow the carefully laid plans, and when it was time, he would strike. It was only a matter of hours, before he and Kisame would grab the Slug Princess' apprentice.

"Sakura-chan, I'm back!" Naruto screamed into the ear of the girl in his arms. He spun her around in circles enthusiastically, happy to hear the delighted laughing that passed through her pink lips.

"I can see that Naruto!" She finally said as he placed her back on the ground. Sakura Haruno gazed up at her cerulean eyed best friend, looking all the way up his six-foot two frame from his feet, to his muscular torso and finally to his handsome face. She smiled warmly at him, cheerful that there didn't seem to be any major injuries from his month long mission, "I missed you." She proclaimed easily.

"I missed you too Sakura-chan. The mission was soooo boring without you! Kaka-sensei wouldn't stop trying to teach me about papers and laws and 'the proper way to greet people' it was awful, who needs to know that useless stuff?" Naruto complained, drooping over as if the weight of the world had just landed on his square shoulders, and maybe it had.

"Baka!" Sakura said, hitting him over the head, "That stuffs not useless! You're twenty and the day you turn twenty-one you're going to be made into the youngest Hokage in the history of Konoha! You need to know this stuff, you can't become a second Tsunade-sama and rely on people like me and Shizune," Sakura scowled at him.

Naruto looked down at his best friend, his Sakura-chan. She was glaring up at him, scolding him for his lack of interest in the political aspect of becoming Hokage. As usual he tuned her out but kept a semi-serious look on his face, least she realize it was going in one ear and out the other, and decide to hit him again. How funny, that the future Hokage still feared the fists of his little teammate. She was tiny for her age and profession, at twenty as well, Sakura was barley five-three and probably wasn't a hundred and twenty pounds soaking wet. However, every pound on her was muscle, her looks as deceptive as could be, which is what made her such a good kunoichi.

Anyone who didn't know her or her name, which over the years had become almost as well known as Tsunade's had, could only see her physical attributes. Anyone not trained as a ninja, or a ninja that just wasn't very observant, saw a small, exotic looking woman with a tight ass and perfectly shaped breasts. They saw her long pink hair cascading down her back to her waist, her jade-green eyes and her luscious pink lips. What they didn't see was the subtle but strong muscles on her arms, legs or toned stomach, they didn't see the small scars decorating her elegant hands from years of kunai practice. They didn't see the scrolls containing hundreds of weapons and medical implements on her belt, or the way her outfit was perfect for moving around in, for fighting in. And finally, these people just didn't see the look in her eyes, the determination, the strength in her set jaw, the raw power.

"I know you're not paying any attention," Sakura's voice interrupted his thoughts, Naruto raised one hand and put it behind his head, giving a nervous half-laugh.

"O-Of course I am Sakura-chan!" But she just rolled her eyes, giving up. Nothing got past her, she wasn't the Hokage's apprentice and the head of the hospital for nothing, yet she knew after almost a decade of friendship, that Naruto just wasn't going to listen.

"Whatever Naru-chan," She said, sticking her little tongue out at him before turning around and walking in the direction of the village, "you coming?" He jogged up to her, glad she would be accompanying him to the tower to report how the mission went.

"Naruto," the big-breasted Hokage sighed, "the whole point of this damn mission was to put you in the middle of nowhere with Kakashi, so the only thing you could possibly do is listen to him, so you could LEARN something about becoming Hokage! And yet the second he reports back to me, I learn that you spent the whole time looking for a damn ramen shop!" Tsunade stood up from her chair and slammed her hands on her desk, cracking the wood.

"Eh, Tsunade-sama..." Shizune spoke up from the back of the room at the same time, "...that's the third desk this week," Sakura finished for her, both of them sweat-dropping. But both of them were silenced with a single glare from their master, not wanting to get the brute of her anger.

"But Baa-chan!" Naruto whined, "I'm the strongest ninja in the village and I'll do all I can to protect everyone here, that's all that matters right?" He gave the good-guy pose, and was promptly hit was a book, thrown by a fuming Sakura.

"Baka!" She stage-whispered.

"No Naruto, that's not all that matters! What are you going to do if you and one of the other Kage's have a meeting that will determine whether or not there will be a war, how will you greet him or her without insulting them? How will you make sure that you reach an agreement without losing any ground? What will you say to make sure they know you're willing to do whatever it takes to win, without saying it outright?"

With each question Tsunade asked, Naruto seemed to melt more and more into the ground, unable to answer her. Sakura sighed, rubbing her throbbing head with chakra laced fingers. Why had she come with him again? She should have known it would end up this way, and now she was stuck listening to it. Shizune gave her a little wave and quietly snuck out the door while Tsunade was shouting, seeing her chance at escape. Kakashi was on her left, effectively ignoring the Slug Princess by burrowing his nose in his little orange book, having already been chewed out for not being able to control his ADHD inclined student.

Sakura didn't really listen to the rest of Tsunade's speech, having heard her give it to him a million times before. It seemed the stress level was getting higher and higher as the time for Naruto to take over her spot grew. She knew her master was very happy for him, but didn't really know how to show it aside from pushing him.

Moving slowly to the window, as to not attract the attention of the two people in a shouting match, Sakura stuck her head out the open window, resting her head on her hands, elbows on the windowsill. Something in the air didn't smell right, she had smelled it earlier in the training ground but attributed it to Naruto's disturbance, coming home from a mission. But now she was smelling it again, it smelled how it felt, ominous. Something was going to happen, and it caused the hairs on her arms to stand up.

Over the years Sakura and Kiba had grown really close, being the head of the hospital, and therefor the personal doctor on call for every Konoha clan, had brought her close to many of the future clan leaders. The Inuzuka were the last to put their trust in her, coming just shortly after the naturally untrusting Hyuga. The only reason it took them so long was because of the nin-dogs, which had to really get to know a person before making a decision, but once they did their loyalty was unwavering.

During their time together, as Sakura worked to win the clan over, Kiba taught her some of their D-rank abilities, one of them being the ability to sense feelings by smell. Since she had, obviously, not been born into the clan, Sakura was missing some very key mutations in her DNA and wasn't able to utilize the ability like Kiba and the others could, but she could still do more than anyone outside the clan ever could before her. The feelings had to be powerful and potent, in order for her to be able to sense them, and even then she had to concentrate hard, as she was now and had been in the training field.

Something, someone, in Konoha was feeling extra malicious today. Since it obviously wasn't someone near her, in the Hokage Tower, the owner of the feelings had to also be the owner of a very expansive chakra, almost like a tailed beast contained, for the smell to be spread across the village like this. I need to see Kiba, they'll be able to tell me who and where it's coming from, she thought to herself.

The nature outside even seemed extra restless today, leaves swirled around in front of her, the wind picking up and dying down spastically. There were no birds chirping, and everyone seemed to be inside, instead of milling around the market, as per a usual Saturday afternoon. Sakura turned around and looked at Kakashi, who was already staring back at her. She gave him a meaningful look and his response, a slight nod, was all she needed. Kakashi, owner of many nin-dogs, had the same ability as her, though for some reason it wasn't as pronounced as hers. That one look he gave her confirmed her feelings of suspicion, he felt it too.

"Tsunade-sama," sensei and student said at the same time, stopping the argument still going on between the Hokage and her future successor. Their combined efforts got her attention and she quirked her earth the left, trying to sense what they did. Suddenly, her amber eyes widened and she snapped her fingers, three ANBU appeared before her instantaneously, on bended knee with their heads bowed in respect.

"Hokage-sama," The three said simultaneously, awaiting her orders. Naruto looked confused but serious, Kakashi had put his book away, preparing for a fight, and Sakura turned back out the window, listening to what was going on in the room while watching the outside world.

Then, suddenly, before Tsunade could say anything else, the world village exploded into motion. The sound of hundreds of dogs barking came from the Inuzuka clan's property, birds chirped and flew around in a frenzy, villagers ran from store to store, as if a normal day had begun again but fast-forwarded, and Ton-Ton, who had previously been sleeping in a bed near Tsunade's desk, jumped up and started squealing like no tomorrow.

"What's going on?" Naruto yelled, running up to the window next to Sakura and looking out at the village, his arm subconsciously moved in front of Sakura's own in a protective stance.

There was no time to explain what happened, as if anyone knew in the first place, "ANBU, to the borders! Alert every station that we may have an intruder, very powerful, possible Akatsuki," Tsunade yelled and they darted off out of different windows. Shizune burst into the room, slamming the door against the wall. She looked like she was going to say something, but when she saw they already knew, stopped.

"The animals can all sense it," Kakashi spoke, "but the villagers have no idea..." They were acting weird, as if in fast-forward, but nothing else seemed amiss, they went about their business as usual.

"They're under a mass genjutsu," Sakura spoke, her voice even and strong, but her eyes crinkled with worry. "I can see it surrounding each and every one of them, even the children, Uchiha-san is here," It was a bold statement, and the other four pairs of eyes looked shocked at her statement, but a look of resolution settled upon the Copy-Nin's face.

"She's right." The other three in the room still looked unsure, but he continued, "Who else would be able to cast such a massive genjutsu? I cannot do so, with one imperfect Sharingan, but with two perfected eyes? The best the world has seen since Madara's? It would be no problem, child's play even. As for the massive chakra I felt," He gave a look to Sakura, who nodded in understanding, having already figured this part out as well, "It must be Kisame-san, his partner."

The Hokage sucked in a sharp breath, not wanting to believe it, but having to based on the indisputable evidence Sakura and her and ex-ANBU teacher provided her with.

"Kakashi, alert the clan heads that we may have an infiltration, make sure they're aware of who we're up against so they can take proper precautions with their families and ninja. Shizune, get the civilians and academy students into the Hokage monument to keep them safe. Naruto, you and Sakura go to the front gate, make sure its closer and then seal it from the outside, if they're outside, it will keep them outside, and if they're inside, they'll have no place to run. Move out!"

The ninja all sped off in blurs as soon as their instructions were given, Naruto and Sakura were the last to leave. They both received a look from Tsunade, telling them to be careful, be safe. If Itachi and Kisame were trapped outside with them, there wouldn't be as much backup as they would ideally have, they had gotten the most dangerous assignment out of the ones given. If they went out and were trapped with the two Akatsuki members, they would have some ANBU, but not as many as usual, as many were inside securing the village. The Akatsuki would basically have them alone, which, unbeknownst to Naruto and Sakura, was exactly what they wanted.

Itachi glared at his teammate, a certain shark-nin, and tossed his straw hat to the side, its bells jingling in the wind before it hit the ground.

"What? I didn't do anything!" The shark man proclaimed for at least the fourth time, hands up as if to prove his innocence, but Itachi wasn't having it.

"Between the two of us, who do you think gave our position away?" Itachi's cool voice responded, "Maybe next time you'll mask your chakra better."

"It was perfectly masked, who shoved a pole up your ass today? Or every day for that matter?" Kisame grumbled, unhappy at being chastised by his much shorter, but more powerful, partner. It was embarrassing to have to listen to a man he had a foot and a half on, and probably a hundred pounds of muscle, but the first time Kisame had challenged his authority had also been the last. He may not be the smartest of the Akatsuki, but he was far from the dumbest, and he learned fast.

Itachi chose not to grace him with a retort, and instead moved forward, toward the Konoha gates.

"You ready Naruto?" Sakura called to her left, where Naruto was stationed by the seal on the other side of the gate. She revived an affirmative nod.

"Ready Sakura-chan!" The two of them began the seals the Hokage had taught them years ago with blinding speed. Their backs to the world outside of the gate, so as to protect the seals from the prying eyes of the enemy that was sure to be closing in.

"Seal! Konoha no Jutsu!" The remaining members of team seven yelled at the same time, slamming both of their hands into the spots on either side of the ginormous gates, sealing the doors and creating a barrier around the village as well.

The entire process took maybe ten minutes, but more chakra than they wanted was used on the short process, especially if they were to face two notorious S-rank missing-nin.

"You alright, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, his boundless energy rolling off of him in waves. He could seal the Konoha gates a thousand times over without breaking a sweat, thanks to the newly formed bone between him and Kurama, the Kyuubi inside of him.

"Fine," was her one worded response, pulling on her fingerless fighting gloves and turning around to face who was approaching them at a leisurely pace.

The apprentices of two of the legendary Sannin walked into the woods outside of the Konoha gates, ready to meet the Akatsuki in a battle they wouldn't soon forget.

Itachi stopped, halting Kisame as well, in the clearing a mile outside of the village at one of the many training grounds in the woods surrounding Konoha. He could feel two chakras approaching, meeting them to defend their village. A strong pulsating chakra, swirling around in preparation for battle was unmistakably Naruto's, and the second, calmer and much smaller chakra was sure to be his teammate, their target, the medic called Sakura Haruno.

Sure enough the two of them appeared out of the woods on the other side of the training ground, assessing the Akatsuki in front of them. Itachi watched the two of them, seemingly bored, while Kisame stood next to him cracking his fingers and grinning the smile of a mad-man. Naruto was fidgety, as usual, hopping from one foot to the other, his face caught between a grin at the thought of a fight, and a grimace at the thought that the men before him were here to, somehow, hurt his village.

Beside him, a woman of twenty stood, stoically looking before her. Her hair was still in the long french braid that Itachi had spied her in while watching her train earlier, and her fighting glowed were already on. He could detect no emotion on her face, save for the every so slight furrowing of her brow, anger.

Itachi broke the silence, "Naruto-kun, you've grown."

"What are you doing here Itachi?" Naruto ignored his greeting, "Shouldn't you be off tormenting the teme somewhere? Maybe murdering another clan of helpless children?" He saw Sakura's eyes narrow slightly and look at Naruto, trying to get him to shut up. Then those mesmerizing green eyes flickered to him, teeming with an emotion he couldn't quite place, one that had never been directed at him before.

"Mah, mah Naruto, why the hostility?" Kisame butted in, "still upset that Itachi here forced your friend away? You're not still trying to get him back, are you?" He teased, expecting the usual violent response that Naruto delivered whenever someone mentioned Sasuke.

"Hah!" He scoffed, crossing his arms over his broad chest and giving a laugh, "So does that mean you guys haven't heard?" Sakura actually shushed him this time, trying to get the boy to shut up. His comment received a look of blatant confusion from Kisame, and a quirked eyebrow from Itachi.

"Whats that suppose to mean?" Kisame questioned, but before Naruto could open his mouth again to explain, Sakura had elbowed him in the gut and gave a signal. The two of them nodded at each other and took off, blurring together as they ran at the Akatsuki team, criss crossing in front of each other so as to confuse the other pair, not giving away who would be going after who.

Suddenly, they split apart, one body flying upward blocking the sun, and the other punching a hole in the ground with monstrous strength. Itachi's eyes, already melted into the blood red of his Sharingan, followed the movements of the Leaf team. Though he could see who was doing what, their movements were rehearsed in a way where he wasn't completely sure what they were going to do next.

"Hn." He moved back at the same time as Kisame moved forward, neither one of them knowing what the other planned to do. If the Leaf had anything over them, it was that they trained to work with one another, where the Akatsuki teams just worked off of their own skills.

It was obvious what the members of team seven had done. They took Naruto's unpredictable moves, and put them together using Sakura's planning and logic in a way that made it easy to both work together as well as keep the enemy confused. Itachi spared a glance at Kisame and narrowed his eyes at his partner; it was obviously working.

Naruto was in the air still, falling toward where Sakura was pulling her fist up from the deep crater she had punched into the earth. As Kisame moved forward, Naruto created two shadow clones, which started spinning air and chakra together to make the rasengan. Twisting together the three Narutos became a drill, colliding into the ground and continuing the hole that Sakura had made with her fists.

As he fell into the hole, Sakura jumped up, taking his place in the sky and launched herself at Kisame, sending a kick to his face. The shark nin used Samehade to block the kick and wrap her ankle with it's bindings, so to drain the kunochi's chakra. Then his face twisted up in further confusion as she started to twist forward. Sakura had purposely gotten her foot caught so that the sword couldn't be used to block her real attack, a swift but strong punch to the face with a chakra laced fist. The feisty woman had used her caught foot, which Itachi noticed hadn't been laced with chakra, to offset her balance and push the top half of her body forward to deliver a harsh blow.

Watching from the side, Itachi didn't interfere as Kisame was sent sailing back. His partner didn't get involved in his fights, and he didn't get involved with Kisame's. Unless it looked like his counterpart was going to sustain a mortal injury, and would therefor become a burden to himself, Itachi kept to himself. Kisame just regained his balance by using Samehade as a third leg when the ground behind him broke apart, revealing Naruto and his rasengan.

Sakura had punched a hole in the ground, starting a tunnel for her partner, who then dove to finish the tunnel. She distracted the shark-nin by getting herself caught and then punching him directly into where Naruto would come up with his rasengan. With a shout he pushed the ball of wind chakra into the massive blue man's back, pushing him forward again to the petal-haired kunoichi.

"The fuck?" Kisame's raspy voice sounded above the noises of battle, while Itachi still stayed where he was. Their well executed attack had taken place in under thirty seconds.

"Okay, no more playing around, Leaf brats!" Kisame brought his hands together, having already learned a lesson about taking it easy with these two. "Katon! Waterfall no Jutsu!" Out of nowhere, a giant tsunami-like wave appeared behind the nine foot tall missing-nin.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, and she nodded at him, it was time for each of them to engage their respective members. Naruto ran directly to the wave, a headstrong attack as usual, while Sakura turned and ran toward her stoic enemy.

"Uchiha-san," she acknowledged, standing a mere ten years from the Uchiha prodigy. He looked away from the ongoing battle between the nine-tailed container and the man known as the tailless beast, and turned her way. A very slight nod of his head was directed at her and she took a defensive fighting stance.

If all I can do is hold him off until more ANBU come for backup, that'll be good enough, she thought to herself, but Kami would I like to wipe the floor with his face.

Sakura's hands glowed green, her chakra tangible in its dense form. Itachi stood, having barely moved since the start of the fight. He assessed the woman in front of him, who was undoubtedly doing the same. Her green eyes were narrowed in preparation for a fight, but her eyes held no malice, as if the fight was impersonal, just an assignment. Her and her partner, Naruto, was vastly different in that respect. Every fight was personal for him, he was ruled by his emotions. If he thought back, Itachi could remember Sakura as a twelve year old Genin, hanging back, crying, and having to be protected all the time. She had grown up well, matured into a real kunoichi.

"Haruno-san," He formally greeted her back, finally, and tried to catch her eyes, he could see the orbs, but they weren't focused on his own red ones, rather she was looking directly at his mouth, listening to his words but not looking into his eyes.

Smart. Even Itachi's own thoughts lacked much substance.

Without further ado from either side, the ninja became black blurs, both of them jumping into the air and clashing in a sea of sparks, metal kunai on metal kunai.

"Naruto! I had heard you grew, after defeating Pein! It seems like I heard wrong!" Kisame taunted the younger male, who launched at him in blind fury.

"Oh yeah? At least I'm not some ugly fuck-face!" He yelled back, "You look like a fish!" And as common as the insult was, it still got Kisame's blood broiling and he sent more of his water sharks after the Kyuubi container. After he had sent that wave at the two Leaf, he summoned his nin-sharks to launch attacks at them. However when he looked back there was only one, the woman, their target, had left to fight his partner.

Kisame grinned, displaying row after row of shark-like teeth. They were playing directly into the plan, he hated to admit it, but Itachi always did think things completely through. It was only natural that the two would come face to face with the legendary students of the Sannin Tsunade and Jiraiya, and Itachi had come up with the plan from there. There was no way Sakura could face Kisame, his monstrous amount of chakra could suffocate people alone, Naruto would be the only one of the two that could match him for stamina. And though it was unlikely she could even land a hit, Itachi had assumed, she would have a greater chance matching his wit and genius with her own, where at Naruto wouldn't know genius if it bit him in the ass. The plan from here on out, was for them to separate the two and for Itachi to kidnap the medic-nin, and Kisame would meet up with him afterwards.

"So what were you saying about Sasuke-chan, eh Naruto?" Kisame started off for him, knowing that without Sakura by his side, the boy would have much looser lips, "Could it be that he has finally come home? And if so, why isn't he here with you two, defending his village?" Naruto looked like he wanted to respond, but knew that he shouldn't. He had control over himself, that is, until Kisame delivered the final verbal blow, "Could it be that he still just doesn't care about you, even after all this time?"

Naruto saw red as the demon fox's chakra began to bleed out of him, soaking his body in it. Kisame gave a feral grin, one full of malicious promise, and looked at the man in front of him completely unabashed.

"You better fucking take that back."

A loud roar broke the sounds of fighting between Itachi and Sakura. Unlike their partners, neither one of them found reason to taunt the other, as this wasn't personal, not yet anyway. Kunai clanged against one another and shurikan littered the forrest floor and trees around the ninja. Sakura paused for a split second, if it weren't for the Sharingan, Itachi wouldn't have seen it, but he did. He knew the two were close friends, and hearing him release the demon that was housed inside his body probably made her nervous for his fight, but after that instantaneous moment of weakness, she continued. The two had exhausted many jutsus, neither one of them being able to catch the other in a genjutsu, and both using long range ninjutsu when they weren't going after each other in hand to hand combat.

Neither one of them looked too bad, but Sakura was obviously worse for the wear. Training all morning and afternoon had sucked a lot of her chakra, and combined with sealing the village, she started off at much lower than half her usual reserve. Maybe I should have told Tsunade-sama about the early training session...But the kunoichi shook off the thought, I'm no longer weak, a little training won't stop me from being able to go all out! Reinforcing the strong belief the woman held in herself, she launched herself for another round of lightning-fast attacks.

In truth, Itachi was surprised by how fast the woman in front of him was. Of course, he was faster, but she could definitely hold her own against him in that category. He had been unable to hit her with any of his shurikan, or thrown kunai, and though she hadn't been able to hit him with her own that way, he was still spotting some scratches on his arms from the hand to hand combat they had been doing with the sharpened ninja knives, which was a feat for anyone. He couldn't remember the last time an enemy had been able to land an attack on him at all, let alone multiple ones, but this woman before him had. He could see the scratches on his arms and feel the dried blood on his face, his torso was sure to be bruising as well, after taking some of her kicks.

Sakura paused after her fast and calculated strikes, both of them panting from their activities, though his breaths were much less labored than hers were. Itachi looked at the target before him. He wasn't going all out on her, there was no need, but it was still impressive that she could come into the fight with less than half of her chakra and still be able to fight, fight well for that matter, against him. He watched her closely with his Sharingan, having not turned on his Mangekyou Sharingan yet, and looked for signs of fatigue. Her posture was impeccable, perfected after years of practice, it was still loose, for speed and movement, but strong in the case of a full out attack. However, the tips of her hands shook a little, and her knees looked slightly wobbly.

Itachi watched the woman in front of him take a deep, calming breath, her full breasts pushing against the fabric of her red shirt. He followed her hand as it reached past her short, airy tan skirt, into the weapons pouch wrapped to her black spandex covered thigh. When he looked up she was staring at her other hand. Quickly, without giving him time to respond, the woman stabbed her left palm with the kunai and slammed in into the ground.

"Katon! Summoning no Jutsu!" She cried and in a poof of smoke the Hokage's slug appeared. "Katsuyu!" Sakura called, rushing Itachi.

"Right, Sakura-Hime!" As Sakura ran at the missing-nin, the giant slug burst into a thousand mini-slugs, coating every inch of the area around Itachi. There was no way for him to avoid it, they were everywhere, but that meant that she couldn't either. Her speed slowed as her body was covered with miniature slugs, and he was able to step side her attack with ease. With her back turned to him, Itachi struck with a knock-out blow, aimed at Sakura's head. However, as soon as he made contact, Sakura's body melted into acidic goo, burning his hands.

"Hn?" Was all he could say before he felt a strike eerily similar to his own make contact with his neck. It's only thanks to his speed that he was able to turn around and throw the punch slightly off, and though he still saw stars, Itachi wasn't knocked out.

He narrowed his eyes, deciding that enough was enough, and grabbed the kunochi's wrist, snapping it at the joint and pulling it out of its shoulder socket. He heard a sound of surprise, but none of pain. Looking down at the kunoichi, almost a foot shorter than himself, he saw her stare at his forehead angrily, as if her look alone could melt a hole in his head.

Itachi threw the woman into a tree, breaking the bark and much of the insides with his force. Sakura slumped forward, he could see that she had no chakra left, even if she had not lost her will to fight, she couldn't anymore. That summoning technique, which had poofed away the second she hit the tree, had been her last attempt at gaining the upper hand, and to an extent it had worked. When Katsuyu had turned into many smaller versions of herself, Sakura had used a substitution jutsu with many of them, and when Itachi was burned by their acid, she delivered her final blow. Now that he thought about it, though it was strong, the punch had no chakra in it, seeing as she had none left.

The sight before him would have been pitiful, had he not known what the kunoichi was capable of. His body was riddled with cuts and bruises, the back of his neck and shoulder hurt like hell, he was still a little dizzy, and his hand had been burned pretty badly by the slug's acid. Itachi was panting heavily and his chakra was much lower than its been in a very long time. The woman had put up a very impressive fight, he was interested in seeing her at full chakra capacity.

From her position leaning against the broken tree on the forrest floor, limp arm by her side, Sakura breathed heavy and unevenly. The ever-stoic Uchiha walked up to her and crouched down, just watching her. Then, the woman whispered something he couldn't hear. He grunted, as if to tell her to repeat herself, which she did, just as quietly.

"Speak up, kunoichi." He spoke, annoyed with her weak, timid voice.

Again, Sakura said something so low he couldn't hear her. Itachi grabbed her other arm and broke it as well, so she would be unable to use any juts, weapons or taijutsu. As before, the woman didn't make a sound, although this time he could have swore he saw her wince. Then, he leaned in until her mouth was right by his ear, so as to hear when she was saying.

"I said," the woman spoke with a much stronger voice, "Fuck you, Uchiha," and with that, she reared her head back and head butted him in the side of the head. Anger coursed though the prodigy, the attack had no point but to piss him off, it hurt but it didn't cripple, it seemed like she just wanted to annoy him, and it had worked. The usually emotionless man grabbed her chin and yanked her head up roughly until she was staring directly into his eyes as they bled to the Mangekyou.

"Tsukuyomi."

A/N: So, what do you think? Is it worth continuing? R&R please, tell me if I should continue!

-Vera

"I fear being a completely acceptable sheep in society,"

-Marilyn Manson