key:

"talking"

'jutsu'

thinking

"flashback"

nonhuman

A Fateful Encounter

Sakura hated funerals and now she had to relive one, the funeral of the Hiruzen Sarutobi the great third Hokage. Of course if she was set on reliving her past life she'd be stuck attending more than just this funeral. The pink haired girl let her head fall and she just stared at her shoes, her mind deep in thought.

In the past she spent this time thinking about her brief meetings with the former Hokage, the tales and history of his greatness, and thinking about the unknown future before her.

This time around, the future wasn't so unknown and her mind was clear. She had to figure out her next move, but how does one face two S-class criminals? How was she going to face Itachi Uchiha?

They're going to kill me for sure. She sighed.

When Sakura saw them, her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. She shook her head, but the ninja she saw off in the distance weren't a mirage despite her desperately wishing that they were. Kisame Hoshigaki and Itachi Uchiha, rogue ninga and members of the infamous Akatsuki, were in the village and they were walking toward her. Sakura immediately hid in the crowd as they passed by, but she wasn't going to let this opportunity pass her by so she followed them.

She had to stop them somehow, but did she really want to change the future so drastically? She didn't know what kind of outcome she was hoping for, but when the two stopped in front shinobi training area where her team had once played the "bells" game she knew this was a meeting she couldn't avoid.

"Come out." The cold calm voice of Itachi Uchiha called out, and Sakura left her hiding place to stand in front of the very dangerous ninja. The two members of the Akatsuki had known they were being watched when Sakura had first laid eyes on them, but they hadn't expected the ninja who had been observing them to be a young girl with pink hair.

"She's just a baby ninja." Kisame laughed at how foolish the girl in front of them was. "Leave, girl. Before you get yourself killed."

"I'm not leaving, I have something to say." Sakura held her ground, but she was barely able to keep her legs from shaking.

"Who is this kid?" Kisame looked positively baffled.

"I believe she's the Jinchuuriki's teammate. Nonetheless, we have no choice. If she insists on getting in our way, we'll have to end her." Itachi sighed, it almost seemed like he pitied Sakura, but this was a man who had killed his whole clan; mothers, children, and entire families fell to his sharingan. What was one more life?

"I can take care of this quickly." Kisame offered before disappearing and reappearing behind the girl, his Samehada ready to run her through, but Sakura also disappeared. When she made her presence know again, she had already sent Kisame flying with a chakra powered punch to the face.

The mist ninja tumbled and slid across the ground, now with a fractured cheekbone and a large headache. He certainly had not seen that coming, even Itachi was surprised by Sakura's level of power.

Sakura cleared her throat and spoke up, "Now that I have your attention, Kisame Hoshigaki." She paused and looked over to the raven haired Akatsuki before adding. "And Itachi Uchiha. You're both going to leave this village. You're going to leave Naruto alone for the time being and go back to your Akatsuki headquarters empty handed."

With every word she spoke the shark ninja's eyes would widen with surprise. Who the hell is this girl? And who does she think she's bossing around? The questions were unending, but what was plain and clear was that she knew way too much.

"Enough." Itachi spoke up and glanced over at his partner, sharing an unspoken message, before quickly sending a few shuriken flying towards the girl. Sakura dodged the projectile weapons easily, and Kisame took that opportunity to bring his Samehada down upon her head. Fortunately, Sakura had not forgotten that she was in the presence of two deadly opponents and she was able to kick the Samehada out of Kisame's hands and send another kick to the shark-man's gut. Sending on opponent flying away just in time for her to turn around and face Itachi.

Itachi did some familiar hand signs, 'Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu'. Sakura tucked and rolled to avoid the volley of fireballs.

Itachi smirked as she fell right into his trap, genjutsu. Suddenly, Sakura couldn't see or hear anything, all of her senses were blocked. But she didn't panic, she saw this coming and with a couple quick hand signs disperse the genjutsu surrounding her. Which was good, cause then she was able to avoid to avoid a giant fireball.

"Not bad." Itachi mused and moved out of the way for his partner's oncoming attack.

'Water Style: Exploding Water Shock Wave' Kisame had landed in the training ground's lake and had used the element to his advantage, now riding the giant waves of water over to his target. Sakura moved to dodge the incoming tsunami, but realized too late that his water jutsu and genjutsu were merely distractions devised by the Akatsuki partners so that the fish-man could reach his sword undetected.

"Gotcha!" The moment she dodged his jutsu, the swordsman was ready. He swung his mightily Samehada across the young girl's figure. Starting from her right shoulder, his mighty sword cutting through her with ease and exiting just above her right hip. It seemed like it was all over for Sakura, but she was already a step ahead and the injured Sakura clone disappeared in a puff of smoke.

She reappeared behind the Uchiha with a kunai at his back. "Let's stop here, Itachi. We both know you and Kisame can beat me even on your worse day." And as she spoke these words Itachi already had the girl pinned to the memorial rock with her own kunai at her throat.

"Then why fight us if you knew you would lose?" Kisame blurted out his question, he was so confused by the girl before them. It was like she was playing with his mind and he didn't like the feeling.

Sakura opened her mouth to answer but could only wince as the Uchiha pushed her harder against the rock. The raven haired man had the kunai ready and poised to end her life, but even he was shocked by the girl in front of him. He could easily destroy her with his sharingan, but it was the calm green pools of her eyes that were captivating him in this moment.

"Don't I get a last wish or last words or something?" She spoke up, not a hint of fear in her tone.

Kisame wanted to kill this damn girl already, but even he was curious now about what she had to say. Itachi could only stare menacingly at the girl before he too gave in, "Then tell me. What is your wish?"

"Tell Sasuke the truth." The girl's words brought a surprised look to both of the rogue ninja, the look was especially surprising on the Uchiha's usually stoic face. "Tell him the truth about why you kill the Uchiha clan and your parents. You did it to protect him." She could feel the grip on her throat tighten with ever word, but the pink haired kunoichi was determined to get this out. "Don't let him waste his life on revenge just to find out the truth and live in regret."

"P-please don't let him be alone anymore…" She silently curse her now wavering voice and the tears that were now leaking from her eyes. Stupid tears.

Itachi was speechless, he didn't know how this girl could possibly know such things, but he could tell that there was much more to her than what meets the eyes. He stepped away from the girl. "Come, Kisame. We have a mission to complete." He turned and left the scene.

"W-wait, Itachi. Shouldn't we finish her off-" Kisame started but Itachi interrupted his partners words. "No. We've lost this fight."

Strangely enough Kisame could only grin at his partner's words. Well, I guess we'll probably meet again then, Little Kunoichi.

The moment that the two were no longer in sight, it was like Sakura's strength vanished and her legs gave out from under her. "I-I'm alive?"

After that fateful encounter, the two Akatsuki members found themselves in the presence of Asuma, Kurenai, and Kakashi just on the outskirts of the bustling village.

"It's been a while." Itachi spoke up finally, lifting up his hat to revealing his sharingan eyes before removing the hat all together. The jounin remained silent and had grim looks on their faces, knowing full well who they were in the presence of.

"It's seems you already know Itachi. Then I need to introduce myself." Kisame took off his kasa as well. "I'm Kisame Hoshigaki."

"So you're both S-Class Criminals." Assume huffed.

"Kurenai, Asuma, Kakashi. Please do not interfere with my affairs, it will only get you killed." Itachi stated bluntly, wishing to avoid yet another fight, but realizing that was unlikely, especially after his partners next few words.

"Kakashi? You know, I really liked that cute kuniochi of yours." The swordsman let out a terrifying chuckle at the thought of the fiery girl. "That pink haired girl was fun to fight."

Team 7's sensei's eyes widened at this, "T-that's not possible." Kakashi shook his head.

The Copy Ninjas frantic thoughts were interrupted by Itachi's next words. "She followed us and told us she wouldn't allow us to take the nine-tails boy." The Uchiha paused while he thought of the strange girl that was able to captivate him. "But you need not worry about her, you should really worry about yourself."

Sakura, please be okay. Kakashi paused and glanced over in the direct of the village before turning back to the two Akatsuki members and starting their battle.

Writers Notes:

I'm still not sure if I'll ever finish this story, life is just too business and I tend to lose interest.
I'm honestly so surprised I'm updating with this new chapter now, but the future is unknown.
Maybe I will continue, maybe there will be a ending one day. I don't know the answer yet.
So I'm sorry this is late and that I may never finish, but thank you for reading.