The Man from the Picture

Chapter 19

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It took Sasuke a split second to realize that Sakura had tricked them all.

"Naruto!" he barked at his best friend who understood his meaning with a single look.

"Yeah!" A Kyuubi cloak enveloped the Hokage who closed his eyes in concentration, searching for Sakura's chakra.

"Well?" Sasuke asked tersely after a few seconds of silence.

"I don't know, this is weird... I can't find her chakra. It's like she's masking it," Naruto replied with a frown.

Sasuke's brow creased. If Sakura was hiding her chakra, she couldn't use it to run, which didn't make much sense if she was attempting to shake them off and return to Madara.

"When you last saw her, where did she go?" he demanded.

"She said she was going to talk to you, she went that way," Sarada said in a subdued tone and showed him the direction.

Sasuke immediately headed there, his Rinnegan blazing with purple as he took in the chakra traces. His own potent chakra released in the earlier bout of anger was obscuring Sakura's subtle chakra 'footprints', but he was able to follow them, not to mention the visible tracks she had left passing by. Sarada followed him wordlessly.

"Dad, what are you going to do?" she asked.

"Find your mother and bring her back," he replied without sparing her a glance.

"But she ran," Sarada said quietly. "She ran from us, Dad."

He was aware. It was like a bleeding deep wound he couldn't just put a band-aid on. If it felt like Sakura stabbed him in the back, what Sarada had to be going through?

What was even worse, Sasuke had suspected Sakura was planning to run, but when it actually happened, he felt... surprised. Betrayed. He didn't actually expect her to run from him, not after hearing her story. But he was coming to realize that even her long tale had a purpose. It was meant to stall for time, to make him lower his guard as he wallowed his personal anguish and self-recrimination. He was impressed despite himself. Apart from Naruto, only Sakura knew him so well to pull off this kind of a ruthless plan.

And she wasn't even lying. Every word she said was true, he knew it. She might have omitted more sordid details in front of their daughter, but she was sincere. He knew all her tells, he knew his wife, he knew Sakura. She was always a terrible liar.

But using the truth to her advantage? She could do that.

Still, cunning or not, he would not let her plan succeed. With so little time, she couldn't have gotten too far. It was just a matter of catching her and Sasuke had over ten years of experience under his belt.

In the darkness, under the canopy of trees, it was hard to see anything, but Sasuke pushed on, Sharingan and Rinnegan registering fleeting wisps of Sakura's chakra. He came to a wider gap between which was still too narrow to be called a clearing. It was positively saturated with Sakura's energy. She performed a jutsu there, but what kind? She didn't know any teleportation techniques, did she? Could she have learned any during all those years?

"Did you find something?" Sarada asked after he came to the sudden stop. She broke into a jog to catch up, but she suddenly slipped and fell on the ground. "Ow! Gross! Who put this stuff here?!" she exclaimed, lifting up her hand covered in a glimmering substance. She was kneeling in a puddle of it.

Sasuke pulled her up, then bent to inspect the slime. He swore under his breath.

"Sasuke!" Naruto burst out of the trees, his fire-like chakra cloak lighting up the area. "Sakura-chan, I know what she did! She summoned-"

"A slug, I know," Sasuke replied calmly, standing up. "You think she then reverse summoned or-"

"The slug's chakra is still around, I can feel it moving through the local natural chakra field," Naruto interrupted him. "But it's going to be very hard to track it while running."

As Naruto had once explained it to him, the summons used natural chakra too. Tracking them was like following an unstable current within a sea of chakra, which was randomly strengthening or weakening. Sasuke ran up the tree, bit his thumb and slammed his hand on the branch, summoning a giant hawk.

"Sasuke-sama," the majestic bird greeted him.

"Garuda, I need a favour."

Sasuke shortly explained the situation and soon the three of them flew up in the air on the back of the summon. Sasuke stood at the front, near the animal's head, his eyes combing through the forested planes below, looking for the movement of a large slug, while Naruto sat cross-legged behind him, focusing on the fluctuations in the natural chakra. Sarada was at the back, also looking down in hopes of spotting something.

Flying on the actual bird felt very different from Susanoo, just like riding a horse wasn't the same as travelling in a wagon. Susanoo was much faster but Sasuke was conserving his energy, expecting that Sakura's recapture wouldn't be so easy this time around. Besides, surely a hawk should beat a slug when it comes to speed anytime.

"Uh-oh," Naruto muttered.

"What?" Sasuke snapped at him.

"She sent decoys. I sense several slugs going in different directions. What do we do?"

"She summoned more?" Sasuke asked. He would have detected a use of jutsu of that magnitude, a spike of chakra, but there had been nothing.

"No, I guess her slug divided into more smaller slugs, you know, like Katsuyu," Naruto replied.

"What about Sakura then?"

Naruto shook his head. "Nothing. Still hiding."

Sasuke thought hard. He knew Sakura, the way her clever mind worked to come up with efficient, smart solutions. Even though she was known for her infamous punches, Sakura's real strength was her intelligence. She was a master at sneaking around and taking her opponent by surprise. That's how she managed to escape in the first place, so what would she...

"Turn back! Quickly!" Sarada cried out.

"Did you see something, Sarada-chan?" Naruto asked.

"No, but I just know Mom is going back to trick us! That's what I would do if I was trying to escape from you both..." the girl cut off with the air of embarrassment, realizing that just a few days ago, that's exactly what she had done.

"Good thinking, Sarada-chan! Like mother, like daughter, eh?" Naruto commented with a grin.

On Sasuke's command, with a flap of his mighty wings, Garuda turned around in an arc and flew back in the direction they came from. The cold wind whipped at their faces and clothes as the bird cut through the air at a high speed. Sarada shivered and rubbed her exposed arms, when her father threw his cloak at her. She fumbled a little before managing to bundle herself up in the warm material.

"Sarada-chan was right, there's only one slug going this way," Naruto informed them. His brow furrowed. "Wait... it stopped..."

A giant crash came from below, shaking the trees and startling the animals into a panicked run. Sasuke caught the monumental flare of Sakura's chakra, then his eyes widened in shock. A massive tree trunk was hurtling straight at them!

"Garuda!" he reflexively warned his summon at the same time realizing that it wouldn't make a difference, the hawk wouldn't manage to dodge the attack in time. Sasuke jumped off, channeling the electric current into his sword, and sliced down. He flew through the center of the tree as he cut it in half, the divided wood chunks harmlessly whizzing past the bird and its passengers.

"Dad!" Sarada cried out after him.

Sasuke plummeted down towards his target, sword held out first as a conduit for the lightning chakra gathering around him. Like a bolt from the sky, Sasuke struck the ground with a thunderclap, taking out a few trees that stood in his way. He rose from the crater slowly, not a single hair out of place as his heterochromatic eyes found his quarry.

"Sakura," he intoned.

"Sasuke," she replied without an ounce of fear. "I need you to let me go."

His gaze narrowed in irritation. What she was speaking was absurd. "Why? So you would go back to the man that kept you captive for years?"

Sakura shook her head. "You don't understand. I have to go back!"

Chakra burst forward, constructing Susanoo's upper half around him in seconds. "I won't allow it," Sasuke declared harshly. He once failed to protect her from Madara, he wouldn't do so again. Even if he had to use force against her. The time for talking was over when she decided to run.

Sakura clenched her fists as she took the fighting stance, Yin Seal unfolding from her mark and spreading on her skin. "You can try," she hissed dangerously.

Their powerful wills clashed and everything around came to a standstill, creating a moment of calm before the storm. Then, as if on the unspoken command, they simultaneously burst into movement.

The Susanoo swiped its gigantic hand, intending to grab Sakura and thus restrain her without causing her too much harm, but she already jumped out of the way and darted forward, fist cocked for a monstrous punch. The second arm fired a chakra arrow at her feet, forcing her to sidestep into the path of the next grab, however Sakura evaded both attacks with her supreme agility.

Sasuke relentlessly tried to entrap her in Susanoo's unbreakable hold but Sakura always slipped out of his grasp. It was like catching smoke—simply impossible. They both needed to change tactics, because this was going nowhere.

Sakura somersaulted over the Susanoo arm and dashed towards the untouched trees, hoping to break away from the fight. If she lured him out of the open space, he wouldn't be able to use Susanoo as effectively against her and she'd gain advantage and a real chance to get away.

"No!" Sasuke shouted and reflexively let loose of his Mangekyo. The black flames sprouted right in front of the kunoichi, cutting off her escape. She skidded and turned back, but it was still too close and her long sleeve caught on fire. Sakura ripped it off and quickly threw it away, the fabric turning to ash while still in the air. The deep red burn on her arm healed rapidly with a hiss as the melted skin cells were shed and replaced by new, healthy ones.

When Sakura looked up from the fresh pink skin on her arm to Sasuke, something in her eyes shifted. Amaterasu wasn't a technique to use lightly and especially not on a mission to capture. Sakura lowered her chin, staring defiantly at him, though a sort of resignation entered her eyes. But if he was willing to use deadly force, then she had no choice but to retaliate in kind.

"So this is how it is... You're no better than Madara," she said.

Sasuke bristled. "Don't compare me to that monster," he replied icily.

"It's hard not to, when you treat me the same! I'm just a convenient tool to you, aren't I? You think you can discard me, then take me back whenever you damn please?! That's not going to happen!" she burst out angrily and charged at him.

"What are you talking about?!" Sasuke asked as she nimbly avoided his swipes. She was going straight at him, fist raised for an earth-shattering blow. "I never discarded you!" he yelled.

"Hot Springs Country, remember?! I wanted you to save me from him! But you didn't come!"

A shock of surprise made him falter and drop his guard entirely, arm hanging limp on his side. Sakura ruthlessly seized the chance and sprang forward.

"Shannaroooo!" she let out her war cry and punched the Susanoo. For a second it seemed as if everything was static and unmoving. Time stopped as their eyes met through the barrier of Susanoo. Her determined, steely glare held so much anger, frustration and resentment, but under it all, despite his own shock, he noticed the undercurrent of desperation in every taut line of her body.

Then a crack in the armour appeared.

The spiderweb of cracks spread all over Susanoo and with one last push of energy in her arm Sakura broke through it and hit Sasuke in the stomach. He didn't even defend himself, he just took it on. The force of the punch knocked him hard to the ground and he tasted blood and dirt in his mouth.

Sasuke coughed weakly, pain lancing through his broken body. He had no strength to move, he wasn't even sure if he was physically capable to. Sakura was standing over him, breathing harshly and her arm still extended. She slowly looked at her still clenched fist then down at him, her expression changing into disbelief and horror as her senses returned to her.

"Oh god..." Her body shook like a leaf and she fell to her knees by his side, tears filling her sorrowful eyes. The markings over her body returned to the diamond seal on her forehead. "I... I didn't mean to... I'm so sorry!" she sobbed out. Sasuke mused that he must have made a truly sorry sight for her to cry like that.

Sakura's hands lit up with green chakra and she immediately pressed them to his middle. The healing chakra flowed into him, numbing the pain.

"I'll... live..." Sasuke rasped out. The tough guy act made Sakura snort with amusement, but at least she stopped crying. Sasuke's mouth quirked up. He felt ridiculously pleased with himself for accomplishing such a small feat.

Sakura wiped her drying tears and continued healing him. "You should have dodged that with your speed," she commented. "I could have killed you and you let me," she said quietly. "Why?"

"Maybe I deserved it," he replied.

Sakura's lip trembled. "Don't... Don't say things like that. You didn't deserve to be hurt."

"You still held back," Sasuke pointed out. They both knew too well that Sakura's punches were devastating. If she had gone full out, he'd have been turned into a smear on the ground.

Sasuke didn't mind the pain. It was immaterial next to what he gained in the exchange. Sakura may have hurt him, but she still cared enough to cry over him and heal him. Somewhere in her battered heart, she still loved him. His efforts weren't in vain.

"In one way, you are right," she spoke up. "You really are nothing like Madara. He would've never let me land a blow like that. If he was in your place, he would've crushed me." She sounded distant, but certain, unlike someone who only speculates, and Sasuke picked up on it immediately.

"Did he?" he asked sharply, but she averted her eyes. "Did he crush you, Sakura?" Sasuke repeated the question.

Sakura took her hands away from him abruptly. "You're stable for now, the medics in Konoha will be able to finish healing you on their own," she changed the topic.

She made to stand up, but he grabbed her wrist. "Don't go," Sasuke said. It wasn't a command this time. "Please."

His single black eye was focused solely on her with a calm intensity that weakened her willpower. Sakura couldn't withstand it, so she turned away and tugged her hand, but he held on.

"Sasuke, let me go," she said hoarsely.

"You were wrong," he told her. "I waited for you. Two weeks in Hot Springs Country, I waited. You never showed up."

Sakura's head whirled back to stare at him, eyes narrowed in angry disbelief. "Don't lie to me like that," she hissed harshly. "You weren't there."

Sasuke met her glare with calm confidence. "I'm not lying," he said simply, honesty shining through. It couldn't be denied, it only had to be believed. "I was there."

Sakura's breath hitched and all her sharpness vanished, leaving only confusion in its wake. "But... this doesn't make any sense... That's not how I remember it..." she trailed off, her face becoming pale and drawn like she was in pain. She pulled her hand out of his hold and rubbed at her temple with a groan, eyes closed. "No... this is wrong..." she muttered to herself.

"Sakura," he called her name, trying to bring her back.

"Dammit!" she cursed under her breath, clutching at her head, as she struggled with herself. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" she cried out in utter frustration. Green eyes snapped open and she sprang to her feet. "This doesn't change anything. I need to go," she said.

As the last resort, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and cast the genjutsu to knock her out like before. Sakura swayed on her feet when it took effect and he exhaled in relief, thinking that it worked, but then she regained her footing. The genjutsu was too weak or maybe Sakura's will was too strong to suppress, he didn't know. "This isn't going to work on me for a second time. You can't stop me," she told him.

"Are you just going to keep falling into Madara's traps? Don't you care he's using you?" Sasuke demanded angrily. He breathed in and out to get his emotions under control, then continued. "Stay with me. With our daughter. We need you," he pleaded with her.

Sakura shook her head, fresh tears glimmering like little diamonds in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke-kun, I really am!" she said tremulously. "I want to stay with you! But my son needs me more. I'm the only one who can protect him," she explained, her expression shutting down. She turned to go.

"Sakura!" he called after her helplessly from the ground, his insides twisting up in agony that had nothing to do with his injuries. He needed to go after her, to change her mind somehow. Desperately, he dug his hands into the ground and tried to lift himself up, but the splitting pain in his abdomen made him fall down again on the sharp stones and roots that ripped his shirt and gouged into his back. Sasuke gasped from the sting, but he had no intention of staying down. With a strong push that made him dizzy, he turned to lay on his stomach, then sank his fingers into the dirt and started to crawl. "Sakura," he rasped, his eyes fixed on her boots as she walked away. He gritted his teeth and reached out in futility, watching as she got farther and farther away from him.

"Stop right there!" Naruto and a band of his clones jumped out of the cover, the glowing chakra enveloping them as they surrounded Sakura. Sasuke felt lighter. He was starting to worry about the dobe, but as always Naruto managed to come through for him. "Sakura-chan! Please stop! I don't want to hurt you!" the Hokage yelled in warning.

Sakura clenched her fists with a feral look. "No, Naruto, I don't want to hurt you."

She charged forward and the clones swarmed her. Sakura's arms and legs blurred as she dispatched them with a flurry of powerful punches and kicks. The smoke from the beaten clones obstructed the view of the battle.

Suddenly and inexplicably, Sakura froze mid-punch. It took her only a split second to realize what had happened, but it was already too late.

"Kagemane complete! Now!" Shikamaru stepped out of the shadows, already sweating from the strain of keeping Sakura in place.

Sakura screamed and struggled to break out of the jutsu's hold. Shikamaru wasn't going to last long against her monstrous strength, however he brought reinforcements. Kakashi jumped out and unrolled a long scroll while Sai quickly applied seals on it with his paintbrush. The activated scroll wrapped tightly around Sakura, taking away her ability to use chakra. Her unconscious body would have slammed senselessly onto the ground, but Naruto caught her in the nick of time. A curtain of pink hair covered her face.

"Dad!" Sarada ran up to Sasuke after the fight was finished. "Are you okay? I saw Mom healing you, but this looks really bad," she blurted out, brow creased with worry. He didn't miss the dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

"I'll be fine," he said with a grunt. He reached out with his hand and Sarada helped him sit up, though he had to lean heavily on her.

Kakashi ambled up to them.

"Sasuke, Sakura is secured and ready to transport. Good job tiring her out for us," he said.

Sasuke snorted, then winced. His ribs were still very sore. "I had no idea you lot would actually come here so fast."

"That was Shikamaru's idea. Prepare for the worst, as they say," Kakashi replied with a shrug. "Your summon returned to its dimension, so this time you're going to fly with the rest of us on Sai's painted birds. Come on." He helped Sasuke stand up, but the Uchiha needed support to prevent him from falling over. Kakashi and Sarada brought him the short distance to the ready bird and carefully laid him on top of it, so as not to aggravate his injuries.

Naruto and Shikamaru took the other bird, while Sai and Kakashi guarded Sakura on the third one. They were overly cautious, as she was bound up like a mummy and only her head was sticking out of the sealing scroll to allow her to breathe. The three birds took off simultaneously and flew towards Konoha.

Sasuke noticed Sarada's pensive silence. She was never a loud child, but this was different.

"Sarada, what is it?" he asked.

"Nothing," she muttered.

"You're thinking too hard for it to be nothing," he observed. "Tell me."

Sarada took in a shuddering breath. "It's really nothing. I was just thinking about your fight with Mom," she admitted with reluctance.

"How much did you see?"

She averted her gaze downwards. "Almost everything," she said quietly. "Nara-san wanted to back you up, but the Seventh said you two had to... fight it out." Her tone alone clued him in how upset she'd been with the idea.

He sighed tiredly. "Sarada-"

"For a moment there, I thought that you and Mom were really going to kill each other," she interrupted him. "Don't scare me like that!" she added casually with a forced smile, but behind the nonchalance he noticed the lurking insecurity and fear. Sarada was trying to hide just how bothered she was, but as her father he could tell.

Sasuke felt a lump forming in his throat. "You shouldn't have had to see that, Sarada. You did well listening to Naruto." He didn't even want to think what could have happened if she had gotten mixed up in that battle.

Sarada flashed him a strange look, but it disappeared before he could make heads or tails of it.

"Dad, what's going to happen to Mom now?" she asked, looking over to the bird flying in front of them, carrying the captured Sakura.

"We're bringing her back. That's what matters," he said to remind his daughter of the positive side, even though on the inside he shared her concerns. "We'll figure out the rest."

Sarada looked at him to gauge his sincerity, then nodded, her expression clearing a bit as her worries became assuaged for now.

But Sasuke's own worries remained and grew even stronger.

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At the same time, another father and child had a similar conversation.

Madara was sitting on the front porch like a stone guardian, calmly looking into the darkness of the night. Kazuki slipped out of the house and joined in his silent watch.

"Dad, when will Mom come back?" the boy asked anxiously.

"Hmm, it could take her a few days."

"Are you sure she will come back?"

Madara patted his son's head affectionately. "Of course I am. Nothing will keep her away from those she loves. She will come."

"And what if she can't?" Kazuki asked. Those ninja that kidnapped his mom were pretty strong after all.

"Then," Madara mused with a smirk, "she will need a rescue, won't she? We'll start your training tomorrow."

Kazuki bobbed his head up and down with an enthusiasm of a young boy who wholeheartedly trusts his father.

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AN: Thanks for reading! Sorry it took so long to update this, I was busy the last few months writing SasuSaku, a longer story titled Syncope and fics for SS Month. Check them out if you'd like ;)

To those of you who like Madara and MadaSaku: I'd like to write a story about them in the future, but I have too many ideas, so I made a poll. It's on top of my profile. Please vote and let me know which ideas you'd be the most interested in :)

Please let me know how you liked this chapter and see you next time!