Chapter Thirty

This was not the scene I had expected.

The girl always was the weak link in Akatsuki, but for her to be in critical condition after so little was just pathetic. She had only really faced Sasori and Zetsu—the others either didn't fight her or went easy on her. And now she was unconscious in the arms of a Sannin. This little girl that seemed like such a good idea at the time...

He could vaguely remember when she first arrived—there was a vicious dent in Akatsuki's funds after they had to purchase equipment suitable for the care of a young kunoichi; all up to Orochimaru's expensive standards, as he was the one responsible for her at the time. She had the audacity to ignore everyone and demand where her room was.

Sasori had brought her in from the forest, taken her to Orochimaru and from there I had hated her. She was all give—attitude—and take—money. Not my kind of person. To top it off, she was never really a worth-while addition to the Akatsuki from the start—she couldn't hold her own in a fight against anyone we were sent on missions to kill and she was terrible at reconnaissance.

Apparently, she only had one mission—the Kyuubi mission. It was her purpose and nothing further. She had failed; idiot child. One simple mission and she had gotten emotionally involved. She deserved to die—she has had it coming to her for a while now.

"Your time is up, Sakura."

--

"Why're you betraying us, Kisame?" Hidan snarled as he dodged the Samehade for the xth time. He growled, pushing off of the ground and slashing at Kisame with his scythe. The ex-Mist-nin parried, of course, and Hidan had to pull away again.

"Sakura doesn't deserve this." Kisame stated, moving to the side when Hidan attempted a slash from the side. "She never asked to join Akatsuki. Orochimaru attacked her right after she'd run away from her village and forced the curse seal on her—Leader wouldn't let her go."

"Then why didn't she kill herself?" The Jashinist smirked, stopping his attacks; it was useless to fight Kisame, after all. Kisame stopped too and the two of them just stared at each other. "She could've saved everyone a lot of trouble."

"She's a kid, Hidan." Kisame scoffed. "No matter how strong she gets, she's still a kid. Kids have this instinctive fear of death—she couldn't have killed herself if she wanted to."

"That fucking sucks."

--

"Put me down, Jiraiya-sama." Sakura said weakly to the Sannin. Jiraiya shook his head.

"You're too weak to move on your own." He replied. "Besides, no Akatsuki member in their right mind would attack a Sannin."

"That's what you think." Kakuzu smirked, preparing to lunge at him.

"Kakuzu." Pein called from behind them. "Let them go."

"Are you serious?" The Missing-nin growled to himself.

"Konoha is a five-day trek from here. It would be amusing to see if they make it before Haruno bleeds to death." His eyes showed amusement. "I would estimate three hours before she's too close to death to save."

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled, picking Hinata up and running at top-speed away from the two criminals. Jiraiya turned and quickly caught up as the four of them moved towards Konoha at an amazing speed.

Regretfully, it was not quite amazing enough.

--Previously--

"Pein." An ominous voice called from the shadows of Pein's office.

"Madara-sama." Pein bowed. "The girl will be dead soon; Kakuzu is taking care of her."

"No, let her go."

"What?"

"She will die during their journey." Madara smirked, a small chuckle escaping his mouth. "Her blood-loss is too great; no amount of speed will save her."

"As you wish."

--

"There's a town ahead!" Naruto yelled, but he was pulled away from that direction by Jiraiya, the Sannin carefully avoiding the heiress on his back; she had fainted from the sight of Sakura's lost arm. "What're you doing?!"

"Calm down!" Jiraiya called back. "That town is under Amegakure control. We need to get to somewhere that'll treat her, not a place that'll further try to kill her."

"How long will that take?!"

"...Too long."

--

Pein's prediction had been wrong—Sakura had struggled through three hours, but had fallen unconscious before they made it to the closest village not under Akatsuki control. When someone with medical knowledge finally got to her, they said it was too late.

Naruto's heart broke.

Hinata was devastated.

Jiraiya could only watch as two Genin were destroyed.

--

"Is something wrong, Kakashi?" Gai asked his rival when Kakashi had suddenly stopped—they were walking towards the training grounds for a spar.

"I...I think there is." Kakashi frowned, turning. "I'll see you later." He announced, poofing in a cloud of smoke.

"Darn you and your coolness, Kakashi!"

--

"Sensei." Sasuke acknowledged when Kakashi appeared in front of him. The boy had felt a chill run through him and his suspicions were only worsened by the appearance of his sensei.

"Sasuke, I think it's time I tell you what's going on with Sakura and Naruto."

"Why now?"

"Later might be too late."

--

"I see someone coming." Izumo noticed. "It's Jiraiya-sama and Naruto with the Hyuuga heiress! Tell the Hokage!"

"Right!" Kotestu nodded, poofing away. The ninja approaching the village got closer and Izumo's blood ran cold when he saw what Jiraiya was carrying. He wished suddenly that he hadn't told Kotetsu to tell the Hokage when people stared to gather around the gates.

"They have Sakura!" A girl's voice broke through the crowd as joyous cheering spread like a wave. Izumo didn't look away as many did when they saw the pink-haired girl closely.

She was too pale to be living. This was the first thing he noticed. The next was her mission arm—masses of dried blood around the wound showed the most probable cause of death. People began crying, but Izumo only stared.

"Naruto!" Sasuke called as he pushed through the crowd. He met the blonde's eyes and saw a flash of something he had never seen in the boy's eyes before—desparation.

"Sasuke, I'm so sorry." Naruto said, his voice even. He had long since run out of tears.

"What for, Dobe?" The Uchiha asked, looking around the tiny group of travellers, his eyes falling on Sakura.

He couldn't speak.

Kakashi bowed his head in respect and guilt—he had lost another team mate to the icy hands of death. All he could do now was hope that she had reached the afterlife peacefully.

--

Weeks later, war broke out in Konoha—beween them and an ill-informed Suna.

Sasuke left Konoha to be trained by Orochimaru. He went on to defeat Orochimaru, kill his brother and set his eyes on Konoha for his next source of revenge—he was a lost cause, too set on revenge to see passed his blade.

Hinata demanded training to become Clan Leader, and wasn't denied. She became stronger, surpassing her younger sister and becoming the pride of her clan, just as Sakura said she would be.

Naruto never lost sight of his dream, to become Hokage. He promised himself that he would get Sasuke back and fulfil his dream, not allowing himself to let the loss of his first and only love to hold him back. Sasuke had shown him how empty a human could become with revenge as their only goal, and he swore that he would not turn out like that.

Kakashi didn't take on another team. He became later to morning appointments as now he did not pray for two names, but three when he visited the Memorial Stone. He resumed his ANBU career and kept in touch with Naruto, treating him to ramen occationally—he refused to fail the only one he had left. In the end, he died of old age—a retired ninja.

Sakura, so they believed, watched over them as they grow as people and ninja; she was there when Hinata was named sole heir to the clan. She was there when Sasuke had finally killed his brother. She was there when Naruto confronted and beat Sasuke, dragging him to the destroyed Konoha and beating him some more. She was there when Kakashi breathed his final breath in peace, his last wish that Naruto and Sasuke would be able to do the same.

Kisame was found as a traitor to Akatsuki on the day Pein let Sakura go and was killed for his actions against the organisation. To the end, Itachi stuck to his belief that Kisame was wrong for aiding Sakura's escape, but even at Kisame's end he hadn't looked away—his partner diserved respect for his loyalty, at the very least.

She had proven Mizuki wrong.

"As for Sakura…well, she's full of rage, scorn and hate. Not even I know why, but it's there. I can feel it boiling up inside of her every day of her life. One of these days, she'll lash out and kill anyone who stands in her way."

She had died a ninja's death, from a wound inflicted by her enemy.

Her scorn and hate had faded through her time with Naruto, Sasuke, Kakashi and Hinata. She became human, thanks to them, and she had died as she had wanted to live.

In the embrace of a demon.

In Naruto's embrace.

"I love you, Naruto."

"Don't leave me, Sakura-chan."

"I'm sorry I...can't...protect you any...more..."

"NO!"