Orochimaru finished with Sasuke as I was lost in thought, and turned to me with an amused look. I shrugged.
“I can’t possibly do anything meaningful against the strongest of the Sannin, sir,” I explained politely, playing up my insignificant genin act. “If you wanted us all dead we would be. Is there anything you’d like me to pass on when he wakes up?”
“Such a practical child.” He chuckled in that creepy way of his, and patted me on the head. “Perhaps I’ll have a use for you when the time is right.”
Then he body flickered away, leaving me to roll my eyes and carry the boys off to shelter. I was just getting them settled when I felt a half-familiar presence entering our usual camp site. I frowned. The signature was a lot like Sasuke, but much stronger. Was Itachi wandering around the forest? What had I done that would cause that?
I turned to find a dark-haired man with Sharingan eyes watching me from across the little clearing. But it wasn’t Itachi.
“I see I’ve finally found you, Sakura. Come here, and tell me what you’ve done since your little escape attempt. If you’ve followed my instructions well enough I may be lenient in your punishment.”
My shocked gaze fell to the boy at my feet, still unconscious from the cursed seal Orochimaru had just inflicted on him. Apparently I wasn’t the only one of us who’d discovered a way to cross loops.
22. Confrontation
“I wondered why you did it, you know,” I said conversationally. “Did getting marked by Orochimaru every loop drive you crazy? Did you get caught in Itachi’s Tsukuyomi too many times? Was I just that much of a pest? What happened to you, to turn the boy who believed in justice into a man willing to torture his teammate? Did you really never realize that I would have done anything for you if you’d just asked?”
He frowned minutely, in that infuriating ‘I’m too cool to actually show any emotion’ way that he’s always been so fond of. “You wouldn’t understand,” he said coldly. “And you should have known better than to rebel. I’ll have to train you more thoroughly this time.”
I shifted to my adult form and cracked my knuckles. “Give it your best shot, you bastard. I’m not the helpless little girl I used to be.”
“It doesn’t matter,” he said confidently. “No matter what training you’ve undergone, no matter how strong you’ve become, you cannot defeat me. All your jutsu are useless against these eyes.”
His eyes changed, but not into the pinwheel I’d expected. The higher-level versions of the Sharingan are a very individual thing, and the kaleidoscopic loops of his eyes told a story of madness and loss and the blackest despair. The Perfect Mangekyo was in there, along with a half-dozen other horrors of ultimate degradation. The Lord of Misery had taken great delight in crafting the Sharingan so that only the most depraved of mortals could command its greater powers, and apparently Sasuke had taken that as a challenge.
A moment later I was naked, bound helplessly to an X-shaped frame of cold iron while something hot and slimy slithered around my ankles. But we were in the false garden I’d erected in my jungle, not the true heart of my mindscape.
Sasuke appeared before me, and tipped my chin up so he could look into my eyes. “My skills have grown considerably since last time,” he told me. “Then, I could only make you fear me. Now, I can make you love me as well. This time, I shall not release you until you worship me as your god.”
Dozens of slimy tentacles began slithering up my legs, while a forest of animated chains tipped with oddly-shaped blades extended down from somewhere above us. A whisper of genjutsu carried a message of despair and the futility of resistance to my heart, while a more subtle weave hinted at the sublime joy to be found in complete surrender. If this was his opener, he could probably actually carry through on that threat.
Against anyone but me.
I mustered my courage, and laughed. “Not this time, Sasuke. You see, I’ve worn those eyes you’re so proud of. I’ve been a demon of misery, and I know their secrets.”
“Then you should know that demonic power will only make you more susceptible,” he observed coldly.
“But I’m not a demon right now, am I?” I said. I send a warning thought to my other aspect, and shaped myself to fit my words as I went on. “I am the youngest child of the line of Bishamon. I am a mortal who has glimpsed Heaven. I am love, and courage, and hope. I am Sakura’s aspect of light,” I sang defiantly, as my chakra flared with golden sparks.
“…and your eyes have no power over me.”
My bonds dissolved as my clothing reformed around me, and Sasuke stepped back with an utterly stupefied expression. Then I ejected us both from my mindscape, and grinned at him.
“Now,” I said eagerly, “let’s see how well you fight without your little magic cheat codes.”
His eyes swirled. “Your mind may be protected, but what about your body?”
The black flames of Amaterasu licked about me momentarily, but his corrupted mockery of the sun’s flame found no purchase on my soul. I launched myself forward at full boost, and a sharp thunderclap echoed across the clearing as I momentarily broke the sound barrier. His dodge was just an instant too slow, and my fist grazed his shoulder. The impact sent him spinning back through the massive tree behind him in a cloud of dust and splinters.
“How?” He groaned as he pulled himself to his feet.
“Your combat ‘precognition’ works by reading your opponent’s mind to see what he’s about to do,” I explained. “You can’t read me, so you’ll have to make do with your own skills. So, are you a real taijutsu master like I am, or did you just copy a few styles and rely on your eyes to make up the difference?”
This time he was expecting me, and he had time to flick a spread of shuriken at me as I charged. I wove between them and left a shadow clone in my place while I body flickered into the trees behind him. It was a good thing I did, since my clone found out the hard way that his sword was charged with lighting chakra. The first time she parried it the shock disrupted her, but I used the moment of distraction to switch my chakra nature to fire. I’d wanted to get earth as well, but I found I couldn’t quite manage two elements without losing the state of mind that made me immune to the Sharingan.
Was being ‘light’ a chakra nature? I’d consider that later.
I breathed fire at him, and he countered with the same technique. For a moment we strained against each other, each trying to push our jet of flame to be a little stronger than the other’s. But our chakra was too evenly matched for that contest to yield a victor, so I flickered behind a tree and pulled out my kunai instead. When the flame subsided I switched to a new position and flung myself at him, only to realize in midflight that I was attacking a lightning clone. I replaced myself with a leaf on a nearby branch, leaving behind another shadow clone to take care of his distraction, and sensed something flying at me from behind.
I had a dozen kunai out on chakra strings by then, so I parried instinctively as I turned. I found the air full of little rod-shaped bits of lightning chakra, which I have to admit is an interesting weapon. Good thing I’d picked fire, since they gave him an easy way to disrupt earth techniques.