Back in Time (Naruto Fanfic)

He's alive

Anyone who recognizes this Sharingan without reading ahead wins the game.

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Itachi narrowed his eyes when two shadows slipped by his hiding spot. Their chakras were familiar, but the one who was trailing a little behind was the most familiar. He leaned forward on the tree, trying to hear a conversation, but the two ninja were moving silently, not conversing at all.

That wasn't what was strange, though. They were shinobi. Shinobi were supposed to travel silently. What was strange was that when he recognised the chakras, they were both supposed to be dead.

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When Sarada felt someone shaking her, she popped up and looked around, blinking rapidly.

"Where am I?" She asked, then noticed the man in the orange mask tilting his head at her. "Wait.... I know... Who are you?"

"I'm TOBI! Tobi is supposed to take care of Sarada-chan!" The man behind the strange mask said cheerfully.

"Huh?" Sarada's eyes widened. This man was talking like a six year old. His voice had a whiny tone to it. But he looked like he was a grown man. "Wha--"

"Sarada-chan, do you want to play cards with me?" Tobi, as the man had introduced himself, seemed to grin at her. She couldn't tell with the mask on.

Sarada looked at the hole in the mask he had for an eye. The eye was dark colored and sparkly. Sometimes she thought she saw it glint red, but she assumed it was a trick of the admittedly not good light. "Um, sure."

Tobi pulled up a chair, laughing. It wasn't a creepy laugh, it was a cute laugh. It reminded her of a six year old, and it seemed to want her to laugh with it. Sarada couldn't help being suspicious of the guy. He was too adorable to be a villian. Why was he here?

They used a spare chair as a table because Sarada was tied to her chair. In the days to come, somehow, Tobi always managed to entertain her. Sarada finally came to the conclusion that she didn't hate this man. He was one of the only members of the Akatsuki that was even remotely friendly. No one had tried to hurt her yet, but she suspected she wasn't going to get out of this situation unscathed, and she was mentally preparing herself for pain.

Kisame wasn't completely friendly, but he didn't outright try to hurt her feelings. So she guessed he was okay. Deidara was a bit of a goofball, like Tobi, but he had kidnapped Sarada, so Sarada tried her best to avoid him. He had mouths on his hands. Yeah, she was justified. So far, she hadn't met the 'Leader-sama' they were all talking about, but she suspected from the stories she knew who it was.

Zetsu was just weird. His dark side threatened to eat her, while his white side scolded him harshly. He genuinely freaked her out. She hoped she wouldn't see much more of him.

Konan was okay. She had a quiet friendliness that Sarada could live with. She was definitely not as bad as the rest of them. Somehow, a sweet girl like this had ended up with villins. Sarada had taken to calling her just Konan, whereas she called everyone else Akatsuki-san. She did suspect that Konan was very dangerous in her own, quiet way. But so far, Sarada hadn't seen much of that.

Sarada was alone again. Deidara came in to call Tobi for a mission.

"Bye bye, Sarada-chan!" Tobi pouted dejectedly. "Tobi will come back to play soon!"

With that, he waved and shut the door. But it was still open a crack, and Sarada heard what Deidara was saying to Tobi.

"She hasn't opened up to you yet?" Deidara scowled at his teammate.