The Corruption of Konoha

Chapter One: Leaf in the Gale
For a moment, Sakura believed that she was looking at Sasuke. An older Sasuke, perhaps, but he had the unmistakable Uchiha scowl and the ever-frowning eyes. Unfortunately, she'd looked on a moment too long, ignoring the warning alarms going off in the back of her mind. It was only when he'd turned at the sound of her startled yelp that she'd realized she'd made a terrible mistake. It wasn't Uchiha Sasuke who she was looking at. It was his brother, Itachi.

That one moment of eye contact was all that was needed. His pupils spun and her world spun with them. She closed her eyes and shook her head, desperately trying to get the feeling of disorientation out of her mind. Soft laughter filtered into her ears, and when she opened her eyes again, she realized that something was terribly wrong. Maybe it was the fact that the world around her had suddenly disappeared into a world of blackness or maybe it was the fact that she could no longer move, no matter how much she urged her muscles on.

She fought the rising panic in her mind and took a deep breath. One of the first rules of being a ninja is not to panic in a situation. Panicking often lead to impulsive decisions which then possibly lead to death. Kakashi had always told her to first assess the situation. She guessed that she'd been affected by a genjutsu of some kind. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on moving a finger. No success. If it was a genjutsu, it was the most powerful she'd ever seen. She was about to try again when she heard the soft laughter inches away from her ear. The warm breath of her captor brushed lightly against the soft hairs on her ears, and she shivered inside at the chill that took hold of her.

"You must be Haruno Sakura." The voice even sounded faintly like Sasuke, and for a moment Sakura forgot to breathe. "I know of you. You trained with my brother in the Academy, didn't you?"

Unable to nod her head, she hoped that her face hid the fact that her hopes had been dashed on the rocks. If it'd been Sasuke... she stopped the line of thought. It wasn't Sasuke, though. It was Itachi. She reminded herself of that and began trying to figure a way out of this trap.

The voice continued from behind her. "If you think that you're going to escape this place, you might as well think again."

It was as if he'd read her mind...

"Amazing deduction. And I thought for a moment that all Sasuke's friends were fairly stupid." The sarcasm dripped from the voice, and Sakura tried to clear her mind of the fog of panic that had taken over.

"You're Sasuke's brother." She was amazed that her voice wasn't quivering in fear. 'A ninja is not afraid. A ninja is calm, a ninja is cool, a ninja is...'

The breath moved to her other ear. "A ninja should know that chanting that mantra doesn't cure what's happening inside of you, Sakura-chan."

She turned her focus to him. Unfortunately, she knew little of Itachi save what she'd been told by Tsunade and by Kakashi. Sasuke and Itachi were from the same family... both used the Sharingan... could it be that...?

"Very good. You're right. This is the Mangekyo Sharingan: Tsukuyomi. In here, I control time and space. Most importantly, I control you, Haruno Sakura-chan. You might as well get used to it here -- you're going to be visiting for awhile."

Sakura began to realize the implications of the current situation. A memory crossed her mind, of Kakashi in the hospital for several days, unconscious for most of them. The only explanation anyone had given was that he'd met Itachi. Sakura was no preening peacock like Ino, but the thought of being in such agony was enough to send shivers down her spine. What was it that Itachi wanted? Why was he here in Konoka? Sasuke left the village over a year ago. She had overheard Tsunade speaking with Shizuru about Akatsuki wanting Naruto, who had left to train with Jiraiya… “Naruto’s not here.”

The smile was almost visible in the dripping words that left Sakura's body feeling chilled. “Nice try but I’m not here for Naruto. Are you enjoying your stay so far? I think that you'll be here at least a day, Sakura-chan, but it may be longer. It all depends on how... responsive... and willing... you are."
Her knees buckled for a moment as the words sank in. But there was still something nagging her in her mind and she fought against the thickening fog of fear to find it. Her inner self. Ino had tried to take over her mind and had been unable to do so because of her inner self. Could it work here?

More chuckling was her reply and she could feel the warm breath against her ear. It was almost as if Itachi was savoring the words. "You mean her?" For a moment, Sakura could see a vision of her inner self, looking identical to her in every way, on the floor. She seemed to be writhing... with pain? No... as the vision faded she could hear a sharp moan escape her inner self's lips. It wasn't pain... it was pleasure.

"I don't think she'll be helping you this time."

The words crushed Sakura's spirits like a ton of bricks, and she unconsciously slumped. Whatever hope remained in her had been reduced to hoping for a miracle. Behind her, hidden in the mists of her mind, Itachi smiled. The first step was always the hardest. But, when done properly, could be the most rewarding. He'd crushed her spirit. Now it was time to move on with what he had in store for her.

It took a mere thought for him to peel the layers of her mind back like an onion. In her weakened and confused state, he doubted that Sakura was even aware of what he was doing. A heartbeat later, he knew everything he’d wanted from her… and then his eyebrow quirked in surprise. She had a crush on his little brother? How sweet. It was sweet enough that he wanted to puke. But it gave him pause. Her feelings for Sasuke, though unreturned, would certainly be fun to twist around. And the idea of toying with one of Sasuke’s little friends? No wait, Sasuke’s dear comrades? If his little brother returned, Itachi was sure that Sasuke would be pissed enough to come seeking him unthinkingly. Maybe by then he’d have mastered the Mangekyo, and then Itachi could truly see who was stronger.

All he needed was a few real seconds to come up with a working plan. The seconds felt like minutes in his controlled world as his trained and organized mind turned to the plan he formulated. Certain that it would work, he reached out and touched Sakura’s mind roughly, implanting a single memory into it for her to replay in her head. The sudden gasp as the memory took hold made Itachi smile in anticipation.

The foreign memory took Sakura by surprise and she struggled to cope with the sudden sensations of vertigo as the memory asserted itself in her head. The touch of a cool breeze against her cheek seduced her into opening her eyes. Around her was a near-endless plain of tall green grasses. Wondering where she was, Sakura looked around and paused as she saw Itachi come into focus beside her.

“Since you knew Sasuke, it is only fitting that you have the pleasure of seeing this.” His eyes were emotionless as he looked straight ahead of them. Two figures hove into sight, fighting in an epic struggle for their lives. Sakura could make out the indigo shirt of Sasuke, and her heart fluttered in her chest at the sight. It died quickly, as did the shout in her throat, when she realized that the other figure was Itachi.

Both figures were a blur as they fought tooth and nail, each struggling to assert themselves as the dominant force in the fight. Sakura’s trained eyes watched as Sasuke delivered a flurry of blows to Itachi – who blocked them and returned the blows in kind. Though the battle seemed fairly evenly matched, Sauske was starting to weaken as Itachi pressed his attacks. The two parted, landing several dozen yards from each other, and Sakura had a chance to see Sasuke up close for the first time in two years.

His clothes were battered and blood dripped from half a dozen wounds that Itachi had inflicted during the battle so far, but it was noticeable that he still retained his apparent diffidence. The healer in her wanted to reach out to him, but she realized that this was just a memory that Itachi had given her. Sasuke was gone a moment later, streaking in towards his opponent… who hadn’t moved from his spot.

Sakura watched as Sasuke charged Itachi across the windswept plain. It was clear to her that something was different this time. She watched as Sasuke’s hands joined and his fingers began forming the complicated seals that marked his specialty – Chidori. Her eyes widened as Itachi suddenly disappeared from sight, only to reappear right beside Sasuke. The sound of breaking bones echoed across the plains, and Sakura winced at the lightning-fast blow Itachi had dealt to Sasuke’s right arm. She didn’t need to replay the event in her mind to know, from training with Tsunade, that Itachi had broken Sasuke’s arm like a twig in four places.

“You’re still as pathetic as ever, little brother,” Itachi – the memory Itachi – smiled down at the form of his brother lying on the ground. Sasuke clutched his arm and struggled back to his feet. His eyes looked as impassive and defiant as ever as Itachi continued. “You’re quite the failure, little brother. I expected you to have mastered the Mangekyo Sharingan by now. But from the way you’re fighting, you evidently didn’t complete the one task needed to obtain it. Too bad – I was hoping to actually enjoy this fight.”

The elder Uchiha turned his back on his fallen foe and began pacing the distance back towards where he had been standing a moment before. Before Sakura – or Itachi seemingly – could react, Sasuke reached into his belt pouch and withdrew half a dozen kunai. Brandishing these, he rushed at Itachi with murderous intent written all over his body.

A chuckle from beside her told her that the real Itachi was relishing this part of the fight. Sasuke closed the distance steadily, and was within striking distance when Itachi stopped and turned. Almost impassively he reacted, his hands forming seals even faster than Sakura could see. She caught the lion seal at the end and recognized it for the other specialty of the Uchiha clan – fire techniques. She was, indeed, correct as a half dozen fireballs shot from the mouth of Itachi, seeking their target in the charging Sasuke.

Dodging the flaming projectiles, Sasuke’s hand released the kunai towards their target even as he lept into the sky. As he ran past her, Sakura caught sight of the Sharingan visible in his eyes and she gasped. Her heart was beating a million miles a second as she watched him valiantly fight off Itachi, even as a pit formed in her stomach. She suspected how this was going to end, and a moment later she was horrifically rewarded as the new hand seals Itachi had started on finished.

It seemed ironic that Sasuke would die at the hands of his own special weapon. But Itachi wasn’t an idiot – he’d kept his Sharingan leveled on Sasuke as he’d performed the necessary seals to unleash Chidori. The last seal had just been completed when Itachi had moved, milliseconds before Chidori had come into focus. Now, though, Itachi was cognizant of how to perform those seals – and how to put the end result to use.

In all fairness, it wasn’t Sasuke’s fault that Itachi had perfected Chidori. Nor was it his fault that Itachi recognized the gambit which Sasuke had laid before him. Sasuke’s only fault was that he hadn’t pulled back when he realized it. Maybe he was too close. Maybe he was too surprised. Whatever the reasons, the dull sounds of electricity impacting – and penetrating – human flesh were a sound that sent a wave of agony through Sakura. She didn’t have to look up to see the electricity engulf Sasuke. Nor did she have to see Sasuke hit the ground on his back, blood everywhere from the devastating wound. She knew in that fraction of a second what had happened, and knew that Sasuke – the person she’d loved – was dead.

All faded to black around her as she collapsed to the ground, brokenhearted and despairing. It was strange… she’d always suspected he might die, and a part of her always warned her to prepare for the worst, but she had spent the last two years of her life training to become stronger so that she might actually be able to save him the next time their paths crossed. A small voice in the back of her mind whispered that this had to be a lie, that Itachi was deceiving her, but if this had been one of his memories then there was no reason to believe it was a lie. She felt strangely hollow at this realization, as if some part of her soul had departed from her without having the courtesy to say goodbye.

“I know how… concerned… you were for my wayward brother.” Itachi’s slick voice brought Sakura back to reality and she opened her eyes to see Itachi standing over her, smiling. He was no longer wearing the high collar coat of a member of Akatsuki; instead, he was now wearing the traditional garb of an Uchiha clan member. “I assure you that, if there had been another way, things might have been different.”

His choice of words almost brought Sakura to her feet after him. Only the sheer weight of the sorrow she felt prevented her from acting on her aggression and anger. Smiling down at her, Itachi knelt down beside her and gently stroked her hair. The sensation was surprisingly comforting, despite its source, and Sakura struggled as the emotions welled up inside her. He had killed the person she loved… yet he was so much like Sasuke that she was even now having trouble differentiating between the two. And the feel of his hand in her hair was surprisingly gentle; not what she had expected of Sasuke’s killer.

A sob wracked her body as the tears welled in her eyes and fell softly to the ground. Sakura’s mind, overloaded with the emotions that Sasuke’s death had wrought on her, felt hazy. It was becoming difficult for her to think. Beside her, Itachi’s silky smooth voice continued.

“Despite what you may think, I never hated my brother. Quite the opposite, in fact. I loved him and wanted him to become strong like me. I wanted him to fight me and win so that he could prove he had the strength to join me and help rebuild our family. I can see what he saw in you, Sakura-chan. You would have made a wonderful match for him.”

More sobs wracked her body as Sakura literally poured out her sorrow onto the ground. She didn’t want to acknowledge Itachi’s words, but a part of her mind was listening to him, seeking out direction through the fog that made it so terribly cumbersome to put coherent thoughts together. The feeling of his hand in her hair, stroking it gently like her mother had done whenever she was sad, created even more confusion that left her vulnerable and open to the gentle words he now whispered in her ear.

She tried to shake her head, as if the force of doing so could dislodge them from her mind. Part of her wished Naruto were here; despite his obnoxious nature, Naruto had the ability to make confusing things seem plain – the world as Naruto saw it was composed of right and wrong – of black and white. But he was not here, and even if he was that would not have helped her here and now, trapped in her own mind, slowly succumbing to Itachi’s presence.

It only took Itachi a second to determine how broken Sakura was now. The seeds of confusion he’d sewn in her mind had taken root. Now he could reap the rewards. “You are an intelligent young woman, Haruno Sakura-chan. And very attractive. I am sure that you would have brought much pleasure to the life of my brother, especially at the age you are now with your blood flowing and desires starting to build.”

Sakura’s heart beat a bit faster and she drew in a deep breath as something deep down inside her started to stir despite her tears and sorrow. Through the fog images were starting to take shape; Sasuke stood before her, then morphed into Itachi, then back to Sasuke, and on and on. Itachi’s words invoked feelings that had lay hidden inside her: the feeling of attraction, of wanting to be held, of wanting to get close. Dazed and confused, Sakura trembled as the feelings whipped up faster inside her, gaining strength and eating away at her sorrow like a sandstorm.

“Yes, I can tell from your face that you and Sasuke shared very few close moments in the time the two of you worked as a team. You regret that, Sakura-chan.” The memories passed before her eyes, conjured up by Itachi’s silken words. The Chuunin exam, where Sasuke had protected her and she had done the same for him in the face of Orochimaru and the other competing ninja. The aftermath of that exam, where she had begged Sasuke to take her with him. Regret mixed with sorrow, attraction, and desire, and Sakura found herself totally adrift on the winds now. Her rock, her common sense, had been completely shattered.

It was into this maelstrom of emotions that Itachi threw her a lifeline. “Wouldn’t it be better if you didn’t have to feel these things anymore, Sakura-chan? Sasuke is dead and you should put these emotions out of your head. I can help you do that. I may have had to destroy my brother, but I’m not evil. I can help.”

A part of her mind protested the thought, but Sakura was too confused and dazed to listen. Her emotional walls had been battered and broken down by Itachi’s cunning nature and she was no longer sure of anything she felt. The soft chuckle from beside her made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. “All you have to do is relax, Sakura-chan. I promise that you’ll feel much better soon.”

Her slow collapse to the ground from the suggestion marked the end of the resistance of Haruno Sakura to Uchiha Itachi. A sigh filtered from her lips as a last, final tear fell to the ground and then Sakura was still. She felt herself being picked up by strong arms, carried somewhere, but Sakura no longer worried or cared. She was going to feel better.

Even though he’d created this world with his special Sharingan, Itachi relished the smaller details sometimes. Her body had not moved an inch in the physical world, but he was carrying her in this mental world elsewhere. She was warm against him, her eyes closed and face contorted from the emotional torture she had undergone. Itachi smiled, and then set her gently down on the ground.

When Sakura next opened her eyes, she found herself laying in bed in her apartment. She blinked and looked around at the familiar settings, struggling to recall how she had wound up here. Her memories were hazy at best, and she found it hard to concentrate on them. Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement and sat up in bed quickly… before realizing that she was nude. Catching her mistake, she pulled the covers over her body and looked in the corner where the intruder stood.

“You’re awake,” Itachi stepped forward out of the shadows and came to stand beside her bed. “How do you feel?”

Sakura frowned. Something was wrong with this, but she couldn’t put her finger on it. She tried to focus on the fleeting emotion, but it proved too elusive for her to capture. “Alright, I guess… how long was I…?”

“Not very long,” Itachi smiled and ran a hand through her hair and she unconsciously leaned into the caress. “Just relax, Sakura-chan. You’re safe.”

Her frown persisted despite the soft caress and the warm feelings that it gave her. Who was this person? He looked like someone she thought she knew… but the thought died in her head as she struggled to pull the relevant memories from it. Instead, she looked up at him and then back down at the bed, blushing as the feeling of the covers softly caressing her naked body reminded her of her current situation.

If Itachi noticed her blush, he gave no indication of it. He continued to caress her hair, moving his hand now and then to her cheek. Her eyelids drifted slowly shut even as she struggled, within her mind, to figure out just what was going on. She was filled with confusion and a sense of foreboding, both over the memories which failed to materialize and the events now transpiring. These feelings seemed to be evaporating steadily under the caressing, however, and the soft feel of lips to hers hastened the process.

Focused on this kiss, her concerns dissolved. She didn’t even feel the covers slowly slipping off her body. By the time the first cool chill caused gooseflesh to form, the covers had already slipped down past her torso. Her eyes gently fluttered open at the sensation and she broke the kiss to replace the covers. A firm hand caught hers and pressed it against her chest, keeping it captive.

A protest formed on her lips, but the feeling of his fingertips on her bare skin as he held her hand in place silenced it. Without a sound, his hand drew hers down her chest, in between her soft breasts, and down to the edge of the covers around her waist. The light touch of her own hand against her skin sent a chill up her spine even as he delicately moved her hand back up the same path it had taken.

Sakura’s spine shivered as it tried to combat the feeling of being tickled and yet not at the same time. As Sakura shifted under Itachi’s touch, her legs kept rubbing against each other to create friction and heat. A slight gasp escaped her lips as his other hand hovered at her waist, fingertips lightly caressing the soft skin there. Her eyes drifted closed and her lips parted slightly as she savored the sensations.

Itachi’s warm, soft lips found hers and she half-whimpered/half-moaned into them under his touch. Her body felt as if it was heating up, especially the spots his hands caressed and touched softly. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, and its tempo spiked as she felt a third hand on one of her breasts, fingertips gently tracing delicate spirals against the soft but firm flesh. At the sensation of a fourth set of fingers on her other breast, a soft moan escaped from her lips into Itachi’s. Sakura’s head rolled back even as her lips remained under assault, and her body felt dangerously close to melting from the heat she could feel.

Hands continued to seem to materialize out of nowhere, touching her breasts, caressing her sensitive neck, seeming to feel every inch of her skin from the waist up. Under this onslaught of pleasurable sensations, Sakura struggled to retain any sense or semblance of sanity. Her heart raced and her legs shifted as Itachi’s shadowy hands found sensitive nerves on her body that she hadn’t known existed. It felt as if she might burst from the pleasure of hands alone… and then the hands turned to lips.

As if it had come alive under a mind of its own, Sakura’s body arched as the sensations from a dozen sets of lips crept into her brain. Under Itachi’s lips she virtually screamed as the onslaught intensified. The lips kissed, nipped, sucked, and licked, and Sakura rolled and bucked as the pleasure crashed against the walls of her mind, threatening to send her blacking out. The sensations receded as if Itachi had read her mind, and Sakura broke the kiss gasping for breath in an effort to find her own balance again.

“Do you like it, Sakura-chan? The sensations of pleasure? Of arousal?” Itachi’s words were husky and whispered against her ear, causing her to contort again in pleasure. She nodded, eyes half-open and heavy-lidded, her mind whirling.

“Good,” the word was punctuated as she felt his hand grasp her breast and begin massaging it between his fingers, causing her to moan. As her legs thrashed under the sensation, she became acutely aware of the moisture that had developed between them and was even now growing as the heat intensified. Once again, it seemed that Itachi had read her mind, and she gasped as she felt the covers being pulled away, allowing the cool chill of the air to touch her core.

She’d never had sex before, but it was clear what it was going to take to douse the flames burning inside her. Her hips bucked as the sting of the cool air against her warmth intensified for a moment before she began to become familiar with it. Her eyelids fluttered shut. As they did so, Itachi’s fingers slid down her stomach, through the soft downy hair that marked the entrance to her most secret of places, and settled on her thigh.

Her body reacted before her mind could fully process the new sensation – not as if her mind was in any position to process much of anything. Her legs shifted against his stationary hand, making it feel to her as if the hand was caressing her thigh. When his fingers lightly grazed over the soft, sensitive skin a moment later, an even sharper gasp escaped her lips and she struggled to resist the urge to trap his hand between her legs.

Deftly, his fingers worked along her thigh. Every touch seemed to elicit a sharp gasp from her lips, almost as if magically drawing them from her body. The gasps sharpened when he began using his nails on her soft flesh, gently scoring it but not drawing blood. Sakura’s eyes were clenched shut as the sensations continued to build and grow inside her.

A finger grazed one of the folds of flesh that guarded her core. Sakura inhaled sharply as sparks flew across her vision and threatened to cause her brain to stop working. Before she could react, Itachi’s fingers were working over the soft, damp folds. A long, low moan built deep in Sakura’s stomach and seemed to take an eternity to emanate from her throat as Itachi gently massaged and caressed.

She thrashed and moaned as Itachi relentlessly worked with his fingers. The heat building under his fingers was still growing, threatening to engulf her if she didn’t do something soon to quench the flames which gnawed at her. Itachi purred next to her ear. “Do you want relief, Sakura-chan? Do you want to know what relief feels like?”

Sakura’s head thrashed side to side under the pleasurable torment. Her body demanded that she answer yes and give in to the sensations that he was introducing to her, but something in her mind resisted, some shadowy thought or sensation that she couldn’t pin down.

“The sooner you say yes, Sakura-chan,” his voice continued in its silky whisper, “The sooner you can know bliss.” The finger teased the skin on the edges of her womanhood and Sakura whimpered. The added weight of Itachi’s finger, so close to releasing the heat deep in Sakura, drove her mind into disarray. Her head thrashed, sending pink hair flying everywhere, before she finally let out a deep breath and nodded, acquiescing to Itachi.

She shuddered and let out a loud, long moan as her nodding was rewarded. Without a sound, Itachi slipped his finger slowly inside of her. The breath seemed to escape her lips in a panted moan as she felt, for the first time, the sensation of being caressed from the inside. On instinct, her hips bucked into the sensation, driving Itachi’s finger deeper and bringing another moan to her lips as the friction sent ripples of pleasure up her spine.

“Yes, Sakura-chan, it is possible to feel this good.” He moved his finger gently within her, feeling the moisture and tightness as he continued to stroke and caress. Moaning and thrashing, her hands clenching the sheets, Sakura was unable to say a word as Itachi’s words resonated in her mind. “There’s nothing wrong with it – nothing wrong with feeling this good all the time, Sakura-chan.”

Sakura gasped as she felt a second finger join the first, stretching her gently but intimately. The feelings were building up inside her, deep beneath Itachi’s fingers. Her hips and legs contorted and twisted in an odd dance on the bed, struggling to get his fingers deeper into her.

His fingers increased their pace, and a cry escaped Sakura’s lips from the sensations. Sakura’s mind was being battered by waves of pleasure, and she struggled to keep from being overwhelmed by them. She could hear the smile in Itachi’s voice as he seemed to read her mind again. “Why fight against the pleasure, Sakura-chan? Let it flow over you. Embrace it.”

As he spoke, he emphasized his words with a soft but firm twist of his fingers inside her. The air left her lungs suddenly and she grabbed furiously at the bedsheets as her body jerked up involuntarily into the touch. She could feel the pressure inside her building, climbing towards a distant peak. Obediently, enslaved by the sensations, her mind embraced the pleasure.

Sparks flew behind her closed eyes as Itachi’s third finger joined the first two. She felt full with them inside her, yet not uncomfortable. The fingers gently caressed and stroked. Sakura could feel the pressure inside her building up rapidly. She thrashed and moaned on the bed, struggling with every muscle to increase the pleasure still further.

Itachi continued to smile as the young ninja thrashed and moaned under his touch. She was resisting a bit still, he could tell, but that would be taken care of soon. For now, it was time to show her what true pleasure was like. Curling his fingers inside her, his fingers grazed the soft spot that he knew would make her scream...

Her reaction was exactly as Itachi had expected. Sakura screamed loudly as the touch released all the pressure that had built up inside her. Her vision went white and her hips jerked and twitched as her orgasm was unleashed. Seconds dragged into minutes as wave after wave of pleasure overcame her and dragged her along.

“Savor it, Sakura-chan. Enjoy it.” The words rang in her ears as the spasms continued for a time before starting to lessen. Each spasm that rippled through her left her wanting more. As the pleasure lessened, she felt a twinge of need coarse through her. She didn’t want the pleasure to stop.

Sakura slowly returned to reality as Itachi removed his fingers from inside her. As she started to regain her mental balance, his next words made her heart stop.

“This will be all you feel for the next twelve hours, Sakura-chan. After that, we’ll move on to the next phase.”