Title: The Sakurazaki Chronicles—Sora
Author: Chii
MC: The mysterious girl, Akatsuki (primarily Itachi, Nagato, and Konan), the girl's six paths
MS: Feudal Japan; the Shippuuden time period of Naruto
MT: Romance, Adventure, Angst, Friendship, Fantasy, Death
Rating: 13-18 year olds (Teen-Mature)
Disclaimer: The author does not own Naruto in any way, shape or form. However, she does own her OCs, including a small amount of their jutsus. The author also does not own the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, Mahou Sensei Negima! By Akamatsu Ken, Chobits by CLAMP, Tsubasa by CLAMP, XXXHolic by CLAMP, Love Hina by Akamatsu Ken, the manga edition of Romeo and Juliet by Yali Lin (her wonderful art instructor and the woman who autographed it for me.), the .hack/ series by various authors, and other manga or literature references used in the making of this fanfiction. All rights belong to their respectful author(s) or company.
A/N: This is the first chapter of TSC Sora. The funny thing is, this is the sequel to TSC Tsubasa, which has many hits thanks to these wonderful reviewers and diligent readers, and this was actually more fun to write. I think it's because, since Sasuke was sort of bound to Konoha at the time the TSC Tsubasa story was taking place, and it was Sasuke and OC-centric, I had to stick to the storyline. However, now that Sasuke is out of the picture for now, and Itachi is the new eye-candy, we can travel with him. And he doesn't have to stay in one place, so Setsuna can follow him around… or he can follow her around. Or he could die before anyone confesses! Just keep reading! I want to have myriads of reviews by the time this is finished!
Book Two: Sora
Chapter One: Rain
Silence triumphed as the falling rain masked the day's dreariness. It had been two and a half years now since she had 'died,' she realized, as she pondered her thoughts near a small cave's entrance.
They were foolish, she came to realize, to fully accept the foreign girl, one they called the Princess. Deception was easy to see through, and they couldn't. She scoffed. They were what people called 'the best ninja village.'
Coming to a halt, she slowly set down her umbrella with the hidden needles and wrung out her wet hair. The umbrella had failed to serve its purpose.
Is that what shinobi were for? Mere usage and then tossed away when they weren't needed? In her eyes, they were just fools who believed her act. In a true ninja's eyes, however, that was child's play.
Her boots clacked patiently on the grungy cave floras she made a notion of what was around her. This was her last chance. This was the first lead she had where He could possibly be in a while.
Noting the signature chakra strings around her, waiting to snap and release its power upon command, she stopped, bothering only to blink and raise her voice. "Akasuna no Sasori, I've called you out. Come here right now; this is an official confrontation from the Dimension Witch!" Her alias, she assumed he knew, because she killed with that name.
She wondered if He knew it, if He understood why she chose it. After all, it was on that night two and a half years ago when she made him oath that he would never say anything.
"What do you wish to know?" a sinister voice said. She smirked, but continued, nonetheless.
He would want her to. "I wish to speak with Nagato!"
"Nagato?" she blinked. Her memory was going—she should have known that Sasori didn't know his leader's name.
"With the one you call Leader!" she exclaimed. She couldn't blow this off again. It was her last chance. She had to perfect it.
"Doushite?" she looked down, her wet locks of hair falling in front of her strange eyes. They looked almost as if they were painted…
"I wish to join the Akatsuki!" Silence gripped the tiny cavern as Sasori said nothing. She heard a deep breath being taken, but she needn't bother raising her head.
"I don't know, "his voice was flat, and she couldn't tell whether it was a refusal or an acceptance. "It is Pein-sama's choice to accept you or not."
"But you are sending a hologram of yourself to the soul cavern this moment, are you not?" she made her voice sound official and final. Inside, she was a tornado, but at this moment, she had to deal with it. It was painful.
'A ninja must never show any emotions whatsoever,' Rule #28 stated. She growled inside, frustrated. It was her genius plan put to action, but she had yet to complete the first step!
"How do you know this?" his voice came back to her, seeming to be as calm and collected as she was on the outside.
"My eyes are the same as his," she stated flatly. "I know. Now inform me, where is Nagato? Leader?"
"I don't know," she could almost see a sneer plastered on his eternal face. "You know, don't you?"
She scoffed again. How could she not have known? "Never mind, Akasuna no Sasori. But, heed my warning. Don't send your real body. It might just die," she turned on her heels. "You spy is not who he seems to be," she walked out, opening the faulty umbrella again.
She would go to Amegakure. Hopefully, she could get him to get rid of the dastardly rain as well. Or perhaps he would let her do it. And then the umbrella would be useful again.
With one step she took, she saw a new opportunity. An opportunity to reform herself as a shinobi.
She was going to learn to fly…
--
She mentally cursed herself as she leapt from branch to branch. How could she have not remembered that Nagato was stationed in Ame? She growled under her breath. At this rate, she would get to Amegakure in four days.
She knew the transportation jutsu from when she was younger, but it would strain her chakra. From what she knew, Ame had many ninja guarding the borders. One mistake and she would fail. But her eyes…
She was a goddess. They had broken the rules, but in her eyes, there were no rules. She closed her eyes, stopping on a thick tree branch her hand in the traditional tiger handsign. She would use the eyes as her ultimate defense if things started to go the wrong way.
Sighing, she sent 30 of her chakra as a disposition and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Nobody saw or heard. After all a noise in an empty forest can't be heard, right?
But it's still there, nonetheless.
--
As the smoke around her cleared, she saw that she was at the barrier concealing the Village Hidden in the Rain. She hoped that she had enough chakra to fight Nagato, if they encounter went awry.
But she feared that she had to waste more chakra fighting the useless Ame shinobi. Just as her suspicions were thought, they were confirmed. Around fifty shadows came out of the mist spray that had covered the village from the rain. Growling under her breath, she exclaimed, "I have no time for this!" and ran as fast as she could at them, her chakra boosting her speed.
The ninjas looked up and she jumped over them. That was an error. Looking up would only shield their eyes from skyward attacks, and they couldn't see attacks that were directed around them, especially if they were made chakra-less. Sighing, she pulled the invisible chakra strings that were laced around her fingers. They released a bunch of traps that had been secured around the area sooner—the traps that had actually been set by Ame soldiers for trespassers.
The ninja didn't have enough time to dodge as each weapon buried itself efficiently into the shinobis' chests. Satisfied at the fallen bodies, she continued to run over the solid wall that blocked the village.
The rain was falling consistently again, she noted, as she walked around the bustling village. Hopefully, nobody would notice that she had no headband, as she had removed the leaf insignia from her forehead long before she had stepped foot into Amegakure.
She held onto the faulty umbrella tighter as the rain fell harder. She was now soaked to the bone, and her wet clothes were pressed against her body. She wasn't unsettled however, as she had been to far more unpredictable places than this.
She looked around herself, and at her surroundings, looking for a possible way that led to the main building, where Nagato and Konan were. Anyone looking at her wouldn't see that she was indeed frustrated, but she knew, and that was enough to make her even more frustrated. She had many years' worth of practice concealing the emotions that lay just under her skin.
"Hmmm…" she said, lifting the dark lock of hair that concealed her right eye. Usually, nobody would be able to see her eyes, but this was a dire situation. The bloodlust radiating from her was now extremely high and noticeable, and many people were looking at her in fear. Then she found it—seven different charkas, six of the same signature, and one that belonged to a fragile-like female. These, the girl assumed, were Nagato's six bodies and Konan.
Letting the dark purple strand of hair fall back in front of her eyes, she headed in that direction, towards a tall building that seemed to overlook the whole village of Amegakure. No, not overlook. More like… loom. The next occurrence made her flinch, but she soon recovered. The rain falling onto her face, the rain that made her look like she was crying, stopped so suddenly that even the regular citizens of the village looked around at their surroundings in noticeable confusion.
The crowd seemed to freeze. She was the only one that merely continued to walk, resuming her regular fast-paced walk, the useless umbrella now strapped to her back along with her katanas that seemingly repelled the rain. She was the only one who seemed to notice the flitting paper butterflies that were swarming around the sky like bees and wasps, never stopping.
They looked as if they had taken an interest in her, whom was nearing the building where only Nagato stood now. Although it was the same person, it seemed as if the chakra had increased, and she understood immediately that he had changed his form, as if that were a preparation for a battle. She however, did not wish for a fight and kept calm when one of the paper butterflies landed on her shoulder. Her face may have even looked radiant, if that wasn't just the midday sun shining in her content face.
"Konan," she spoke ever-so-clearly, as if the butterfly could understand what the girl was saying. "Will you let me talk to Nagato?" The butterfly lifted off her shoulder without warning, unfolding itself and smoothing its paper self out as if by magic. It joined together with the other paper butterflies, painting and fixing itself until it was gone and only the Messenger of God stood there, her paper flower fixing itself to her vibrant blue hair.
"What business do you have with God, intruder?" she seemed unfazed by her curt comment, only nodding before speaking for herself.
"If you look closely at my eyes you shall see why, Konan," the girl spoke, the ribbon fixed to her attire flying as the wind blew. She didn't bother to fix the untied string, but stood there, waiting for the Angel's response.
"You have no business with God," the blue-haired woman didn't seem to have heard the girl's previous comment. "Leave."
"You know of Nagato's eyes, correct?' the woman narrowed her yes at this. She seemed to have heard, so the girl did not waver.
"What of Nagato's eyes?" she was even more frustrated now, but was determined not to show it. She had gotten this far, and she intended to stick with her plan, the plan she pent one whole year of her life devising and perfecting.
"If you look closely at mine, you shall find out," she said vaguely. Konan did not maker a step forward, but reached her delicate hands up to her hair, taking off the lotus made of paper. As a professional would, she unfolded it quickly, remaking it into a crane and letting go of it.
The previously unmoving paper rose out of the woman's hands, flapping its small wings and stopping in front of the girls' face. Before it could bite a piece of the girls' hair and lift it however, she spoke. "Before your crane does this however, you shall be informed that Akasuna no Sasori's spy is not what he thinks it to be. Also, my eyes have broken tradition. This one-hundredth generation, there shall be two gods."
The blue-haired woman glanced at the girl's impassive face once more before waving her hands, and as if one gesture could control it, the crane continued to open its fragile beak, taking a lock of her hair and lifting it slowly.
The Angel showed more emotion than the girl expected. However, she merely looked amused at the Messenger of God.
"Behold. The eyes of a God, the…" it was the woman who uttered these next words, before Nagato himself came down in his second form, expecting a battle, not a confrontation.
"The Gods' eyes… the… Rin'negan…"
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