Opening Author's Notes
For those who are wondering, I am working on the latest chapter to my main project, the Pokémon story In The Club: Cerulean City United's First Season. I'm about halfway done with it, but I'm hung up on some stuff, so I'm trying my hand in other areas while I wait for my Pokémon writer's block to pass. I thus figured, "Why not try my hand at a Naruto story first?"
So here's the first of an unrelated one-shot series called In The News. It's a sop to my journalist days, which helped me become the writer I am (I actually was an award-winning sportswriter in high school and have considered being a journalist on the side in the future just for fun!), and also a way for me to write stories for series where I don't think I have enough good material to do anything other than a one-shot.
Disclaimer
The only thing I own here is the scenario—I don't own Naruto, its characters, etc.
Warnings
-Mild SakuNaruIno (Sakura/Naruto/Ino, shared in this case)
-Rated T to be on the safe side for battle aftermath descriptions that may be deemed graphic by some
Though it's not why I got into journalism, one cool part about the job is the possibility that some history-making event might happen and people could be remembering it by what you wrote.
If I needed any reminder, I got it one balmy summer night in Rome. I had just finished a Champions League story for our soccer fans, so I was at a café having a frappucino-like chilled coffee drink to cool down and also put some spring back into my step when my phone rang.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Hey, Carlo!" A female colleague of mine back Stateside said, sounding as if she had some urgent news. "Still got that news touch from high school?"
"I think so." I said, quickly doing that slight internal rewiring. "What is it?"
"Great! Get a load of this—there's been an assassination attempt at the Vatican on a Japanese cardinal, Tsuyoshi Tanimoto, that was just thwarted, but that's not the crazy part. Ninjas—yes, real live ninjas—are suspected to be the ones who stopped it. I know you haven't done news for us, but you're the only one we've got in Rome and no one else is in on this story yet, so could you get out there for us?"
I nodded with a smile and briskly replied, "You got it!" After my colleague had thanked me, wished me luck, and hung up, I quickly finished my drink and flagged down a taxi to head to the Vatican.
When I got there, I could see at least five police cars parked hurriedly in St. Peter's Square but no civilian vehicles nearby and also no one with a press pass, which meant I was indeed the first reporter on the scene. Yellow police tape guarded the front entrance to St. Peter's Basilica, but I was fortunately allowed to duck under it and enter after showing my press credentials to the officers at the entrance.
After entering the basilica, I maneuvered around more policemen and policewomen with notepads and walkie-talkies out and also more police tape, scanned the area and counted seven bodies in total with handguns and automatic rifles scattered around them—and then grimaced as I saw a fair amount of blood around them (some of it from spurts judging by the patterns) and horrified looks etched on all of their faces. Two had multiple kunai embedded in their chests and backs, three more had had their throats cut with a kunai or some other sort of blade and one astoundingly looked as if he'd been so terrified that he'd riddled himself in the torso with his own machine gun. The last corpse was particularly scary, as it was nailed by no less than twenty kunai to a large wooden cross mounted on a wall nearby—not just through the hands and feet, but also through the legs, arms, torso, throat and also that place right between the eyes.
Man…the saps never stood a chance, did they? I thought, terrified as I crossed myself.
I don't think they did, the other voice in my head answered, for once just as awestruck.
Looking towards the nearby altar, I spotted what had to be the three ninjas, who all surprisingly looked like the kind of teenagers who'd have boys and girls chasing them on a night of dolce vita. As I turned towards them and headed their way, I could see that on the right was the only boy of the trio, who sported black combat boots, an orange and black long-sleeved jumpsuit, spiky golden blond hair, royal blue eyes and whiskers on his face that gave his face a foxy look. In the middle was a girl with bright light blue eyes, platinum blond hair that hung down and framed her face on the left (and that was also tied back in a waist-length ponytail in the back) who wore a navy blue top that left her stomach and shoulders exposed, a fishnet undershirt in the same shape but slightly bigger under that, a navy blue bottom that looked like the bottom of a knee-length Chinese dress (Author's Note: For those who have seen Secret Of Blue Water, think Nadia's bottom) and left her legs fully exposed, and low-top black hiking shoes with socks so low they were almost invisible. On the left was another girl with green eyes and shoulder-length pink hair that was curled up at the bottom and also the same outfit as the other girl, only her top and bottom were red instead of dark purple. All three also sported some things in common—pouches on their belts, katanas that were currently sheathed and strapped to those same belts, and also a cloth headband with a metal insert that had a design on it that looked like an eye swirl (which I was to learn was a forehead protector—the boy wore it as a headband while the blond girl wore it as a necklace and the pink-haired girl wore it as a hairband.)
"I know you couldn't exactly help it, Naru-kun, but you didn't have to do it like that with that last guy." The blonde girl told the boy. "I mean, crucifying him with kunai on a cross in this church? That's bound to freak a lot of people out when they see it."
"I guess…" The boy said, slightly apprehensive for a moment before he grinned and said, "Though it can't be all bad—some of those people we freak out are bound to be enemies."
"Like God guided our movements?" The pink-haired girl said. "I must say I like the thought…"
"Do you think He did?" The boy asked.
"Well, I didn't expect it to be this easy, that's for sure." The pink-haired girl replied.
"Me neither, Sakura-chan." The blonde girl said. "I must say I don't think I'll be missing daily prayer much for a while…"
"Um, excuse me, but could I ask you some questions if you have time?" I asked cautiously, sensing an opportunity to ask for a quick interview.
All of them seemed surprised, but the blonde girl said, "Sure thing! One question—who are you and who are you reporting for?"
"Carlo Santos, New York Times." I said, holding out my hand towards them. And you are…?"
"I'm Sakura Haruno," the pink-haired girl said with a grin, "and this is Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki." She finished, indicating the blonde girl and then the blond boy respectively.
"Pleased to meet you." Naruto said, also grinning as I shook hands with them with the best smile I could muster given the scene. He then told me, "We can definitely take some questions, but you probably understand that you can't print everything we say—not without compromising our future situations, anyway. Is that okay?"
"Definitely." I said, pulling out my notepad and a pen from my laptop case and taking their names down. "Don't worry—we only refuse someone the right to go off the record if it would be obstruction of justice, and since you guys are definitely on the right side of the law…"
I grinned at the end reassuringly, making all of them chuckle.
"Thanks, Carlo. Fire away." Ino said with a grin.
"Thanks." I said, my pen now poised over a blank page of my notepad. "First off, how old are you guys?"
"All sixteen." Ino replied. "Kind of hard to believe, huh?"
"I'd be lying if I said no." I said as I wrote and then looked back up at them. "When I saw the scene, I thought it had been older people involved…"
"That's okay—you're not the first to make that mistake." Sakura said reassuringly.
"Thanks." I replied. "How are you guys related to Cardinal Tanimoto?"
"He was temporarily separated from his parents after a bandit attack. Ninjas from our village were able to save him, but we had to protect him until we could reunite him with his parents, so he grew up in our village for a few years and endeared himself to many people there before we could give him back to his mom and dad. Not soon after, he entered the clergy." Ino replied.
The other two nodded before Naruto added, "So a week ago, we got word that some people in Rome had been targeting him, and so our leader picked us to travel here and protect him. It's the first mission any ninja from our village has carried out outside of Japan."
"Interesting…" I said. "I get the feeling this is where you need to be off the record—it's obvious from the surroundings that your mission was a success, but how'd you do it?"
"First of all, you're right—it is where we have to be off the record. Thanks for understanding." Sakura said with a smile.
"Not a problem." I said, grinning back, and I let them see me putting my notepad back into my laptop case.
"But about how we did it…well, Tanimoto-san sought sanctuary at the altar over there," Sakura said, indicating the altar before continuing, "so we were patrolling the area around here when we heard some explosions outside. We all thought that was them, but when we got there, we just saw some shrapnel and some explosion marks. Apparently, they'd set off grenades or something of the sort as a diversion, and by the time we got back, they were only about 10 feet or so from Tanimoto-san. That was where Ino saved the day."
"Just glad I was able to help." Ino said with grin. "My family is capable of a special ninja technique that enables the user to enter someone else spiritually and take control of them. When I use it, I can tell him or her to do anything—even killing himself or herself."
I looked over at the body of the man who looked like he'd riddled himself with his own machine gun, a horrified realization dawning on my face.
"Yeah, that was him." Ino said, looking grim but frank as if she knew that she might not have wanted to do it, but she had to in order to save their comrade. "He was so close to Tanimoto-san that I only had time to probe his mind and bring his worst fear to life. It's enough to drive almost anyone insane."
Sakura and Naruto nodded before Sakura continued, "It not only took out one of them, but also stunned the others enough so that we could take shots at them. It gave Naruto and me enough of an opening to take out two more using kunai before each of us was able to take out another with our swords."
"That just left one guy." Naruto said. "To deal with him, I used a technique where I cloned one kunai many times over and launched the whole batch at him. That…" He pointed at the cross on which the assassin was still pinned at this point before finishing, "…was the result."
"I couldn't help but overhear a little bit of your conversation as I came over, so I also would like to ask this—is it true you didn't intend to nail him to the cross?" I asked, remembering what I had heard earlier.
"Yes, it's true I didn't." Naruto replied. "Although if you were listening as closely as I think you were, you heard that we don't exactly mind how it turned out."
"I did hear that." I said, nodding with a grin. Then, struck with an idea, I said, "You know, that brings up another question…do you mind if I put this one on the record?"
Both Naruto and Ino were understandably pondering how to answer, but Sakura said, "It's not a problem—we can still always tell you to put your notepad away if we want, right?"
"Absolutely—you can still tell me to put it away at any time." I said as I pulled it back out. I then asked, "Given that you prevented Cardinal Yamamoto from being wounded, much less killed, do you consider the success of your mission tonight to be divinely brought or divinely assisted?"
Sakura took a moment to consider her response and then said, "Well, none of us were practicing Christians when we arrived here—it's not exactly a popular religion among ninjas—but Cardinal Tanimoto agreed to have us baptized in case something happened to us and also taught us some prayers. Judging from what happened tonight, I definitely think someone was looking out for us…" She pointed to the cross that one of the assassins still hung from before she finished, "Or else we wouldn't have that." She finished.
Ino nodded before adding, "If daily prayer and going to church on Sunday makes the job this smooth, I can definitely see us doing those as often as we can."
Naruto nodded and said, "And you can definitely put that on the record." He then asked with a wink, "Any further questions?"
"No, that's it." I said with a smile as I finished writing. "Thanks so much for your time and good luck in the future."
After we shook hands and said goodbye, I started on my way out, but not before I conducted some more interviews and found out that some Vatican personnel, including some Church officials, had taken to calling the ninjas the "Saints of Team SIN" as something of a minor joke after the first letters of their names. Knowing that was an angle I couldn't pass up, I found a café with some good hot cocoa and began typing my headline and lead:
Ninja "Saints of Team SIN" thwart assassination attempt of cardinal at Vatican
By Carlo Santos
Times Staff
VATICAN CITY—A trio of teenage ninjas prevented an attempted assassination of Cardinal Tsuyoshi Tanimoto of Japan at St. Peter's Basilica Wednesday night, leaving all seven assassins dead.
The three ninjas—Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka and Naruto Uzumaki, all 16 years old—had stationed themselves in Rome in order to protect Cardinal Tanimoto, who had been raised for several years in their village before joining the clergy. Vatican personnel, including some Church officials, have taken to calling the trio the "Saints of Team SIN…"
I was excited to find that it was more than good enough for the front page and that we did indeed scoop everyone else, and the news kept coming in when two days after the assassination attempt, I came back Stateside to find that an urgent message waiting for me from another colleague who was in Rome at the time. He had actually seen Naruto, Sakura, and Ino in civilian clothing the day after the attempted assassination outside a restaurant reading my story on the event as the sun beat down, making for the sort of pleasant balminess unique to the Mediterranean. Naruto was wearing crocs, khaki pants and a t-shirt while Sakura and Ino wore platform sandals, khaki miniskirts and spaghetti-strap tank tops. Naruto was halfway through a large bowl of pasta, while the girls had finished their lunches already and had the New York Times on the table.
"Sure is a good thing we were able to finish the mission last night—because we were able to take them all down in one go, that leaves us some free time, so that just means we've gotta decide what to do with it." Sakura said, putting her legs up on the table, with Ino soon following suit and both of them being careful not to tip over Naruto's pasta bowl. They all winked at each other before Sakura continued, "Yamamoto-san's out of danger now and Tsunade-shishou told us we didn't have to return immediately to Konoha after we were finished protecting him, so what do you guys think we should do until we're called back?"
"Well, after we've relaxed here for a few days—" Naruto said, grinning at both girls, who were beaming at him, at this point before continuing, "Why don't we try hunting down more of these creeps? I know there's more out there—both more numerous and more dangerous—who are still at large. They're basically the most wanted criminals in the world—from the way people talk about them, they make Orochimaru look like a non-venomous python."
"Are you sure?" Ino said slightly uncertainly with a matching look. "I know it'd be terrific if we could do it, but the United States and its allies have already sent infantry, tanks—the whole works, basically—after a lot of these guys and haven't been able to do it." Sakura nodded at the end while wearing the same look.
"Maybe…" Naruto said with a nod but also a grin and a meaningful but encouraging look at the two of them, "…But they're not us."
The two girls were slightly startled, but then they returned the smile and more.
"But they're not us." Sakura echoed, getting up and pecking Naruto on the cheek before she sat back down.
"But they're not us." Ino also repeated, also pecking Naruto with a grin before she sat down again beside Sakura and they looped arms around each other's shoulders.
"Hey, you know how we and Anko-sensei were having trouble deciding on what to call ourselves?" Naruto said, looking over at the Times on the table.
"Yeah—and I also do think the search for a name is over." Sakura said, looking down at the article for a moment and then back up as Ino nodded briskly. When she did so, Naruto's eyes met with those of the girls and all of their faces cracked into identical grins that were part anticipatory and part mischievous.
Ino had already stretched out her right hand and Sakura had already put her left hand over it. Naruto put his right hand on top of them, and all three of them let out the same shout as they broke the huddle:
"Team SIN, armed with the wrath of the heavens!"
A week after the attempted assassination, my fellow staffers and I were enjoying a lull in the action at the office when CNN flashed a breaking news alert.
Everyone, especially me, looked at the TV for one second to see that it was about a massacre of terrorists at a cave in the Afghan countryside. As we watched, we saw that the cave was littered with terrorist bodies, and as the camera swung onto the final body at the back of the cave, everyone gasped.
It was the body of Osama bin Laden. He wore a horrified look on his face that reminded me of the looks that the dead assassins at the Vatican had worn, and a foot-wide hole had been blown clear through his chest, leaving his insides charred (Author's Note: You guys get one guess as to how that came about!).
As all of us grimaced and groaned despite our satisfaction of seeing the September 11th architect brought to justice and took in the other news, including the worldwide reaction and President Obama being scheduled to speak on the subject in two hours, I thought, I tell you, I don't know if you can end a rampage more emphatically than that…
It had started less than a week after Team SIN prevented the assassination of Cardinal Yamamoto when they had hit a cell in Istanbul. In the five days after that, cells in the Gaza Strip, Karachi and Baghdad (in that order) were also left devastated. Every time our troops, the local friendly troops or the local police arrived after Sakura, Ino and Naruto had come through, they found a place that looked as if it had hit by a tornado with no warning, as most of the dead, like the would-be assassins killed at St. Peter's, wore terrified expressions on their stilled faces.
They also found one more thing that had come to strike fear into terrorists' hearts. The three ninjas literally left their mark on every big shot they took out—on the body of each cell leader or top terrorist that they killed, they left a kunai with a tag featuring a design that had quickly become familiar: a silver Maltese cross with a gold fox overlaying the top arm, a cherry blossom overlaying the left arm, a goldband lily overlaying the right arm, and the eye swirl mark—which, as I was to learn, was the emblem of their village—on the bottom arm. Below that were always the words, "Repent and be saved—Team SIN."
It was counterterrorism in the craziest sense of the word—the terrorists being terrorized. And it was indeed as if hell had broken loose at the cave—and the photo of Bin Laden's body, when it was shown again, showed another kunai with the Team SIN tag embedded in what was left of his torso.
I peeled my eyes away from the screen to head to the drink machine and grab a celebratory Coke. Just as I picked it up out of the dispenser, I saw two more friends and colleagues come up and say admiringly, "My God, Carlo, what have you done?"
"No, no, no." I said with a chuckle, shaking my head at the idea that my publishing the nickname had started them on their spree. "I didn't do a William Randolph Hearst. That said, it has definitely been interesting to watch unfold…"
"Do you think they're done?" One asked as we looked at the screen again.
"Somehow, I don't think they've had enough fun at our enemies' expense yet." I said with a grin.
"Hey, Carlo, you've got a call on your video phone." The other said, and I quickly rushed back over to my workspace, answered…and felt my jaw drop.
Behind a table that the video phone on the other end of the line was perched on top of were Sakura, Ino, and Naruto, looking as they had when I'd met them at St. Peter's, only Sakura's and Ino's bottoms were now white with the new Team SIN design on them—a gold cross with a pair of kunai crisscrossing at the intersection.
The reason for the design change became apparent as three other females then came into view, all with the same outfits as Ino and Sakura. Two of them were girls about Sakura's, Ino's and Naruto's age with forehead protectors worn as necklaces—one with gray eyes, long and straight navy blue hair and a light blue top and the other with dark brown hair in Chinese ox horn buns and matching eyes with a crimson top. The last was a lady who was undoubtedly a little older than all of them with purple hair in a short fanned-out ponytail, a black top, and her forehead protector worn as a hairband.
"Where the heck are you guys?" I asked, shellshocked as the two friends that were with me gasped and started rushing around the office, grabbing people and saying, "You gotta come see this—Carlo's got Team SIN on the phone!"
"Back in Rome!" Ino said. "We're actually taking the place that the would-be assassins used and turning it into the first-ever counterterrorist-nin base."
"Yep!" Sakura added. "We had a few friends including our sensei waiting for us and we've got a bunch of others from our home village asking if they can come in."
"So we're just setting up shop and then looking to see who we want over here right now while also keeping an eye out for any trouble. We've also established equivalencies between ninja ranks back home and traditional Western military ranks so that people have a better idea of how each of us stands." Naruto finished as the others nodded.
As I scrambled for a scrap piece of paper and a pencil to take notes with, I was astonished to see everyone else in the office, from the local beat reporters to the editors on duty, doing the same before looking over at the TV, which my video phone had been hooked up to by one of our technicians on duty. Some were even lining up behind me with their pencils, pens, and paper in hand.
"Oh, Jesus." I said with a chuckle as I found a blank ruled sheet and a mechanical pencil and got my notes down quickly but clearly. "Looks like the rest of the staff that's here right now wants to turn this into a press conference, and I can't say I blame them after what you guys did. It's up to you if you want to take questions from them too, though."
"It's okay." Ino said. "I think it's only fair, though, that you get the first question after you did such a good story on our first mission in Rome."
I looked around and saw everyone else nod in agreement before I looked back at their image on the phone screen and said with a grin, "Thanks. I think it's safe to say that we all have a debt of gratitude to you guys for what you've been doing, though."
I looked around again, saw everyone else nod once again, saw all six ninjas on the other end of the line smiling as well and then said, "Well, first things first—state your names, ranks, roles, and any other titles you guys want to state for the record, please."
"Lieutenant Colonel Sakura Haruno, specialist in medicine and a co-founder." Sakura said with a smile.
"Lieutenant Colonel Ino Yamanaka, specialist in espionage and interrogation and a co-founder." Ino said, also with a smile.
"Lieutenant Colonel Naruto Uzumaki, all-rounder and a co-founder." Naruto said smartly with a grin.
"Captain Hinata Hyuuga, specialist in hostage and rescue situations." The girl with the navy blue long hair said with a smile.
"Captain Tenten Higurashi, specialist in combat and explosives." The brunette with the Chinese buns said, waving to us with a grin.
"Colonel Anko Mitarashi, sensei and commanding officer." The purple-haired woman said with a smile.
Having Sakura, Ino, Naruto, Hinata, Tenten, and Anko actually on the line and ready to be interviewed made me feel the way Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein must have felt having Deep Throat as a source as they uncovered the Watergate scandal—mesmerized and excited by what was being told to us and also by the realization that there was no better source in the world for this story.
The impromptu press conference went on for about an hour, after which we immediately got to work on an extra. As I typed the lead to the top story, I took a moment to sit back in my chair, close my eyes and think, God, I love this job!
Topics I Wanted To Address
-My opinion on the power of the media in not just reporting world events, but shaping them (Like I said, I don't like writers who try to do a William Randolph Hearst.)
-Philippians 4:13 ("I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me") with a humorous spin worthy of Naruto (please know that even though I am a proud Catholic, I do not have anything against Muslims, or for that matter, people of any other religion—it's just people like Osama that give them a bad name!)
Closing Author's Notes
Hope you liked it! Please read and review, but please don't flame me just because you don't like Sakura, Ino, NaruSaku, NaruIno, or SakuNaruIno. I know the pairing isn't exactly in keeping with the spiritual part of the story and I'm generally not a fan of polygamy myself, but I decided to make an exception because I enjoy both NaruSaku and NaruIno and because I don't consider the prospect of a "Clan Restoration Act", as some Naruto fanfic writers call it, totally farfetched.
If you guys want to make spin-offs of this detailing Sakura, Ino, Naruto and company's adventures in Europe (and elsewhere, if you wish) as the first counterterrorist-nins, you're more than welcome—just be sure to credit me.