(READ FIRST PLEASE) AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, I've actually surprised myself and managed to write a chapter for this story. My last update was over three years ago 07/16/09, and I honestly don't know how I updated this story...I had always planned to finish it, but three years is a long time, and I don't even know how many of the original readers are still here or even willing to come back.
I've even had to re-read the story myself just to recall what I was doing with it. After weeks of reading and plotting again, I've somehow figured out what the original plot was and reorganized the story and how I'm going to do this. After this chapter the story was originally going to go for maybe 10 chapters, I've lowered it down to 5-7 roughly. I know increasing the chapters won't do any good since I might not update as fast as I'd like. It's also been about two years since I've followed the Naruto manga consistently, so this story has now become a complete AU, rather than a partial AU like it was before.
So if any new readers see something unusual that might not be accurate with the current manga, it's not going to be, this story at this point is completely diverging from the canon plot, or I'd never be able to update and I'd have to re-write the whole story, which I'm not going to lie I'm too lazy to do XD.
With that said, if any of my original readers do return, I'd HIGHLY recommend you re-read the whole story like I did. Unless you have perfect memory re-reading will help you remember what was going on, and this chapter will actually make sense. I do apologize at how horrible I was at writing in the first chapters of this story, since I was cringing just re-reading it myself. It's your choice though, and I hope any new readers will enjoy my story since I plan to finish it before this year is out.
I will be posting this author's note in the prologue chapter as well just in case the new readers read from the prologue, down. I'll be honestly surprised if I receive any reviews for this, and I hope I can finish this NaruSaku fic soon! Thank you for reading and enjoy!
(Below is the original author's note, thank you.)
My first attempt at a long-chapter story.
Now this is a mere project of sorts. I want to hear opinions. I don't want to keep writing a story that people don't enjoy, cause then it would have no point.
The plot is pretty average and I'm pretty sure it's been used countless of times.
If you wish to find out more about it, visit my profile page. :)
For now, just enjoy this prologue for my new project story 'To See You Again'.
Disclaimer: Still not mine, it belongs to that Kishimoto person lol.
"Distance never separates two hearts that really care, for our memories span the miles and in seconds we are there. But whenever I start feeling sad, because I miss you, I remind myself how lucky I am to have someone so special to miss." -Unknown
This wasn't supposed to have happened.
She shouldn't be in the current situation she was in.
No, none of this should have gone the way it did.
She should still be in the middle of an open area of forest. Still fighting against a group of missing nin.
She should be fighting with Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-san, Sai, and Naruto by her side.
This shouldn't have happened.
But...it did. All of it happened, and now, Sakura Haruno found herself unconscious and in pain, floating and drifting somewhere she couldn't tell.
Her body continues to float. She could hear and feel the rapid beating of her over-exerted heart.
Her breathing seems forced and thin.
Her mind entering and retreating from consciousness.
All Sakura could recall in her deep semi-slumber state was HOW it happened. And why she was in the situation she was in.
She and Naruto had gone ahead of the rest of Team Kakashi to track down any signs of Sasuke or the rest of Team Hebi.
The both of them must have been much more concentrated on finding Sasuke then she had first thought.
Because before she could blink her eyes, a sudden surge of chakra filled the area up ahead of them, and Naruto and her were surrounded by five individual nin.
She knew Naruto's already annoyed mood had increased ten-fold when the nin boxed them in.
He wanted to keep searching for Sasuke, and she too was growing antsy with the idiotic nin, who were eying her like a piece of candy.
It didn't take long for Kakashi, Yamato, and Sai to show up, making the fight a total even.
Apparently this didn't seem to faze the five rogue nin. In fact, their smirks seemed to have only grown.
Sakura grew even more angry at their stupid behavior. Naruto and her had better things to do than beat the crap out of useless nin like them.
Kakashi seemed to have had the same train of thought as he refused to show his sharingan, like he had done in the many battles before. Sai released a small yawn, and Yamato looked on disinterestedly.
Naruto let out a small growl and glared at them. "Get the hell out of the way you morons! We ain't got time to play ninja with you! I gotta find someone!"
Sakura and the rest of the team silently nodded their agreement with Naruto's words.
One of the nin, wearing all black, moved forward slightly and continued to smirk at Naruto. "Afraid I can't do that kid. You got something we want, and we won't leave 'till we get it."
Naruto continued to glare as he reached over to grab a kunai. Sakura eyed Naruto, and carefully reached over for her own kunai.
Kakashi walked up in front of Naruto and stared down at the slightly shorter nin. "You heard the kid. We don't have time for you or your little group over there's games...Now step aside."
At the motion of the five nin, Team Kakashi all reacted quickly and aimed their kunai at the five nin, who had also taken out their weapons.
"Like I said copy-nin Kakashi Hatake, the kid's got something we want and we're not leaving without it." He smirked wider as he spotted the three sets of eyes widening slightly at his knowledge of Kakashi.
Sai, and Kakashi remained indifferent.
"Well? What the hell do ya want with me?!" Naruto yelled at the nin who had spoken seconds before.
"Well, the kyuubi of course. What other use do you have boy? Besides being a worthless ninja?" The man didn't expect to be half-punched through the open area by an angry Naruto.
Sakura winced as she spotted the furious stare her blonde friend was giving to the rumble of splintered wood, where he had punched the nin into.
'We gotta end this quick, these guys have no idea what they got themselves into. Naruto's in a really bad mood, and isn't gonna take crap from anyone today.'
The young girl's light green eyes glance over at her sensei, who turns to look at her. "I suppose we'll just have to teach them the hard way Sakura."
The gray haired Jounin looked over at Yamato and Sai. "We won't need you two for this battle, looks like just a bunch of wannabe nin, nothing Sakura and I can't handle."
The two of them nod once and jump off towards the tree branches to stay a safe distance from the battle.
Sakura grips her kunai tightly and turns to look at her sensei. "Looks like Naruto's already got a handle on one Kakashi-sensei, so equal split on the rest of them?" The young girl asks sweetly and innocently with a wicked smile on her face.
The gray eye of her sensei wrinkles in the sign that the man is smiling. "Couldn't have word it better myself Sakura. Let's end this quickly though, dealing with an even more pissed off Naruto isn't on my list of things to do today."
With that, both of them split up and begin to fight the four remaining nin.
Sakura continuously punches and kicks the two nin she charged at. Her expert eyes catch the quick movement of them replacing themselves with clones. She kicks them out of her way and makes a direct hit on one of them.
All the man hears is the crack of more than one of his bones, and then darkness.
The man left standing smirks at the pink haired girl. "What's a pretty girl like you fighting as a nin?"
Sakura makes a face of disgust at the man, and continues to watch his movements. She wanted this to be over with soon.
Her eyes dart over quickly to see her sensei already nearly done with the two missing nin he had attacked. She then turns her attention to her blonde teammate.
Her eyes widen, Naruto was killing the man! She could see the searing anger coming off of his body. She involuntarily gulps, as she watches each of Naruto's blows make contact with the man's upper abdomen.
'Gotta hurry, if Kakashi-sensei can't get to Naruto fast enough, I have to stop him.'
The young girl's eyes narrow in remembrance. Naruto had turned into this horrible four-tailed version of the kyuubi because of his anger towards Orochimaru. She had been so afraid of losing Naruto. It had literally driven her to the edge of losing all common sense. Which resulted in her shoulder injury awhile back.
She didn't want that to happen again. She knew the comment the man had made earlier on Naruto being useless, had brought back unwanted memories to the young blonde.
She knew he was already angry at the lack of clues to find Sasuke, and this man, had made it much much worse.
"Shouldn't have looked away girl!" Was all Sakura heard before being hit in the gut and thrown against the hard trunk of a nearby tree.
Kakashi and Naruto both turned to look at the destroyed remains of the tree. "Yamato, Sai! Go help Sakura..." Kakashi shouted out, only to be silenced by the sight of four other nin attacking Sai and Yamato.
"Damn it! They fooled us into thinking they were just five weak nin!" Naruto shouted at Kakashi as he threw the now unconscious man to the ground.
Sakura stumbled out of the broken tree and rubbed off some of the blood seeping from her mouth.
The nin who had punched her, dusted himself off and smirked again. "Not just that you pathetic leaf nin fools! We weren't after the fox-boy at all!"
At the mention of the second part of the deceit, Naruto and Kakashi stared at the nin in disbelief.
"We want the girl! Our large nin group is short of a strong medic nin, and this Sakura girl fits right on the mark."
The young girl tenses as the nin's narrow eyes turn to look at her with evil glee. Sakura frowns, and grabs another kunai from her pouch.
"Sakura-chan! Don't fight the bastard, he might make you fall into some trap!" The girl's eyes turn to look at Naruto who continues to glare at the man in front of them.
"But..." Sakura argues but stops when she feels a hand on her shoulder.
"Naruto's right Sakura. If this 'weak little group was able to come up with this strategy just to capture one medic nin, then they're capable of much more. We'll handle it. Just stay here and watch out for any of the remaining nin." Kakashi gives his student a concealed smile before disappearing and reappearing by Naruto again.
Seconds later, the three men begin their charge. Pink hair bounces back and forth as Sakura tries to keep up with their speed.
Naruto was making some blows, but it was Kakashi making the most damage.
Sakura still remained troubled though. The nin fighting them was able to throw her into a tree. Which no one was able to do that to her so easily since her genin years.
If that was possible, then the nin was definitely a strong one. Yet, he was ruining all conclusions she had made on him. His attacks were mediocre at best, his defenses flat out failed, and he wasn't using any useful ninjutsu.
'What's this guy's real intention?'
Sakura's eyes narrow in thought. Something was wrong, very wrong, and she knew it involved the nin fighting Naruto and Kakashi.
Black boots scrape against the dry cracked dirt, and muscles tense as Sakura walks carefully towards the left where she can get a better view of Sai and Yamato's battles.
A grimace appears on the young girl's face. The same situation. The nin were letting themselves get attacked, and their so-called reputations from earlier were being completely debunked.
'Have the others not noticed?'
As she watches her teammates fight the nin, she catches something from the corner of her eye. Three scrolls each hanging from an individual tree.
'It's shaped like a triangle, how strange...what the heck would they...'
Sakura's eyes widen in cold realization. The scrolls were keeping up a genjutsu.
And without Kakashi revealing his sharingan, none of her teammates would realize that they weren't really fighting with the nin. Naruto and Kakashi would tire out, and Sai and Yamato were already half way there.
'Then where the hell are the real ones?'
All the girl hears is the swooshing sound of a large hand passing right be the left side of her head, before skidding to a dusty stop on the opposite end of the open area.
Strands of pink hair falling slowly to the ground catch Sakura's attention. Her frown deepens.
'Damn bastards...they nearly got me there. I gotta tell Kakashi-sensei about their genjustu before the next hit they throw at me doesn't miss.'
Sakura looks up towards the tall tree branches, where the battle between the false nin and Naruto and Kakashi were still taking place.
The real nin must be watching from up there too since she couldn't stop her attacker after she narrowly escaped their first offense. Light green eyes dart from battle to battle.
Six nin in total. One with Naruto and Kakashi, and the other five with Sai and Yamato.
'I'll help Sai and Yamato-san first, and then try to get to Kakashi-sensei.'
Sakura darts over to the closest tree to Sai and jumps against it to gain momentum. She lands softly on the lowest branch and watches Sai aim another set of inked demons to three false nin.
Her eyes widen, and she twirls around barely dodging a barrage of shuriken aimed for her head. A small growl leaves her lips as she looks up to stare at the smirking face of the real nin.
"Where do you think you're going gorgeous?"
Sakura removes a shuriken from the tree trunk next to her and glares at the man. "Get out of the way you dumbass! I have to help my friends from your stupid genjutsu."
Sakura's glare grows darker when the man shakes his head and frowns. 'Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, I'm afraid I can't let you do that sweetie. You see your little friends over there will be so distracted in their supposed fight with us that they won't notice when I do...this..."
The young girl blocked another barrage of shuriken, but was surprised to feel four long arms entwine with her legs.
She looks down to see four other nin grabbing tightly onto her.
She flips her body backwards to throw the nin up into the air, and isn't surprised to see them poof away.
"Stop joking around, if it's me you want then fight me and me alone! Keep my friends out of this!"
The nin merely shrugs off her comment, and disappears into the darkness of the forest's leafy branches.
Sakura lands on a long branch facing Naruto and Kakashi. Her eyes watch with apprehension as she notices Naruto already taking in deeper and faster breaths.
'Naruto is nearing his limit, and Kakashi-sensei still thinks he can handle this without his sharingan.'
Sakura jumps over to the next nearest branch to Kakashi, and starts yelling.
"Kakashi-sensei! You have to stop! You're not really fighting the..."
The young girl raises an eyebrow as both Naruto and Kakashi stop fighting and stare at her with fear and concern.
The invisible barrier prevents Sakura from hearing what Naruto was mouthing out to her.
Kakashi tries to leap to her, but finally realizes the genjutsu barrier surrounding him and Naruto.
The gray haired Jounin removes part of the mask that covers his eye and uses his genkai kekkai to release the genjutsu.
Sakura smiles, but it disappears when Kakashi and Naruto continue to look at her with fear.
And the last thing she remembers, was three chakra filled waves surround her entire body, the sudden collapse of her body, the maniacal laugh of the nin, and Naruto yelling out her name frantically and pleadingly.
Darkness was all she was seeing now, empty eternal darkness.
Her body was numb, yet in pain.
Where was she? Was she dead? If she was, then is this what it felt like to BE dead? And if she wasn't, what was going to happen now?
What did that nin do to her body?
And what bothered Sakura the most, was not the circumstances of her current situation.
It was Naruto's scream. He seemed so afraid, for her. Of losing...HER.
Amongst all the darkness that Sakura's mind surrounded her in, a lone tear escaped her tight-shut eyes and rolled down her cheek.
"...Naruto..."
Night: Phew! And it's done, my prologue for this story turned out pretty nice...-stares-
Naruto: -slurps his ramen- Yo.
Night: ...OK...Someone tell me what the heck is going on?
Sakura: Well Night-chan, since you're now a part of the fanfic circle, your favorite characters start appearing in the end of your story to add their own litte tid-bits of info.
Naruto: Yep Yep! Now tell me why I'm not even mentioned that much in this prologue of yours Night-chan! 'ttebayo!
Night:...-blinks-...this is a very awkward situation right now...I'm going to get some air. -leaves-
Sakura: Way a go Naruto! You scared off the authoress! -bonks him on the head-
Naruto: Ne, Sakura-chan! No need to be violent...Oh! Umm please review Night-chan's story...cause your opinion matters! Believe it!
Sakura: -sighs-
