Brazen Sound
Chapter 1:
The Redhead part 1
The forest was peaceful. Empty, yet serene, the morning air beginning to fill the area. Birds chirping, dew dripping. All too soon however, a rampant commotion broke the peace. A feminine figure stumbled across the forest floor, its heavy breathing audible in the cool morning air.
The feminine figure stopped for a moment, placing its arm on a tree. "Just keep going." The girl thought to herself. She dragged her legs forward. "Just keep moving." She stumbled again, her vision blurring. She ran into something, knocking her head.
"Damn tree!" She muttered, holding her head. She continued moving, but her head began to feel lighter and lighter, and her limbs heavier and heavier. "Awww, crap…" The girl thought before stumbling a final time, and falling face-first to the ground, unconscious.
(Meanwhile)
Sasuke Uchiha was having a pleasant morning…. Sort of…
As he took another kick to his side, he tried to remember why he enjoyed sparring so much. Let alone so early in the day. Not to mention with the blonde whiskered boy he had become sparring partners with. "Come on Sasuke, that the best you got?" Shouted the blonde boy.
The blonde came in with a flurry of quick sidekicks. Sasuke thrust his arms ups and blocked with a flurry of elbows. The blonde attempted a 360® jump kick, but Sasuke caught the kick, and threw the blonde to the side. The blonde cartwheeled off, and came to his feet.
Sasuke charged in with his own 360® kick, which the blonde subsequently blocked. Sasuke kicked off the blonde's block, and then off a nearby tree, kicking into the surprised blonde again. He landed a kick directly into the blonde's face. Sasuke then pinned the blonde's elbows with his knew, effectively immobilizing him.
"Better?" Sasuke stated. The blonde grinned. Sasuke suddenly felt a fist strike right smack in his forehead, and he fell back. He fell down, and saw two of the blonde boy. He cleared his eyes, and still saw two of the blonde boy. He sighed.
"Naruto, I thought we agreed not to use ninjutsu. That kage bunshin is an extremely unfair advantage." The two Naruto Uzumakis grinned, but one was suddenly knocked over by something from behind. Sasuke grinned as he pulled in his oversized shuriken on one of the Naruto's, who immediately exploded in a puff of smoke.
"Did I mention your constant use of it makes you totally predictable?" Sasuke stated. The remaining Naruto gaped at Sasuke. "Sasuke, did you know when you were pulling that giant bladed weapon, that you were pulling it in on a clone?" Sasuke shrugged, and Naruto gulped.
"So that's good for now?" Naruto inquired. Sasuke nodded. Their secluded training era had seen many mornings like this. It was a rugged patch of land at the edge of the woods outside Konoha. The pair went here sporadically, training themselves in new techniques. Seeing as nobody was at their homes to protest this activity, they simply found each other whenever they had time off from the ninja academy, and headed here.
They had gone particularly early today, as the sun had not yet risen. But, both of them were used to it, and Sasuke liked training with his friend.
Sasuke remembered how when both he and Naruto started the ninja academy over three years back, they had been bitter rivals. Though all their other classmates saw Naruto as a complete loser with no brains at all, Sasuke saw something more. Naruto was a natural fighter, he knew how to manipulate battles like a commander manipulating the battle field. Sasuke began to realize Naruto was a legitimate threat.
Sasuke also realized Naruto's mastery of advanced jutsu, such as the Kage Bunshin. Naruto never explained how he learned them, but it seemed almost regularly, Naruto was perfecting a new technique. Sasuke could only guess that Naruto had some secret teacher. Whom it was, he hadn't slightest.
Nevertheless, Sasuke was still a sizeable match for Naruto, but just barely. He started to have a tougher time beating Naruto week after week, until finally, about a year ago, Naruto won a match against him. To Sasuke's surprise, Naruto didn't gloat over his victory, he simply thanked Sasuke for a good fight.
After that, Sasuke decided to hang around Naruto, see if he could pick up on Naruto's advantage in battle. Due to his snooping, he and Naruto ended up becoming good friends, after learning more about each other. Now if only their friend Kiba Inuzuka didn't think they were homo.
"I'm heading to Ichiraku's." Naruto stated after packing his training gear. Sasuke sighed. "Naruto, you have to eat something other than ramen; you're going to have a freakin heart attack!" "Sasuke, don't worry, I was just meeting up with Kiba, Choji, and Shikamaru. We're going to go to some place Choji wanted to go to for breakfast. Kami knows he's got good taste in food." Sasuke nodded.
"You wanna come with?" Naruto offered. Sasuke considered the answer. "Nah, I think I'll pass. I feel like taking a walk this morning. Feel like something good is going to happen." Naruto shook his head at his friend's cryptic talk. "Well, I guess I'll be seeing you." Naruto stated before walking off.
Sasuke stared into the distance. "Yeah, I'll be seeing you…" Sasuke stated just inside the blonde's hearing range. He continued staring off into the forest.
Sasuke didn't know why, but he felt strangely urgent. Call it superstitious, but Sasuke had a lot of premonitions, and they were often correct. He picked up his training gear, and ran to the nearest tree. He climbed up, and started jumping from tree branch to tree branch, deeper into the forest.
He continued moving like this for about 20 minutes, going in random directions, but always keeping track of his surroundings, so he could find his way back. He jumped down from a branch at one point, and walked over to a nearby stream. He got a drink of water, and was about to continue, when he sensed someone in the area.
He turned and saw a couple of strange looking boys walking over from a distance. Sasuke didn't know them, but something felt off about them, so Sasuke hid in a nearby bush, and waited for them to pass. As they grew closer, he was able to get a better look at them. What he saw disturbed him, and he had to hold his shock.
There were three of them, but two of them stood out more than the other. One had dark grey hair with long bangs, pale skin, a lean frame, and more interestingly, a second head. Another had spiky black hair, dark skin, and very interestingly, two extra arms. The last one was just a regular guy with orange hair in a strange Mohawk, but he seemed a little fat to Sasuke.
They all wore identical uniforms with tan-colored tunics with a yin-yang sign below the waist, black leggings, and purple ribbons wrapped around their waists. Sasuke noted that one had a headband with a musical note on it. He had seen that symbol before; it was from Otogakure, the hidden sound.
"So boss, you think she made it this far?" The big one stated. The one with the dark grey hair and second head shrugged. "We've already searched the other areas, so this is the only place that redhead could be. I gotta' tell you Jirobo, I'm surprised after that fight she had with us, Tayuya could stand, let alone make it this far into fire country."
Sasuke pondered what they were talking about, and what their intentions were. He also wondered who this Tayuya was. One thing was for sure though: these were some shady individuals.
"We should hurry up and find that bitch soon. I want to repay her for that trouble she gave us." Sasuke didn't see any of the groups mouths move when this statement was made, confusing him. He then realized the grey-haired boy's second head said it.
Yep, definitely some shady, slightly disgusting people. "Technically I'd be the one tearing her apart, you'd be the sadistic asshole watching Ukon." Stated the grey-haired man matter-of-factly. "Aww shut up Sakon…" The second head retorted.
Sasuke waited until the group was out of range again, and then emerged from his hiding spot. "I should report this to the authorities." Sasuke thought to himself. Then he hesitated. "But this Tayuya… It doesn't sound like it would be good for her health if those guys found her..." Sasuke climbed up the nearest tree and searched his surroundings.
He went from tree to tree, searching the ground. Since he knew these surroundings well, he might be able to find this Tayuya girl before the group he saw. Sasuke only got the description of "redhead" from the group's conversation, but it wasn't like there were a lot of redheaded girls just stumbling across the forest, presumably injured from what the group members said.
He jumped around for a bit, wondering what the story behind this suspicious group, and the redheaded girl known as Tayuya was. He was pondering the idea when he accidently missed a branch. He panicked, trying to find his footing, but he ended up crashing to the forest floor.
Sasuke rubbed the growing bruise forming around his shoulder, and winced. "Smooth landing Sasuke, smooth landing…" Luckily, he didn't do any real damage to his body. But even if he had, he probably wouldn't have noticed. For at that moment, he found what he was looking for.
A girl with red hair laid unconscious only a couple feet from him. She was facing the ground, so Sasuke couldn't see her face, but he could tell this girl was the one he was looking for. She was wearing the exact same tan uniform as the group he had seen earlier had been wearing. He moved to check her pulse.
Her skin felt cold, but she had a pulse. Sasuke turned her over, and his eyes widened a little. This girl was… young. He didn't know why, but he was expecting someone much older; this girl was his age. Also, Sasuke noted that the girl was quite plainly…. beautiful.
She had a smooth complexion, a lithe, yet muscular figure, and long untamed red hair, some of it flowing over her face. She was wearing the same clothes as the 3 people Sasuke had seen earlier, but her clothes were torn, and covered in dirt and twigs. She had apparent injuries, including large bruises on her arms and legs, cuts all over her body, blood spewing from her mouth, torn knuckles. She was a mess, but Sasuke could see that there was somebody truly amazing underneath that mess.
Sasuke definitely couldn't leave her like this, so after making sure she was stable, he scooped her up bridal style. Her breathing was shallow, but it was constant, so Sasuke was confident she would be alright, so long as he didn't run into those shady individuals from earlier.
He jumped up tree brances, until he was at the top of one tall enough to have a view of Konoha. "I'm about a kilometer away from Konoha. I could make it in a couple minutes if I hurry." Sasuke looked at the girl he was carrying. He saw that the sun had risen, and its first rays of lights were splaying across the forest. They lit up the girl's face, and to Sasuke's surprise, the girl's eyes opened.
She blinked at Sasuke, completely lost to where she was. Sasuke noted her red eyes matched her hair color. The girl gave Sasuke a resigned look. "So I won't even know my killer?" Sasuke blinked in surprise.
"Excuse you?" The Uchiha asked. "Strange, you don't appear to be wearing an Oto uniform. You some special kid Orochimaru recruited? Kabuto must have had a bad influence on him…" The red head stated.
Sasuke was completely lost, but managed to put together some words. "Look, I'm not here to kill you or anything." Now the redheaded girl was confused. "I just heard you were in a tight spot, and figured you needed some help." Sasuke explained, trying to calm the girl.
The redhead seemed to relax, evident by her facial expression. Sasuke started to jump from tree to tree, the girl in his arms maintaining a calm expression. "So you're Tayuya right?" Sasuke asked. The redhead nodded. "I'm Sasuke Uchiha." Sasuke stated, introducing himself.
Tayuya's eyebrow raised. "As in the Uchiha clan?" Sasuke nodded, and Tayuya took in the information. "How did you know to look for me?" Tayuya inquired.
"You wouldn't happen to know a couple bizarrely disfigured boys with sadistic tendencies." Sasuke stated off-handedly. "Would one have happened to have had a second head?" Tayuya asked. Sasuke nodded, and Tayuya became silent for a moment.
"I overheard them talking about you earlier. They didn't sound like they were going to you for a good time." Sasuke stated sarcastically. Tayuya smirked. "I'm sure they would have enjoyed running into me…"
"Who are they exactly?" Sasuke inquired. Tayuya became silent for a moment. "If I told you that, you would probably want to drop me, and leave me for dead right now." Sasuke stopped moving, and stood still. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but I can promise you I won't just leave you for dead over some information." Tayuya sighed.
"They're my old team members. The Sound Four, personal bodyguards of Orochimaru, the snake-sannin, the ultimate sadistic bastard, and my old boss." Sasuke's jaw dropped a little. "Still feel like carrying me?"
Author's note: So this is an idea I had after seeing a couple older Naruto episodes. I always hate how the writers of Naruto give the most interesting characters the most interesting designs and backstories, just to A) kill them off, or B) completely forget about them for a couple seasons/volumes, until they surface again due to plot convenience. I sort of liked Tayuya's look and design, and thought, "hey, what if she were on the good side?"
So, I hope you like this story. Also, just to clarify, Sasuke and Tayuya are both the same age in this story; around eleven.
Peace.
