Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, it's all Masashi Kishimoto's work, no profit is made by this work.
Journey to Tidal town.
The sun was slowly going down, telling the earth and it's inhabitants that the day was starting to end. On this moment three figures are slowly traversing through the forests of Fire country. One of these figures being a young girl with long pink hair, whose name is Sakura and who is also a newly minted ninja of the Leaf village. Currently though she was probably not paying enough attention to her surroundings. This, she guessed, fit in with the slight disaster the rest of the day had been. She usually wasn't too prone to daydreaming, normally being a more focused person, except of course when it was about the last Uchiha heir, but for once it wasn't about him she was thinking right now.
It helped that she was helplessly bored out of her mind, and slightly uneasy about how the day had gone for her. It didn't help that her team was less talkative then a tree-stump. She had even started cursing her fate of being part of a team that for now only existed out of introverts, silently of course, it was nerve wrecking, even if one of them was her Sasuke.
Not that Sasuke could help that of course! With such a tragic past it was a wonder he'd turned out as cool and handsome as he was, a little shyness was nothing, and once he got over that he'd sweep her of her feet and tell her how wonderful she is while Ino-pig would be left behind the dust!
Okay, so maybe she could still bring up a little enthusiasm, good to know. She smiled slightly. But that didn't change her situation.
She and her team had been walking a while, at least the part of her team she'd already met. The reason they were walking on the other hand was the part of the team she hadn't met. She scowled, of course their last teammate would be the oddball.
A few day's back when the teams were chosen she'd been both ecstatic and puzzled, on one hand she had Sasuke in her team, on the other hand, the name of her second teammate was a name she only recognized slightly, a blonde boy if she remembered right, with kind of weird facial marks. She hadn't seen that boy in years, and definately never at the academy. So how, she wondered could he be her teammate? Her new sensei hadn't been very clear about that.
Back at the academy she'd waited hours with Sasuke, only to find out that their sensei seemed to be a chronically late pervert, at least judging from his preferred reading materials.
Hakate Kakashi, had arrived only to tell them that they were going to go on a trip, where the usual teams took a last test they would first travel to the borders of Fire country to go get Uzumaki Naruto, their las teammate, only there the team would be finally complete, and then they would take the usual test. The boy would return with them if they succeeded the test, and the trip would be classified as a C-rank for them, so if they got through the test they would immediately have a pretty impressive record for a new Genin team. That was of course only if they didn't fail.
She had felt pretty sure they wouldn't, even with the high failure average, and unknown teammate she was one of the smartest of her class and Sasuke was rookie of the year. Their mysterious third member would be an wildcard though. They would have to wait and see how he would fit the picture, if he did fit. If not she wouldn't have any problems with keeping this a two-man team with her and Sasuke. That had sounded good. Only since starting out she'd noticed with a slight unease that her stamina was a little lacking, so maybe they weren't that great.
They'd set out the day after the first team meeting, and were currently heading to the Eastern shore of Fire country. They'd ran for a while, but once her own reserves had run out they'd taken to the general merchant path at normal walking speed. So they were travelling more slowly then expected. That she was the reason stung somewhat. She promised herself she'd work on her stamina when they were back in the village, so she wouldn't bring down the team.
"Ah, that's the village gates, we're almost there." That was their sensei who miraculously had managed to tear his concentration away from his smut just long enough to give the saving words, destination finally reached. She was able to bring up enough energy for a small cheer, and even Sasuke seemed somewhat relieved. For a while she'd feared they'd have to sleep another night in a tent, but it seemed like they'd get a bed and bath this night.
The village gates were smaller then those of Leaf, not surprisingly since Leaf was more the size of a city, then a village. Where the gates in Leaf were important safety checkpoints that kept out who wasn't supposed to get in, mostly possible spies, and general shady persons, this gate here seemed to be unmanned and more a simple landmark that told travelers they had arrived at their destination.
'Tidal Town' the gates said, decorated by two wave symbols that curved into a spiral. The air was more salty here then land inward and while she couldn't actually see it from here, she knew from the map that they were close to the sea, the village even had a small harbour. It was big for a unimportant civilian village, and seemed relatively wealthy like most harbour villages tended to be in good economic times. Most likely their economy existed largely of trading in fish and transporting goods by boat.
She was able to see an steep hill rise next to the village, high enough to tower over the village buildings. On the hill she could faintly make out a big complex, she wondered if some kind of important noble family lived there or something. Most complexes that lied on such a point had tenants of some kind of power or importance. She'd ask her sensei, but he was still nose-deep into his book. Weird man, that one.
"Excuse me, are you the Leaf ninja that Naruto is expecting?" Someone calls out to them. As they turn a young woman with long brown hair greets them.
Sensei finally closes his book and replies in affirmative. "Yes, that would be us." He closed his eye in what was probably his version of a polite smile.
"Good! I'm Matsuoka Yasu, pleased to meet you. I was sent here to welcome you in case you arrived after the gates were closed." Sakura frowned, the village gates didn't seem like they could be closed. So she asked. "Excuse me Matsuoka-san, but which gates do you mean?"
"Ah, the shrine gates of course! Ah yes, I didn't tell you did I? Your teammate lives in the complex uphill here, it's a major shrine in which his family has some historical importance to. So I'm afraid we're not quite yet at our final destination." She tugged slightly on one of her sleeves.
Sakura frowned slightly. "So we haven't actually arrived yet?"
Matsuoka smiled. "No, not quite, but for now you will stay here. The gates of the temple close at 8 in the evening, only to open again at six in the morning. Unless in emergency nobody goes in or out, at least not officially Don't worry we calculated in this possibility, and you have a room in the local inn tonight. You are expected tomorrow at nine by elder Mizushima, she will speak with you and bring you to Naruto."
The young woman was pretty in a plain way, with pulled up brown hair, and a nice smile, she wore more traditional then usual clothes that most likely fit with whatever her position was within the temple.
"I am one of the few who work at the temple that lives in the village proper rather then at the compound. So it laid before hand that I would greet you. In this case."
She started walking down one road and they followed her. "I will bring you to the inn, so you can wash up and rest your feet, if that is alright with you?"
They all agreed without fuss. The inn turned out to be pretty comfortable. It was bigger then she'd expected, but she hadn't known that there was a shrine here. Most likely the town had outside of the typical harbour related visitors also some religious tourists because the temple. The temple were the mysterious Naruto lived. She wondered to what the shrine was actually dedicated to. A sea related deity perhaps?
A boy who grew up in a temple, Sakura wondered why. It seemed unusual at least. She knew he'd spent his early years in Leaf. The importance of his family here seemed a weak excuse to explain why he had been put here. She bet there was much more to the story.
Even so she had more questions than that. How would he act? From what she did remember little Naruto had been a loud even as young as they had been when he'd still lived in Leaf. It had stood out to her even then and was most likely the only reason she remembered him somewhat at all. Him growing up in a prim and proper traditional temple seemed weird. Hopefully it had done him some good. She was getting curious of what tomorrow would bring them, hopefully a good teammate, and some answers.
Not too far away from the inn at the border of the temple grounds a figure grinned. He planned to give the inhabitants the slip for one last time before leaving.
He paused slightly to wonder who'd keep them on their toes with him gone. Maybe he should encourage little Hanako to raise some chaos while he was gone. Carry the torch and stuff. Yeah, that sounded good. The youngest temple inhabitant looked up at him, and the two of them were more mischievous then the rest of the entire place together. She'd love to walk his footsteps.
He launched himself over the wall, and quietly slipped into the surrounding woods. He wondered how long it'd be before they noticed him missing. Maybe he'd even be able to find his team to be, and play some tricks. Look how they react. First impressions where important lady Mizushima had always told him. He'd give them a first impression! He chuckled softly and started planning, slowly making his way to the village.
Next Time: The Boy in the woods.
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