Hey everyone, thank you for reviewing! It makes both me and Monica happy! Sorry for the late update, I was really sick so I hope to make up for it with this chapter. Ah, from here on out its gonna be a flashback story. Anyways, please read and review! :)
Note: Toshiro is extremely OOC
Chapter 2: Divisions
Recommend Song: Vox Populi by Thirty Seconds To Mars
It was early spring in Konoha and everyone was happy about the pleasant whether that they were experiencing, well almost everyone. Sakura Haruno stood in front of her mentor and the Hokage of Konoha, with a look of determinationon her face. The Hokage appraised her apprentice slightly and slowly folded her hands underneath her chin, before she looked at the other genin presented in front of her, Hinata Hyuga, Chouji Akimichi, and Naruto Uzumaki.
Tsunade looked passed the genin and nodded to Shizune, who was standing beside the door. Shizune opened the door and a man clothed in regal robes walked in, scowled at teenagers and turned his attention to Tsunade.
"These brats are the ones who are going to help caught the infamous Kaito Shiro? Is this some kind of joke, I am not going to pay for these failures!" snapped the man and Naruto gritted his teeth and began to stalk towards the man, but Sakura placed her hand on his shoulder in a painfully tight grip to stop him.
"Hitoshi-san, I can assure you that we will not fail you. Although we are young in age, we each posess a skill that can work in your benefit", Sakura responded in a level tone and Tsunade resisted the urge to smile at her pink haired apprentice.
"Little girl, please refriam from speaking unless you are spoken to directly. This is 'adult' business and I wish to speak to another 'adult' on the matters", Hitoshi replied in a snarky tone and a vein began to throb in Sakura's forehead; this man had his nerve.
"Hitoshi-san, that is quite enough. I can assure you that these four genin are more than qualified to help you with your problem and I advise you to treat them pleasantly", Tsunade finally intercepted when she saw Sakura was quickly losing her pateince with Hitoshi.
"Sakura, you will be the team leader and you will take as much time as you need for this mission. This mission is C rank, so I trust that you will be able to handle all responsibilities. Is that understood?" Tsunade directed to her student and Sakura bowed to her mentor in affirmation.
"Good. You and your team will leave within the hour and I trust that Hitoshi-san will brief you on the details of the mission", Tsunade clarified and all the genin nodded, before all except Sakura disappeared to pack for the mission. Hitoshi glared at the pinkette, but she chose to ignore the rude man.
"Shishou, I know that it is not my place to ask but when we return from this mission I would like to request that Naruto take up that training with Jiraiya", the pinkette spoke up in a low tone and Tsunde raise done of her eyebrows in question.
"I know that he won't go because he's worried about me ever since Sasuke-kun left the village, but I don't want to hold him back. Please, can you find a way to convince him to go?" Sakura pleaded to her sensei and Tsunade gave Sakura a rare smile.
"Hai, I shall see what I can do. Sakura, just focus on your mission and leave other matters to me."
Sakura smiled at her mentor and nodded happily, before she bowed once again and disappeared in a swirl of cherry blossoms. Hitoshi stared at where the pinkette had been standing and couldn't help but question what he had gotten himself into.
A hour quickly came and the genin soon found themselves walking past the gates o Konoha with Hitoshi in tow. Naruto was muttering under his breath about 'cranky old men who didn't know anything', while Chouji munched down happily on a bag of chips and Hinata twiddled her fingers and blushed when she occasionally glanced at Naruto. Sakura allowed her team to walk ahead of her and Hitoshi, it would give her a chance to get more information on the mission.
"Hitoshi-san, where exactly are we headed?" Sakura asked in a pleasant voice and Hitoshi scowled at her, which Sakura once again politely chose to ignore. Hitoshi had a superiority complex it seemed, because he thought he was so much better than the genin.
"It's a small village on the outskirts of Yukigakure, nothing peasants like you would be familiar with. Our village is very wealthy and we choose not to associate with rift raft, such as yourself", Hitoshi responded in a smug tone and Sakura's eyes widened at how bluntly rude he was. How could someone ask for help, but care not to offend their assistance?
"Money is the root of all evil", Chouji spoke up suddenly and Sakura turned her attention to the Akimichi who was now looking very displeased with Hitoshi. Sakura could understand why he was upset; no one liked to be called 'peasants' or 'rift raft'.
"Money is what keeps the world in balance. Mankind is spilt into two groups, the rich and the poor. I happen to be rich and that is why I require your assistance and it is because you are poor that you accept my proposal", Hitoshi responded as if it were the simplest thing in the world.
"That's a load of bullshit!" Naruto shouted in outrage and Sakura quickly made her way to her seething teammate, who looked ready to murder their client but she silently agreed with his statement.
"We accepted this mission out of kindness which someone like you would never understand! Money had nothing to do with it! Rich or poor, it doesn't matter! We are helping you, because you NEED help!" Naruto continued and Hinata stared at her crush with worry apparent on her face.
"Naruto, calm down!" Sakura whispered harshly in his ear as she continued to restrain the enraged Uzumaki. Hitoshi glared at Naruto, bright blue clashing with dark onyx and Sakura swore she could see visible sparks in the air.
"H-hitoshi-san, ano d-don't you think w-we should get m-moving?" Hinata stuttered out and Sakura sent the timid Hyuga a thankful glance, before she slowly released Naruto when she felt the blond relax.
Chouji stood beside Naruto and kept a careful eye on him, while Sakura made sure that if she were to converse with Hitoshi again, that they'd be out of ear shot. The Haruno lifted her head to the bright cloudless sky and a wistful sky escaped her lips, she couldn't help but wonder if Sasuke was okay. Was revenge really worth all the pain that he was causing her and Naruto?
Sakura shook her head to clear her depressing thoughts, she had a mission to focus on. She glanced at Hitoshi and frowned slightly, something didn't sit well with her about him and it wasn't the obvious rude demeanorhe had. Sakura didn't dwell to far into her thought, before Hitoshi looked her direction sharply and glared at her from staring at him for so long.
"Is there something that I can help you with brat?" he snapped and Sakura shook her head, before she forced a disgustingly sweet smile on her face. She hated that she had to pretend to be 'civilized' with this man, but being a kunoichi meant you had to do things you didn't want to do.
Sakura didn't know what to expect when they arrived in the unnamed village, she had a general idea that people like Hitoshi would be strutting about as if they were Kami themselves. The Haruno was sorely mistaken at her initial thought and she looked at Hitoshi, who only glared at the obviously poor citizens that trudged through the streets. Hinata's eyes were widened in horror and Chouji dropped his bag of chips in shock. Naruto remained uncharacteristically quiet.
"These are the lower districts for the peasants and scum. They dirty up our village, but they do have there uses such as being hard workers and they make us rich folk feel better about ourselves", Hitoshi mused and Sakura stared at him, not bothering to hide her disgust.
Before Sakura could speak up in outrage a boy with snow white hair and bright green eyes walked up to them with a bright smile on his face, which was strange considering he was covered in what could easily be described as rags. Hitoshi grimaced at the stranger and the genin stared at the cheery newcomer with confusion and curiosity on their faces.
"Good evening, Hitoshi-san and young travelers. I hope everything is fine with you this wonderful evening", the stranger commented with a bright grin and Sakura resisted the urge to step back away from the overly happy boy, who looked to be around their age if not older by a year or so.
Sakura stared at the boy closely and couldn't help but notice that something was 'off' about the boy, but she couldn't really put her finger on it. Sakura opened her mouth to respond to the boy, but was quickly cut off as Hitoshi struck the stranger across his face. Hinata gave a out a small cry in alarm and Chouji restrained Naruto from attacking Hitoshi, while Sakura stared in disbelief.
"Filthy peasant, how dare you address me! I should have you punished for your insolence!" shouted Hitoshi in outrage and before Sakura could stop herself, she had slapped Hitoshi hard across the face and was kneling down beisde the fallen boy.
Hitoshi touched his brusied cheek and stared at Sakura in a mixture of rage and shock, before he opened his mouth to say something but stopped short at the death stare that Sakura was shooting in his direction. The Haruno's hand glowed green with healing chakra and she brought it to the stranger's cheek to heal the damage that Hitoshi had done.
"Are you alright?" Sakura asked in a soft tone and she found herself speechless when she found herself staring directly into the pair of the prettiest green eyes that she had ever seen, well in her own personal opinion. The stranger smiled at her and up that close Sakura, could tell that it was slightly forced.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It takes more than a slap to keep me down. I'm Toshiro Hitsugaya, but everyone calls me Hitsugaya", the stranger replied and Sakura stood up before she held out her hand to the stranger, much to Hitoshi's ire and disgust.
"I'm Sakura Haruno, it's a pleasure to meet you", she replied and smiled warmly, as Toshiro took her hand and together with her help he slowly rose to his feet.
