Author Notes… Hi ^O^ So far, Sakura still needs to find her identity... per say. (I mean, dude, in the manga she had a kind of reflexive personality, a type that sort of... responds to other people's actions (ie- turns violent at Naruto's stupid moments) but nothing of what she personally do (at least I can't find it) so I guess it's a good thing since there's technically lots of ways an author can mold her.)
And here, we catch a glimpse at the mess called Kakashi!
"Yosh!"-Lee
Naruto looked from atop the Hokage monument, sitting on the Yondaime's stone hair, swinging his legs back and forth idly and waiting for the right moment.
The sun was coming up, Naruto knew that the 'prank' he was doing doesn't really qualify as a prank, but more like harmless fun. He sighed, Lee wasn't here yet. Pity, Lee's loud voice rivals five Naruto voices put together. Maybe he overslept.
'Again,' the blond thought, glaring into space. Yeah, he was hanging out with Lee. Yeah, the Lee who has a bowl-like haircut, the Lee who thinks green spandex is the best thing since sliced bread, the Lee who, like his mentor, Maito Gai, has an ability to capitalize letters while speaking.
The jinchuuriki looked into the distance.
Since he failed to bring Sasuke back from his road to Orochimaru, the demon container decided to keep his mind occupied with more trivial things, lest he looses his mind because of guilt. This game, which he calls, "Naruto's Great Morning Call," has been in use for several days now. The Godaime knows about his pranks, she probably already read through the Sadaime's files on him, so she's trying to exercise tolerance. But he knows that the Sannin is at the end of her fuse. As the days go by, well, lately the genjutsu she had put on her appearance sometimes cracks just a little. It's only a matter of time before Tsunade-baachan would blow up from her lack of beauty sleep.
The blond snickered; 'insecure old hag,' he thought fondly as he fingered his necklace.
He checked the sun, and did some hand seals: ram, snake, tiger, and activate. "Kage Bunshin no Jutsu," the boy said, grinning as seventy Narutos popped up around him. The real Naruto stood and stretched, "Ready guys?" He watched as the sun peaked over the horizon, "Three, Two, One…"
Chapter 2… Embodies Alters
"COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO!!!!!" All seventy Narutos and the original crowed at the top of their lungs.
Four seconds passed. "cock-a-doodle-doo…!" the echo whispered.
The results were immediate, houses with black windows suddenly brightened. Some patrolling ANBU personnel that Naruto was fairly acquainted with since he was a toddler just shook their heads and rubbed their temples. Ordinary people poked their heads out, sleepy and pissed off when they saw that it was Naruto whom, for the seventh time, woke them up, they angrily shook their fists at.
"DAMN DEMON BRAT, SHUT UP!!" Came the synchronized voices heading back toward Naruto, who just grinned and took it all in stride. Ah, music to his ears.
Everything seemed normal; it was all routine.
He was about to hop off from his perch when a kick out of the air slammed him face first back onto the monument.
"Naruto, my Friendly-Eternal Rival! It is I! Lee!" Rock Lee then did his Good Guy Pose number forty-eight, the pose where he makes two victory signs and his two right upper incisors flash brightly. Naruto rubbed his cheek and ignored the brilliant light.
"Itai! Wadidya do that for, Eyebrows?!" He whined.
"Because, my Youthful Friend, you did not wait for me. We were prepared to greet the New Day together!" Naruto swore that the bowl-head ninja's eyebrows wiggled in a way to display hurtful emotion.
"I just thought that maybe you're alarm clock didn't go off or something. Chill!" Naruto complained, the bruise already beginning to fade somewhat, "We do this everyday."
"My Youthful Friend, I keep informing you this, but it is not my alarm clock that causes me to be late. It my training and devotion to Gai-sensei, that makes me loose track of time! I apologize and shall, after we get out of here, punish myself by doing five hundred pushups with my pinkies! For I am the Manly Beast of Konoha!!" Naruto quickly looked the other way, used to the speeches of his friend, but out of the corner of his eyes, he could still see the spandex wearing ninja on the edge of a cliff with big waves crashing on the rocks magnificently in front of him. Naruto vainly tried to scratch the image out of his memory.
It wasn't working...
"But, I think it is time we Depart!" Lee announced, dragging the blond shinobi by the collar. Naruto looked back, laughed gleefully at his achievement (it never gets old), and agreed after seeing the usual angry and tired mob of people at the bottom of the monument. It surprised him, that the villagers still didn't get anybody to put a watch out and stop his prank in the mornings.
Without hesitation, both ninjas used shunshin no jutsu to disappear from everybody else's vision.
It was all normal and routine.
The two genins reappeared on a red roof.
They looked back from where they started; neither were out of breath as they gazed at the Hokage tower now in the distance. "Wow," Naruto grinned, "Tsunade-baachan came out. And…" He squinted his eyes, "It looks like she's on warpath. Heh, finally." He back flipped onto another roof and waved to the distant Hokage who was shaking her fist at him and shouting. She was too far away to be cursing him.
That was the break from the routine.
"Yosh! Her youthful actions remind me of the exact youthful actions that I have seen my dear cherry blossom partake in!"
The shorter shinobi blinked, "Sakura-chan?"
"Yes!" Lee's adoration is still strong.
Naruto looked to his side, "Huh." He smirked and slightly tilted his head toward his bottom right.
Lee followed his movement until he saw a window where he then gasped and pointed, "Its Sakura-chan!!"
"Shhh! Not so loud!" The bijuu container hissed.
Both boys stared at the window. They could only see one closed eyelid and lots of pink hair; a hand was unconsciously pulling up the bedcovers. Both boys wanted to say, 'aww,' but only one had the manly pride to speak out loud. "So the red roof is the roof of her house!" Lee whispered awestruck. "All those times we were right above her!"
Naruto sighed when he heard Lee shout again, forgetting what the jinchuuriki warned him about. "Aww, do you not see the youthful aura around her?!" Lee started tearing up. To his amazement, Sakura was a very deep sleeper. "Do you think that I have a chance at gaining her undying affection?"
He was caught off guard with the question, since he had no good experiences when it came to the opposite sex. "Eh?" The blond thought for a while, "Well, after the chunin exams, she stopped going after Sasuke if that's what you're wondering." Naruto continued to stare at her, not a bit guilty at all; it was her fault as a ninja for not putting screens on her window. Yet, he felt like something was off, "her crush on him disappeared suddenly." He stated. Like something that went by so fleetingly that it didn't seemed to have survived for the past years so strongly.
Lee deflated, "Then when Sasuke deflected I heard that she told him that she loved him. What do you think about that?"
His friend gave a barking laughter, but didn't say anything. Truth is, Naruto isn't really sure what had happened. Sure, he's known Sakura for a long time and recently, after that big mess at the restaurant, he considered her as a close friend.
But…
As soon as Sakura's crush had disappeared, it had reappeared for another five seconds before being never heard of ever again. Is that heartbreak? To act like she never cared? He doubted it. And if some 'love' as Lee described was that fleeting, then Naruto felt like it must be fake. Even his crush for Sakura, though going away, still partly rears its head from time to time.
But if the 'love' was fake, then why did she continue it?
Was she forcing herself to love him? He scratched his chin.
To make Sasuke stay out of guilt? Out of love?
Or was it for her own purpose...? He scratched the back of his head.
Girls are so weird.
Naruto decided to lead his thoughts onto other matters, "Tell ya what, tomorrow, instead of the hokage monument for next week, since Tsunade-baachan is going to blow up next time for sure, let's meet here, same time, don't forget to set your alarm," He hastily reminded and continued before Lee could get a word in edgewise, "And we'll pretend to be different types of birds and..." He whispered the rest of his plan into the other's ear. "We'll give Sakura-chan the wakeup call of her life! And, she can even join us! I'm sure she will! Dattebayo!"
'Hopefully,' Naruto thought. Lee gave his enthusiastic consent and the two parted ways. Tomorrow, Naruto will get beat up by an alarm clock thrown by a pissed off and tired koinichi.
The two shinobis parted ways and it wasn't until the middle of Lee's thirty-ninth lap around Konoha that he realized that Naruto never gave him a real answer concerning Sakura.
"It's nothing, everything's wrong with me"- Rin
There is a feeling where one knows that they're in too deep, but one keeps going because the deep end is comforting in a morbid way. One will keep pushing forward down a never-ending road to nowhere. That's where Hatake Kakashi is.
Welcome to Hell.
After the devastating ambush on Konoha at the chunin exams, the Village Hidden in the Leaves was running dangerously low on manpower. Kakashi was back in the front lines again at the mission station, taking up jobs that were so dangerous that even some ANBU members would pause before accepting them.
The copy-nin was in a middle of a slaughter. It was him versus a huge group of missing-nin body guards and a prominent political family from Water country who rebelled against their government. The daimyo of Water country sent a high pay request to the Village Hidden in the Leaves for one single ninja to assassinate all of the people in the main family secretly, leave no witnesses.
Tsunade hired the leader of Team 7. "I have no one else; I think you understand our situation." She had explained. He did understand. Konohakagure needs to keep up a front that they are still strong. "So far, there's no one out there like you, so here. I'm giving you a lot of time to carry out. So when you are done, take a vacation, you need it." She smiled.
Vacation? He hadn't felt this alert since his ANBU days.
He had a daito in each hand with chakra pumping through both. It was a living room, with a fireplace and three couches surrounding one coffee table. The windows had let the moonlight shine onto the bloodstained rug. Mostly, there were shadows, as it was the dark of night, and he had caught his prey unaware.
The copy nin scowled, as another enemy came up behind him. Idiot, the missing nin was asking to be killed. He was Kakashi of the Sharingan. One that fights like a devil when need calls. He needed to be careful, because he was surrounded.
Stab at the jugular vein, behind the neck, through the eyes and into the brain, the heart, and the kidneys: it was a massive bloodbath as one by one, his enemies dropped like flies. It doesn't matter if five shurikens were in his leg, he kept the slaughter going. Slice off an arm, take off a head, they all seem the same.
The bodyguards tried, oh yes they tried. But he killed them all the same. They had sliced open his arms, but he had their hearts taken out and their guts spewed all across the floor. He looked at it all apathetically.
Just like the ANBU days.
He looked toward his targets, the family of four was huddled in a corner, a woman was screaming, "Demon! Demon! Monster!" He chuckled to himself; the moment he had walked into the room, she was proclaiming her rank and power and telling him to leave, after he destroyed her guards, she turned into another pathetic prey, fearing for her life. There is no pity.
She was shaking in fear, and motioning someone behind her to come forward. For a second, he couldn't believe what he was seeing. She was pushing a little girl in front of her and hiding behind the little girl. Like a shield, like a tool, Kakashi's eyes narrowed as he knelt down until the child didn't have to tilt her head to stare at him.
"Is she your mother?"
The girl continued to stare at him blankly. Her voice was a completely different story, full of hatred, "I wish she wasn't. I wish you can kill her slowly. Like what she did to me." The shinobi studied her with a critical eye, she was abused, he realized. She had malnutrition. Her arms were bony and the skin had scars from knives, whips, and burns. Her eyes were empty.
So empty. He can only imagine what they were doing to her.
Like Rin's eyes, but Rin could always heal her own injuries...
The Head of the family took this silence as a sign that the assassin was distracted. He had a tanto hidden in his kimono. The man rushed toward the ninja with no abandon, screaming, "Die monster!" The copycat ninja saw him out of the corner of his eye and threw a kunai that struck him between the eyes. In rapid session, he threw two more kunais that killed the elder brother and mother before they screamed.
The shinobi looked back at the little girl, "I'm going to have to kill you too."
She shrugged, "Ok." That feeling... the feeling of giving up on life...
It was bugging him. He was hallucinating, he knew it, but he couldn't stop it. Kakashi watched as the child's features grew sharper, as patterns formed on her cheeks, as her hair turned brown, as her eyes turned from black to bronze.
Rin looked at him, her eyes were empty as she said, "I'm so sick and tired."
"Tired of what?" Kakashi asked, his voice suddenly reverted back into his thirteen year old self. The dead bodies around them disappeared; the room that they were in was replaced by the forest and surrounded by Iwagakure ninjas who were stubbornly fighting. Their mission was to patrol the border and defend it against any hostilities while tensions between shinobi nations still ran high.
It would be another week before Iwa and Konoha would sign an uneasy peace treaty.
The dual had just managed to repel the first wave of attacks and were waiting for a second wave. The trees in the forest seemed menacing when one knows what they could hide. Both were low on chakra, from fending off the enemy with a combination of a Katon: Goukakyo no Jutsu and a whole lot of Katon Bunshins. The silver haired ninja looked at his companion, "What do you mean?" He asked cautiously, worried.
Her voice pattern hasn't been the same since Obito died, but she sounds even more broken and depressed than ever. "About, well, life. Everything. My family. You. Obito." He winced, the memory of the death of the Uchiha would forever hang off of his guilty conscience. Rin too, took it really hard. Sensei and he tried everything to cheer her up, but it wasn't working. Kakashi had tried all the things he thought of but- "I know that you would probably never return my feelings… but… but…" The girl started sobbing. He winced again. The Iwagakure ninjas took this opportunity to attack.
A ninja must never show their emotions during battle, "Rin. Rin, don't cry." He pleaded as he parried a nearby shinobi's attack and then kicked him in the solar plexus. He used the handle of his kunai to aim a blow to the back of his neck, knocking him out cold. He stabbed him through the eye.
"Obito was my anchor, I have nothing now. " Rin didn't move an inch as a battle started around her. "It just hit me now. What do I have to live for?"
You, Hatake Kakashi? "I'm so sorry Kashi-kun." She smiled.
"Rin, snap out of it!" Kakashi shouted. He beheaded another enemy.
The young ninja saw out of the corner of his eye an enemy ninja preparing hand seals. Two more men engaged with him.
He looked on desperately as he was being lured farther and farther from his team mate. He tried to run back but two Iwa ninjas blocked his way.
"We wouldn't advise you to do that Sharingan Kakashi." They said, "You're fighting us, and if she wants to die, then she shall die."
"I'll fucking kill you two," The Konoha shinobi growled but he couldn't do anything as he continued battling. His hands were itching to form Chidori, if only he had enough chakra. "Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi." He heard behind him. His blood ran cold; it was the exact same jutsu that killed Obito. Rin stiffened behind him, but she didn't move as boulders threw themselves toward her.
"Rin!" He yelled out, "Get out of the way! Rin!"
But all he heard was a whisper, "I have nothing now," Then the slamming of boulders against each other and another human being.
After the sound of a squelching thud, the Kakashi heard nothing.
Hatake Kakashi didn't, no, couldn't remember what happened afterwards but when the battle was over, he was the only one alive. When he came to, he was carrying his only friend on his back, not caring about her blood that was spilling all over him.
She was dead.
Rin was dead.
Later, the young ninja developed a suspicion of her parents, who, when he announced her death at the doorway, replied, "Good riddance, she brought enough shame on all of us. We refuse to let her name onto the memorial stone." That it was their fault that she was gone.
'What?' He had thought, he was expecting tears and sadness.
They continued. "She's a disgrace, we had to beat some sense into her to even become a well off koinichi. She's so weak that after every mission she's always crying. She embarrasses us all." Being a part of the branch family of the Inuzukas was a harsh life, that Kakashi knew, but it shouldn't be abusive. No, the parents were just insane; it had nothing to do with the Inuzukas.
It suddenly all made sense. Obito was Rin's anchor to sanity. Heh, that Uchiha and his antics gave Rin a break from her household. Obito probably knew it all along but didn't say anything to respect his comrades. He was so blind.
She was hiding behind a mask of happiness. "Disgrace."
She had an abusive family but wouldn't say it. "Beat some sense into her."
How long has this been going on? It must be at least a couple of years. "Weak."
She was shattering on the inside, into a million little tiny pieces. "Crying."
He could only stare at these pitiful excuses of human beings, his anger was shooting upward. His hands clenched and unclenched and it was only because of Sensei that he refrained from...
"Well, what are you doing standing there?"
"Aren't you going to kill me?" The assassin shook himself out of his memories, to catch the last question of the girl at his side. He smiled grimly.
"I'll make this quick." He struck the girl behind the neck with his kunai, severing the nerves, dislocating the spine so that she won't feel anything.
Instant death. He briefly wondered that if he had done it slower, if she had time, would she had thanked him? The shinobi looked at his surroundings.
Carnage. All he leaves is blood and dead bodies. His hands are tainted again, they are so red. He slowly plucks out the shurikens that were embedded into him.
It's his blood mixed with the enemies' blood. It's his punishment.
Numbness takes over his senses as he stumbles toward the window and punches through.
Even the breeze of the night smells metallic to the one eyed ninja.
"Shut the fuck up and act normal for once,"- Inner Sakura
It was a mindscape. It was a chamber, a living room of sorts. The place was decorated with, at first glace, tacky items. Fragile Christmas ornaments hung from the ceiling by black chains. The floor was barely visible, under different couches, desks, tables, and random objects such as rubber chickens and an icicle. Three different dressers of three different sizes lined up against a wall under a wide window stretched from corner to corner that showed only white. Two walls were covered by full bookcases. The fourth wall had four distinct doors.
The door on the far right was oak, but it didn't look regal at all. Somebody had vandalized it by painting a yellow unhappy face on it with a speech bubble saying, 'Shannaro!'
The door burst open and a figure came stomping out. The girl was all black, her clothing was black, but semi-transparent with a white outline. "What the hell is going on...?" She muttered to herself as she started pacing around the room, easily dodging a clothesline and junk scattered across the floor. "Cha, Host is distressed again."
She stopped in her pacing and pointed a finger to the window and glared at it. The window immediately turned black, and then, the whole room disappeared around her, leaving only darkness and a chair.
The transparent girl seemed rather surprised at the chair and at another girl, who was probably not older than five, that materialized on it. The new visitor had bloodied blond hair and sunken, green eyes. She was wearing tattered pajamas.
"Youko? What are you doing here?" She questioned the new girl.
"Same thing you, Naiteki." Youko whispered hoarsely, her eyes darted nervously around as she drew her knees to her chest.
"You felt it too." Naiteki sighed as she touched her back and winced at the phantom pain that went away as quickly as it came, "We got ambushed." She tried to speak as calmly as she can, around Youko, one has to be on her toes.
Fear flickered though her eyes as she contained her panic. "By who?"
"Yoroi Akado. That dumb wannabe wanted to kidnap us to get Sasuke. Honestly, he's probably going to kill us anyways with that stupid temper of his." She sneered as the area around the two girls shifted into a panorama view of a forest and the enemy ninja. "And, oh goody, our host is running away." She added sarcastically, "Coward, you should kick his ass! Gyahh." She groaned, both of her hands in her hair, at the corner of her eyes, she saw Youko squeak and drop her head into her arms, "At least she's healing herself." She amended.
"You're too harsh on Host. You're just mad." Youko's muffled protest came.
"I'm mad? Of what? The way that we made her fawn all over the Uchiha? Of the way we had to watch from the sidelines and watch all the other people save us? I can't take the humiliation anymore. This is all you're fault!" Naiteki said accusingly, "If you didn't go off and spout your idea to me and made me believe it, maybe-"
"No other way." The small girl whimpered. "You know that. Naiteki."
Naiteki scowled, "Whatever." She turned and glared at the screen in front of her, "Come on Sakura." Naiteki egged Host on, "Go girl, go. And..." Her fists where clenched in anticipation, "Yes! Shannaro, ANBU is here!" She sighed in relief, "For a second there, I thought that we might not be able to make it..."
Youko didn't reply, instead, hummed a little tune. She started fiddling with her fingers, content in letting time roll over her like an ocean while her partner continued watching and encouraging Sakura on. The young child's ears started ringing, and she could tell that Naiteki heard it too by the way her body stiffened. The panorama screen disappeared and made way for darkness.
"You felt?" Youko ventured to ask in her meek tone.
"Yeah." The dark girl nodded and pointed to the darkness where a pink haired girl materialized "What is Host doing here? Who's in control of the outer body?" Sakura was sitting on the ground with her hands over her eyes. The black girl sighed. "My turn," Naiteki walked over to her and sat down next to her.
Youko enjoys silence; Naiteki hates it.
Host wasn't doing anything special besides taking herself away from pain. The two girls winced as Host unconsciously transferred some of her outer pain onto them. Naiteki didn't complain though, it was all for well being of Host's mental health. With great difficulty, the black girl turned around and sought eye contact with Youko.
Host was meditating. Host managed to enter into the mindscape.
Nobody dared to interrupt the silence which seemed sacred to the three girls.
There was only breathing, thoughts, and pain. The air around them was tense and comforting at the same time. Host's mindscape always has been full of paradoxes.
A shock vibrated through the mindscape, Host gave a gasp of surprise and disappeared, and the panorama screen reappeared.
Naiteki shot to her feet and shook her head, "Well, that was interesting. What do you think of that?" She dusted off imaginary particles off of her arms.
Youko hasn't looked up yet, "Interesting." She said in her hushed tone.
Naiteki rolled her eyes and observed the escape. "We're being carried by the ANBU away from the fray." She reported and gave a low whistle, "Dang, that was some battle though, right before Host came in. Kimimaro showed up with his bones when the ANBU was about to defeat Yoroi." She paused for a while, "How I wish we were never ripped apart from Host." She groaned, "We could've made her stronger, you and I."
"She would lost s-sanity." Youko replied softly.
"I know, I know. But one could wonder, ya know?" The older girl shrugged as a wistful expression flashed by her face, "We probably would've kicked ass on Ino-pig."
"Lost s-sanity." Youko repeated as she twirled her hair.
"I get it." Naiteki said irritably. Youko tensed up. The other girl scratched her head, "Sorry, ok, here's the plan. I'm going to send some chakra over to heal Host's body to take away the infection. And then, we can… Oh, she's healing the ANBU's back. Continue?"
The young girl cocked her head to the right, "Why not?" She relented. "About time show potential, skill." She was still looking down.
Her companion nodded sheepishly and shifted her weight to her right, "I actually attached some of my essence back into her mind." Youko's head raised slightly, "I thought it was time for the change that we've been planning on. Otherwise, she won't be able to reach jounin until she's an old lady."
Youko sighed, "Time your planning."
"Thanks, I thought that you might be a bit peeved since it would be earlier than what you would expect."
"I am bit peeved." Came the flat voice.
"Whatever." Naiteki dismissed the comment, "I haven't seen you since the Chunin exams so I'll brief you. I already took away those stupid hormones that were tacked onto the Uchiha boy. Host noticed subconsciously so tried to make her self seem like it was a slow progress. I'm still hiding her… er… problems from her, since they're all your business."
"Good."
"I'm currently trying to find out if she has any affinities or special strengths but I think she's doing that on her own- Oh hell no." She growled, "One moment." She closed her eyes and faded away.
Youko shook her head, "Poor ANBU." She murmured.
She heard Naiteki rant (threaten) to the Hawk masked ninja. "I fucking know what I'm doing you stupid man so just let me work and I can fucking assure you, if you stop me, you won't live. But I'll make you live long enough to feel the pain when I rip your balls off your body telling you, 'I told you so' and use them as earrings." She used killer intent. Not the Youko's surprise, the Hawk ANBU warily stopped struggling.
Naiteki faded back into the room and grinned at her accomplishment, "And I would always follow my word too," she bragged. "Shannaro! We're almost at Konoha! Peace again!" She made a victory sign.
Youko didn't say anything. The space the girls were in transformed back into the messy living room. Youko got up and walked toward the second door from the right, the door that was all black, she didn't bother opening the door, because there was no doorknob.
She walked through it.
Naiteki snorted and collapsed onto the couch, "Feh, she's just jealous that I don't have to go through her shit daily. Well," She continued with a wistful air, "at least my counseling for her shows some progress..." She promptly passed out.
"Sweetest thing you'll ever meet, so polite, unlike that Uzumaki demon brat that's on her team,"-Konoha head librarian
It was a bright sunny day where ordinary civilians and ninjas alike in the Village Hidden in the Leaves were doing their daily business. Some were conversing, some were window shopping, and some were walking down the street with a very tense gait. Yamato was deeply troubled at the pink haired genin that he managed to save some few days back.
Something was off about her. First, it was her chakra control, well, who in the world can manage to use Shunshin no Jutsu as a long term escape plan? As far as the ANBU was concerned, that jutsu is used for short bursts and for ambushing an unsuspecting enemy nin or vanishing out of another nin's vision. Long term use can lead to the implosion of the human body. Long term use wreaks havoc on the limbs and can tear them off if said ninja is not careful with the accurate amount of chakra in his body.
That's why most ninjas would just rather travel from village to village by chakra enhanced legs and feet, not as fast as the Shunshin, but a whole lot safer. The only person to bypass this rule is the Yondaime, whose nickname, The Yellow Flash, is quite self explanatory. Her pursuer, Yoroi Akado, was endangering his life when he tried to keep up with her. He was using a cool down, safer level of the Shunshin no Jutsu, but tried to catch up with regular bursts of chakra. His legs were probably barely holding up with torn muscles and cracked bones. Tenzo had no problem taking him out.
That young genin, what was her name… Haruno Sakura, has moved as one of the fastest he has ever seen in his entire life. How is she able to rival the speed of the legendary copy-cat nin? She was lagging behind Uchiha Shisui, the true master of the Shunshin, but not by much.
He didn't tell Tsunade-sama that, simply because he wanted to keep the information to himself, at least until he knew what to make of it. It wasn't going to hurt the village in any way.
He needed a drink.
His feet lead his to a nearby bar that's usually reserved for shinobis and koinichis alike. He tapped the counter and got a cup of sake.
And the second puzzling development concerning that girl is the fact that her chakra's out of control. Each human being had chakra, no matter how much. No chakra would mean that the person is dead; after all, the fifth most common way to die for a ninjutsu specialist is by chakra exhaustion and chakra depletion.
During Tenzo's fight with the Kaguya survivor, he couldn't sense the young genin at all. If it wasn't for his eyes, then he could've convinced himself that she wasn't there. For a split second, she was gone, she was dead, she wasn't there. Then, when he took her away, not sure if she was ok or not, her chakra suddenly flared back to life; from empty to full.
He kept his calm. ANBU personnel always keep calm in a situation like this. But his inner mind was whirling: how the fuck did that happen? He needed to see that genin again, his curiosity was pulling him to try and find her to ask the question, 'HOW?'
Unfortunately, the last time he had seen her; it was when he took her off his back and ordered another shinobi to carry her to the medical center. It's been three days. She shouldn't be out yet.
And the last of all the issues is the fact that each person has their own chakra that identifies themselves, call it a chakra signature. The subtle differences between energy, whether it's the shade of the color, the way it flows, the feel that it gives to the skin, only a high ninja can sense. For a guy like Tenzo, it's a piece of cake. But, he couldn't explain why the genin had two distinct chakra signatures.
One signature was obviously a dominant one. The other one, a submissive signature, only came out for a few seconds to threaten him to allow her to do extract the poison that was in his blood. The second signature surprised him so much that he allowed the genin to try and 'cure' him. Yamato nursed his cup of sake with a wiry smile on his face, it wasn't his fault for being wary of a mere child trying out a technique that only a Sannin can do successfully without dangerous side effects.
But the fact that she did it… And the fact that it saved his life…
He sensed someone walking up to the counter and sitting on a stool beside him. He didn't bother to look who it was, of fates, it was her.
That genin.
Haruno Sakura. She's out of the hospital...?
"Yeah, just give me anything cold n' numb please." He heard a tired mutter.
"You're under-aged kid and in no shape to demand a drink." The bartender informed her while polishing a glass piece. Yamato glanced to his side and was surprised by the sight that greeted him. The pink-haired girl had bruises and cuts that were fading away. She was sitting really stiffly, meaning that she was mostly bandaged around the mid-torso region.
She raised her eyebrows slightly, "Cold, numb, and non-alcoholic please." The bartender nodded and got to work.
'She doesn't know who you are…' Yamato thought to him self. "Nasty injuries you have there, bad mission?"
Sakura looked over to him and thought for a while. She flushed slightly in embarrassment, "Ambushed and attempted kidnap." She groaned and let her head rest on the counter. She stared at him, and he could tell that she was on some bad quality numbing medication, "You don't look too good either," came the accusations.
He brushed the comment off, "minor injuries, no big deal."
"Ahh." She replied a little dazed off. She closed her eyes and yawned, "Lucky you. The nurses at that hospital were going on about some collapsed lung. Don't know what they're talking about. I can breathe just fine." A tall glass of a red cocktail was pushed toward her. The girl lifted her head and chugged the whole thing down, eyes closed, non-stop.
There it was: the chakra signature exchange. The submissive signature replaced the dominant. Sakura opened her eyes and sighed, "That really hits the spot." She changed, her posture was slightly more alert, her eyes were sharper, her voice blurred.
"Careful, the injuries that Akado had done to you have not healed yet." Yamato remarked casually, silently observing.
There it was, the sign that she knows: the slight stiffening of the body as realization hits her. There was nobody else in the room that can over hear his conversation with the koinichi. "You're that hawk ANBU." She merely replied folding her arms across her chest.
"And you're not Haruno Sakura." He said idly.
"Cha, yeah I am."
"You have a different chakra identity than her. There are two different traces in you."
"More like three." She muttered. Immediately she covered her mouth in shock, but it was too late. The man heard everything. "Oh my god, you were not supposed to know that. Ugh." She groaned, "What will she say? She'll kill me. Right, this drink is non-alcoholic my ass. Shit, what has happened?" She kept ranting and hyperventilating, "Dead, dead, dead, listen, I gotta go right now." As she tried to make her escape, two things stopped her: one was her injuries, in which she winced and doubled over in pain; the other was the ANBU's hand on her wrist.
"three?"
"Yes, three." She said irritably. She paused for a moment, "You better not tell anyone else. I have no plans in my life to admit my self into the mental ward of the hospital."
He thought for a while, "So you're chakra control is that good because of the three…"
There was an instant change in temperament, but it was the same identity. Sakura shook her head, grinning, "Nope, she's just that good." She bragged and chuckled. "We just feed chakra whenever it's convenient. I mean, we need some just for our separation, ya know? So we can offer it whenever…" She made two thumbs up signs, "Don't cha worry. We always take good care of Host!"
"Host?" Was that the real Haruno?
"Yeah… uh, Sakura, I mean." She tried to lift her arms to scratch the back of her neck, but the pain was too much. "Um, has this ever happened before…?"
Yamato blinked, "I never recalled an incident like yours."
"Mah… Thanks anyways. I need to find a way to get back to normal."
He thought that he might have the general idea of what's going on. He was still curious, "Why would you choose now? Why not before?"
She had on a mock thoughtful-gaze, "Um, let's see. Chunin Exam. Orochimaru. Uchiha's deflection. Akado. I wonder what else. Waiting any longer and I'll be killed for not merging" She played with the rim of her cup, "Something's going to happen, probably all in my head too. Cha, don't act like you already know me that well ok, Taka-san? Good. I gotta go right now." For a second there, the shinobi thought that the girl was going to run off again, but he sensed the exchange of chakra signatures again.
The 'dominant' identity reappeared. The biggest change was the circles under her eyes as she blankly stared at her empty drink; she stared at the counter and blinked a couple of times.
'Interesting,' He thought as he greeted her, "Hello."
Her head shot up at the sound, and then she shook her head and smiled. "Ah, hi. Thanks for keeping me company. You must think I'm weird for being out here and... talking to you, I think." She nodded her head, not daring to make a full bow, "I have to go back to the hospital before they send out a search team, heh heh." She blinked again in confusion. "I just need some fresh air..."
'Does she feel familiar in my presence despite the fact that it wasn't her that spoke to me?' Yamato wondered as the pink hair genin shook her head and hopped off the stool. He wondered if he should help her
She staggered away; there was stiffness in her movements. There was a mask that she was hiding behind. There was pain.
"…Wondering, what to do with you?"- Mrs. Haruno.
Tsunade rubbed her temples, asking herself, for the thousandth time: why did she accept the position of Godaime? The politics, the dirty, dirty, politics that seem to hide under every nook and cranny of this place can reach out and grab an unsuspecting person.
She took out her remaining stash of sake and reminded herself to restock. She gulped down two bottles before she turned her attention to the paperwork. The Slug Sannin had picked up a routine in her everyday work. Besides the paperwork asking for less taxes on foreign goods, more funds for schools and businesses, and many people proposing new laws (no Gai, there shall not be a 'Flower-Blossoms-of-Youth Holiday), there were two orders of businesses that would pop up daily.
First order of business for the day- diplomacy. Konohagakure was looking for allies. Sunagakure took it at first offer. Kirigakure and Amegakure offered a 'you scratch my back and we might scratch yours' alliance. Everyone else was hostile or reluctant to even negotiate. To put it bluntly, Iwagakure was a pain in the ass. Hidden Stone, who was still sour about the defeat of the Third Shinobi War, was not helping matters at all.
The ambassador from Iwa made outrageous demands, a fourth of all the profits that Leaf ninjas make on missions, in exchange for a partnership. The ambassador was callous and uncooperative, almost like he was asking for war. Tsunade too a deep breath, well that idiot won't be getting it. But she needed to be on friendly terms with that nation, who, she suspects, is starting to seek help from Otogakure and Orochimaru. That was the last thing she needed, to drive a nation into the hands of her ex-teammate.
Things were not going well for her, and she was trying everything she can to avoid war. Tensions were higher than ever, probably because of the Hidden Sound and the Snake Sannin. She didn't know for sure what he was doing, but goddamn it, if it isn't manipulating of some kind, she would eat her hat.
She can only hope that Jiraiya's spy network is in top shape... and that he keeps the supply of sake for her through his toad summons. Damn it, she felt old.
Second order of business for the day- Lightning country. The next one, the one in less than five months, would be in Kumogakure, that village which still holds a big grudge over the Hyuuga clan in general. How can she avoid conflict?
Two Hyuugas would definitely try to become a chunin as soon as possible. And due to Hyuuga pride, nothing would be able to stop them from trying. Would another death, much like Hizashi Hyuuga, occur? She needs more guards, the whole village is low on manpower, but she needs more guards.
That was the least of her problems.
Dealing and negotiating with the Raikage is a lost cause. He has already made deals with the Snake Sannin and both are so secretive and hostile that Tsunade feels like she's walking on eggshells. But she has to take her potential chunins there, for appearance and to show everyone that Konoha will never back down from a challenge. Is it worth the risk? Anything can happen in a hostile country. If she backs down, it might make all the other Kages think less of her, and she'll loose face, and at this point in time, she cannot let that happen.
She has a village to rebuild to its former glory.
She feels all the over villages looming over the distance, observing.
Atatsuki's on the move, more active than ever.
Orochimaru is biding his time to take over Sasuke's body and planning something big.
She feels tired, and wishes that this would all be over.
Glossary-
Katon: Goukakyo no Jutsu. C-rank. Fire Release- Great Fireball Technique.
Katon Bunshin. B-rank. Fire Clone. Self explanatory.
Chidori. A to S-rank. One Thousand Birds.
Doton: Iwayado Kuzushi. B-rank. Earth Release- Rock Lodging Destruction.