Hope
2
"Darkness comes. In the middle of it, the future looks blank. The temptation to quit is huge. Don't. You are in good company... You will argue with yourself that there is no way forward. But with God, nothing is impossible. He has more ropes and ladders and tunnels out of pits than you can conceive. Wait. Pray without ceasing. Hope."
-John Piper
Sakura watched her teammates below from where she sat perched in a tree. They were all sitting around a low fire roasting fish for a quick supper. She closed her eyes and breathed in the heated air. No matter where they went, the humidity and heat followed. By the time they'd finally stopped for the evening, at least 8 hours after leaving Konoha, her entire outfit was soaked in sweat. She didn't care. She wanted to keep going. She was tortured that they had to stay and rest. She voiced her opinion to Kakashi and he flat out told her no. She sighed. As much as she wanted to keep going until her body wouldn't let her anymore, she had to admit to herself that she was exhausted. She hadn't been out on a mission for months and it's taken a physical toll on her body. She should probably eat something. Just as she was about to jump down from her branch, she overheard some of the other Jounin below talking among their fire huddle.
"What do you think happened out there?" Asked a sandy haired Jounin.
"Kakashi-senpai wouldn't say. He just said I hope you guys have strong stomachs." Another jounin, with flame red hair, answer between bites of his fish.
"You guys gotta wonder about that Jinchuuriki though, right?" Sakura perked up and narrowed her eyes at a female Jounin who spoke up.
"You mean Naruto?" The sandy haired ninja spoke looking over at the woman. Sakura figured she wasn't going to like what she was going to hear.
"Yeah, I mean do you think he, like, somehow tapped into the Demon in him and killed everyone? I mean for all we know he probably took off after having a freak out or something." Sakura was right. She did NOT like what she was hearing. Always and forever people either hated or loved Naruto. The love had the mass majority but there were a few people that didn't like him and she had to tell herself a lot that it's because they didn't understand him. They just jumped to conclusions without really thinking about him or knowing him.
"Nah," the red haired ninja said. "Naruto's a good kid. After training under Jiraiya-sama for years he's mastered complete control over the demon in him. You should watch what you say, by the way. His teammate is with us on this mission."
"Oh you mean the pink haired chick? Yeah my dad's talked about her before. She's only on this mission because the Jinchuuriki is her friend, AND she's the Hokage's apprentice. She got in because she probably cried and blubbered until the Hokage felt sorry for her." The jounin girl flipped her long black hair over her shoulder and huffed before biting into her fish. Sakura swallowed and glanced up at Kakashi who was sitting in a tree across the site. She caught his eye over his book and he shook his head, as if to tell her to let it go. Sakura looked away and jumped down, landing right behind the out of line kunonichi. They all turned and looked up at her, their eyes going wide. The kunoichi turned and her mouth fell—quickly turning away back towards the fire; probably hoping Sakura hadn't heard a thing she said. Normally in a situation like this Sakura would have looked the other way and ignored her, seeing as she didn't know anything about what she was talking about, but right now Sakura didn't care. She stepped around the kunoichi and put her hands on her hips. And smiled.
"You're Mizuki Rika right? First in her class, aced the chunnin and jounin exams. You're Kekkai Genkai trait is the ability to manipulate plants to do your bidding, am I correct?" She stared down at the girl, her smile never faltering.
"H-hai, Haruno-san." Rika nodded, not meeting her eye.
Sakura's smiled even brighter. "If you ever need any medical treatment, swing by the hospital sometime. Ask for me and I'll be more than happy to treat your wounds." Inner Sakura was currently squirting lemon juice into Rika's imaginary wounds before punting her away. Cha! Rika swallowed visibly and looked to the shinobi men next to her for help, who quickly resumed to be completely immersed into eating their fish. Sakura reached down and grabbed the stick from the girl's hand and took a bite out of her fish before handing it back to her.
"Thanks." She muttered, ignoring the bug eyes and slacked jaws from the three of them. She turned and walked towards the tree Kakashi was sitting in and wandered farther outside of camp towards the creek nearby. She heard muffled "She's so cool!" and "What a badass" from the two guys along with a shriek of "Why didn't you tell me she was there?! I've never been so humiliated!" from Rika.
"Don't wander too far, Sakura-chan." Kakashi drawled, as she walked beneath him. She gave him a wave without turning around before leaving.
She didn't like how that made her feel. Acting like a bitch to people went against her personal code but…she didn't know what made her do it. Ok, so she did. She was all twisted up with worry and fear for Naruto that she let her emotions get the best of her this time. She wouldn't do it again. Here we go with emotions again. They were right. She was an emotional person. She just can't sit back and watch people belittle other people. Especially her friends. It wasn't right and she felt that she should speak up about it. Nobody liked bullies. Wandering further in the trees she made a turn to head towards the creek. She wasn't that far away—she could still see the firelight and hear their voices albeit rather muffled. She knelt down hugging her knees to herself and watched the water run over some rocks. She sighed. She had to keep herself in check. All she wanted to do was scream and cry until magically Naruto came back. But of course, she couldn't do that. She had to be steely and stoic. It was expected of her.
"Really made a good friend back there, I see." Came a voice. Sakura looked over after sensing them coming closer to her.
"Sorry, Shikamaru. I'm not feeling so friendly right now." She said, looking back at the water. She picked up a rock and chucked it into the water, accidently putting some chakra behind the throw and making a crater in the waterbed before the water continued over it like nothing had happened. She'd forgotten that Shikamaru was on this mission with them. It wasn't like her to forget that he was there. Her mind really WAS not altogether.
"Ah, well. Too bad." He said, shuffling over to a rock near here and sitting down to light a cigarette.
"I shouldn't have let my emotions get the best of me. I know. I just couldn't sit there and listen to her bad mouth Naruto when she doesn't even know him." She said, drawing who knows what in the mud with a small stick.
"Nothing wrong with a little authority reminder." He said, exhaling smoke.
"We're both Jounin, Shika. I'm not above or beneath her."
"Yeah but you've been a jounin longer than her and you're also the Hokage's apprentice. You've gotta give yourself a little more credit sometimes."
She shook her head and threw the stick in the water before standing. "I don't want to be above or beneath someone who's younger than me. She still has a lot more years to go ahead of her, even if I want to take that pretty hair of hers and chop it off with a kunai." See there she went again. She was never nasty sounding. Like ever. It left a sour taste in her mouth.
"Ooooh, so scared. What is it with you girls and hair? Like it's the most damaging thing that could happen to you if it was cut." He shook his head and watched her walk towards him.
She laughed quietly. "If you were a girl you would understand probably. Ino's worse than me though."
"God, you're telling me. I accidentally singed her hair one time with my lighter and she knocked me into next month and then proceeded to cry her eyes out, shouting that her life was ruined." He closed his eyes at the memory and shook his head fast, as if to shake out the memory. Sakura laughed a little louder at the thought. That was so Ino; a tough and skilled kunoichi, but a girly girl at heart. She sat down next to him and reached over, plucking the cigarette from his mouth and took a drag off it.
"Hey!" He tsked and took it back, shifting away from her.
"What? Oh that's right. It's not good for me, I forgot." She smiled and patted him on the back. She had an acrid taste in her mouth causing her to crinkle her nose.
"No not just that. I don't want your cooties." He said, sounding like a little kid. She laughed and tugged on his ponytail. He moved further away and glared at her before cracking a grin. They grew silent. She felt a sudden dread in her stomach, hot and sad.
"What do you think happened?" She asked. He shrugged after a moment, smoking and pushing a pebble around with his foot.
"Anything. They could have been ambushed. They could have walked into a trap. Worse comes to worse they met up with Akatsuki unexpectedly." He muttered. The latter made Sakura's stomach drop. Akatsuki were still actively searching for all the Jinchuuriki. This made her feel worse. Her heart sped up a little.
"Naruto would have gotten away. He wouldn't let them take him. There's no way." She muttered, almost to herself. She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder.
"Don't be worried too much Sakura. Naruto's strong. A bit of a baka at times, but he's got a good head on his shoulders." She wished that his words would take away the pinching feeling in her heart. She knew what he was saying was true; she just couldn't shake the terrifying feeling she had. What Shikamaru was saying wasn't an open opinion about whether Naruto made it or not. He was leaving it open because he himself didn't want to get her hopes up. She got up and turned to him putting her arms around him in a hug.
"Thanks, Shikamaru." She pressed her cheek against his chest. She could feel him stiffen and pat his hand on her back awkwardly before struggling to break free.
"All right, all right. That's enough of that." He broke free and fixed his vest, flicking his finished cigarette away. Sakura laughed a little at his reaction. "Too close."
She laughed and raised her foot kick him, which he easily dodged. "We should probably get back." He nodded and walked ahead her, keeping a safe distance from her boots. She shook her head smiling. Her smiled dropped a moment later when her brain wander back to the matter at hand. All she could do was hope. Hope he was still alive. Even if he'd hit his head and wandering aimlessly not knowing who he was, she'd be happy just knowing he wasn't dead.
0
Running on two hours of sleep wasn't the smartest thing in the world. Especially hopping from tree to tree. Sakura could barely keep her eyes open when they finally made it to the hidden Frost Village a day later. They weren't staying long, just long enough to ask if anyone had seen Naruto and any of his companions, and to gather some supplies. Shikamaru was lounging on a bench somewhere in the town and she was walking around looking for an herbal stand for make quick fix medicines. It was a cloudy day and chilly, and she wished she'd remembered to pack a heavier jacket. Just as she found a little stand with an assortment of herbs for medicine she felt a familiar chakra spike behind her.
"Yo." She said, glancing over her shoulder at her former sensei. He looked downright surprised. She chuckled and paid the old woman for her herbs and turned around.
"Kakashi-sensei, don't look so surprised. After all when you don't mask your chakra it's pretty distinctive. Powerful, laced with pervert." She grinned.
"Now, now, Sakura-chan. Pervert? I wouldn't say pervert. It's just a light read that I enjoy every so often." He scratched the back of his head, tucking his opened book behind his back. She cocked an eyebrow and shook her head moving to a bench to put her wares into her backpack.
"I'm sure Kakashi-senpai." She then grew a serious look on her face before hefting her backpack onto her back. "Did you find anything out? Has anyone seen anything?"
He shook his head. "When I showed some of their pictures to people in the town they either rebuffed me telling me to bugger off or they had no idea." He shrugged.
"We're just going to have to continue on our way to Kumo I think."
Sakura frowned. There had to be someone who had seen something. How can you not remember Naruto's bright orange clothes or striking blonde hair? She started walking towards town with Kakashi in tow when a playful voice made her stop in her tracks.
"Sakura?" Kakashi questioned, when she stopped suddenly. He looked at her and followed her train of sight over to a group of kids playing with some bouncy balls.
"Rasengan!" One of the kids shouted before tossing the ball from his hand at a tree stump. The other kids were doing the same, laughing and throwing the balls at each while yelling the same yell.
"Sakura!" He started when he saw her rush over to them. He followed after her and watched as she bent down to one of the kids.
"Excuse me, where did you learn that ninja move?" She asked, squatting down next to a gray haired kid. The said kid turned towards her and tossed the ball up and down in his hand.
"Who wants to know?" He said, giving off a tough persona. Kakashi stopped behind Sakura and noticed the other kids stopping what they were doing and coming over to see what the pause in fun was about.
"Aww, you can call me Sakura-oneechan if you want. I was just wondering because I have a good friend who can use the same technique as that. I was hoping you maybe had seen him? Me and my friends were looking for him." She smiled sweetly, spewing off a boatload of charm. The kid looked at her and then Kakashi skeptically before glancing at their head protectors and a gleam of recognition went through his eyes.
"Hey guys! Look! They have the same symbol on their head protectors as, Naruto-niisama!" Sakura felt her heart skip a beat at the name mentioned. Kakashi could feel her chakra go out of whack at the news. He put a hand on her shoulder.
"Tell us, when did you meet this Naruto?" He asked, pulling Sakura to stand up next to him. He glanced at her and noticed that her eyes were wide and her skin was on the pale side. She was breathing slightly heavier than normal.
"Mmmmm I wanna say it was like Wednesday or something? Right guys?" They all nodded. "Yeah it was last week when we had our summer festival. He was all banged up and obaa-sama took care of him until he was better. He taught all of us this neat trick! Watch!" The kid stepped back and held the ball in his hand and pretended to charge up chakra and then threw the ball at the tree stump. "Rasengan!" All the kids cheered and proceeded to do the same.
"That's a pretty awesome move. Tell me, do you know where Naruto-niisama went to?" Sakura asked coming back to her senses.
"He left the day before yesterday. Not sure where he went. He said that he had to take care of some pretty bad people. He wanted to keep us safe he said. He went that way out of the village." The kid pointed towards the west side of the village. Sakura knelt down again and ruffled the kid's hair and from somewhere held out enough candy suckers for all the kids. They all cheered and came in to get their own piece. When they all resumed their pretend ninjustu training, Sakura stood up and turned to Kakashi.
"What?" She asked when she saw his surprised look at the candy. "I'm a doctor. Gotta be ready and loaded with candy when needed." She stated as if that was a normal thing to have on a person. She grew serious then. "He was here, Kakashi. ANBU said that the Raikage never heard from them after two days... and we didn't receive word they were missing until last Monday. But somehow he ended up here a couple days after." She paused. "He headed towards Sound." She stated. But she knew he already knew that.
"Let's get everyone together and move out." Kakashi said, disappearing in a sudden poof of smoke.
Sakura took a step, pumping chakra to her feet and took off. 'What are you doing Naruto? Who are you going after?'
0
They had just entered the northern border of Rice country when, of course, they were ambushed by a small group of Sound shinobi. Sakura dropped down out of the trees and through a quick chakra laced punched into the gut of one unlucky ninja, sending him spiraling into a tree. She stepped back and kicked a kunai thrown at her from behind before sending one back in the direction it came from. It was easily deflected by her opponent. She dove into the brush next to her and grabbed a large rock as large as her torso and was just about to throw it at the sound ninja attacking her when she was kicked from behind. The boulder fell as she fought to regain her traction.
"Ugh." She grimaced. She breathed in and confirmed her suspicions. 'Broken ribs…awesome.' Forming a few quick hand seals she created a diamond shape with her hand and sent a force of genjutsu chakra at the leering sound ninja in front of her. Luckily, it hit him square in the forehead, causing him to stiffen up as a board and fall backwards, unconscious in his own dream world.
"Sakura!" Shikamaru yelled, landing next to her and holding her up. "We gotta move out of here. Kakashi and the other jounin too have led the other sound ninja away from here. Kakashi told me to take you and keep going." Sakura nodded and hooked her arm around his shoulders and they bounded off away from the scene.
"We should have expected something like this to happen. I just didn't expect it to happen so soon. It was like they were…"
"…Expecting us." Sakura finished.
"Aa." Shikarmaru agreed. When they were a good far distance away from where they'd been ambushed she pleaded with Shikamaru to stop for a moment.
"I have to heal my ribs. I can't breathe." She said, huffing and sitting down against a tree.
"Hurry up. We can't dawdle for long. Anyone could be coming after us." He stated, sounding impatient which was rather unlike Shikamaru. Sakura sat for a moment and tried to figure out where they were. They had been heading west and then were heading south towards the sound village. She could hear birds chirping and the distant sound of waves of the ocean—
'Wait a minute…' Quickly grabbing a senbon from her pack she flung it towards Shikamaru, hitting her mark right between his eyes. He fell back and hit the ground and didn't move after that. She got up the best she could, using the tree for support before walking over to his body. Sure enough; she watched as Shikamaru's person began to shift and fade out before turning into a sound ninja she didn't recognize.
'I should have noticed sooner. Kakashi would never tell us to separate. This guy was taking me further north towards the ocean. How come?' She grimaced and began healing her ribs, feeling a little nauseous at the sound of her bones reconnecting. When she felt she could breathe again she headed back the way they came.
It was strange they were attacked so suddenly. They definitely knew that Kakashi and his team were coming. Which probably means that they've been shadowed probably all the way from when they left Konoha. 'But why was he taking me towards the ocean? Isn't the sound village towards the south of the rice country's border?'
"Sakura!" Finally a familiar voice. Kakashi appeared beneath her in a tree clearing, standing with the REAL Shikamaru. Well she would have to check about that first. She jumped down landing a good distance from them. She immediately moved into a defensive position and held a kunai out in front of her.
"If you are who I think you are, what volume of Icha Icha Paradise are you reading at the moment?" How she knew what volume he was reading and why she actually knew what volume she was reading was beyond her. It's the little things she needed to be aware of she supposed.
"Special Edition Volume 56…with pictures." Kakashi answered without a beat. Shikamaru next to him looked beyond annoyed. He was holding his arm, blood seeping through his clothes and fingers.
"Good. Sorry, just had to make sure." She could recognize Shikamaru's chakra, but Kakashi shielded his chakra as a precaution no matter what. "A sound ninja who took on the shape of Shikamaru took off with me until I realized that it wasn't the real one a good ways north of here."
"He looked like me? What did you do?" He asked, shifting to sit when she walked over to check out his wound.
"Put a senbon between his eyes." She said, pumping healing chakra into his arm.
"Maaaan, don't ever let me get on your bad side, Sakura." He drawled looking at Kakashi. Kakashi on the other hand was looking at Sakura with a questioning gaze.
"You said north of here?" He asked.
She nodded. "Yes, we were almost at the coast. I have no idea why he brought me in that direction considering the hidden Sound Village is near the south border." She said, finishing up on Shikamaru's arm. Just then the rest of their squad leapt down from the treetops.
"Kakashi-san. There's no one else suspicious in the area. Whoever we didn't kill, fled in all directions so who's to say where they went." Rika stated. Sakura noticed that she had a cut on her cheek. The other four jounin that were along with them were pretty banged up as well. "What the hell was that ambush, Kakashi-san? It's like they knew we were waiting for us."
"Mhm. It is certainly strange, indeed." He answered, resting a hand on his chin, in contemplation. "Sakura-san here had the opportunity be in the presence of a sound shinobi and he was taking her towards the northern shore. Something tells me that there's something out there, something big is at work." Sakura felt the same. "Let's all get healed up by Sakura and rest for the night. I have a feeling we're going to be needing our full chakra in the coming days."
Sakura frowned. Something big was definitely happen. What it was, she had no idea but her gut was telling her it wasn't good. She hated that they were getting off track from finding Naruto.
Sakura was sitting high up in a tree that night, watching the clouds drift by, covering the moon every so often. She wanted to be away from everyone else. After healing everyone, including a grumbling Rika, she felt a little on the drained side and her ribs were still aching a bit. She closed her eyes and drifted a little trying to clear her mind.
She felt lost. She hated feeling lost. She always had to have everything planned out and laid out before her. Not knowing where she was going or what she was looking for didn't sit well with her. It made her confused and just downright frustrated. Everyone was sleeping below her, thankfully. She wasn't sure she could handle any more annoyances from Rika. Kakashi suddenly landed on the branch was perched, actually startling her.
"You scared me," She frowned. "I could have knocked you flat if I didn't recognize that silver hair of yours."
"My my, someone's a little grumpy this evening." He pushed, crouching at her feet. At the grumpy comment she grumbled, giving his arm a shove with her foot.
"What are we doing tomorrow? Where are we going?" She asked, settling her feet back down.
"I for once am at a loss. It takes a lot for me to be out of the loop of things." He sighed, showing a rare vulnerability to him. She watched him scratch his head and spare a yawn beneath his mask. "I think we should head to the coast. I'm not sure why, but what you said, with the sound ninja leading you towards the ocean makes me wonder if we're entering a new enemies territory."
"A new enemy? What do you know Kakashi?" She leaned forward. She had the feeling that he knew more than what he was leading on.
"Tsunade-sama has been receiving some new intelligence that the Village Hidden in Sound has all but abandoned all of their underground bunkers and moved more north. We have no idea why but we keep hearing the name Kisho mentioned over and over again. We're thinking a person or a group have started to acquire Sound Ninja into their new faction." He explained.
"When did you find this out?" She asked, suddenly at alert attention.
"About a month ago. Naruto was sent out with his team to check with Kumo if they'd heard or seen anything out of the ordinary concerning all this new development." He answered, glancing at her before tipping his head down and rubbing the back of his neck, tiredly.
'Naruto could be anywhere at this point. He must have come across something really big. Oh man… You'd better be ok, you buffoon!'
"Are you sure we should be doing that, Senpai? Naruto may not even be anywhere near here." She said.
"Well, either we keep running in circles looking for any sign of Naruto, or we head north in hopes that he possibly found something out and is unable to reach us." He said, finally looking over at her. Sakura pondered for a moment before nodding. "Naruto will be all right. I know my student and you know your friend. It will take a lot to do him in."
Sakura sat back against the tree again. "We still need to find the site where the killings happened."
"Tomorrow." He stated in agreement with a nod. With that he patted her on the head, causing her to frown, and then jumped over into another tree for first watch for the night.
0
It was dank and musty where he was. At least, that's what he could get from the smell. He was blindfolded and no amount of chakra he tried to muster up, he couldn't burn off the fabric or even break the chains holding him up. One minute he was walking along the north shore and the next the earth had opened up like a giant crushing maw, engulfing him. He was falling and falling until the ground met up with him too quick for him to stop himself before fainting into complete darkness. Now, here he was shackled with his arms raised above his head and blindfolded. He felt helpless. Naked almost. His chakra was gone, or at least blocked off. Who could do that besides the Hyuuga's? Footsteps were heard just then, setting off alarm bells in his head. The door to wherever he was clanked and then groaned opened.
"Well well…I see the mighty has finally fallen." The voice was almost sweet sounding. Charming. "Uzumaki Naruto. You know it's taken me quite a long time to be where I am now and almost twice as long for me to finally have you in my presence. You're a pesky person to try and get a hold of." Naruto grimaced and tried pull on his restraints again, to no avail.
"Look, creep. I don't know who you are or what you want, but you better fucking let me out of here before I bust your brains in!" He snarled, pulling again as hard as he could on his wrist chains.
"Don't struggle too much, my little Jinchuuriki." Came the silky voice again followed by a chuckle. At the mentioning of that word, Naruto when still and felt the blood rush from his face.
"I'm not your anything, you slime ball. I don't know what you're talking about!" He snarled. He could feel a cold sweat start to bead up on his exposed chest.
"Au contraire, my blond shinobi. You know exactly what I am talking about. I've researched a lot about you. So far, you're the jinchuuriki that has been the hardest to catch. The others…not so much. They gave in right away." Slime ball man let out a barking laugh. Naruto felt himself losing breath. He was panicking.
"What the fuck do you want?!" He yelled.
"Well. The nine-tailed fox of course. And by the time I am done with you, you'll be gladly handing it over to me." The man said. A moment passed and Naruto heard some footsteps enter the room.
"Sir. Shall we begin the first extraction?" Came a grumbly voice.
"Ah yes. We'll have to do this in parts I'm afraid, Naruto-kun. You see, the nine-tailed fox is so massive that we'll have to do this in sections. Now, I'm sure you're wondering why I'm doing this."
Naruto didn't say anything. His throat had gone dry with his hyperventilating. He pulled at his restraints again and felt himself grow weaker by the second.
"Nothing to say still? Well, have it your way. I'm doing this…" The man asked, walking over and running a hand down Naruto's face before gripping his jaw tightly. Naruto felt this man's face come close to his ear before speaking.
"…Because why not?" His breath was hot against Naruto's cheek and his grip was just as strong. Naruto struggled to get his head out of the man's grip. The man cackled and snapped Naruto's head away from his before walking away.
"Begin the first extraction!"
Before Naruto knew what was happening a surge of electricity shot down his chains from the ceiling and entered his body. He could only see purple flashes as his body seized beyond control and could make out the man's horrible laughs and what he would later realize were his screams as he felt pain so intense it was as if his body being torn apart from the inside, out.
0
Well. I guess I'll leave that there? Hopefully I'll make an update within the next couple of weeks. Comments, reviews, constructive criticism are always welcomed. Flamers can click back and continue on with their lovely days :D