Konoha's Cherry Blossom
Rating:
M in case. Strong language, insinuation and maybe a few lemons later.
Setting:
2 years after Shippuuden (after Pain's attack on Konoha) so our characters are around 18(19 for Gai-sensei team and 21 for temari... figure the rest yourself)
Summary:
2 years passed. The village is operational under a new Hokage. The shinobi villages are allied against one common ennemy, Uchiha Madara. Naruto and I are now Sannins and ANBU and who cares about what happened to Sasuke? Not us, we're in love!
"Sa-chan! Hurry up! we're late!"
Naruto's loud voice brought me back from my thoughts! I did not have to even think to find him, he was in the kitchen of our apartment finishing a bowl of Ramen. Usual.
"You say that but you are the one that is eating and is not completely in gear." I said looking him up and down winking at him.
Naruto had only put the top half of his ANBU armor over his black solid and fishnet tank top and one of his arm plates. He had on his usual sandals but I think he forgot to put on his pants because he only had his signature orange boxers. Completely embarassed, he threw the rest of his meal in the garbage and put on quickly his long black pants. I know he did not like our ANBUs uniforms because he had to wear the same as everyone else, kind of. He was not allowed his usual bright orange jumper since it was too obvious nor his cape.
Since he learned that the Fourth was his father, he decided that he too would wear that same long coat/cape attire over his uniform, except when he had an ANBU mission like now. His cape was black with bright orange flames on the sleeves and bottom and the symbol in the back was always making people laugh. Naruto decided that when he was gonna be Hokage, his cape would say "Seventh", but until then he decided on the symbol "Ramen". Anyway I liked his new wardrobe since under his cape he was usually wear the same as his ANBU uniform. When the cape was present, he LOVED his ANBU uniform.
"Come on now Sa-chan, It is not nice to stare."
Naruto grabbed my hand smiling and together we jumped out of the window to meet the rest of our team by the West Gate.
As soon as we got there we put on our masks, bigger and different from the other ANBU since we were widely known as Sannin and we were recognized easily just by our hair color, especially me. We chose to have Foxes Masks since we were still the only two members of our unit we had the privilege to choose them. It had red and oranges design over our cheeks like whiskers and foreheads. The back of our heads were covers with respectfully orange and red fabric to represent Naruto and me to hide our hair.
My hair was long again, and though I had less time to take care of it, it had never looked better according to my friends. It now reached the bottom of my back in waves and I usually parted my bangs on the side almost like Ino, though it did not hide my face, just my huge forehead. For ANBU missions though to hide it under the mask, I put it up in a tight bun which I thought was responsible for the waves. Otherwise I would let my hair either fall in waves in my back or in high pigtails as a reminder of my sensei; Lady Tsunade. In all of my hairstyles I always used my Konoha headband as a hairband; it was my fashion signature after all.
We finally met the two jounin that were supposed to come with us. They were chosen because they were close to the ANBU level and were being tested just like Naruto and I were. We were not supposed to show our faces to them so we hid behind our masks. Even our friends would not recognize us, since they had never seen us in ANBU uniform.
I was as much in shock as Naruto though when we saw who the two shinobi were: Ino and Neji!
The second was not that big a surprise, but who would have thought Ino was sufficiently qualified to become an ANBU. That must be because she was Head of the Interrogation Unit along with her father! ANBU training was needed for her!
I looked at Naruto who nodded to me, our silent agreement that I would be the one to talk so they do not figure out our identities. Yes, Naruto was able now to stay quiet for a whole mission! Rare, usually when I was present, but he could!
"Hello!" I said in the most monotone voice I could muster, in order to foul two of my best friends. Hopefully Neji would not use his byakugan to figure out who we were.
"Hi there! When are we leaving?" asked Ino in her girly hyper voice.
"ASAP" I said leaving immediately before she could answer, Naruto on my tail.
The lesser we talked the less chances we had to be discovered so I opted for traveling as much as possible today and we would see how the night goes.
Neji catched up with me pretty fast. "Hokage-sama told us we had to free Konoha shinobis from the Sound, is that correct?"
I simply nodded.
"If we are going to Sound, do you think we could use our spare time to look for Uchiha-san?"
I stopped completely! Why was NEJI asking me this? I thought he did not like Sasuke very much. Ino beat me through it though.
"Sasuke-kun is our friend! We do not care that he is a missing-nin, Sakura and Naruto were ordered not to look for him anymore but not us! We need to do that for them at least. So we can go home and say we tried!"
Naruto came behind me and hugged me. He knew I was over Sasuke as a lover but not as a friend and along with Naruto we wanted him back. We were both touched by our friends' words. While I was still remembering our past with our dear teammate, Naruto explained to them.
"Sasuke Uchiha is a missing-nin. If he wants to come back, we will deal with him along with Sakura-dono, Naruto-dono, Hokage-sama and the Elders." Naruto had a great way of wording that not only took away their suspicions about our identities but calmed down our team. "Our mission has to come first. Remember the Third's grandson, Asuma Sarutobi's nephew." Ino and Neji nodded."That his team that is missing! We are in war and those three gennins were sent on a mission too difficult for them. Their senseis died but contacted us before passing away."
Naruto and I started running again, trying to cover as much distance as possible before sunset.
I continued where Naruto left out. "It is more likely that their captor is Uchiha Madara, the man we are in war against. Do not consider this mission lightly! The plan will be to first enter a small Sound village; supposedly close to where their hideout is. We will impersonate two couples of farmers, since they do not like shinibis beside the one from Sound." Hopefully Ino and Neji will prove their worth as ANBU before we reached the village so that we will contact Kakashi-sama and there will be no problem with hiding our faces.
We had reached a small valley and Naruto offered that we stop by the water. I detected 3 rogues with a great amount of chacka and chackra control; probably jounins and signalled it to Naruto in a way only he would understand. Apparently we had the same idea, test Ino and Neji to see if they would detect the rogues, their reactions as well as make a safe camp unnoticed and trap the surroundings.
"ANBU-sempai" the honorifics made Naruto chuckled with pride, but turned his attention to Neji. "There are three shinobis hidden behind those trees" Neji had made the assessment without being noticed and in such a low voice, I doubted even Ino, a few paces away, had heard it."
Suddenly one of them just fell dead. I looked around and Ino had a secretive smile on her face. My thoughts were interrupted when the two other shinobis just died, followed by a loud voice that would rival Naruto's hyper one.
"They were from Sound!" It took me a while to identify as Ino's voice, though she was not speaking. I mean no sound escaped her mouth, she was just projeting her voice in our heads in order for us to remain unsuspected. That definitely got a good mark on her evaluation. "They were part of Madara's army, though they have never seen him. Their contact though was a red-head kunoichi with glasses" she sent us the picture of the woman she was talking about. I had a feeling I had seen her before but I could not remember her. A tall woman with wild red hair, small black glasses and a slutty outfit under a doctor's coat, not something you see everyday."Apparently their meeting point is only an hour away from the village we are supposed to infiltrate, we could start looking there."
We had reached the valley and Neji went and check the perimeter and trapped it without even a hint from either Naruto or me. Just one more thing and they would have both passed the test, not as well as Naruto and I, but well enough that our mission would be easier.
Since nightfall was approaching faster than we had anticipated, we decided that it might be better to just camp there. The three tents, one for Neji, one for Ino and one for Naruto and I, were installed before we sat by the campfire to eat the dinner we had packed.
Naruto and I did not eat because of the restriction of our masks, which was frustrating to Naruto who decided to get the chore over with.
"Listen you two," he said pointing to the two jounins that just wanted to finnish their meal"you know why you were chosen for this mission so let's stop this bullshit and tell us what we need to know!"
Neji sighed then looked up at me.
"Your idea of the two farmers couples will not work because of who we are. You two sempais have to hide under your mask that would imediately reveal who we are" Neji had found the first error in our plan, good!
"Also you did not consider what families we are from, I can easily hide my appearance by putting on farming clothes but Neji-kun" Ino finished for Neji. She really never dropped the honorifics with him did she? "well his byakugan is easily recognizable even for a non-ninja since it is so famous and his tatoo on his forehead can only be hidden if he wears a hat, though he would have to take it off to be polite so it will not ba a good cover"
"Good" I simply stated.
"Therefore we must find another way to enter the village or we would have to camp in its outskirt, where we could more easily be spotted by travelling or local shinobi, or even Madara."
"I could use my mind justu to enter one of the guard's mind and get us the information to when they switch rounds. That is when we would have the least amount of trouble."
Neji then cut Ino in an completely out of character way. "Or you and ANBU-sempai" he said motioning at me"could seduce them during the middle of the night, when they will be the most tired and we could put them to sleep jsut long enough to enter." He seemed to think a bit more about his plan.
"Actually, as long as one of us is in, we could all be able to enter."
"Continue" I urged him encouragement obvious in my voice.
"Well if Ino was pretending to be just a single woman asking to move in the village after her house in one of the Sound forest got destroyed by a Konoha shinobi, they would gladly let her in without asking question. Once you are in" Neji continued looking directly at Ino, "you just have to ask for an inn to rest after your long trip. That again won't be questioned."
Ino following his thoughts continued for him. "And while I am pretending to visit houses, being picky like my normal self, I will live at the inn. That should buy us enough time for our mission."
"Now that you are IN the Village and having fun, we are still OUT.'' pointed out Naruto liking his friends' plan, which was close to the one I had discussed with him earlier that day. Ino and Neji WERE ready to become ANBU!
"Well once I am in my room I can just 'summon' you in it!"
I got up and walked to the tent I shared with Naruto. From there I picked up a small box that I brought back to my seat by the fire.
I picked a scroll and from it was able to summon Pakun, Kakashi-sensei favorite nin-dog.
"Hello" I greeted the animal that had helped me so many times "Could you please inform Hokage-sama that Neji Hyuga and Ino Yamanaka have met the qualifications and are now part of Fox."
He simply bowed to me, knowing that when my mask was on he could not call me by name or even show any sign that he knew me more than any other shinobi. The dog disappeared in a cloud of smoke and I reached into the box to pull from the box two new Fox mask, yet to be painted and added a piece of clothe. That would be made during their induction ceremony when we would go back home.
Naruto gavee the two mask to the two newest member of ANBU; an hyper gigling Ino and a ever-calm Neji.
"Now you can take your masks off Naruto, Sakura" said Neji, a smirk on his lips.
A/N: What do you think of it so far? Please tell me if you find any incoherence, mistakes, or even wishes to be my beta for this story. Thank You!
PS: I won't add a new chapter until I have 10 reviews *evil laugh* MOUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *evil laugh off* and this time I mean it!Thank You for reading.!