Hello everyone who isn't fed up with my lack of updating! Thank you.
I got some very inspiring reviews lately, so I felt I can actually do this! I have a plan so let's see how far I get.
Know that I am very sorry, for taking two(!) years. I feel horrible. The plot for this part of my Tear-triology is now picking up. Let's rock! Please enjoy :)
I don't own Naruto.
Frozen Tears - chapter 1
The Hokage's office was a place where Naruto knew every detail by heart. May it be the old wooden desk or the fading map of all nations on the wall. And she knew the old man sitting in the comfy chair in his stainless white and red robe. She had been there, standing in front of him, countless times. Had sat on the ground just watching him doing his paperwork and fell asleep in the evening by the sound of the stamp and the brush on the paper. When she had been crying on his lap when the villagers destroyed her and she had thrown a chair into the wall when he told her about her parents. She still saw the crack there.
So because of this Naruto wasn't really nervous being there. The voice of the Hokage though, had a pretty serious touch to it.
"So the council finally agreed to a new idea of mine. I had this concept going in my head for a long time, actually and I understand the difficulties and the potential for conflicts in this." The Hokage didn't smile this day. His face was dead serious.
"All of you know the three legendary Sannin, right?" Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto nodded. Naruto leaned against the wall next to the seal she just placed on the wall. A seal making it impossible for anyone outside to listen to the conversation. Sasuke sat on one of the visitor chairs, right beside Sakura, carefully paying attention.
"Of course we do. Anyone does. They are famous far outside the borders of the fire-country." Sakura said.
"Indeed, and that's exactly what I am aiming for." Naruto looked up and saw a spark in the old man's eyes. "You also know about Akatsuki and there are rumours about conflicts in certain countries." They all nodded. Since Sasuke and Sakura knew Naruto they knew much more than regular Chuunin.
"I'll say, this is an experiment, but I want you to know that I'd really appreciate it, if it works out. It took me long hours of thinking and talking with the right people. What I want is a new Generation of Sannin. And finally I selected those who I think are capable of that."
XXX
They were leaving an hour later. It was a spy mission and the main task was to leave absolutely no trace that it was Konoha spying. They should go to Rock and see about the current situation there.
Naruto had been fairly surprised after she heard of the old man's idea. New Sanin. She couldn't really see it work out. She and the other two had only completed one mission together, they weren't a team like the old generation was. She wondered how he came to select especially them. It could have also been a older and more experienced team.
All of them had impressive talents though. Sakura was becoming a great medic because right after they returned from sand Tsunade took Sakura in. The woman returned with her husband Dan from a training trip and when Naruto met her, she immediately agreed to take 'a talented, clever and strong chuunin with already basic medical knowledge'. Even after a short period of time Sakura definitely improved a lot. Everything she was taught, she absorbed like a sponge.
Sasuke was learning with Kakashi and his older brother. Before the trip to Suna, Itachi had been very obsessed with leading the clan and the police of Konoha, but one day Naruto spent a visit on tea.
Flashback
"So what brings you here today?" He had asked, fairly surprised, because they lost touch when he ended his career in ANBU. "You surely want to beg on your knees for your senior to return."
She laughed and like every other person, Itachi smiled at the bell-like sound.
"No, certainly not. There's no place in my squad for a stuck-up Uchiha."
"I still remember the times when you were only dreaming on calling yourself a full-fledged ANBU and as soon as I am gone they make you even captain. What happened to them, who used to call themselves merciless?" He sighed.
"Well it's not like you just left yesterday. This was four years ago, so stop complaining. But I came here to discuss another thing." He noticed her serious tone.
"I was wondering what happened to the Uchiha who proclaimed to lead his clan a better way than his father did?" This certainly surprised him.
"What do you mean?" His pride was already on the edge of being stained and Naruto knew it would be just a bit more and he would snap.
"Well, I have been in Suna for a mission lately. Basically it should have been a diplomatic mission with me delivering a scroll to the Kazekage and chatting a bit. It ended in almost a civil war and an attack from outside of the village. I was very glad to have a team accompanying me."
"What are you aiming for?"
"The team proved to be excellent... "
"... So?"
"So I think you should spent a bit more time with your little brother."
"You know I am very busy... and-"
"Stop it. You know better than that. He is your brother and doesn't have a father any more. He really looks up to you. And he has great potential. With the right care he and his teammate could be in ANBU in three years."
"You think so?" The silence was kept for a long time.
"Yes, I do. Don't let his talent go to waste"
Flashback end
He really improved she thought, well both of them had. The one became a better shinobi, the other a better brother.
So she was happy to go on a mission with them, they were very nice. Even though she doubted that there actually could be a new generation of sannin.
In Konoha's history had been a few very powerful and famous people. Of course the first Hokage who defeated Madara and built Konoha, his brother the second Hokage was responsible for giving the village an infrastructure and was the teacher of another famous one, who was just called "The Professor". There were others, maybe Konoha's white fang and his son the infamous copy-nin Kakashi. Of course Itachi, too. And above all of them The Yellow Flash.
But those of this kind were very rare. One in every generation. Then how seldom is it to have a whole team of them?
XXX
Her oppinion changed within the next two months. She was surprised how well the missions went that they completed together. In any situation they came up with amazing plans and tactics to solve a lot of situations. Sakura always took the time afterwards to write them down. It soon was a large collection of scrolls with techniques for ambush, open fighting, spying and so on. The pink haired girl was positive that some of them would end up in the academy books.
Naruto was spending much more time with the two Chunin and soon she got into problems with her ANBU-squad. They felt left behind. It became very difficult for Naruto to deal with both ANBU duties and team 7 missions and Yuzuka was the first to complain. The girls ended up on not speaking with each other for a whole week. The climate had been frosty.
Soon Naruto had been fed up with the way things went and called a squad meeting. It had taken Naruto and Yuzuka some time to re-bond, but after the blue-haired woman learned from Neji how hard her captain tried to make it all happen. On top of the regular missions they went on, she went with team 7 in her time off. None of the squad could imagine how tired they would be. Basically it meant short term ones at night and at day. She used the three day break after longer missions to go on another one. So instead of keeping on complaining the ANBU worked on including team 7 in their free time, so Naruto would spent the little time she had the best and happiest way.
Today team 7 was on a mission, too. They had to deal with unidentified ninja within the fire country borders. It wasn't known yet from which village they were from.
Sakura had the lead today and was chatting in relaxed manner while travelling.
"So, do you think we can also go to the Chunin exams? I would love to see it." Sasuke was the one to answer.
"Probably not. When so many good ninja are leaving the village to accompany the Hokage and the participants, we are to stay at home for sure." Sakura sighed.
"That's unfair! It's the first time within decades that the event is happening in Mist. I always wanted to visit it and now that it's peace... Have you ever been there, Naruto?" The blonde wasn't replying. In her mind were bloodstained snowflakes and ice reflecting her own cruelty.
"Naruto?" Sakura asked in worry.
"Yes I have. And I really hope that it will work out the right way this time." By now, Sakura was intelligent enough to notice Naruto wouldn't talk about it. She dropped the subject and they kept the silence until they were approaching their targets.
Sakura was quite comfortable with Naruto already. The blonde had a few very touchy subjects, but after she made that clear to them, they understood and stopped pressing. Sometimes Sasuke and Sakura would notice a certain expression in Naruto's eyes that warned them of going further. They supposed it had to do with experience she made while being on missions. When they tried to talk with Kakashi about it, his answer would always be something avoiding. He had already tried to explain to them that Naruto experienced a lot of hardships at young age and that being an ANBU was sometimes more cruel than a normal ninja could imagine. Sakura was sure herself that she just wouldn't be able to grasp the real amount of horror that came with the job.
Sasuke came to respect Naruto a lot more as well. She was the way he wanted kunoichi to be: Strong, determined, cool-headed and not whiny. After he came over the shock that she was so much better than him, he tried to get along with her and it worked out brilliantly. He learned from his brother that they were former teammates and the respectful way Itachi spokes of her mad Sasuke see her qualities as a shinobi and person. When they were working together, they naturally fell in sync, their movements protecting the other's weaknesses and bringing out their strengths. Part of it Sasuke lead back to her working with Itachi for so long. She knew the Uchiha style and adjusted to Sasuke just as easily. But he was also sure that as a team they made some sort of a connection. It was now like it was supposed to be from the beginning: The empty spot in the four men cell was now filled by her presence.
Their thoughts were interrupted by the loud sound of an explosion. Sakura made a hand sign and they stopped moving.
"It came from this direction", Sasuke said and pointed west. The sun was already approaching the horizon and it was nearly dark in the forest.
"They location we aimed for is a few miles further this way" Sakura noted. "We shouldn't have reached anything yet." Naruto nodded slowly and watched a rabbit run towards its hole, fleeing from the sounds. Her instincts started to kick in and she almost became anxious to know what was happening.
"We should go and take a look." She suggested. At the moment it was in Sakuras hand since she was in charge of the mission, but the pink haired agreed.
Suddenly the earth shook by the force of a huge chakra wave. Sasuke and Sakura had difficulties remaining on their branches. Naruto could still cope more so she stretched her shoulders and tried to feel the signature of the chakra.
It was gone as fast as it came. All of them felt the pressure lift from their lungs and looked at each other surprised. This changed the situation.
"What was that?" As usual Sakura was the first to voice their thoughts. "This wasn't normal." They all agreed with that, but Naruto was also deep in thought.
"It was definitely not a common signature. Normally I can feel from which village a shinobi is from since they mostly have something unique in their structures. But that one..." She paused and gave the others the possibility to comprehend the information and go through the options.
"We should return.", Sakura said. "We have no idea what we will run into."
"We could investigate." Sasuke seemed uncomfortable at the thought of just going back to Konoha, mission unfinished.
"Let our pride not get in the way of better knowledge. We could send a clone, but we shouldn't head right there, I think. The chakra wave was impressive." Naruto opted. Sakura nodded.
"Naruto, if you will?" There was a soft pop and four Narutos stood in the branches, then took of.
"And now, we wait."
xxx
It took half an hour until the first clone dispersed. Naruto's posture tensed, when she adjusted to the flow of information.
"Five miles north from here. A group of eight ninja. I don't recognize the symbol on their headbands. Something like a rock."
"It's not earth's symbol?"
"Definitely not. One of them seems like he's controlling liquid metal. He created something like the water prison jutsu." She paused. "Should I let one of my clones attack to gather more information?", she asked Sakura. The pink haired girl nodded and watched as Naruto created another shadow clones, gave it orders and let it dispel. The clone's memories would go to every Naruto in a five mile radius.
It didn't even take a minute now until they received information again. The ANBU went rigid.
"We need to move! NOW!" Even though Sakura was in charge, no one hesitated a second and bolted.
"What's going on?", Sasuke shouted while jumping from branch to branch. "Have we been spotted?" Naruto nodded.
"Both my clones were slaughtered. If we get in a fight, we are done for."
"How are our chances to loose them?"
"If we continue like this, non-existent." Sakura gasped. "What do we do?" As the team leader this question seemed ridiculous and she scolded herself for almost loosing her head. Nevertheless she couldn't help, but feel slight despair.
"I placed a travel-seal twelve miles from here, just in case. If we get there faster than them, it'll be fine. Can you manage?" She knew Saskue and Sakura's stamina was not comparable to hers. If she felt she could reach the seal didn't mean they could. Twelve miles were not a piece of a cake.
Sasuke nodded, his face grim in concentration. Sakura seemed to run a self-estimation to check her resources.
"I won't be able to keep this pace.", she admitted. She could see their five mile headstart running through their fingers like water, because of her.
"Don't worry." Naruto tried to reassure her, then created several shadow clones. "I'll have them set traps, thy will slow them down some. They will also henge to pose as the team. They will stop for a second to confront them." All of them fell into silence concentrating on not slipping.
They were down to a mile to go, when Sakura collapsed. She lost her footing, causing her to fall. Naruto who was behind her caught her in fall and sped forward without stopping. She ran a few meters on the ground the jumped into the trees again, falling into step next to Sasuke. He briefly shot her a look, Sakura was flung over her shoulder, but she didn't slow down.
They stopped violently, when they reached the seal, a complex collection of characters drawn onto a massive tree. Naruto bit her finger and spread the blood. The kanji started glowing blue and chakra began engulfing the air. She pushed Sakura into Sasuke's arms and then both through the portal. She was about to step through herself, when they entered the clearing. If she went now, they could follow her. The portal was open a minute, so she had to distract them and step through the last possible second. She was already counting in her head. 48. 47. 46.
"Taju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" The attack bought her time. 30. 29. 28.
A liquid metal snake made its way through to her. She threw a shuriken at it, only for it to be deflected. 15.
"Earth Style: Continental crack up!" The ground opened right before her and the snake fell into the bottomless pit. 8. 7. 6.
"Interesting girl, but that won't work!" 5. 4. "Platinum style: " 3. "Liquid Prison!" 2. Through the dust of her earth jutsu came a wave of silvery water. 1. She let herself fall back into the portal.
Zero.
I hope I piqued your curiostity. Thanks for reading :
So, back with more soon I hope. Love, Cold Moon
