Distance
chapter 2 of Reunited.
Sasuke and Madara will make their appearance in the next chapter.
Please review!
Sakura had learned how to tune out Naruto's screams, and kept her focus on Kakashi's words. She too was shocked as soon as the name Madara had entered the quiet room, and even more surprised when Sasuke went hand in hand with it. Sakura looked at her shishou, trying to read her expression. But in an instant, the strained look that was on her face broke out into full on rage.
"NARUTO! Shut up!" Tsunade roared, interrupting Kakashi and Sai's futile attempts at calming him down, bringing the room to a hush.
Sakura frowned, peering at Naruto from the corner of her eye. He was biting his lip, and his hands clenched so tightly that you could see the whites of his knuckles. He was trying to control himself.
The blonde lady glared at him with her intense gaze for a few more seconds, before finally releasing him, and standing up with a sigh. She circled around the desk she was sitting at, and leaned against it, rubbing her temples. Sakura frowned.
Kakashi had said that this was an A rank mission, possibly Hokage level. If so, why weren't they sending more people? Did shishou really have that much faith that they could defeat both Madara and Sasuke Uchiha with just the four of them? It didn't make sense.
The pink haired kunoichi was so lost in her analysis, she didn't notice her shishou studying her, and when Sakura looked up, her shock was met with a smile.
"Some of you may be wondering why I'm sending you, just team 7, alone on this Hokage-ranked mission."
At this, Sakura and Sai nodded, but Naruto just stood there. The thought probably didn't even cross his mind.
"The reason for this is because it's Uchiha Madara. It's a miracle that we even know where they are without them knowing, let alone them still being there—"Unsurprisingly, Naruto interrupted.
"Wait, how do we know they haven't booked it yet?"
"One of my slugs is in the area, keeping surveillance. She's far away, so she can't see them, but can sense their chakras."
Naruto accepted this explanation, and shut his mouth, waiting for her to continue.
"So basically the only reason we're going alone is because it'll be easier to hide our presence?" The pink haired girl asked, unconsciously resting a hand on her hip. Such an obvious explanation didn't seem right.
Kakashi smiled, speaking up, "It's because you were all Team 7."
Sakura winced at this, looking down at her toes that were peeking out from her boots. Beside her, Naruto made a choking noise and also looked down. Sai, on the other hand, shifted a bit, like he felt he shouldn't be there. It's true. He shouldn't be there. If everything was normal, it would be Sasuke standing there.
"But just the fact that you were team 7 won't help you against Madara. I'll be there with you, and we'll have backup stationed a few miles away from the battle. If we need it, I'll prompt them." Kakashi explained, revealing the radio system that was strapped on around his neck.
Tsunade shifted her weight, and leaned against the desk she was standing in front of, looking down at the three Chuunin's in front of her. "Sorry to cut your vacation short, but we don't have much time. This is a great opportunity for us, so you'll be heading out whenever you're all ready."
In the quiet of her own room, Sakura put on her mission clothes, and packed everything she would need for the mission. Her eyes searched for a piece of paper and a pen, and when she found the needed items, she quickly scribbled a message to her parents. Sure, they weren't here now, but if this mission resulted in her death, or took longer than expected, this would be handy. Sakura always wrote these notes, explaining what her mission was, and just a quick I love you. You never know.
Sai was already at the gates of Konoha when Sakura showed up, and he greeted her with a wave of his incredibly pale hand. She trotted over to him, standing beside him to wait for the other two teammates. "Relax." He breathed, his voice almost melting into the soft breeze. At first Sakura wasn't even sure if he had said anything, if not for the lip movement she caught from her peripheral vision.
At his words, she got a bit defensive. "Well, what do you expect? This is a big mission. You can't expect me to believe that you're not nervous, maybe scared, at all?"
Sai laughed bitterly at her words, and looked down at her with ancient eyes. "Nervous? Scared? Nervous is when you know, sooner or later, that you'll have to fight against someone you love. Scared, is realizing that that person is your brother. This…This is just a mission; One that I'll either walk away from, or die doing."
A slight breeze rolled by, as if to hush Sakura. She didn't need help with that. She didn't know what to say, what to do. The girl awkwardly turned a little bit away from him, waiting patiently for the rest of her team. Her lifeline came when she saw Naruto tripping over his feet as he ran to them.
Squinting, Sakura also noticed that he had some baggage. Upon further examination, she sighed when she noticed Naruto was pulling Kakashi by the ear. As they came closer, Naruto's words became audible.
"There's no wayI would let you be late for this mission, Kakashi-sensei!"
A sweat drop slowly rolled down as they came closer, and she smiled, but the nervousness was still clear in her eyes. Kakashi patted her on the shoulder, giving her, 'the Kakashi look.' There was really no other way to describe it.
No one was talking. The weight of this mission was still heavy on all of their shoulders, and Sakura clutched onto her stomach, trying to contain the butterflies. The four ninja leaped gracefully from tree to tree, most likely just appearing as blurs to the untrained eye.
"I spy with my little eye, something that is... purple."
Naruto murmured, his blue eyes scanning the area as he spoke.
He always played these kinds of games when they were leaping through the trees. After a while, idle chit chat was just bothersome to keep up, so he always tried to make everyone participate in his games.
"Baka!"Sakura screeched, bringing her fist in to contact with his spiky blonde locks. He rocketed straight into the forest floor, but appeared back beside them after a few moments. Blood was trickling down his nose.
"What was that for, Sakura-chann?" He whined, his lip pulling out into a pout.
Sakura sighed as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and sped up to prove her point.
"Naruto, we can't possible play eye-spy when we're moving at such a rapid speed. That "purple" thing you found, is long gone by now."
The look of confusion morphed into one of understanding, and then disappointment. But just as soon as the look of disappointment appeared on his face, a new expression took over his features. Determination.
"Fine, then if Eye spy if impossible, I'll just have to think of a game that will work!" Dramatically, his hand curled into a fist, and the jinchuuriki slowed his pace a little as he thought. At least his contemplation mode would keep him quiet for a few minutes.
Sakura's eyebrows furrowed as she looked straight ahead. 'Sasuke-kun…Are you still there? Are we too late…?' The pinkette's train of thought was interrupted, when her foot came into contact with something slimy. Was it a trap? She lost her footing, and quickly slid off the branch, spiraling downwards towards the earth.
"Sakura-chan!"
…Somethingcaught her fall. It was squishy, kind of like a bean bag chair. But she highly doubted that someone randomly came into the forest and set one down in the middle of nowhere. Slowly, her eyes opened to reveal what she was sitting on. She gasped, and got up, quickly bowing her head.
"Katsuyu…Thank you very much." Sakura murmured politely, her head still bowed.
"No need to thank me, Sakura-san. It's my fault that you fell. I'm sorry for not cleaning up after myself…how embarrassing…" Katsuyu murmured, her cheeks a little red.
"SAKURA…chan?"
Naruto landed beside Sakura, and looked at the snail impolitely. Sakura smacked him on the arm. "You've met Katsuya before—she's Tsunade's slug summon. Remember, she mentioned one was stationed a few miles away from Madara and Sasuke-kun."
As Sakura reminded him, a small 'o' appeared on Naruto's lips as Kakashi and Sai appeared beside them. "Ah, hello, Katsuya." Kakashi greeted the slug casually, and she dipped her head.
"If the slug that Tsunade summoned is here…that means we're close, no?" Sai asked, but it was clearly not a question he really needed to be confirmed. All of them nodded in confirmation anyway, and Katsuya tilted her head straight ahead.
"Keep going in that direction and you should meet up with them in half an hour or so." She explained, and slowly slithered back to her position. Kakashi bowed. "Thank you, and please send Tsunade our thanks." And with that, they were off again.
With each step she took, the number of butterflies increased. The last time she had seen Sasuke, he had attempted to kill her. But that was pretty fair, considering she was aiming to kill him, too. Sakura glanced sideways over at Naruto, and he was frowning, biting down hard on his lip, and looking straight ahead.
Kakashi, who was in the lead, slowed down a little.
"Kakashi–sensei?" Sakura asked, curious as to why he was slowing down now.
"We're approaching the clearing. Get ready."
