Hey Guys,
OMG is been like what two years since I updated this story? I can't believe I took so long, I apologize! Anyways, if you did not read the author's note before this chapter, it basically says that I'm updating what is supposed to be chapter 1 and making it chapter 3. This will be chapter 1.
This is my first story so criticism is accepted! Also, English is not my first language, so I may have some mistakes here and there. Let me know of them and I will try to fix them ASAP.
Also, some reviewers from before mentioned that they were confused when the characters were talking and when they were thinking, so I put a hint on the bottom.
Anyways, on with the story!
Also, before anyone starts reading, I want to clarify this is a Narsaku story among other couples. I have been hateful reviews because people can't read the tags.
Thoughts
"talking"
Chapter 1- The Rookie 9
"Urokosutachi"
"Hm, teme"
"Is there something on your mind, Sasu-"
"I can sense her…" a raven haired man said, trying to move, but to no avail.
"I know she is probably going to kill us for this…" for placing her on that genjutsu, a blond haired man said. Obviously still upset on what the dark haired man had done before to a certain pink haired girl. He was very nervous to see the woman approaching them.
"Kakashi- sensei, they're here." A female voice full of concern and anguish said.
Haruno Sakura soon made her way toward her teammates. She was extremely angry at what Sasuke had done to her, but was too worried about their health to think about it too much. She was right next to them and yet she could barely feel their chakras. As she leaned closer she saw how much blood was pouring out of their arm sockets. Their arms were completely ripped apart and she only hoped she had enough time to heal them.
I will have to heal them as soon as I can; otherwise any hope of getting them prosthetic arm transplants will be futile. Sakura thought with a concern look on her face.
Sakura immediately sat in between her two teammates. To her left was Sasuke, looking at her with a sorry expression on his face. She could tell he really wanted to tell her something, but she let it go. She had no time or desire to push him to say it. She was done hurting herself in order for him to open up.
"Thank you, Sakura- chan!"
Sakura quickly turned to her right where Naruto was lying down. He was giving her the biggest and brightest smile he could. She couldn't smile thought; she couldn't smile when he was hurt this badly. She opted to give him a small nod and looked down to their shoulders.
She was desperately trying to stop the blood. By the looks of it, they had been like this for at least a few hours. She was so concentrated that she didn't hear someone calling her name.
"Sakura…?" Sasuke said, his voice filled with regret.
"What?" Sakura said harshly.
She really did not want to deal with him right now. She had poured her heart to him and he had literally stabbed her in the heart (even if it was only a genjutsu).
If Sakura had paid any attention to Sasuke or Naruto, she would have notice how the blond flinched and the dark haired man widened his eyes a little. They had never heard her speak to Sasuke like that. Heck, even Kakashi looked a little scared.
"I…I'm Sorry" Sasuke said. He knew he had done many horrible things to her and a simple sorry would not repair the damage. He was hoping she will at least give him a chance at fixing it.
"I don't care, now shut up, I'm concentrating," Sakura said, venom dripping from her voice. She really had enough of his bullshit and was not about to simply forgive him for all he had done. The genjutsu had placed the final nail on the coffin of her patience for him. He was going to respect her because she was not a lovesick little girl anymore. Tsunade taught her better.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto intervene, trying to make her realize that Sasuke was really sorry for what he done.
Sakura simply threw him a look of 'shut up this is none of your business' and went back to healing.
Sakura, being a medic-nin, knew Sasuke was sincere. When a person was lying, their chakra flow changed for a millisecond. She would have noticed if he was lying, but he wasn't. She could feel how desperate he felt, but she didn't care. She had felt that way for him for too long and it was his turn to feel the same.
She let a sigh of relief when the hemorrhages stopped. She decided to just move her chakra around them to feel for any other injuries. There were just some scars and irritation here and there (which she quickly healed) and then she was done. She rechecked their arm sockets again. She had done everything she could. Now they only needed a transplant.
Sakura quickly moved her hands away from her teammates and was about to stand when a voice called her once again.
"Sakura, I know I did many things wrong, but I really am sorry… I know I can never take back what I did to you or the dobe…but I really wish for you to forgive me and to become Team 7 again…" Sasuke said. He was having a really hard time telling her all of this. After all, he was not to shown many emotions, but he wanted her to forgive him. Even if Sakura was annoying at times, he still cared for her.
"Sorry? Is that all you can offer? I'm sorry Sasuke-kun, but you tried to kill me, Naruto AND Kakashi- sensei multiple times and stabbed us in the back at the end. I don't need or want your sorry." Sakura said, sending Sasuke a glared that could kill.
"Sakura-chan, I know your angry, but at least listen to him, I want Team 7 to be a family again, you guys are my only family…" Naruto said a look of anguish on his face.
Sakura's heart went for the blond. He really was an idiot for forgiving Sasuke so easily, but she had literally felt his heart during the war and knew that he meant every word. He really wanted Team 7 to be a family again and she wasn't going to come in the way of his dreams. She was going to protect them after all.
After a few minutes of thinking over the situation, she sighed. She finally made up her mind of what exactly to tell Sasuke.
"I…I'm not saying that I will forget everything you did to me or Team 7-," Sakura started with a look of determination on her face, she could almost laugh at the look of anticipation in both of her teammates faces, "-but I will let you catch up with everything you missed since you left. You are part of Team 7 after all…you idiot." Sakura's voice broke toward the end and a small tear rolled down her check.
Sasuke gave her a small smile, as a sign of thanks while Naruto gave her one of his signature smiles.
They really are idiots, Sakura thought.
Looking back, she gave Kakashi a sign to come closer. Kakashi walked over to his original team and sat down next to Sakura.
"Team 7 is back for good- ttebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, trying to move his right arm for a hug and noticing it was missing.
Sakura quickly caught on what he wanted to do and knowing how the two blocks of ice to her left where, she quickly grabbed Kakashi and using her strength pulled him down with her and 'hugged the two boys.'
She felt Kakashi trying to sit up, but she kept his hold on him.
"We are finally together again-," Sakura said a huge and goofy smile on her face. Tightening her hold on her teanmates, "and we will always be Team 7."
That's when she felt Kakashi hugged the rest of them back. She could tell that as much as he wanted to keep his cool façade, he was happy as well. She didn't know the details about his past team, but she wasn't stupid and knew that half his team had died and his best friend had caused the war. He probably felt like he had made the same mistake when Sasuke left and now that they were together he had finally mended things.
Even Sasuke looked happy to be together once again.
The hug lasted a few more seconds until Sakura and Kakashi quickly stood up and helped their two male teammates as well. Sakura watched as they both joined their only hands left and made a weird jutsu.
If she had paid any more attention, she would have noticed a small tear running down her sensei's cheeks.
"Hinata!" The white eyed girl quickly looked up into the distance as she saw her two teammates, Kiba and Shino running toward her.
"Hinata, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Kiba quickly said very concern about his female friend.
"I'm fine Kiba- kun, what about you two?" Hinata said a small smile on her face.
"We're fine, but wasn't it weird we came out of cocoons? I don't remember much about how we got there, but it was strange…it was as if I was living my life in another reality. Did you guys experienced the same?"
At Kiba's words, both Hinata and Shino nodded.
"Really?! So what did you guys dream?" Kiba asked excitedly. Before they could answer, however, he answered the question himself, "well, I dreamed I became hokage! My dream! Do you thing everyone else was also dreaming?" Kiba said, utterly confused on what happened. People don't just come rolling off of trees!
"It seems that the Infinite Tsukuyomi was indeed placed on us. I remember seeing a red moon before my dream. Everyone was dreaming a perfect dream," Shino said. He was positive that is what had happened.
"I see, by the looks of it, Madara has been already defeated. Well then, what did you guys dream?" Kiba was really excited to hear his teammate's dreams.
"I dreamt that I had become the ruler of bugs and the strongest shinobi in my clan," Shino responded nonchatchly. He really didn't care to share.
"I see, I see" Kiba's eyes were gleaming with excitement at hearing Shino's dream. His eyes suddenly turned to a very nervous and blushing Hinata.
"Hinata! What did you dream?" Kiba asked, interested on what she would say.
"Well…eto..umm," Hinata stuttered while looking down at her feet, she really didn't want to do this.
"C'mon Hinata! We won't make fun of you!" Kiba promised
"I well…dreamed that I was clan head alongside my sister and Neji-niisaan and the curse seal was over," and married Naruto –Kun Hinata said, a small smile on her face. They did not need to know the last part.
Kiba could tell she was keeping something from him, but he let it go. He would approach her about it later.
"Well, Team 8; let's go find the rest of the Rookie 9!" Kiba screamed, leading the way. Hinata and Shino silently followed, amused at their teammates tactics.
Shino was simply looking ahead, not really thinking of anything.
Hinata on the other hand…
That dream, made me realize that I should once again tell Naruto-kun of my feelings. I told him at an inappropriate moment and made him turn into…
Hinata quickly shook her head to change her train of thought; she really did not want to relive that experience.
I will look at Naruto- kun straight in the face and tell him my feelings! I won't hide any longer. That is my Ninja way! Hinata though, a determined look on her face.
"Are we all here?" a pineapple- shaped haired boy asked.
"Yup, I'm here and so is Ino, Shikamaru," a very tall and bigger man said next to him.
"Gosh, I was having such a good dream! Tsk tsk. Anyways, where is forehead girl?" a blonde haired woman said, looking around the crowd of people coming out of cocoons. Sheesh, she has really seen weird shit in her life, but this took the top place.
"I don't know- , Shikamaru said, but we need to find Tsunade- Sama she probably knows more than we do right now. Let's go Choji, Ino."
"Alright, alright, so bossy," Ino was really angry that she was woken up from her amazing dream. Both Sai and Sasuke had been fighting for her. But most importantly, her father was alive and well and was proud of her as she had become a very strong kunoichi.
Unaware to Ino, her other two teammates were also thinking about their own dreams.
Shikamaru was thinking about how his dad was alive and his parents were together. Yet, he couldn't understand why she had dreamt about Temari. Troublesome woman, she bothered him even in his dreams.
While Choji thought about finally becoming clan head and proving the whole village of his strength while at the same time finding a girl who loved him for him and did not care about his weight.
Team 10 decided to push their dreams to the back of their minds and keep moving forward.
"Where is Temari?" a young red haired man asked. He had been looking for Temari for the last five minutes and yet there was no sign of her.
"Be patient, there are a lot of people here," a man with purple tattoos on his face said next to him.
"I know, Kankuro, but she may be hurt." The young Kazekage retaliated; he also needed to find Naruto.
"There she is" Kankuro said as he waved at his older sister, signaling for her to come over.
"I was looking everywhere for you guys, are you okay?" Temari asked after catching her breath, checking her brothers for any injuries and furrowing her eyebrows in thought.
"No, we're fine Temari" Kankuro said, easing his older sister out of her worries.
"What was that about?" Temari was not sure why she had come out of a cocoon, but she did remember having a dream with a certain pineapple- shaped haired man.
"We were on Uchiha Madara's infinite Tsukuyomi, a kind of dream like genjutsu. By the looks of it, he must have been defeated" Gaara said a little upset that he had woken out of his dream.
"I see, well what did you dream?" a curious Kankuro asked. He had dreamed about becoming the ultimate puppeteer and he was sure his brother and sister had dreamed of something interesting.
"Nothing" Gaara and Temari said in unison with bored expressions on their faces.
Kankuro was going to ask again until he noticed then walking away from him.
"Hey, Hey! I'm talking to you!" Kankuro called after them.
"We need to find the Kages and Naruto, let's go," Gaara said, Temari trailing behind him.
Kankuro simply sighed and followed them, still thinking about his dream.
Temari was doing a great job at hiding her own thoughts. She went back to her own dream where she had become the best kunoichi in the world. She understood that, but she didn't understand why Shikamaru has been at her side. That lazy ass pestered her even in her dreams!
Gaara just kept walking, trying to detect one of the Kages chakra, but to no avail. He was too thinking about his dream; a dream where he grew up with a loving family, a dream where he had friends that care about him, a dream where he wasn't a monster.
"There you are my dear student!" a man in a green jumpsuit exclaimed.
"Gai-sensei!" a younger man dresses identically to the older one yelled back. Running to him and hugging him with the power of youth.
"Lee are you okay" Where is Ten-Ten?" Gai asked, looking over his student for any injuries as well as trying to find his only female student.
"I'm fine Gai- sensei! I have no idea where Ten- Ten is" Lee said, a little upset that he had no idea where his teammate was.
"Well, let's go find her!" Gai exclaimed, quickly running toward the crowd.
"Wait for me, Gai-sensei!" Lee yelled as he quickly trailed behind his teacher.
"TEN-TEN WHERE ARE YOUUU!" Both Lee and Gai screamed.
"Dammit, those two are so embarrassing," a young female voice whispered to herself as she ran toward her two idiotic teammates. The people around her laughing at her teammates yelling.
"I'm here now, no need to worry I- "Ten-Ten started until she was interrupted.
"Ten-Ten my dear student, are you okay!?" Gai exclaimed as he picked his female student and spin her around the battle field where many soldiers were either laughing at him or feeling sorry for Ten-Ten.
"I'm fine, Gai-sensei, can you let me down" Ten-Ten said in a very irritated voice as she tried to get loose from Gai's choking hugs.
"Alright, I'm glad," Gai said as she finally let her down.
"Gai- sensei, what happened?" Lee asked a curious look on his face.
"It seems that we were placed in Madara's infinite Tsukuyomi," Gai started, taking on a serious look. He noticed the looked of shock and confusing on his students faces and further explained. "It's a sort of complicated genjutsu where you are in dream-like state, a perfect world."
Looking back at the moon, Gai noticed that it was no longer the reddish color it was before he was trapped in the genjutsu. The moon was slowly turning back to its original light yellow color.
"It seems that the genjutsu was cancelled and Madara defeated" No doubt by my rival and Team 7, Gai thought, a proud look on his face.
"I see," Lee couldn't believe it.
After a few minutes, Lee couldn't take the excitement and decided to blurt out his curious question.
"What did you dream Gai-sensei?" Lee finally asked curiosity stretched on his face.
"Well, Lee, I dreamed that I had finally defeated my rival with the power of youth and that you, Ten-Ten and…Neji were cheering me on as always!" Gai exclaimed, his voice lowering and cracking at the mention of Neji.
This did not go unnoticed by Lee and Ten-Ten, they had also dreamed with Neji, but they decided not to bring it up.
"I dreamt that I defeated all my enemies with…yeah and Sakura-san was my girlfriend!" Lee exclaimed, going back to his amazing dream.
"What about you, my dear youthful female student?" Gai asked
"I dreamed that I was the best kunoichi in the world! Even stronger than Tsunade- Sama and was traveling the world with you, Lee and well… yeah, pretty nice huh?" Ten-Ten answered, her mood suddenly worsening at the mere thought of her dead teammate.
"I see very youthful dreams indeed! Well, we have to go find Tsunade- Sama, let's go," Gai said as he started to walk toward the center of the battlefield.
"Hai!" both Lee and Ten-Ten said I unison, walking behind their sensei.
Lee noticed that Ten-Ten was not feeling well. She had a saddened expression on her face and it killed him to see her so depressed. He may be goofy sometimes, but he could tell something was wrong. He had a pretty good idea why she was sad, but he didn't want her to be down about it.
"Ten-Ten are you okay?" Lee whispered loud enough for only Ten-Ten to hear.
"Yeah, I'm fine, thank you Lee." Ten-Ten answered back
Lee could feel his teammate was really sad toward Neji's death. He decided to do something he had never done before…he held her hand.
"Lee!" Ten-Ten said a small blush appearing on her face.
"Huh?" Lee said, sincerely confused at why his teammate was red and appeared angry. Maybe she was coming up with a cold?
"Ah, nothing" Ten-Ten said, giving up and instead appreciating the sign of affection. Lee was annoying, but she knew he had a good heart.
Looking back at Lee's happy expression directed at her, she couldn't help giving him a small smile back and a light squeeze to his hand.
Unknown to them, a certain youthful teacher was smirking at his two students left.
Neji what would you have dreamed?
"Have you located Naruto-kun?" a dark haired woman asked her life-long teacher.
"I have already summoned Katsuyu, I have a feeling Sakura is with them, so she should be reporting back to me soon." a very tired looking hokage said.
"Hai, Tsunade- Sama…" Shizune answered back, she really hoped that Sakura and the rest of Team 7 were okay.
"Don't worry, Shizune, I have confidence in Team 7's ability, I'm sure their fine" They defeated Madara Uchiha after all Tsunade answered, a smile on her face; unless that Uchiha brat betrayed them again, Tsunade though, her smile quickly dropping.
Shizune could only sigh, she knew her master too well. She knew Tsunade was thinking about that Sasuke kid. Sakura please be safe, Shizune thought with a solemn expression on her face.
Suddenly a cloud of smoke appeared before them.
"Katsuyu, have you found Team 7? Sakura?" Tsunade asked, she was really trying to calm herself, but Sakura (like Shizune) had become like her daughter and Naruto reminder her too much of Jiraiya.
"Yes, Tsunade- sama, the little slug started, preparing herself for what was to come, their fine, but…"
"Get on with it, Katsuyu!" Tsunade exclaimed. Well, she was known for her temper…
Katsuyu and Shizune didn't even flinch; they knew Tsunade's temper by now.
"Hai, Tsunade- Sama, I found them okay, but Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun have lost one arm each." Katsuyu said, awaiting her master's response.
"They what!? When I see them I will break the arms they have left!
Shizune looked on to her master, a worried expression on her face.
Did they lose their entire arms?! Tsunade asked, worried laced in her voice.
"I'm afraid so, Tsunade-same," the slug said with a saddened expression.
"That procedure can take up to an hour to heal; I need to get their quick before they die!" Tsunade exclaimed, about to run off until Katsuyu stopped her.
"Tsunade- sama, it seems Sakura-san has taken care of that. She healed them in less than twenty minutes," Katsuyu explained.
"Sakura healed them?!" Tsunade exclaimed a shock expression on her face.
"Yes and it seems that she did an excellent job as well, both of them would be able to get transplants with no problems. Team 7 is now coming back and they will soon be here, " Katsuyu said happily. She was really proud of Sakura.
"Tsunade- Sama, you couldn't have healed them this quick, it takes extreme chakra control to heal two people at the same time as well as a lot of chakra to try to mend the nerve ending in the arm sockets in order to place transplants. Based on Katsuyu's explanation…it seems Sakura was able to do all of that while she had lost most of her chakra during the war," Shizune explained.
"Tsk, it seems that brat has finally surpassed me," Tsunade said, a proud smile plastered on her, "When would they get here?"
"SHANNAROOOOO!"
"I think they are here," Shizune winced as she could hear Sakura in the distance.
"Ouch, Sakura-Chan why you hit me- ttebayo?"
"Because you are moving too much, you are going to open your wound!"
"Yup, that's them, "Tsunade explained walking toward them.
She could see all of Team 7 walking toward her. Kakashi was simply walking back holding that damn perverted book, the Uchiha brat was walking like he owned the world with his only hand left on his pocket, Sakura was walking beside him with a very irritated look on her face and her hand on Naruto's hair who was simply whining at her to let loose. It seems he was doing something idiotic…again.
"I see Team 7 is back once again," Tsunade said as she finally reached them, particularly looking at a certain dark haired Uchiha.
"Yes, Tsunade-sama, we are," Sakura said with a small smile on her face.
"I see…I assume you guys defeated Madara?" Tsunade asked.
"Actually, there was one more enemy, but I wish to talk to you in private of that later along with the rest of the original Team 7 if you don't mind," Kakashi said, noticing that Gai was running toward him in the distance.
"Alright, we would talk about that later, Hatake," Tsunade said.
Tsunade looked back on everyone else and decided to signal them of their victories. She could see the other Kages waiting for her to make an announcement as well.
"ALRIGHT LISTEN EVERYONE!" Tsunade exclaimed, all heads turn to her to await her indications.
"The war against Madara Uchiha has gone in our favor, the individuals you see next to me-"Tsunade said as she signaled toward Team 7 "-are the heroes of the Fourth Shinobi War."
"Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruto and…Uchiha Sasuke are the heroes of this war!"
Team 7 just looked on as the crowd before them cheered their names.
Kakashi was looking as bored as ever, Sakura had a little blush on her face, Sasuke just looked on and Naruto had the biggest smile on his face. He was acknowledged by the whole shinobi world.
Tsunade looked on and quickly found Orochimaru's face. She was thinking of something and she wanted to have Orochimaru agree with her, Jiraiya wasn't here to do it.
Orochimaru seemed to read her mind and quickly nodded his approval.
"Alright, listen up, I have an announcement to make," Tsunade once again looked back at the crowd as they quieted down.
She quickly walked to Kakashi and whispered something in his ear; making him move right next to her.
"From this day on, I announce that Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, for their participation in this war and the excellence in their abilities passing that of even myself, they will now be recognize and to be the new legendary Sannin!" Tsunade exclaimed as a proud smile appeared in her face.
She quickly turned toward the three said individuals to see a comical sight in front of her.
Sakura had her mouth wide open with her eyes as huge as saucers, Sasuke had an eyebrow raised with his eyes slightly widened and Naruto…well, he looked just like Sakura, but with his eyes even wider.
Before they could speak against her wishes, Tsunade turned around toward the cheering crowd of shinobi again.
"Alright, shall we go back to our respective villages?"
Alright phew, that was a lot of writing. I know this chapter may not be very interesting, but I felt like it should be included. This is what I thought were the flaws (in my opinion) of chapter 699:
Sakura forgiving Sasuke too easily. A 'I'm sorry' is not really good enough after you tried to kill someone and their friends through half the series. Based on Sakura's growth in part 2, I would have thought she would forgive him only due to Naruto and then later on forgive him on her own. By forgiving him about everything he done by a simple 'sorry' her character development went back to a little girl who forgave Sasuke for everything he did. I decided to change it and keep her respect intact.
I hated that there was no Rookie 9 interaction with each other or their dreams. I know many of them are side characters, but I still think they should have been included. So I decided to have them interact in this chapter. I just think their interactions would have further demonstrated their bonds especially for Team 8 (since we don't get that many in the manga) and Gai's Team (they need to have some sort of interaction after Neji's death, right?).
Lee and Ten-Ten's interactions. I felt like in the manga they should have bonded more since Neji had died. I know Lee cried, but I felt like Ten-Ten didn't show much of an emotion toward his death. I only saw her getting angry at the rest of his teammates and saying "why did Neji leave me with these two" which I though was just a horrible lack of emotion. I decided to fix it here.
As you can see I changed many of their dreams or tweaked them in some way. Many of the girls dreams were shallow (seriously you just dreamed about a guy that you liked?) so I decided to make them dream about their own careers and future plans.
Everyone's own resolution and determination toward their dreams and future actions. I believe many of the Rookies dreams will impact their future actions. For example, Hinata confessing to Naruto after dreaming of them together. I wanted the characters to reflect on their own dreams and use those reflections to change their real lives.
Thank You for reading! Please write a review to let me know your own opinion about this chapter!
~See ya!
