Chapter 3

I breathed in sharply as my tailbone throbbed painfully. I rolled up onto the soles of my feet, but then I lost my balance, falling back on my butt for the third time that day. I grunted and tried again, using my hands to steady me. This time, I stood all the way up on the coarse sand.

Sand? I thought frantically. There'snosandbackinKonoha!

I whipped my head up and, around me, there were small mud houses in neat little rows. People were everywhere, some looking at me funny. And some of them were funny.

Funny looking—as in, some of them weren't human.

I saw a tall dark man talking to a short blue creature with a very long, spindly nose, two extra eyes, and a tentacle growing out of its bald head. Both men (at least I think the blue thing was a guy) were dressed in long light brown cloaks, just a shade darker than the sand.

I whirled again and saw an older teenage girl hugging a fuzzy little animal, probably a pet of hers. I didn't understand what that animal was either, but that didn't really matter.

There were also robots. Droids of all kinds. Small, large, humanoid, box-like, you name it. They were all like nothing like I'd ever seen before.

Then I began to freak out. Where'sNaruto?WhataboutShikamaru?Ishisankleokay?DidSasukeleaveNarutoalone?Ihavetofindthem!

"Naruto? Shikamaru!" I yelled frantically. "Where are you guys?"

My head whipped back and for the as I started to run blindly. I kept calling their names. People were whispering and staring ("Did you see that girl?" "She appeared out of thin air!"), but I reallydidn'tcare. I had to find the guys!

Now there was a small group of men who were wearing, at least what looked like, special uniforms. Then it hit me that these were the police. They thought I was just being rowdy, but I needed to look for my friends.

"Miss, we're going to have to ask you to leave. You're causing a disturbance." said one of the officers.

"But wait!" I yelled, which was probably not the best idea—they only thought I was crazier. "I need to find them! I need to find Naruto! You have to help me fi—"

"Wait," said a voice behind me as a big hand hit was set down hard on my shoulder. "She's with me," Then he waved a couple fingers in their faces, like some kind of jutsu, only without all the sign-weaving.

"Yes, she is, sir." the officers looked blankly at me and the guy who had probably just saved my painfully-throbbing ass. "Have a nice day."

"Yes. She is," He nodded thoughtfully.

As the police walked away, I turned to the person who had basically just saved my guts from being thrown in this place's equivalent of jail—but no biggie. "Who are you?" I scrutinized his appearance. "And why did you save me?"

This guy was wearing a robe a lot like other ones that I'd see on other people, except for one main difference; his was a warm chocolate brown. He was also wearing a matching hood, but I won't quibble the details. His face was wrinkled something awful, and he had a bushy little beard that covered his mouth and nose. His eyes sparkled mischievously. He turned quickly away from me and began to stride away from me. "You could thank me, you know."

"Alright, I'll give you that," I said as I hurried to catch up. "So thanks. But seriously. Who the hell are you? And why the hell would you save a girl who dropped out of nowhere? And how did you get them to agree? Was it some kind of jutsu? Because I seriously need to learn that one. And also—?"

"Not another word. Wait until we get somewhere private. I will explain everything when we get there."

"Get wh—"

"Ah, ah, ah. I said not another word."

And so I followed him like he held the secret of my existence. He kind of did actually. But only kindof.

Geez. I thought to myself. Thisgeezerisfastforsomeonewholookssoold.

We finally reached a nondescript hut that looked a lot like the others. But something was different. When the guy pressed his hand to a small panel to the right of the door, hidden mechanisms whirred as a laser ran across his palm, and a small light bulb above the panel glowed green. The door slid open, and we stepped from some kind of desert wasteland into Techno World. I followed the old man into an elevator-looking-thing, only it was rounder. I sat down across from him (I winced a little—my butt still hurt from earlier), and he pressed a button near the arm of his chair, and we were in motion, moving horizontally, now rising so fast that I was being pressed into my seat. Then we jerked to a sudden stop, and I looked around again.

"Can I—"

"Not yet."

I rolled my eyes and we were moving again, gliding to a safe place to talk. We rode in companionable (as in, I crossed my arm and legs, staring pointedly at the small area of space four feet above his hooded head as he smirked and looked out the window) silence for another minute or so, then we slid to a thankfully gentle stop. At last, the doors opened, and he rose to his feet. I stood too, and my ass was still really sore from falling on it twice, and then from sitting for so long.

I didn't even bother asking if we could talk yet. The old guy led me to another room, this one much plainer than what I had seen at the Technologic Hut. "Sit here," He gestured to what looked like a chair you would find in a cafeteria back home.

"No thanks—I'll stand." I pulled another Sai smile.

"As you wish," He stepped back out of the room. "I must go."

"Where to? Nowhere." I pulled out a kunai and pointed it between his eyes. "You promised to answer some questions, so that's what you're gonna do."

He didn't even bat an eye. Whoa, part of my subconscious rattled off. Thisguymusthaveknives,swords,orsomethingsharpanddangerouspointedathimalot."I'm sorry. You only have to wait a short while longer, Ms. Haruno."

That threw my off by kind of a lot. "Wait, how did you—"

"All in good time, all in good time," And then the jerk left. I paced angrily, not caring that a guy I had never seen before and only asked questions to knew my name. I ended up waiting for what felt like hours, but was actually only fifteen minutes.

"Come, Sakura Haruno." he said when he finally came back, "The Jedi Council requests your presence."

I didn't even bother to ask what the hell a "Jedi" was.