Title: The Sakurazaki Chronicles—Sora
Author: Chii
MC: Setsuna, the Akatsuki (primarily Itachi, Nagato, and Konan), the girl's six paths
MS: Feudal Japan; the Shippuuden time period of Naruto
MT: Romance, Adventure, Angst, Friendship, Fantasy, Death
Rating: 13-18 year olds (Teen-Mature)
Disclaimer: The author does not own Naruto in any way, shape or form. However, she does own her OCs, including a small amount of their jutsus. The author also does not own the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, Mahou Sensei Negima! By Akamatsu Ken, Chobits by CLAMP, Tsubasa by CLAMP, XXXHolic by CLAMP, Love Hina by Akamatsu Ken, the manga edition of Romeo and Juliet by Yali Lin (her wonderful art instructor and the woman who autographed it for me.), the .hack/ series by various authors, and other manga or literature references used in the making of this fanfiction. All rights belong to their respectful author(s) or company.
A/N: I started typing this after hanging up the phone with two of my friends. The really sad thing was, it wasn't even three-way phone call! And then before I even finished typing this author's note, my other friend, Yui, called me. And then Yuuki called me and we all talked to each other… using four different phones. I actually had my cell phone and my home phone pressed to both my ears! And then… I went to Yuuki's house to get a virus deleter thing. I'm scanning my computer now. So far, it found like 142 viruses… and only on the important things! What'll happen when I do the full scan? I'll stop ranting… and remember! 150 views and 1 reviews in total for a new update!
Book Two: Sora
Chapter Four: Red
She arrived at the rocky ledge in ten minutes, stopping to catch her breath. She had actually climbed up here with one hand… She had strung her straw hat by a string around her waist. Still cliché.
Sighing, she untied the knot the sting bore, and hastily pushed it over her head. Deciding to give her old friends a little surprise, she smirked and unnoticeably fixed her hat so that her long purple-black hair didn't show.
"So why did Nagato make me run up a cliff," Setsuna turned around. "To meet you?" Straw hat met cloak. Well, if the girl looked up a little, she would have met his straw hat as well, but… she didn't. So there.
"You make it sound as if it's a bad thing," Itachi replied.
"It's not," she turned red at this thought, but the Uchiha couldn't see it past her hat. Maybe it had a purpose after all. "Shall we go then, O Mighty Uchiha Prodigy?"
"Hmph," he said. "That's one thing I never liked about you. And what's with the hair? Did you finally cut it off?"
"No," Setsuna snapped. "I hid it. Give the people a surprise. Now come on!"
Itachi merely walked away. Setsuna glared at his movement, but all she could do was shoot forward and grab him by the extremely convenient Akatsuki cloak's bell collar.
"Ladies first, bucko," she snickered and let go.
Itachi muttered something inaudible to everything but Setsuna's sensitive ears. It went something along the lines of, "You don't fucking act like a fucking lady."
"Well, you don't act like a friggin' gentleman!" she snapped back. They were at the edge of Amegakure territory now—they would have to be careful from now on.
"Hmph," was all he said as he walked faster. Setsuna chased after him, laughing.
"Tag!" she poked him in the back, in the middle of his spine, with two fingers. "You're it!" she ran away, her joyous laughter still ringing in Itachi's ears.
"Oi!" Itachi chased after her this time, not running at his regular capacity. It felt almost as if they were kids again, playing tag in a flower meadow.
Except that the kids were replaced by murdering criminals in the S-Class Bingo Book, and the flower meadow was a minefield of enemy shinobi, anticipating for their attack. The life of a ninja was indeed like the game of tag. If you were caught, however, you were dead.
Today, one brave shinobi was going to die. No, two. He was going to lose in the game of tag. She was, too.
Tag…
You…
Are…
Dead…
--
"Itachi!" she sang, trying to catch his attention.
He didn't respond.
"Itachi!"
Nothing.
"Itaaaaaaaachi!"
Nope.
"WEASEL!"
Zip.
"WEASEL!"
Zilch.
"NII-SAN!"
Nada.
"NII-SAN!"
Nope.
"ITAAA—II!!" his hand clapped over her mouth. Her scream was muffled as he snarled, "SHUT the FUCK up!" Unfortunately for the Uchiha boy, the Dimension Witch was extremely mischievous. She licked the palm of his hand, making him withdraw it in disgust.
"Yuck!" he made an impassive face at her. Setsuna thought that his way he expressed 'yuck' was amusing, but she didn't say anymore when she saw what was it that made him say 'shut up' to her.
"Oh shit," she muttered, making 'tora'. "Come on Itachi, do kawarimi or that raven thingy you do."
He gave her a questioning look, as if to ask her 'how'd you know that,' but he didn't say anything but mimic her handsign. He switched places with a stone that lay on the ground.
Rolling her eyes, she switched with a branch that lay discarded on the dirt floor. She felt herself unconscious, then reappearing in a swirl of leaves behind a bush some twenty feet away from the place where a fake Itachi and Setsuna were standing, a stone and branch missing from the scene that was before.
"You there?" she asked, and sure enough, Itachi reappeared in another small flurry of leaves. She shook her head in disappointment. "You, Uchiha Itachi, are soooo slowwwww…."
"I was giving the kawarimi pointers," Itachi pointed out. "If you forgot, your Kawarimi is completely worthless."
This statement made her smirk, as she knew that the older boy was completely wrong in saying so. "Look!" she pushed her hat up a little but, fixating her Rin'negan in the branch that had become her identical.
Upon doing so, the clone started moving, dragging the fake Itachi along the dusty path, towards the enemies. "What is your kawarimi doing?"
"We're supposed to drive them away, right?" she hissed as she followed the kawarimis through the forest-y landscape. "Hmph. I still don't know why the Goddess has to go on such a queer mission."
"Hm," he responded. "Ask Leader-sama. There they are!"
And, sure enough, the old squad of enemy ninja had already met with the kawarimis of the S-Class criminals.
"Oi!" Naruto growled. "I have no time for this! I'm here to retrieve Sakurazaki Setsuna, and I know the Akatsuki has her captive somewhere!"
"Yeah!" it was Shikamaru's turn to say. "No matter how troublesome this mission is, we hafta get back an honorable member of our team!"
"Destiny says it should happen," was Neji's curt reply.
Destiny is wrong then, Setsuna thought behind them.
"Destiny is wrong then," 'Setsuna' said, facing Neji. Setsuna looked stunned for a moment, then smacked her hat… forehead… whatever. She had the Rin'negan to control it, she forgot.
"What?" Naruto exclaimed, then turned to 'Itachi' in disgust. "Did Fishy get so scared that you had to send another person here?"
"Did you just notice?" retorted 'Setsuna,' under the control of her master, who was ultimately smirking. "I don't have blue skin, gills, or that ridiculously huge sword of his."
"If Kisame heard you say that, he would kill you," 'Itachi' said to 'Setsuna,' The Kawarimi shrugged.
"Whatever, I'm stronger than him anyways." The group turned to the hidden-faced girl, surprised.
"Stronger than Fishy?" Naruto exclaimed. Shikamaru and Neji were silent, but each shared a flabbergasted look that made Setsuna want to snort and roll on the floor laughing her ass off. "NO WAY!"
"And why don't you take off that tatami hat of yours?" Shikamaru pointed out, a drawl proving that he was bored again. "You've already encountered us. I thought the Akatsuki revealed their face after they meet an enemy,"
'Setsuna' nodded. "Yes, that is true. And so… I shall…" she pulled off her straw hat, the white strips of paper dangling out from the sides.
"You mean to tell me…" Naruto trailed off…
"That you have…" Neji trailed off as well.
The three boys finished together.
"You have a HOODIE underneath that?!"
--
"Yeah… so?" 'Setsuna' shrugged. "You can see my face, IF you manage to get my hood off of me. Let's call this… a small game of tag."
Setsuna felt Itachi poke her. "What?" she whispered.
"What is your kawarimi doing?" he asked.
"Playing tag," she answered, a smile lighting up her finally un-hatted face. She still had the hoodie on, of course. "Does your kawarimi want to join in?"
"Hm," was his curt reply. Setsuna rolled her eyes.
"Come on!" she nudged his shoulder, not to receive a reply from the impassive Uchiha. "People in an orchestra, people in an orchestra! We're the directors, the violin players, cello, bass! Pull the strings!"
"Hmph," and they both set their eyes on the battle that awaited them.
"Are you ready?" 'Setsuna' asked, reaching her hand to her back for her katanas. When the three boys nodded, getting into a fighting stance, she smirked unnoticeably under her hood. "Al-righty then, ladies first!"
She whipped her first katana off of her holder, sending a surge of chakra through it. The kusanagi's power surged through her arm, making her smile evilly. Then, as fast as a person could blink, she sent the indestructible sword crashing to the rocky ground.
Immediately, the effect took place as the rocks and ground scrambled away from the katana, as if they were afraid of it. The three boys had to jump up onto nearby trees, as they were also afraid of what would happen if they got hit by the flying rubbish.
She started making handsigns rapidly, and before the force of gravity could push the boulders and rocks that were uprooted down, she had finished with 'tora' and shouted, "FUTON: Wind Destruction Jutsu!"
'Setsuna' stood close to the clone of Itachi, so he would not be affected by the attack. Taking a deep breath,. She blew small gusts of air around her as she spun like Neji did during Kaiten.
There was a moment of silence, then laugher. "That's all your jutsu can do?" Naruto yelled at them. His face became serious again, however, and he stuck an arm out to the side. 'Setsuna's' eyes narrowed. Just as she had suspected, he was building a chakra sphere.
"The Rasengan won't work on me," she smirked, bringing her eyes up to meet his frightened ones.
"Wh-what're those eyes?" Neji whispered, activating his Byakugan. "They're releasing an immense amount of chakra."
"Hmhmhmhmhm," 'Setsuna' chuckled. "Come and attack if you want, but there's no hope for any of you."
Naruto's eyes flashed red. "Rrrraaaghhhhhh… RASENGAAAAAAAAAN!!" his speed increased ten-fold as he rushed at high speed towards the unfazed girl. Just as he thrust his arm out, however, she whipped her katana out and stuck it in front of her for defense. The Rasengan drove onto the Kusanagi, but it didn't go through.
Unlike the Hokage's Lightning Sword, this one was completely indestructible, and didn't crack at al. A loud sound could be heard, however—one that sounded like wind…
The shocked blonde gasped out loud as 'Setsuna' drove her own Rasengan into him, sending him flying into a large tree a few hundred yards behind. As his back hit the tree, the loud thud was not heard as the wind heard before grew larger and larger, until Shikamaru, Neji, and the injured Naruto had to protect their faces with their arms against flying debris.
"Let's have some fun and crank this wind up to mediuuuuum!" 'Setsuna' shouted, raising one arm up. "RIN'NEGAN ART: FUTON: WIND DESTRUCTION JUTSU LEVEL TWO!" the wind seemed to push even harder now, 'Setsuna's' loose hair blowing around the air like a bird's feathers would as easily.
A large gust of wind grew, blowing several chunks of earth around furiously, like a twister. As if the weather or jutsu had read her mind, a dark cloud drove itself in front of the sun, blocking out all sources of light from the regular-sighted people. Naruto and Shikamaru were seriously in a bad situation.
Setsuna grinned as the wind blew harder.