Okay, Chapter Four.
Here's the thing: The writer's block is kicking in right now and this is all I have on the computer. So it is pretty long since I decided to stretch out the details a bit. This chapter was originally two chapters, but they were really short apart and so I combined them. It's much longer now (Well, compared to the last chapter.)
Many thanks to NyNyFiction, who has left me a review for each chapter. Thanks for all your support! My first reviewer! WHOO!
Disclaimer: If I steal the Nauto characters, and make them do my bidding, does it mean I own them? (Just kidding)
3rd POV:
The battle was fast-paced, and it turned out that Chihiro didn't need to interfere after all. Kabuto had used his last resort—he had connected his heart with Naruto's so if someone tried to kill him, Naruto would also die. In the end, Naruto and Sakura caught up with Jiraiya and went back to Konoha.
Moments later, Orochimaru and Kabuto came into the room. Kabuto was smirking and looking satisfied. Chihiro glared at him.
"Hyuuga Chihiro, I do not wish to kill you. I think that you are a valuable asset to my operation. But if you keep going on like this, I will be forced to kill you, do you understand?" Chihiro nodded slightly as an inkling of fear crept into her. "After all, you are no match for the fox. As my punishment, you and Uchiha will go to Konoha and see what they have on the Akatsuki." Chihiro felt Sasuke tense next to her. In spite of herself, her heart went out to him. She knew that under the veneer of power, calmness, and icy personality was just a little boy who wanted to see his family again. She caught his eye but he was glaring back.
Chihiro was a triple spy; she was sent by Orochimaru to go spy so she can update him to the happenings of Konoha, then she was sent by the Fifth Hokage to spy on Akatsuki. The Akatsuki found out about her, had mercy on her, thought she had potential and had her spy on Orochimaru himself. It was pretty complicated.
"But my lord, if I take Sasuke with me, then you can't train him, can you?" Chihiro pointed out, hoping to take Sasuke out of it. Despite the fact that Sasuke would love to fight his brother again, she didn't want him to come. Chihiro had a feeling that he wouldn't exactly get along very well with her.
"I've been through plenty of training, thank you very much. And who says I'm going to fight my brother?" Sasuke asked, still sounding annoyed.
"You two will be going whether you like it or not. Besides, Sasuke's had enough training to survive out there," Kabuto pointed out.
"Stay out of this," was all Orochimaru said. Chihiro sighed. It was hopeless to argue against her lord.
"Very well, my lord. When do we leave?"
"Tomorrow, at midnight. It is a new moon," Orochimaru said. Chihiro nodded and disappeared, leaving a slightly puzzled looking Sasuke to her lord and Kabuto.
Chihiro reappeared in her small room and began to pack. She was well known as the girl who went into the Forest of Death and supervised it for any foreign ninjas trying to enter Konoha without permission after her apprenticeship with Tsunade. It was pretty lame, but it was a good cover. No one dared to go inside the Forest of Death unless they were required to.
She sensed Sasuke's chakra signal reappear in the next room. Chihiro frowned. She couldn't sleep very well in here because of him. Now that he "was so close to defeating Itachi," she sensed he had dreams of doing exactly that. But at some times, he would wake up screaming or whimpering; unlike the cool mask he wore when he was awake. Even some times, she heard him say, "Risa...," which made her wonder who this Risa was.
She didn't mean to go against her lord, but the more Chihiro thought of her punishment, it seemed more and more ridiculous. What did Sasuke do? He was supposed to watch the battle unfold, and he did exactly that. Then, if she did go with him, wouldn't he get recognized? He was a missing-nin after all. ANBU would kill him in instant. She paced the room, already having packed what little belongings she had. Kabuto came into the room.
"Having second thoughts?" He asked, a smirk playing on his face. Chihiro scowled.
"Shut up," she snarled. She punched him, shattering his glasses and giving him a nosebleed. That apprenticeship with Tsunade really helped her. He staggered back. It looked like his nose was broken. Chihiro smiled widely. Sasuke came in, having heard the commotion. He looked at the blood leaking from Kabuto's face, to a smirking and contented looking Chihiro, and then back to the broken glasses on the floor. He couldn't help but smirk himself. Chihiro turned to face Sasuke.
"All packed?" He nodded. Kabuto glared at Chihiro, already healing. She could see his skin coming together, healing him.
"That's gross. If you're gonna do it, do it somewhere else," said Sasuke. (He had this look: O.O) Chihiro suppressed a laugh.
"Okay, you two better got out of my room. NOW," she added. They were getting annoying—at least to Chihiro. Sasuke, however, only shrugged. For some reason, he liked being in Chihiro's company. It made him feel like he was with Risa.
Kabuto walked out of the room and Sasuke disappeared in a poof of smoke. Chihiro sighed. She wiped what little of Kabuto's blood off the floor and went to the nursery, where she was greeted by Takara, Eiji, and Akeno.
"What happened? You were gone for a really long time, and then we heard Kabuto-sama come out of the building," Takara spoke up first. Eiji nodded, his eyes full of curiosity.
"Okay, guys. Let's get inside the nursery. It's getting cold outside. Might not help that cold you have, Eiji." She raised an eyebrow at him and they went inside. The fire in the front room of the rickety building warmed them instantly. Akeno shivered.
"Wow, it's cold out there. Not good for me," he said. Chihiro smiled. Akeno specialized in fire arts. He could manipulate and make fire. The crackling fire in here was his work.
"Can we practice controlling our chakra in here?" Eiji asked eagerly. Without waiting for an answer, he clasped his hands again and walked to one of the wooden beams supporting the building, and started walking up. No one said a word as he ascended. Chihiro, personally, wanted to see if they were practicing while she was gone. He was going halfway up and then, without warning, he fell. Chihiro ran forward and caught him right before he hit the ground. He grinned.
"Let go. I still have to practice some more." He squirmed in her arms. "Akeno can do it perfectly, though. Well, kind of." She looked over at Akeno with her eyebrow raised, but he just shrugged. Eiji was flailing his arms and legs now and she finally let go. He regained his balance on the floor and pointed a finger at Chihiro. "Don't you worry, Hiro-chan! I'll get it right sooner or later. They did!" He pointed his finger to Takara and Akeno. "Takara can stay on the longest! She stayed on for an entire 2 minutes!!"
"Two minutes, huh? Looks like you need a bit more practice," Chihiro said, crossing her arms. Ejij's face lit up and he nodded fervently. She laughed, seeing his expression. "Not now, you guys. Your chakra will burn a hole in the beams. And if the nursery comes down, you're going to have to camp out in the forest at night." A knock came at the door, leaving the kids with scared expressions. She opened it, to see Sasuke. "Hi, Sasuke. Umm... what a nice surprise?" She said, but she couldn't help herself. Chihiro thought that the nursery, out of all places, would be the last one that Sasuke-kun would ever step foot in.
"Don't mind me, I'm looking for something to do," he said, and shrugged.
"And that would be watching three kids run around and chase each other?" Chihiro asked quizzically. Usually, he would be out training, no matter what the weather. But why was he coming here? Behind her, she heard the three young ninjas cheer. She turned around and gave them a meaningful look. They grinned. She found Sasuke smiling as she turned back to him.
"I really do feel sorry for you. You should train a lot more than just taking care of them. Let Kabuto do it," Sasuke said in a surprisingly gentle voice.
"I can't. They won't listen to anyone else but me. And I'll train when I have the time," Chihiro said, and walked back to Eiji, Takara, and Akeno. "You guys go and play, okay?"
"But, Hiro-Chan...You promised to play with us..." Takara said, pouting. Chihiro smiled.
"Not now, okay? I'm gonna go train with Sasuke-kun," she said, bending down to receive the hug Takara was offering her.
"Don't lose to him!" said Eiji as Chihiro and Sasuke walked out.
He waited rather patiently in the cover of the forest as Chihiro gathered her chakra. He knew that she knew where he was, but he decided to stay there and wait. But he really wasn't that alert. She wouldn't need this much time to gather her chakra. She had great amounts of it. Great amounts that Sasuke would gain soon enough.
Meanwhile, Chihiro crept behind him, and used the Eight Trigrams One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms, catching him by surprise.
He felt her chakra signal appear behind him. It was minuscule, but he managed to keep track. It was too late for him to make a move. Sasuke felt her strike his chakra points. It grew, from two, to four, to eight, until he couldn't keep track anymore. He crumpled to the ground, fighting unconsciousness. It wasn't fair that she got to use her family bloodline jutsu. Next time, he would, too.
It wasn't long until he passed out.
He regained consciousness on ground under the grateful shade of a tree, with Chihiro leaning over him, tending to his wounds. He felt her wipe blood from his mouth and check his heart rate.
"Oh, good. You're awake. How do you feel? I'm sorry. I almost killed you. I'm so sorry," she rambled. He wanted to tell her so many things. That he couldn't be killed that easily, to actually congratulate her for beating him for the second time, and that he could recover and take care of himself. That was a bit of an understatement though. He felt like all he couldn't move, and it practically took all his energy to just remain conscious. All his limbs and muscles were practically frozen in place and all he could do was to let Chihiro keep taking care of him and keep breathing. She must've damaged him pretty hard. Of course. One Hundred Twenty-Eight Palms sealed his chakra twice and even the curse mark could barely break through. He fought desperately against the seal for a while, and let it take over his body. He felt a burning sensation in his body, as if everything was on fire. Then he fainted.
But all that came out was, "Uhhhggg…" He could practically see Chihiro's face panicking he felt gentle tugs on various parts of the body. She was working hard to not block the chakra points, but to unblock them. His leaden muscles lifted little by little, but in the end, Sasuke couldn't move at all. He did try however, but when he did, he just trembled, which made Chihiro lay a gentle but firm hand on his back to steady him.
Inside, though, Sasuke liked the care he received. No one but Risa gave him all their attention to him when he was hurt. Not even Kakashi-Sensei. Suddenly, a flood of memories came back as he thought of Team 7. Of course, they hadn't been the best friends or had the best teamwork, but they supported each other. And Naruto…his first best friend. They—and Risa—were the only things that made him regret coming here.
"How do you feel, Sasuke?" asked Chihiro, knocking him out of his thoughts. He just nodded, making it appear as normal as possible.
She grabbed his arm, making him sit up and lean against the tree. Sasuke groaned. Chihiro did a quick healing jutsu, and in a moment, all his cuts were no more. Chihiro stepped back as the curse mark spread once more and sent Sasuke into another spasm. His scream filled the air, and finally Kabuto decided to step in. he sent Chihiro a signal to bring him back. She picked Sasuke up and carried him like potato sack, his head resting on Chihiro's back. He was barely breathing and soon the curse mark would take over. She jumped from tree to tree, rushing to the front of Orochimaru's building.
"What happened?" Kabuto asked, his glasses reflecting off the light as he performed a complicated jutsu to make Sasuke's curse mark recede.
"I hit him with One hundred Twenty Eight Palms." He nodded grimly.
"Well, it'll take me awhile, but he'll be okay in time for the trip," Kabuto said with a sigh. Chihiro's insides flooded with relief. She walked back to her room, making sure one last time that everything was packed.
