Chapter 7 – Expect The Unexpected
"Please, Hiromi-san," Sakura sighed and resisted the urge to shut her eyes against the headache that was already beginning to throb painfully, "we must set off within the next ten minutes otherwise we'll be behind schedule."
But the man was shaking his head angrily, his dark, shoulder-length hair messy from sleep and in need of brushing. "Nonsense. I am paying you all handsomely, so I expect a proper wake up."
What did Hiromi mean by proper wake up? Oh, he only wanted a breakfast feast, a soak in the local onsen (to himself, might she add) and for somebody to come all the way to the inn just to style his hair for him. Honestly! The man needed to wake the hell up from whatever fantasy world he was living in. They were supposed to be moving fast to protect his life, yet there he sat, in his overly large bed, acting like this was one huge vacation.
Hiromi was a young man, according to the brief profile they'd glanced at. Twenty-eight years of age, born in the winter and currently on his second marriage. Apparently his first wife had died during childbirth. Don't get her wrong, because Sakura would've had more sympathy, it was just that he remarried less than a month later to the woman he'd been having an affair with. Allegedly, of course. Said woman raised his child as her own, loving the child as she would her own. According to the profile, she was unable to conceive. That made Hiromi seem a little better, in Sakura's eyes. Most men nowadays would have abandoned the woman if she couldn't give him children, especially a man who was the head of a clan and needed an heir.
Then again, Hiromi already had his heir.
"We don't have time for a proper wake up." argued Sakura quietly. "If we linger in one area for too long, it could make us vulnerable."
From the other side of the room, Sasuke took a deep breath to calm his agitation, whereas Naruto clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. They'd already been told to leave it to her, as Sakura knew they would use brute force to make Hiromi see things from their perspective.
"Then you will fight!" he snapped in return, glaring at her angrily. "I am paying you to–"
"To protect you. You are paying us to protect you," Sakura cut him off. When she spoke again, her eyes narrowed dangerously and her features were set into a serious expression, "You are not, however, paying us to die for you. I will not, and never will, risk the lives of my teammates for something as ridiculous and tedious as a 'proper wake up'."
"You–"
Finally having enough, Naruto stomped forward and gripped the man by his bed robes, lifting him out of the large, round bed. "Get up and get dressed. If you're not ready in five minutes, we're going back to Konoha."
Sasuke folded his arms over his chest. "And we will leave you here to find your own way."
Hiromi's fairly tanned face showed his disbelief, his anger. It was clear nobody had ever put their foot down with him before, which confirmed Naruto's suspicions the night before – he was a spoilt brat, one who was never told 'no'.
"Unhand me," demanded Hiromi and his face began to flush red with his anger. "Unhand me at once."
So Naruto did.
Onto the floor.
"You're not worth the lives of my teammates," Sasuke muttered darkly the second Hiromi shot to his feet and raised his hand, pointing at Naruto and about to explode with his rage. "And if you cause too much trouble, I'll kill you myself. Is that understood?"
But the man was shaking his head and by his sides, his fists clenched. "I am the patriarch of the–"
"And I'm one of two heirs to the Uchiha Clan." Dark eyes narrowed and his expression darkened. "If your selfishness gets me killed, you will have the entire Uchiha Clan on your ass. Don't even get me started if you get either of them," Sasuke gestured to Sakura and Naruto, "killed. You're looking at Yondaime Hokage's son. You're looking at the apprentice of Senju Tsunade. They're both people you don't want to get on the wrong side of, especially the latter."
Oh, he would know, Sakura inwardly smirked while folding her arms over her chest. More than once Sasuke had said the wrong thing to Tsunade and woken up a week later in the hospital, not sure what the hell had happened to put him in there. All he knew, was that it felt as though a mountain had collapsed on top of him. Everywhere hurt and because of her place in the hospital, Tsunade made it so Sasuke suffered longer than he usually would.
"It's the only way to teach the brat a lesson," she would say.
Silence.
Naruto raised an eyebrow, looking at the man cockily. "Get dressed. We're leaving in five minutes. We'll be waiting downstairs and if you're not there, we'll leave without you."
She didn't hesitate in following her teammates out of the room, leaving Hiromi to follow their orders.
Much to her happiness, Hiromi was ready and downstairs with twenty-four seconds to spare. There was also no complaining during the journey to the next inn they would be staying in, even though it was a seven hour walk.
To be fair to him, as he wasn't used to such prolonged periods of travelling, they took breaks whenever possible and took them for half an hour at a time. It allowed Hiromi to have something proper to eat, as well as take a break. To make sure he didn't become too exhausted or was in pain, Sakura made sure to pass him a nutritious bar every now and then, watching to make sure he ate it all. Usually it was only shinobi who ate them, as it restored their chakra, but it was possible for civilians to eat them, also. He couldn't use chakra. It just helped restore what little he had access to. All living things had chakra, after all. Shinobi merely knew how to use theirs, unlike civilians.
"Forgive us for this morning, Hiromi-san," Sakura murmured as they walked through the forest.
It was midday now and the temperature was rising quickly. For shinobi, it was bearable as they were made to adjust. They put up with worse. They'd be uncomfortable, sure, but they would deal with it and just hope it didn't get any worse. For a civilian, however, it would be more than just a little uncomfortable. It was why they kept stopping and refilling their water supplies. Hiromi was going through them all so quickly.
"I should cut the pay in half," he muttered in return, glaring ahead of himself and right into the backs of Naruto and Sasuke, who were quietly talking amongst themselves.
She sighed. It wouldn't be too much of a dent for Konoha, but it would make a slight difference. Plus, they didn't need anything bad happening with the chunin exams so close.
"I have never been treated so unfairly and rudely in my life," Hiromi went on to say.
Spoilt. The man was so, so spoilt. "And I'm truly sorry for being so rude to you," she told him earnestly, knowing that she would be the only one to try and smooth out their troubles before they went their separate ways. "It's just… This is our first major mission in a while and we don't want to mess it up."
His hazel eyes were outraged as they snapped to her green ones. "The Hokage sent me children? Inexperienced children?"
"No, not inexperienced children at all," argued Sakura. "We've been on several highly ranked missions. Our previous one… It ended badly. Until now, we…" She sighed. "I haven't been prepared to go on a high ranked mission. Anything above b-rank has been too much for me to handle."
Hiromi's eyes lost some of their harshness, though not entirely. It was obvious he was still pissed off, if not wary and unsure. She would be, too, if their positions were reversed. This man was putting his life in their hands, just like they were putting their lives on the line for him.
"During our last high ranked mission, I lost someone who was very dear to me," Sakura confided quietly in him. Looking up at the small gap between the trees, she watched the blue sky. "She was like a sister to me." Clearing her throat, she looked back to the client. "Since then, it's been difficult for me. I'm not going to lie to you to try and make you feel better. But at the same time, I'm not going to be easy on you and let you have your own way. Not when it involves the lives and the safety of my teammates." Green eyes pleaded with him, trying to share her pain. "I'm not ready to lose anyone else I care for, Hiromi-san. I probably never will be. But please… Don't make this more difficult than it needs to be. I promise to be as understanding as I can towards your needs, but in return, I ask that you do the same for us."
He sighed and nodded once. "I suppose if this mission is to be completed without a problem, we must support one another, correct?" Sakura nodded, offering him a small smile. "And if I wish to make it to the meeting point, fully intact and alive, I must do as you all say."
Again, Sakura nodded, though her smile dimmed. "I know it's not what you're used to. If I was in your position, I'd hate being ordered around, too."
There was no verbal reply, but he once again nodded, looking away.
She smiled to herself.
Now that the air was cleared between them, hopefully, things would run more smoothly.
But if that was the case, why wouldn't her stomach settle?
Sakura turned her head away from Hiromi and gritted her teeth. It was all because of the missing-nin. It was his fault. What the hell was he scaring her like that for? Did he get some kind of kick out of it? Creep! And the touching. He wasn't only calling her by her chosen name, without a suffix, but he was also touching her now. Sakura knew that she hadn't given him permission to call her by her chosen name, let alone touch her. Just who did he think he was? All the while, she didn't know his freaking name! Or what he looked like. How pathetic did that make her–
"Stop!"
Sasuke's barked order had Sakura instantly putting herself in front of Hiromi, who quickly looked around himself to try and see what the problem was. Thankfully, he was staying silent and Sakura liked to think that it was because of their short chat only moments before.
"What is it, Sasuke?" questioned Naruto, who came to stand at Hiromi's other side, tense and ready to protect the man.
"The other team."
Her breathing stopped as the other team came into view.
Why?
Because she should have listened to the missing-nin.
He was right.
As the other team came to a stop mere feet away from them, Sakura felt her heart plummet into her stomach.
What team was it?
Sabaku no Gaara's team.
She still had nightmares because of that guy. During the chunin exams, he'd ripped into and crushed Rock Lee like it was nothing, like it meant absolutely nothing. He didn't care about hurting others. Hell, according to Naruto and Sasuke, Gaara had wanted to kill them all.
The strange man may be a missing-nin, may be someone who made her uncomfortable, but Sakura would rather face him than Sabaku no Gaara. No, scratch that. She'd rather face Uchiha fucking Itachi than Gaara!
The other team stared them down either expectantly or emotionlessly, clearly not surprised in the least that they'd crossed paths. Had they planned for it to be that way? Behind the team of three stood a burly looking man, one who looked fairly similar to Hiromi but at the same time, completely different. Whereas Hiromi was currently panicking and looking around with wide eyes, Gaara's charge was standing still and silently. Expectantly, even. That was probably because he was being protected by a fucking psychopath.
"Uchiha."
Very faintly, Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Gaara."
His siblings, Temari and Kankuro, looked between each other in a way Sakura presumed was warily, but it was hard to tell with them. All Suna-nin were brought up much stricter than Konoha-nin and they all knew it. One mistake out in Suna and you were dead. It was as simple as that. Sakura swallowed hard.
Tilting his head to the side, yet never taking his eyes off of Sasuke, Gaara questioned, "Is this your enemy?"
The reply had her stomach twisting horribly. "It is."
For a brief second, a face flashed through her mind. It was a face covered, drenched, in blood and the expression was one of pain and terror. The memory had Sakura's insides turning to ice as pure fear shot up and down her spine. It couldn't happen again. That couldn't happen again.
It couldn't happen again.
As soon as Sakura saw the sand suddenly lashing out at Sasuke, she shot forward and swung her leg around, easily knocking it off its course with the help of her own chakra. It was a very close replica of how Gai had beaten the sand away from his student, Lee.
"Sakura-chan! Get out of here!"
No.
She refused to run away like a scared child.
It couldn't happen again.
She couldn't lose anybody else.
By his sides, Gaara's hands were twitching, as was his expression. From what Sakura could remember of the first chunin exams they had taken, that meant his blood lust was growing by the second. And considering how his siblings weren't standing by his side anymore and were instead behind him, keeping their client behind them, then that meant his blood lust was reaching dangerous heights and they wanted to stay out of his line of fire.
"Mission or no mission, I'm not letting you harm my teammates."
Gaara's upper lip curled. "Another weak and sentimental Konoha-nin who lives for love."
Her eyes moved to the kanji on his forehead. Love. If Gaara was so against love, why did he have it on his forehead?
"Sakura, get out–"
The sight of Gaara's eyes narrowing, of his siblings looking unsurely at one another, had Sasuke cutting himself off, wondering just what the hell Sakura was doing to make them act that way.
"I'm the apprentice of Senju Tsunade-sama," Sakura murmured, her fists clenching by her sides. "And I am not weak."
Those fists soon unclenched and raised, forming a hand seal they couldn't make out due to her back being to them. However, when her hands lowered once more, they were stunned to see strange, black markings covering her skin.
She smirked at Gaara, trying to remain calm despite her fear threatening to make her immobile. "Try all you want," Sakura tapped her forehead, her smirk widening, "but you can't kill me while this seal is activated."
And then the sand all but exploded out of his gourd.
Sakura was quick to dodge it, to duck and run around it, but it was much faster than she'd been anticipating. The sand was a lot quicker than it had been during the chunin exams, but that made sense, didn't it? Obviously, Gaara would have trained during the past few years. He would have improved.
But so had she.
Ignoring Sasuke's order for her to get back, ignoring Naruto's yells of her name when Temari suddenly grabbed her fan and swung it, she stood still and prepared herself.
It was their turn to watch her back.
Gritting her teeth, Sakura sent chakra throughout her entire body and shut her eyes, fighting against the impossibly strong gust of wind that threatened to slice her body into pieces. It would have done, had it not been for the regeneration jutsu.
And then she was charging forward and smashing her way through the sand, using her recently gained speed to try her best to keep up with it. Much to her surprise, however, it wasn't only Gaara fighting. His siblings were getting involved, though they certainly hadn't done so the last time they'd crossed paths. Had they come to an understanding?
Puppets surrounded her, the sight of them making her brow tick with annoyance. Not even a second later and Sakura leapt into the air, only to come back down with her fist aiming straight for the ground. At the sight of the move, Naruto quickly grabbed Hiromi and fled, running to a place where they wouldn't be hit by the destruction and at the same time, Temari did the same for their own client, though not before showing her genuine shock at Sakura's new strength.
"Shannaro!"
All puppets were caught in the destruction, much to her delight.
Standing up straight, Sakura narrowed her eyes on Gaara. The puppets had been taken care of and Temari was now stuck with the client. That left Gaara.
"You have improved," muttered Gaara and not so faintly, his left eye twitched. "But by how much?"
The ground beneath her disappeared, shifting suddenly into sand and Sakura just barely stopped herself from instinctively screaming with fright. She was saved from being sucked into the sand by her less talkative teammate, who was glaring viciously down at Gaara with his sharingan activated as they leapt over him, soon landing behind Gaara onto a patch of unbroken land. The redhead spun to face them, eyes wild with his blood lust, which only continued to grow as it became obvious Sasuke was now involving himself in the battle.
"You should know better than to be so reckless, Sakura," he snapped without looking at her.
Not for the first time, Ino's face flashed in her mind, showing her disapproval.
"I can heal myself," she tried to defend herself, but it was a weak attempt. "You can't."
"That's why you're here," Sasuke argued. "That's why you worked so hard to learn all that you possibly can. So you can heal us."
He was right. Sakura knew he was right. However, there was only so much she could do without Tsunade by her side, guiding her. Should Sasuke be injured in the same way as Rock Lee had been, she would be completely useless and stuck for what to do. If it happened to herself, however, the regeneration jutsu would heal her of all wounds.
"Dodge," Sasuke ordered just as she'd been about to say something.
And the battle resumed.
Sakura wasn't sure how long they spent dodging the relentless sand, waiting for a moment where they could find an opening to attack. There was none. The sand just kept coming at them, never giving up for a second and never losing any of its power or speed.
But then Sasuke was turning quickly to face Naruto and Hiromi, his red and black eyes widening a second before Hiromi was turning on the blond.
In the exact same moment, Kankuro was yelling Temari's name as the same happened to her.
"Do you hear that?"
The team of three came to a halt in their walk, simultaneously glancing over in the direction of north just as the ground started to rumble.
"A battle, more than likely," the only woman of the team murmured.
Sighing, the first man who had spoken turned fully towards the racket. Whatever it was, it sounded serious. "They could need our help."
But the second man merely shook his head, his red hair swaying in the breeze as he did so. "It is not our place, Yahiko."
No, it wasn't and usually, Yahiko wouldn't be affected by the sounds of battle. Right now, however, there was a twisting sensation in his gut, one that was warning him of something bad. That exact same feeling had plagued him just before his parents' untimely deaths.
"I want to check it out," Yahiko informed his teammates.
They were more like siblings rather than teammates. Well, he and Nagato were. Nagato and Konan, too. It would be wrong to say that the love between himself and Konan was a sibling kind of love, because it most definitely was not. At least he didn't think it was. Things were still a little uncertain in that area and had yet to be fully thought about and discussed. Right now, they had a bigger picture to try and help create. Thankfully, Konan understood that. She'd always been understanding when it came to him. And, just like he'd been thinking, all Konan needed to do was look at his face before nodding once in agreement.
Just as she did, there was another shaking of the ground.
They set out not even a second later.
"Ah…"
Ah, indeed. Yahiko looked down at the sight before them, trying his best to mask his uncertainty. Even after all these years of being the captain of their team, he had yet to get used to being in charge. Making difficult decisions often haunted him. No, they always haunted him, especially if there were consequences or something went wrong.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Konan breathed, eyes widening a fraction and after a moment, her hand fell to the trunk of the tree as she leaned forward ever so slightly, like she was trying to get a better look. "Our sibling disciple."
They had only met the boy once, Yahiko recalled. At the time he'd been travelling with their sensei, Jiraiya, and during their travels, they'd paid a visit to the trio. It had been nice seeing Jiraiya, a lot nicer than keeping in touch over short letters and seeing that he was passing on his wisdom, teaching more shinobi about why they should bring peace to the world…
As always, Jiraiya inspired Yahiko.
"He's grown," commented their third teammate, Nagato.
"A lot." A soft smile curved Konan's lips. "He's looking more and more like his father."
Yes, he was. It was almost startling.
But right at that moment in time, their attention was not on Naruto – not completely and especially not when the pink haired girl caused the ground to split open completely during an attack against another redhead.
Nagato frowned minutely. "Aren't Konoha and Suna supposed to have a treaty?"
By his side, the blue haired woman nodded once and shoved away her happiness of seeing Naruto, her now-impassive eyes staring on at the battle. "It seems the treaty doesn't matter to these children."
Yahiko gritted his teeth. No, of course it didn't. It wasn't their precious villages that were torn to shreds during their wars, which was what was going to happen if those brats didn't get a hold of themselves. They couldn't care less about the suffering that went on because of them.
Once the destruction settled down, Yahiko immediately recognised the redhead with the gourd. If he was not mistaken, then he was the Yondaime Kazekage's youngest son, meaning the other two with him were his siblings. In other words…
"The Ichibi," Yahiko muttered under his breath.
Konan looked over to Naruto, who was now protecting a man. Most likely a client for whatever mission they were on. "And the Kyuubi."
Dread settled over them all.
"We should intervene–" Nagato tried to say, only to be cut off.
"Those are not Jiraiya-sensei's orders," the leader of the three murmured in reply. "We are to watch from the shadows and protect the jinchūriki, but only if we happen to cross paths with him. Nothing more. You both know this as well as I."
Despite saying this, despite trying to look strong and unmoving, Yahiko couldn't help but swallow the bile rising up his throat. Should a fight break out between the two of them, it could be catastrophic. Things could become so much worse if their beasts were released, too. So far, the Ichibi's jinchūriki seemed to be in control, but how long would that last? Jiraiya was the one who tightened and loosened the seal on Naruto's stomach, he recalled vaguely. Their sensei would not take any risks in leaving it weakened, would he? No, no he wouldn't. At least, Yahiko hoped not.
Forget it just being their village trampled on. So many other villages could be destroyed.
So many lives could be lost.
And then all of their breathing stopped when the two clients turned on the teams protecting them, forcing them to stand closer together. The blonde girl, the Ichibi's jinchūriki's sister, was now sporting a laceration to the forehead as well as her side. Credit was due, though. She barely even winced. Naruto, on the other hand…
"Yahiko–"
"Wait," he ordered, never looking away from the two teams who now seemed to be held captive. "Do not underestimate these shinobi, Nagato. You are looking at not only one, but two jinchūriki, along with an Uchiha. Jiraiya-sensei's teammate, Tsunade-sama's disciple is also there."
Frowning minutely, Konan listened intently on what was happening a second before her eyes widened. Out of them all, she'd always been the best at lip reading. More often than not, Yahiko got the wrong end of the stick and made a fool of himself one way or another.
"They're after the Ichibi and Kyuubi."
The pink haired girl was snapping something at the man, seeming incredibly pissed, all the while keeping a tight hold of Naruto's arm, keeping him by her side. No matter what, she would protect him with her life. That much was obvious. As for the Uchiha, it seemed he was more reserved in his response to their client's words, but he was still pissed.
As for the other team… Both of the jinchūriki's siblings were standing in front of him, though spaced out. Why? Was it because of his sand? According to what he'd been told and what he'd heard, Yahiko knew that the redhead had difficulty controlling his sand, that it came to his defence without his permission. Would it lash out at his own siblings?
One of the men took a step forward.
Konan gritted her teeth.
Yahiko's eyes narrowed.
Nagato disappeared, barely even finishing his sudden, rushed sentence.
"I'm sorry, Yahiko, but I have to disobey you."
She couldn't believe what was happening.
It was a set up. It was all a set up.
Keeping a tight hold of Naruto, Sakura took a step closer to him. If they wanted him, then they were going to have to go through her first and with her seal still activated, with her jutsu still activated, they were going to have a tough time doing so. Sasuke was in front of them both and Sakura could only guess as to what his expression would be like. Pissed, yet aloof. Distant, yet protective.
Beside them stood Gaara and his team.
Temari caught her eye.
With a single look, it was like they exchanged thoughts, because they both suddenly nodded once at one another, silently calling a truce. They had more important things to worry about right now, such as the lives of the boys they cared for. For Temari, it was her youngest brother. For Sakura, it was for the boy who was like a brother. Even though it made her uneasy siding with someone like Sabaku no Gaara…
They were in the exact same position.
The two bastards opposite them had waited until they were seemingly weakened, had waited until they were separated before attacking.
Why?
"Why?" Sakura demanded.
Hiromi's eyes narrowed. "We want the Ichibi." His eyes slid to Naruto's. "And the Kyuubi."
Bastard!
"Like hell," Temari snarled in return, clutching her fan tightly. "We'll die before you take our little brother."
Gaara's eyes narrowed fractionally and had her mind not been on other things, Sakura would've gasped at the confusion that flitted over his features.
"That can be arranged." The man who'd been their client smirked nastily and took a step forward, raising his hands.
But just as he did, somebody intervened.
There was a flash of red hair and pale skin.
"Shinra Tensei!"
A/N - Okay, so I can't really say it's a short chapter, because compared to the others, I'm pretty certain it's longer. All I wanted to say was that it may be a while before I next update, due to the fact that I have a couple of exams coming up as well as several assignments that need completing and handing in. I need to give them all my full attention, so sadly (and reluctantly), I'm putting fanfiction to the back for now. Hopefully, it won't be for too long, though.
Hope you all enjoyed!
