Oooh! I've just got a look at the Naruto gaiden (700+1 (as its listed)) and I've gotta say, Sasuke seems like even more of a dick because of what I'm assuming about Sarada's, ah, heritage shall we say, to be quite different than it's implied. Though I must admit, I feel like Saku has been lying about her relationship with Sasuke because it would make (Sarada) feel better about her "dad" (he's not a dad if he's not present for anything about her life, muthafucker) if the relationship was no more than Sasuke making a demand on Sakura and using her compassionate nature against her to look-after the child he didn't want/couldn't support… besides if Sasuke just up and left for twelve years (what mission takes that long in the peacetime post war?) but somehow he could be bothered to just get randomly married to Sakura, get her pregnant and leave immediately just doesn't quite add up to me. Also, where are you for support, Kakashi? :p (Sorry if this sounds really confusing but I don't want to give it all away if you haven't had a chance to read it yet… it's on mangastream!)
A Nameless Fear
Chapter 7: Movement
"How long do you think it will take for them to notice the scroll's a fake?" Sakura asked as she adjusted the pack on her back,
"Depends on how long it takes them to analyse each acquisition, which, considering how ferociously they've been conducting these missions, it might take a little while, still, it's better for you to be away from here incase they decide to retaliate. You still have it?"
"Hai, Shion-sama, it's carefully hidden. Thank you for letting me stay here; I really hope I'll be able to send you word of a good outcome soon,"
"Don't rush, Sakura-san, there are many pieces which need to fall into place before your plan can become a success; move with great caution and follow the map as I have instructed you. If all else fails at this time, it is better for you to survive to carry on the fight later than for everything good to be lost and for evil men to prosper," Shion's words were cold, but honest and without aggression; Sakura bowed low to her,
"I understand, Shion-sama thank you for everything you've done for me and for Konoha." She slipped quietly from the temple and set off north as fast as she was able, silently praying Kakashi would be able to respond to her earlier communications before she made it to Kaminari territory. Lightning Country had never been comfortable allies with Konoha and if she dared to infiltrate without already knowing exactly what answers she was looking for and where to go, things could get away from her and she'd have no chance at all of saving Konoha.
Still, she couldn't help a slight twinge of disappointment that she had no support and that Kakashi was still so far away from her.
…
Kakashi had awoken very late the next day ravenously hungry; his chakra was slowly on the mend though he felt as if he hadn't eaten in months. Aware that he needed to speak with Naruto as quickly as possible, assuming he hadn't already left the village, Kakashi dressed himself and hurried to Ichiraku: one of the restaurants that had survived, Naruto's infamous hunger and borderline obsession with ramen had made sure of that. Kakashi was soon at the stand and had already devoured two bowls of ramen before Naruto showed up,
"Kakashi! You're back! I was gonna ask you how well your last mission went but you were sent out again before I got the chance haha, so how'd they both go?"
"Pretty well, I mean the last mission was a failure, but it happens sometimes,"
"What?" Naruto almost yelled, "When have you ever failed a mission? That's gotta really screw up your averages, right?" He laughed genially,
"Well, it has been known to happen… though there is something I want to talk to you about, but here isn't the right place, it's about Kurama," Kakashi's voice had dipped so low it was almost inaudible but Naruto had (thankfully) learned how to catch on to Kakashi's more subtle hints over the past year.
"Oh! Ah…"
"Just think about it, come and see me later at my place if you have to, I might not be married, but I think I can still help you out," He spoke with a genial, almost idiotic grin as his voice returned to it's more usual timbre;
"Uh, oh… well…" Naruto stumbled over his words, clearly confused by what Kakashi meant, though smart enough not to blow it,
"Good, come over for about seven." Kakashi stated as he laid down a few bills for his ramen, Teuchi smiled at him and he wandered away; the sun was bright but the air was still chilly, a handful of people were out and about and among these were Lee and a young woman, slowly ambling up the street.
"Ah! Kakashi-sama," Lee cheerfully greeted him,
"Good afternoon, Lee and ah..?"
"Oh, I'm Kiyomi, pleased to meet you, Hatake-san," She bowed politely,
"Have you just returned from your latest mission?" Lee asked,
"I did yesterday, though I'm just taking a stroll, are you guys on a date?" He asked cheekily, amused by Lee's immediate blush, though Kiyomi, it seemed, was not easily riled,
"Well, no, we were just going to do some training,"
"Ah, are you shinobi, Kiyomi-san?"
"Well, no, actually, but I'm really into fitness," She smiled; Kakashi mirrored her as he couldn't help but think what a good match they made, without Gai, Lee had definitely mourned having someone to challenge him to greater physical accomplishments.
"Well then, enjoy yourselves,"
"Thank you for your encouragement, Kakashi-sama!" Lee grinned and they continued on their way; Kakashi himself meandered back to his apartment as his mind returned to the chakra tag he has seized from Temari, would it only remain a threat to anyone so long as Maki was still alive? Would the range of the tag have any impact? It looked identical to the only Maki had used — and ones he'd seen her use in the past — yet it was Temari who'd fired them; were they something Maki could make and allow to be used by anyone? More importantly, would it be something Kakashi could use strategically on Sasuke?
Naruto had turned up a fair bit earlier than Kakashi had hoped for, but it was more important that he was present at all;
"So, so?" The Uzumaki clucked as soon as the door was closed,
"So," Kakashi cut off, "You're here to tell me everything you remember about when ROOT severed your connection to Kurama, tell me everything, anything could be vitally important,"
"But why now?"
"Please Naruto?" Kakashi wasn't quite ready to tell him about Sakura yet, as much as Naruto had grown up in recent years, he was still a bit of a loose cannon and telling him news that his beloved teammate had actually survived might be a bit too much for him to keep under wraps.
"Uh…well I was just back off that really long mission you'd sent me on and they stopped me before I'd even gotten through the gates, I wasn't really sure why, but before I knew it they were leading me, I think, towards the interrogation wing and stabbed me with some needle or something," Naruto's eyes narrowed slightly as he struggled to recall, "I don't really remember going into the building but I remember waking up on some weird table with a few ROOT members stood over me, my seal had shown up on my stomach and they were pouring their chakra into me, I tried to ask Kurama for his chakra, but he was so far away, it was like I couldn't find the place where he normally sleeps,"
It sounded a little bit confusing to Kakashi, but he guessed Naruto was talking about the partition Minato had made within his son when sealing the Kyuubi's chakra.
"It really hurt, and when I was inside that place I could see their chakra blocking up the bars of Kurama's cell, like they were boarding it up or something,"
"Can you feel any of his chakra at all?"
"Kinda, when I separated his chakra from his bad feelings, with my mother's chakra chains, it was like that chakra was separate into a different place where Kurama couldn't take it back. During the war though, when Kurama and the other eight all merged within me it cancelled that, though Kurama never attempted to take my chakra whenever I used his, so it wasn't a big deal. But without any more of my mother's specialised chakra, I don't know how to break down the charka barrier,"
"Hmm… what happens if you try to draw or access Kurama's chakra? Does nothing happen or does it hurt?"
"Uh, well, nothing happens, if I try too hard, I just end up drawing on my own chakra,"
"Naruto, I want you to spend as much time as you can practicing on trying to either disrupt the barrier placed within you, or trying to communicate with Kurama in any way, in the way you were able during the war,"
"I will,"
"Keep as quiet as you can about this, I'll need you up to full strength as swiftly as you can manage,"
"A-are we really going to—"
"Yes, but this must be as quiet as possible, if anyone suspects we are so much as talking about it, then we'll have all our options stollen from us,"
"I know… I won't give up until I've gotten through to Kurama," Good old, determined Naruto was back, his expression adamant,
"Excellent, if you learn anything new let me know as soon as you can, we'll start meeting a few days a week for ramen, so it won't look suspicious,"
"Alright!" If you wanted Naruto to cooperate, involve ramen.
"We'll start of by meeting for dinner tomorrow night, unless you have a mission?"
"Nah, don't think so,"
"Good - if you can, get Shikamaru to join us,"
"Shikamaru?"
"I need to ask him a few questions,"
"O-okay, no problem! See ya then, Kakashi!" He offered a hearty grin and was gone. Kakashi sighed as he sat down at his desk and withdrew a sheet of paper,
Yujin,
I was going to send you another batch of the shop owner's buns, but it seems as if his recipe has changed; they really tasted weak, not like his usual style at all. I know how much you like them, I really didn't want to send you an inferior batch, I really thought it would ruin your day. He reckons that someone has tampered with his mixture by adding random ingredients and so the whole batch is ruined, he's doing his best to try and fix it, since it's a month's worth, but he's struggling to sift through it all and remove the contaminants. I'm really sorry this parcel is a lot less than you were hoping for.
He's working hard to be back to business soon.
Your Old Friend.
Also, is it just me, or did it sound like Sarada doesn't really want to become a shinobi? . LOL can just imagine Sasuke's eye twitch when she can use her sharingan but doesn't bother for anything important/shinobi related despite have super powerful eyes she just uses them for trivial things… like fucking over Sasuke (hopefully).
Sort of spoilers but: Is Sasuke left twelve years ago, surely that would be when he left right after the fourth war, right? So when did this wedding/sex happen? NEVER That's when! (Sorry, but SasuSaku really makes me sick to my stomach)
