Chapter 9
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"We have yet to figure out the reason for the attack. I don't know why but it seems like the Sound and Rain villages have combined forces with each other. We don't know their motives but until then we have to keep our village under close guard." Tsunade eyed each individual in the room with a stern look. I pushed my pink hair behind my ears and sighed.
Everyone was tired. The damage done to the village was extensive and it still has not been fully repaired. Not only that but there people left without homes, children without parents and parents without children. The whole situation was like something I only thought I'd see in movies but now it was reality. Looking around to the room full of ninja's I could clearly make out Kakashi, who was standing with the other Anbu's at the far end of the room. Shikamaru was slouched lazily in his chair, Sasuke was glaring at some Jonin who kept fidgeting under his gaze and I could see Naruto. I took a second glance. The idiot was actually sleeping and he had a bubble in his nose that kept getting bigger in size when he exhaled and smaller when he inhaled. Gross!
"Everyone dismissed. You may proceed with the reconstructing and cleaning up of the village." I turned my head forward quickly when she dismissed us, I practically missed half of what she said. I stood up and made to follow the others who were heading outside to do their tasks.
"Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Tenten, Hinata, Sai! Please stay back. I have a special task for you seven at hand."
I turned around and looked at Tsunade. What did she mean by that? We all walked up to the first row of seats and sat down. I watched curiously as Tsunade turned around and then turned back to face us, dropping a large file document that landed on the desk. BAM!
"What the hell is that? A telephone directory?" Naruto's outburst was followed by a small giggle from Hinata. "Shut up, Naruto!" Tsunade barked. The said boy lowered in his seat afraid of the older woman's wrath.
"Now, I have a mission to assign to all of you. Including you Sasuke, this is important so we need all the strong ninja's we can get." Tsunade paused to eye Sasuke before proceeding.
"Early this morning we came across a startling discovery, one that we cannot reveal to the people of the village until we have assessed and figured out the situation properly." Tsunade eyed each individual in the room.
"The sacred scroll of the village has been stolen."
Naruto flew up out of his chair with wide eyes. "No Way!"
Everyone was just as shocked as he was. That scroll contained everything about the Konoha. It has background, status, skills and birth and location information on every one who resided in the village even those who weren't ninja's. That was only ¼ of the contents of the scroll. All Konoha's battle strategies, plans, and weakness were also contained in the scroll.
"I can't believe they stole the scroll with the sacred ramen recipe! That's . . . that's inhuman! There's no hope for the village now. How will we ever make it?" I ran both my hands through my hair that was stringy from a lack of good grooming. Naruto could not be so clueless could he?
"Dumb ass." Sasuke and Neji spoke in unison.
"Naruto, The sacred scroll does not contain anything about Ramen. It contains vital information about everyone in this village." Naruto scratched his head at the piece of information Tsunade just revealed to him. "That's it?"
Tsunade gritted her teeth. "Yes."
Naruto scrunched up his face. "I thought it was something important."
"Sit down you fool." I could hear that Neji was getting impatient. Naruto's face got red and his cheeks puffed out. "Don't tell me to sit down! I will sit down when I want to sit! No one can tell me what to do!"
Neji's Byakugan came into play, "Come again?"
"I'm gonna sit down now. Not because you told me to but because I don't wanna hurt you." I shook my head at Naruto's feeble attempt to be brave but I'm sure everyone could that the poor guy was afraid of the Byakugan wielder. I looked at Tsunade to see that she had a vein protruding at her temple. I grimaced; I sure hope Naruto wouldn't cause another outburst.
"Any way, we believe that this was their main objective behind the surprise attack. While the village was in a panic frenzy and we were fighting them off someone managed to sneak pass the barriers set up and steal the scroll. Whoever has that scroll; if they are able to break the seal will know everything about this village and use it against us. We are in a very vulnerable position."
"So does that mean we are in some sort of trouble?" Naruto asked Tsunade. She closed her eyes momentarily. "Naruto, y yes we a are in trouble. Without t the s sacred scroll. . . we . . .uh" Hinata fumbled for the right word to use.
"We're dead." I shook my head at Sasuke's choice of words. He sure has a nice way of putting things.
"So what is it you want us to do?" I asked Tsunade curiously.
"Yesterday I sent a two spies to keep track of the sound and rain's movement incase they tried anything suspicious. They were supposed to return late last night so we sent a search squad out to look for them early this morning. They were found on the outskirts of the rain village dead."
"They killed them?" Surprise and disgust was evident in Tenten's voice. "What did Konoha ever do to them?"
"That I can't answer but this A rank mission I have assigned you will answer that question and probably all the others."
"Oh YEAH! Finally an A rank mission." Naruto jumped in the air while turning his body in angles I didn't even think was possible.
"Sit down you fool!" Tsunade's voice rang loudly and threateningly through the room and the blonde boy instantly quieted and took his seat. "This mission is very important and we have no rooms for mistakes. It may take two weeks or even up to two months. Now,I want you to listen and listen closely."
The mission seemed like a simple one. We sneak into the Rain village without getting caught and find out their plans against our village and get back the sacred scroll. It seemed simple but it wasn't. The Rain village heightened their security and reinforcements for any surprise attack since their attack on the leaf village was a failure.
We all stood by the gates of Konoha. The journey to the Rain village would take about one day. We didn't plan to stop and camp out because Tsunade informed us that the rain ninja's were also all outside their village keeping a lookout for any unwanted visitors so it wouldn't be wise to make a stop. As an extra precaution we all bear the rain headband which we took from the dead rain ninja's bodies. We didn't want to take any chances that might risk the mission and our lives.
"Where is Naruto?" Tenten looked down the road leading to the village impatiently. "Oh! Here he comes."
We all looked to see Naruto running like crazy, his jacket unzipped and his hair wild and untamed. He had his duffel bag in one hand and the rain headband was slowly falling off his head. He jerked to a stop when he reached us and grinned, "Sorry! I fell asleep."
I shook my head. "Idiot." I said fixing his jacket and zipping it up for him. Hinata secured Naruto's headband properly so it wasn't falling off anymore. I stepped back and looked at him, except for his hair he looked way more presentable than he did before. "Thanks Sakura. Thanks Hinata."
I nodded and turned to the others signaling we were ready to go. Neji, Sasuke and Sai leaned off from the gate and took their duffel bags up. Tenten followed suit. I smiled when I saw that Neji made sure Tenten was at his side before he went any further. Maybe there was something there. Neji looked back at me, Naruto and Hinata. "Let's head out."
..........…...........
"Are you kidding me? We haven't been in this stinking forests for ten minutes and we've already almost been attacked from blood hungry rain freaks!" Tenten said aggravated.
Luckily when they saw our headbands they didn't attack us though they did question us suspiciously. We managed to answer them without revealing anything that might blow our cover.
"They are all over the forest. We can't avoid them." Neji said his Byakugan in play. I groaned inwardly. "Great! We're probably going to be interviewed every few miles."
Neji nodded. I looked at across Sai. He and Naruto, I could tell was having a silent war. Sai probably insulted him or something. I stopped walking when I felt the familiar tingling sensation that alerted me someone was approaching.
"Someone's coming."
Everyone stopped in their tracks.
"Sound nin." Sasuke spoke low but loud enough for everyone to hear. Sai looked at Sasuke confused and kind of suspicious. "How do you know?"
Sasuke turned and glared at Sai. "I just do."
"Well this shouldn't be a problem. Sound is working with the rain. Just act like we did with the others and it shouldn't be a problem." Neji voiced with reason.
Everyone nodded and continued walking. Soon the sound nin approached us. "Who are you guys?" he said eyeing our headbands. "Aren't you suppose to be guarding the forests?" he looked at us critically. "I've never seen you guys before."
"We were guarding the inside of the village but we got word from our colleagues guarding the outskirts that they ran into a little trouble and they need our help." Neji lied smoothly.
The man tensed up a bit. "What kind of trouble?"
"Nothing we can't take care of. We also got another distress call from the east of the forest. It seems that they too have ran into a bit of trouble but we can't afford to split up, it's too dangerous. I suggest you go and aid them, we can't afford anymore setbacks."
Sasuke also replied smoothly. I looked back and forth from Neji to Sasuke. Where did that come from? They both aren't so different now that I think of it. Both seemed to have a very smart and creative mind or maybe they were just good liars. The sound nin seemed to be having an internal battle on whether or not we should be trusted. "Ok. Just don't get killed out there. Now that Konoha has discovered that their sacred scroll is gone we don't know what extreme measures they will take to retrieve it. We can't afford to lose anymore shinobi. We lost over a hundred in the battle. . . I don't know how but we can't make it happen again."
After a nod the shinobi walked off and disappeared within the trees of the forest. "That was close. Teme. . . You and Neji are really good at making stuff up."
We all proceeded to the rain village. If my calculations are correct we'd be there in no less than three hours.
"A little too good." Tenten narrowed her suspiciously at Neji and Sasuke.
"I wonder what else you lie about? You both seem to be very experienced liars. Not even I could fabricate something like that in practically one second." Sai sounded curious. "Tell me something. Do you practice lying or does it come naturally from doing it on a daily basis?"
Sasuke and Neji stopped dead in their tracks. They turned around to face Sai who was quiet up until now. I had even forgotten he was here. Naruto gulp nervously and Hinata's eyes shifted from the pair that was radiating a very dangerous aura to Sai. Tenten looked on in interest. I sighed inwardly, Sai just didn't know when to keep his mouth shut. It was bad enough to aggravated Neji, and it was bad enough to aggravated Sasuke but he manage to do the impossible. He had to take the extra mile. He aggravated them BOTH.
"Sakura, t this isn't g good!" Hinata stuttered in terror beside me. "M maybe we should s stop t them. . ."
I turned to look at Hinata as if she was crazy. I stepped back and put out my hand in a gesture that said 'go right ahead' and I looked towards the two eerily dark boys. " Be my guest. I'll just watch from a distance."
Hinata retreated further behind me and looked at Naruto for help who avoided her gaze nervously. Suddenly he was on his knees, "Please Hinata don't make me do it. Can't you see? Look at them they're animals. I don't wanna die." I felt so bad for the poor blonde.
"If I hear any other comments from you I will squeeze your eyes out your head, rip out your balls and put them in place of your eyes." A chill ran down my eyes after I had a visual picture of Sasuke's threat to the artist. I looked to my right to see the blood drain out of Naruto's face.
"But then I won't be able to see."
Tenten slapped her head. "Sai you Dumbass!"
Neji pinned Sai with a harsh and cold glare. " You don't understand do you? I do not think you wish to experience a pain so painful it would hardly come across as pain."
Byakugan and Sharingan came into play. It seemed like the two heartthrobs didn't like to be called liars.
"Uh sorry." Sai apologized once he literally saw the graveness of the situation before his eyes. To have two master wielder's of the Sharingan and Byakugan threaten to use it on you at the same time to inflict something far greater than pain was not something anyone wanted to experience. After both boys were satisfied that they made their point they turned back around.
"Let's go." they spoke in unison. Naruto looked at Sai sympathetically. "Dude. You almost got killed." I rolled my eyes as Naruto exhaled dramatically. "I actually felt sorry for you and I hate you."
Tenten laughed aloud when she noticed Sai kept quiet. "He's not speaking. He's probably in shock after his near death experience."
"Don't worry with them Sai, I'm sure they won't going to hurt you." Even I didn't even believe what I was saying.
By evening we were approaching the gates to the Rain village. As we entered all eyes were on us but after they saw our headbands they looked away though some eyes lingered and trailed after us. "Wow, they really are on the alert!"
I nodded to Tenten.
"Yeah. Maybe they suspect-"
SLAP!
I stood still as what just happened sunk into my head. I saw Naruto's eyes widened in anger and Hinata's eyes were also wide. I slowly turned around with barely concealed anger. I turned to see a grinning civilian with a toothpick between his gap tooth. His eyes were a sort of yellowish color and he looked downright hideous. Did he just slap me on my butt? Anger radiated off from me in dangerous waves as I watched the man in fury. By god I am so pissed, I couldn't even hit him back without catching the attention of the already suspicious and alert village. I gritted my teeth.
"What the hell was that you ugly, stinking yellow eyed freak! You think you can just go around slapping people on their butt's?" Tenten voiced her anger while I was struggling not to pummel the man so far down in the ground he'd probably reach hell.
"Sad excuse of a man." Neji voice was calm and had a little menacing undertone to it. I knew Neji hated men who treated women like crap. He considered them beneath dirt.
"Hmph! Spit heat!" Naruto insulted the man.
"Let's go, now!" I could feel Sasuke's barely containable anger. I closed my eyes and little by little my anger slowly dissipate. I scowled at the man before I turned on my heels and followed everyone. Naruto walked on the opposite side of Sasuke as if he too could feel the dark aura radiating from the Uchiha.
"Ahhh! Fire! I'm on fire. . . Help! I'm burning!"
We all spun around to see the same man hopping and jumping around crazily. The man dropped to the ground and rolled and swatted furiously around him and on is clothes which was soaking wet in sweat. "What the heck?" Tenten raised a brow at the lunatic. "It seems he's hallucinating." Sai said his voice dull and slightly intrigued. We all spun around when we heard Sasuke's dark chuckle. Sasuke's eyes followed the man's movement and his mouth was upturned in a smirk.
"Whoa dude! What did you do?" Naruto asked Sasuke between hysterical laughs. "Nothing he doesn't deserve."
Well I can't say I blame him, the guy did deserve it. Pervert. There were some people gathered around him trying to reassure him that there was no fire but we all knew better. "I thought you took that a little too well." Neji grinned knowing that there was no way Sasuke would have just let that man go unpunished.
We all proceeded to the inn were we were to stay. I couldn't wait to get there. I feel like I am literally dying from hunger. The guys walked ahead of us paying no attention to anyone watching them or their surroundings. I knew they couldn't care less about the village but I had to admit it was really beautiful. First of all it was really. . . Green. Everything was just extra healthy looking. The flowers were bright, colorful, radiant, the trees and plants looked extremely beautiful. I guess it's because they get a lot of rain, I mean this is the rain village. I turned my head when I felt Tenten inch up closer to me, "Is it just me or is everything here really . . . Green?" I giggled at Tenten's suspicious looks at the grass and trees. " It's not a crime to have green grass you know." Tenten snorted.
"I know. I just don't like this village. People stare a lot. I just wish I could pick out their eyeballs." I covered my mouth with my hands and giggled. Hinata who was trailing closely behind us giggled. Soon we were all having a laughing fit for practically no reason.
Thump! Tenten and I bounced back after we hit something solid and Hinata bounced off Tenten's back. I rubbed my head and looked up. Sasuke, Neji, Naruto and Sai stood facing us.
"What?" I asked looking at them weirdly.
"Are you guys alright?" Naruto asked us his eyes watching each of us curiously. "Yeah. We're fine. What's wrong with you?" Tenten asked grumpily rubbing her chin. The pain in my head was starting to subside.
"Have you been listening to anything we've said?" Sasuke pinned each of us with a glare. Wait. They were speaking with us? Since when? I glanced at Tenten who in turn was looking at me and Hinata confused. I swallowed and tried to think up something. "Well duh! Of course we were listening to you. We heard everything you said."
Sasuke eyed me critically. "What did I say?"
I nervously tugged at my blouse. "What did you say? Well ah. . . Tenten! Tell him what he said." The said girl squeaked in surprise. "Me?"
"Yeah. We were just discussing what he said. Don't you remember. . The stuff he said."
"Oh yeah! T the s stuff he was peaking of. Yeah, what of it?" Tenten stuttered like Hinata. "Both of you are horrible liars." Neji said not believing a word the girls spoke. "Well we can't help that we are not professionals like some people." Tenten pointed out smartly. Neji sighed. "Tomorrow we'll sneak into the main console office and try to find the scroll.
The building is always heavily guarded. They don't even let in their own people so we'll have to be extra careful. We can't afford to get caught. As far as I've seen they don't hesitate to take out their enemy. " We all nodded. We started to climb the stairs of the modest inn were we were to stay. We headed to the receptionist at the desk.
Tsunade made a reservation for us so we collected our keys to the two rooms. The girls would stay in one room and the boys in the other. The inn was surprisingly neat and well kept. It seemed Tsunade didn't cut cheap like she always did. We climbed the stairs to the second floor and proceeded down the grand hallway were there were doors going straight down with the room numbers on them. "Hinata. What room do we have?"
"256"
"We have 257" Naruto smiled. "Yay we're close by. Say, maybe I could pay you girls a visit tonight." Naruto grinned nervously at the glare he received from me and Tenten.
"Hey. Why is it that when Tenten called you liars earlier you didn't do anything but when I called you a liar you threaten to take my life."
They next moment all I saw was that Sai lay on the ground unconscious. I didn't even see what happened or who did what. Neji and Sasuke headed to their room and put the key in the door's lock. "We'll meet you out in one hour to get something to eat." Sasuke said acting as if nothing happened. They closed the door behind them. I looked back at Sai who lay on the ground and then back up at Naruto.
"Well see you later, Naruto."
"Yep. Let's go Hinata." Tenten dragged Hinata in the apartment behind us seeing her reluctance to leave Sai out cold on the floor.
"Hey. You cant just leave me here with this BODY!What if he's DEAD?" I rolled my eyes. The guy was way too dramatic.
After I closed the door I heard the sound of a body being dragged on the floor non too gently, then a door being opened and shut. I chuckled lightly and turned away from the door. I dropped my duffel on the bed that was unoccupied.
"Damn. I sure hope we find the scroll and figure out what this village is planning quickly. This place is just weird."
I nodded in agreement with Tenten. "But remember Tsunade said that t this mission could take from t two weeks up to two months." Hinata reminded us.
"Yeah well. I'm gonna take a shower." I said pulling out a pair of clothes and some necessities. "Uh huh. Just don't use up all the hot water." Tenten said lounging lazily on her bed and swinging a kunai around on her finger.
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I came out the shower feeling refreshed and relaxed. Nothing better than a nice warm shower. I wrapped my thin white towel around my body and came out the bathroom.
"Hinata. Do you want to go?" Tenten asked. Hinata shook her head. "I'll go after you."
Tenten shrugged, grabbed her stuff and entered the bathroom closing the door behind her. I looked back when the door was suddenly open. Tenten stopped walking and fixed her towel. She watched me with a raised brow when she noticed I was watching her. "I forgot my tooth brush, okay? Didn't know it was a crimAHHHHH!"
The bottle of lotion I had in my hands flew out of my grasp at Tenten's sudden scream. "What? What is AHHHHHH!! HOLY SHIT!"
I ran and jumped on top of my bed and Tenten did the same. We both looked over at Hinata who was looking at us confused. I shakily pointed at the object of our distress. Hinata's eyes widened and with a sharp scream she joined us on the bed.
"What the hell is that?"
"I was about you the same thing Tenten! It's huge."
" There's no way that's a rat. Look at it's t tale. It's longer t than a ruler. That thing is a bear!"
"It's w watching u us." I could hear the terror in Hinata's voice. "It's crawling t this w way."
I widened my eyes. "Crawling. That thing is not crawling. It's bouncing!" We all watched in terror as the huge, brown, fluffy, vicious creature approached us. It was so huge that it appeared to have been hopping instead of crawling. We all must have looked ridiculous. Especially me and Tenten who was still wrapped in nothing but a towel. Suddenly the creature sped up as if it were ready to attack. We all grabbed on to each other and screamed in terror. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
BAM! The door flew open and Sasuke, Naruto, Neji and Sai ran in. " What is it? Are you girls alright?" Neji asked looking at us anxiously. "What are you guys doing up there?" Sai asked. It seems he have recovered from his unconscious state. " What's wrong. Why were you guys screaming like that?" Naruto asked his eyes shifting around the room.
We all pointed shaking hands towards the floor. "T that monster was a attacking us." I was surprised I could even speak.
"That's it?" Sasuke said not believing whet he was witnesses. " You get attacked by enemies and kill other dangerous ninja's almost everyday but you are afraid of a little mouse?"
"Little! That thing is not little." I hissed. A sudden movement on the ground caught my eyes. "AHHH!" We all screamed in terror and ran off the bed. I ran behind of Sasuke and jumped on his back. "Don't just stand there. Do something!" I pounded his back.
"You have got to shitting me." Neji held Tenten in his arms. He couldn't believe the girl was practically throwing a fit over a tiny harmless rodent.
I watched in horror as Sai picked up the creature and threw it out the window. "That's all there was to it." he said dusting his hands.
"Sheesh! I can't believe you girls are afraid of a little rat." Naruto said holding the frightened yet blushing Hinata off the floor.
"Your inhuman!" I said staring at Sai wide eyed. He better had not come and touch me.
"And your half naked." Sasuke's cold but bemused voice snapped me back to reality. I looked down and yelped. I jumped off Sasuke's back and laughed nervously. "I forgot."
Tenten leap out of Neji's arms when she realized their situation also. She pulled her towel more securely around her waist, blushing lightly when Neji smirked at her. Tenten scowled and stomped to the bathroom and Neji's eyes trailed after her until the door was slammed shut. I could hear his light chuckle at his teammate. "You guys can leave now." I narrowed my eyes at them. Hinata was blushing and fiddling with her fingers. Naruto scratched his head. "Okay then." he pouted. Sai followed out Naruto and Neji trailed behind them.
"Sasuke!" I growled when he just stood leaning against the wall not moving. "What are you doing?"
His eyes lazily traveled up my body then down again. "I'm enjoying the view."
Hinata who was watching the scene face turned beet red. "Sasuke! Your scaring Hinata!"
I walked up to him and pulled him by the door pushing his back. "Leave."
I gasped as he spun around and grabbed me against him. I didn't even have time to react when he suddenly engaged me in a deep, hot heart stopping kiss. His hands roamed my body and I could feel his hands even more through the thin, damp towel. He shoved his tongue in my mouth and tangled his own with mine. My eyes widened at his carnal display of lust. He pulled away and then walked out closing the door behind him. What the hell was that?
I slowly turned around.
Hinata's eyes were as wide as saucers and her mouth hung open. Tenten stood in the doorway of the bathroom, her mouth hung open. "What? You? He's an animal. I swore I saw his tongue went down your throat. It's like he was trying to eat you. It must be a Uchiha thing. I wonder if he'd be that wild in bed."
"Tenten!" I yelled embarrassed. I can't believe she just said that and I can't believe he just did that.
"Let's just hurry. I'm hungry and I need to eat. The guys are probably waiting on us."
" I wonder who your hungry for."
"Tenten! You. . . Hmm. Don't think I didn't see the way Neji was watching you and the way you were watching him"
Tenten smile slipped and she glanced around nervously. "Let's get ready to go. We don't don't want to keep the boys waiting."
I grinned back at her. "Sure thing Tenten. Sure thing."
Author's Note: I'm sooooo sorry that I took so long to update. I had a million things to do and every time I got time to write this chapter my sister always nagged me to help her with something. There might be a few mistakes for which I apologize. The next chapter will be way better than this one. Please review.
