He felt his world fall apart. Without Sumiko, he was nothing. It felt like he couldn't go on living. His chakra became colder and he narrowed his eyes at Haku. Killer intent spread across the air. The team Konoha had sent to assist Team 7, Sakura' team, was in shock. The famous Sumiko had been taken down, nuke-nin Zabuza had been killed, and Sasuke's bloodlust levels were as high as the sky was.
"Sasuke-kun! Stop!" Sakura screamed as she ran towards him. "Please!" Upon hearing this, he got angrier. How dare a weak kunoichi tell him to stop? How is she to understand his pain? He took out a kunai and threw it at Sakura, narrowly missing her. Kei and Sorata ran over and knelt by Sumiko and placed their hands over Sumiko's wound. A greenish chakra became visible.
"Leave her alone!" Sasuke growled and kicked them away, sending them flying about 100ft. He looked at Sumiko and was shocked to see ice slowly covering her wound.
"That's the ultimate protection…not even I could achieve that. How did she manage to learn it? With it, she's the most powerful ice release shinobi," Haku said, staring at Sumiko. After a few minutes, ice covered her entire body. Sasuke weaved signs, ready to destroy Haku, and then Naruto. Fireballs of an even greater intensity shot out of his mouth.
"Kakashi-senpai, should we restrain Sasuke?" Yamato came over to Kakashi, who looked visibly tired.
"Yeah, Haku might end up killing Sasuke. Plus, Haku seems to know more about ice release, so he could prove to be a valuable asset," Kakashi said. Haku dodged and appeared beside Kakashi.
"You're right. For example, the ice covering her won't disappear unless another ice user dispels it," Haku said. Kakashi nodded and Yamato used his wood style to restrain Sasuke.
"Oi! What do you think you're doing?! Don't you see he has to die?!" Sasuke yelled.
"Sasuke, as another ice user, only he can free Sumiko from it," Yamato said.
"Liar! He just doesn't want to die!" Sasuke yelled.
"Sasuke, look at me for a second," Kakashi said. Sasuke turned angrily and was met with his sharingan. With that, Sasuke was under a rather strong genjutsu.
"Still, Sasuke has a point," Yamato said.
"Yeah," Kakashi nodded. "Haku, we can't trust you until we get to the village and have you interrogated," Kakashi said coldly. Haku nodded.
"So, in order to make sure you don't try to kill anyone here," Kakashi started. He placed a seal on Haku. "This seal will make you explode if I channel enough chakra in it if you act up."
"Yeah," Haku nodded. It wasn't like they could trust him immediately. He was the enemy earlier after all.
Gato's men arrived minutes later. Yamato went to Gato after evading many of the men's attacks. Then he managed to kill Gato by throwing him into the water.
"There, now the Land of Waves won't be troubled by him anymore," Yamato said, wet from being in the water.
"Thank you so much for saving the Land of Waves!" Tazuna said. "In her honor, I'm going to name it the Sumiko bridge," Tazuna looked at the ice covered girl with pity.
With that, the two teams made their way to Konoha. Kei and Sorata were discussing Sumiko and how Sakura was wrong. Sakura hadn't done anything except fawn over Sasuke. Sumiko had been strong enough to risk her life and almost died in the process.
"Sakura," the two started.
"Yeah?" Sakura asked.
"You're wrong about Sumiko. She's strong and risked her life. All you did was fawn over Sasuke and stand there, helpless," they said simply.
"How dare you!" Sakura yelled. "You have no right to speak to me like that!"
"Really? As our teammate, we have to make things clear so missions don't go wrong and everyone dies," Kei said. "This also gives you room to improve. You also have a role model to aspire to be: Sumiko. She's strong. This mission gave you everything you need, and yet you simply shove it aside to stare at Sasuke, a boy we can clearly see will never have eyes for you."
Sakura was in shock. "You're just jealous! You're telling me this because you didn't do anything either!"
"That isn't true. We tried to use medical ninjutsu to heal Sumiko, but Sasuke kicked us away in a rage. As our teammate, you were supposed to take that hit for us so we could heal a fellow shinobi," Sorata countered.
"Yamato-sensei! They're just jealous and angry!" Sakura turned to Yamato.
"Sakura, on the next mission, I need you to participate. Because of your foolishness, we're doing D-rank missions until you can get your act together," Yamato said. Sakura felt betrayed. No way…Sumiko can't possibly be better than me…I'm prettier, smarter, stronger… Sakura thought of her Academy days.
She received her first report card, expecting to see first out of everything. She was shocked to see that she was ranked fourth in terms of tests. She stormed up to Iruka, demanding an explanation.
"Well, Sakura, Sumiko is ranked first, then Sasuke, then Hinata," Iruka said.
"No way did that Sumiko beat me!" Sakura stomped to Sumiko. Black, emotionless eyes turned to her.
"Yes?" Sumiko asked.
"You cheated! That's why you're always first! You cheat off of Sasuke-kun!" Sakura accused.
"Then why did he get one wrong on the test and I got that one right?" Sumiko asked. Sakura gasped and didn't have an answer.
A few weeks later, Sumiko and Sakura sparred.
"Begin!" Iruka said.
Sumiko allowed Sakura to race towards her. Sumiko punched her undefended stomach and Sakura crumpled. Sumiko picked her up by her collar and allowed her to stand. Sakura bit her lip to keep from crying. She ran towards Sumiko again and Sumiko tried to kick her side. Sakura caught her foot and sent Sumiko flying. She grinned, but was shocked to find that it was a log. Sakura looked all around for Sumiko. Her shoulder was set on fire as a shuriken made a thin cut. She covered her hand with it and glared at Sumiko, who was in a tree. Sumiko jumped down and raced towards her, ducking to avoid a punch and swept her foot to make Sakura fall. Sakura fell and Sumiko kicked her other side, sending her into unconsciousness from the pain.
"Winner: Sumiko," Iruka said, somehow feeling not surprised.
A few classes later, Iruka asked them to produce as many clones as they could. Sakura made three more copies, Sasuke four, and Sumiko made seven shadow clones.
"Sumiko, that's the shadow clone jutsu! That's great!" Iruka patted her head. "Everyone, if you need help on this jutsu, just ask Sasuke or Sumiko," Iruka glanced at the class.
When they did genjutsu practice and dispelling, Sakura dispelled hers within five minutes of realizing it was a genjutsu. She was sure Sumiko had gotten a worse score, but she learned after class that Sumiko had dispelled in under a minute, and Sasuke a minute.
"I've taught you all the substitution jutsu and the transformation jutsu," Iruka said one day. "Now I want you use them in a spar."
Outside, Sumiko and Sasuke were chosen to spar. Sakura was sure that Sasuke would beat her, but was surprised and angry that Sumiko had the nerve to beat Sasuke. She watched Sumiko help Sasuke up. Instead of being angry, Sasuke seemed happy.
"That was a good match, Sumiko-chan!" Sasuke grinned. Sumiko nodded and smiled a little.
It continued like this. Sakura getting her report card, always hoping she'd beat Sumiko. But she never did, not even once. She thought she could beat her in taijutsu, but pain told her that she'd been wrong. In genjutsu, she always thought she could dispel faster, but was always beaten. In ninjutsu, she thought her excellent chakra control was better than Sumiko. Only to find that Sumiko had more chakra than the average genin, even as an academy student, and even sharper chakra control. And, the most painful thing, Sasuke always stayed with her, instead of talking to Sakura even once. He was always with her.
Sakura realized how far she was from Sasuke and Sumiko. Even Naruto. She had been outclassed by the dead last in her class. No way…
They walked past the village gates and Kotetsu and Izumo were shocked to see Sumiko covered in ice, an unknown ninja, and Sasuke unconscious. Naruto and Sakura looked depressed and Kei and Sorata looked indifferent.
At the hospital, Haku dispelled the ice and Sumiko was admitted to be treated immediately. The rest of them including Haku went to the Hokage to give their report.
"Hokage-sama, I believe this boy could be a valuable asset to Konoha," Kakashi said. Hiruzen nodded and sent Kakashi to accompany him to Ibiki and Anko and Inoichi. There, he'd be interrogated and his mind searched to see if he was a spy for Iwa, who was still bitter about what happened seven years ago.
Sasuke woke up in his bed.
"Sumiko!" he screamed, only to find Kakashi there.
"She's fine, Sasuke. She's in the hospital. I was told she's in very critical condition, so no one can see her," Kakashi knew he wanted to see her.
"What about that Haku?" Sasuke narrowed his eyes.
"He's being interrogated. If he's not a spy and has no ill will towards this village and its ninja, he'll be admitted into Konoha's ranks," Kakashi said.
"Where is Naruto?" Sasuke asked, ready to kill him.
"His apartment. Why?" Kakashi was nervous.
"I need to talk to him," Sasuke said, jumping out the window.
"Naruto!" Sasuke slammed his door open.
"What?" Naruto asked.
"Why did you hurt Sumiko?!" Sasuke slammed him against a wall.
"I didn't mean to! She moved to protect that guy!" Naruto yelled.
"Liar! You meant to hurt her!" Sasuke yelled.
"Stop being irrational! Think, Sasuke!" Naruto said. Sasuke let him go and took a seat. He thought about Sumiko and realized Naruto was telling the truth.
"If Sumiko dies in the hospital, I'm holding you personally accountable," Sasuke growled and left. He walked out and saw Hinata walking to Naruto's apartment. Hinata was shocked to see Sasuke in such a rage, but she continued.
"Naruto-kun?" she knocked.
"Hey there, Hinata-chan!" Naruto grinned. "What's up?"
"I-I-I m-m-made more m-mango m-mochi," Hinata explained and handed him a box.
"Whoa, this is great! No one has ever given me homemade food for a present before! Except maybe Sumiko, but I stole some of her food and then Sasuke hit me, saying how it was precious food or something. Anyway, come in!" Naruto ushered her in. Hinata was ready to faint but she managed not to.
"This is delicious, Hinata-chan!" Naruto chewed. He had a slight headache from the cold ice cream, but that was just one of the risks of ice cream.
"I'm g-g-glad you th-think so," Hinata smiled. "I c-can m-make s-soup if you w-want…y-your fridge l-l-looks a little e-empty," Hinata said, looking in his fridge.
"Really? You'd do something like that for me?" Naruto was in shock.
"Yeah," Hinata whispered.
"Sure!" Naruto grinned and let her go buy ingredients.
"Sa..su…ke," Sumiko whispered. But no one was there. She sat up and pain exploded on her chest. She squeezed her eyes shut and heard a doctor walk in.
"Hey there, Sumiko," he greeted.
She nodded, not wanting to speak.
"Are you feeling better? If you are, we can move you to regular in-patient beds and your friends can see you. In fact, there was a boy here earlier who demanded he see you. Scared the daylights out of the nurses, but ANBU managed to restrain him," the doctor chuckled lightly.
"What was his name?" Sumiko wheezed through the pain.
"Hmmm…I don't know his first name, but it was the Uchiha," he said.
"Ah, Sasuke," she smiled.
"Yes, that was it," he snapped his fingers. "So, are you feeling better?"
"Yeah," Sumiko closed her eyes and allowed his to wheel her bed to another room.
She sighed as the doctor left. Not a minute after the door closed, the door slammed open and an angry Uchiha came in.
"Sumiko, are you okay?!" Sasuke held her hands in his.
"Yeah," she fought down a blush. "What happened?"
"Naruto tried to kill Haku after seeing you and me on the ground. I came to and saw that you'd taken the blow for Haku and because of it, I unlocked my sharingan," he said. He closed his eyes and opened them, revealing a single tomoe sharingan.
"Wow…" Sumiko whispered. "Then what happened?"
"Then, ice covered your body and Haku was brought into Konoha as an asset and to dispel your ice, saying how it was 'the ultimate protection' or something. And how since you have it, you're the most powerful ice release shinobi," Sasuke said.
"I see…" Sumiko looked at the ceiling. Is that what they meant in the scroll?
"What is 'the ultimate protection'?" Sasuke asked.
"It's ice that will protect someone from harming them at its own will. I don't know why I didn't get it when I was on the streets, but that's the past. Anyway, I don't have to control the ice at my own will. It protects me on its own," Sumiko said. Sasuke was astonished. Sumiko's really powerful…
"That's amazing, Sumiko," Sasuke said, looking away. Sumiko's mouth opened slightly and her black eyes widened. When did I start reacting to Sasuke like this?
"T-thanks…" Sumiko muttered.
"I'll leave. You should rest," Sasuke walked out quickly. Sumiko didn't want him to leave, but the door was already closed before she could object. Sighing, she leaned on her pillow and closed her eyes.
A/N Sumiko isn't dead! Sasuke unlocked his sharingan! Haku is in the village! Don't be a silent reader, I offer virtual dango as reward if you review~
