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Chapter 10: Confluence
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Sakura opened her eyes, wincing at the throbbing pain in her head. She looked around, still feeling disorientated. She was in that starry night sky that was becoming more and more familiar. Shiki and Ito were sitting on either side of her, looking up. Sakura followed their line of vision.
A crescent moon was hovering above them. Snow was whirling down on them in small amounts.
"This is bad." Shiki growled slightly, the fur on his neck standing up.
Sakura rubbed her temple. "What's going on?"
"The snowspirit is… acting up." Ito answered, not taking his eyes of the celestial body looming over them.
Sakura moved in a sitting position faster then was good for her. The throbbing in her head became even worse. "How...? It's sealed. It shouldn't be able to do anything."
"It was sealed with shamanism. The strongest kind of seals there are. The only way it can be overcome is with another shamanist seal."
The temperature around them began to drop, causing Sakura to shiver. 'How is this even possible inside my own mind?'
"Stay awake, Sakura." She wanted to snap at Shiki really badly, but her energy was beginning to leave her. She just wanted to sleep.
"If you fall asleep you will die. And you'll take Hyouga, Arashi and Bakura with you."
It took a few seconds before she registered what Ito said. She shook her throbbing head a few times. She couldn't die, no matter what happened.
"What do I have to do?"
Her throat felt dry, as if she hadn't had any water for days and the words came out in a croaked voice. Neither of the wolves took their eyes off of the crescent moon, but Shiki answered.
"Just stay awake."
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In a matter of minutes the wind had picked up and the snowfall increased. By now Naruto's frog summon had found a secure place in Naruto's pocket while the orange clad ninja and Sasuke were both using the tree for support while the snow was biting into their skin. Still they didn't dare to show any weakness to their opponent.
Gaara was now fully encased with the sand, every trace of a human gone, and hadn't moved one inch. He didn't even acknowledge their existence. All he was looking at was Sakura.
The Ookamiza girl didn't wake up even with the extremely low temperature. Sasuke hissed.
"Naruto we will freeze to death if this continues."
"What do you want me to do Teme!? I can barely move my fingers. How the hell can there be snow in the middle of summer!?"
Sasuke began to flex his fingers. His hands were numb from the cold by now and in no state to perform ninjutsu with. "It's not his doing… then the only other person who could be causing this is Sakura."
"Nani!? But how!?"
"I don't know."
Gaara had turned so his whole body was facing Sakura. Naruto growled, Kyuubi's chakra flared up and his eyes flickered red.
"Stay away from her!"
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They were surrounded by a whirlwind of snow. Sakura was fighting against sleep. Her eyelids were drooping and her whole body ached with the need to rest, she could barely think with the monstrous headache she had.
How this pain was even possible in her own mind she did not know. But she was certain it was no genjutsu. Her blurry vision could just identify the crescent moon hidden by the swirling snow. All she could hear was the wind until Ito and Shiki howled in unison.
The crescent moon glowed in response, but nothing else happened. Shiki growled angrily. "Kuso!"
Ito nudged her head, causing some of the drowsiness to lessen. "We cannot force the snowspirit to retreat back into the seal. Another shaman jutsu has set it free."
Sakura looked into Ito's amber eyes. "What's going to happen?"
"We don't know."
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"Naruto!"
Sasuke's cry fell to deaf ears as the blond haired boy jumped at the sand demon. The small frog hurriedly jumped out of his pocket and latched onto Sasuke's shoulder, eyeing the blond incredulously.
"He's crazy! There's no way he can beat that guy!"
Sasuke ignored the fact that a talking frog was clinging to his shoulder. He was about to jump after Naruto when a wave of pain coursed through his body. The cursed seal had still not receded. He hissed and dropped to his knees.
Gaara swatted Naruto away with his tail. The blond landed on a nearby branch, growling ferociously. His body became surrounded by red, clearly visible chakra.
Sasuke could only wince as the snow continued to attack, paining his skin and watch his best friend. "What the hell?"
Naruto's energy was almost as dangerous as Gaara's. The sand demon was no longer looking at the unconscious kunoichi but at the unusual opponent.
"Suna Shuriken." Sand shot at Naruto like bullets. He reacted just fast enough to get away, the wind howled while the snow continued to whirl around violently. Gaara growled threateningly.
"Are you finally going to fight?"
With incredible accuracy Naruto jumped of the branch and aimed to punch Gaara. Gaara effortlessly jumped out of the way and Naruto's chakra engulfed fist pulverized the branch he had been sitting on. The two continuously exchanged blows, the red chakra protected Naruto from Gaara's deadly claws, much to the irritation of said shinobi.
The sand creature opened its mouth, a ball of visible chakra that was just as red as the chakra surrounding Naruto gathered and shot the blond. The glowing orb of energy send the blond crashing through several trees.
Sasuke almost lost his footing, holding on only because of the chakra in his feet. The demon roared in victory. A blurry figure, no longer surrounded by ominous red chakra lay nearby on the ground.
"Naruto!"
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A five year old Sakura sat next to a fire, watching her brother and cousin arm wrestle. She tilted her head in confusion, not understanding why they were so competitive over such a silly game. The young Ookamiza girl sniffed the air. She had noticed something that the boys hadn't in their current state of concentration.
The older Sakura watched the familiar sight with half lidded eyes. Her head still pounding and exhaustion made it difficult to stay standing.
Another person walked into the large tent, taking of the wolf mask covering his face. A man with black and orange hair frowned at the two boys. Sensing the new presence the boys looked up, but not before Hibiki managed to pin Katsurou's wrist to the table. The boy grinned.
"I win again!"
The man's frown increased. "Hibiki aren't you supposed to be doing something?"
"Like what dad?"
Sakura blinked her drooping eyes. No wonder the man looked so much like Hibiki. He was her uncle!
"Like looking for the herbs your mother asked you to find."
Hibiki whined. "But dad, I don't want to go looking for herbs and other pretty flower thingies."
"Your mother has your little sister to take care of."
The younger Sakura jumped up. "I can go find the herbs for Ami-san!"
"That is very kind of you Sakura. But it was Hibiki who was asked to do this."
Katsurou chuckled. "Hibiki wouldn't know the difference between a dandelion and a rose. I'm sure it would save you a lot of trouble if Sakura looked for the herbs, Hiraku-san."
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Sakura blinked. She was in the whirlwind of snow again, Ito and Shiki at her sides. Memories from her time before she was found by the hokage were rushing into her head, if possible increasing the pounding in her head.
But it kept her from falling asleep, it made her think. 'Ami… my aunt.' The image of a brown haired woman with blue-gray eyes appeared in her mind. The woman's nose was identical to Hibiki's. Ami, the civilian woman who used to live in the village near the mountain.
More of the blanks of her past became filled in. She remembered the day that Asuka, Hibiki's little sister was born.
The day that Ayumu, two weeks after he turned seventeen came home with the news that his girlfriend, who lived in a nearby village, was pregnant. And that Harumi had commented on him being more of a rabbit than a wolf. A month later the girl had moved in with the clan.
The time that Honoka and her older brother Shin left for a mission to the Tea Country. The time that the Ookamiza elder, Haruna was scolding her for taking the clay that was used for shamanism and use it for decorating a cave. Harumi doing her hair for her…
Shiki growled warningly. "Stay awake, Sakura!"
Her eyes wandered over to the black wolf. It was weird knowing that he was actually a part of her… Another image appeared in her mind. That of a girl with long blond hair and baby blue eyes, dressed in a purple outfit. '…What was her name again?'
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The blizzard was coming to an end. Sasuke sighed in relief as the snow stopped biting his tingling skin, it now whirled down calmly. Naruto was still disorientated, but both in their weakened state were still watching their opponent up in the tree.
Gaara once again deemed their teammate more interesting then them. He turned his head in Sakura's direction. The sand released her from its hold and her body slid down onto a branch.
Her eyes opened slowly. She watched the sand demon approach her slowly in a predator like way, but did nothing to flee. She stayed still as Gaara approached her.
Naruto growled. "Oh no, you don't!"
He jumped up and landed in front of Gaara, glaring at him fiercely. Sasuke ignored his aching body and jumped up, landing in front of Sakura. The frog on his shoulder voiced his thoughts.
"She doesn't look to good."
She didn't, Sakura's skin was pale and cold and her lips were purple. Her hands were shaking and her eyes gazed into his, as if unable to perceive anything.
Sasuke carefully reached out to touch her shaking hand, ignoring Gaara's disapproving growl from behind him. But before he could touch her the wind picked up again. But there was no snow this time.
He was forced to cover his eyes. But when he opened them again, Sakura was gone.
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Orochimaru averted his eyes from the exhausted old man in front of him to the sky.
His lips twitched upwards, causing a small smile to appear onto his pale face. He looked back at his old teacher, contentment twinkling in his snake like eyes.
"Konoha no longer has a getsugan user."
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Sakura groaned. Her head was pounding. She turned over so she was lying on her back. Her hand came in contact with water. She looked to the side to see her fingers touching the surface of a small river. She could hear a few birds chirping around her. Finally she noticed just how cold she was, and that she was… alone.
She sniffed the air for any familiar scents but found none. This was becoming strange…
She forced herself into a sitting position, ignoring how her body was screaming for rest and her mind was fuzzy. Her cold, shaking hands fumbled to get the wolf whistle around her neck. She blew on it as hard as she could, which was not very hard in her current state.
She waited. But after a few moments there was no response. There were no wolves anywhere nearby. She could feel the reassuring chakra sealed in her left arm. But other then that there was nothing.
She could smell someone heading her way. But these people were unfamiliar, one of them smelled almost… inhuman. She shivered, whether it was because of the cold or fear she didn't know. But she was vulnerable in her current condition. She could hear a roar of what sounded like an enraged beast, followed by an explosion some distance away from her.
Two dull thuds sounded not far away from her. Out of reflex she jumped up, facing the strangers.
"You shouldn't be moving in your condition."
Her vision was blurry and a new wave of pain coursed through her at the sudden movements she had made. She definitely wouldn't be able to fight like this. She directed some chakra to her optic nerves, activating her kekkei genkai to give her at least some kind of advantage.
But all it did was create two large colourful figures. She couldn't even identify their auras, but at least she knew where they were. She would still put up a fight. Unfortunately her body disagreed with her mind. Everything went black. The last thing she registered was strong hands catching her body before she hit the ground.
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Sakura could hear the familiar sound of a fire crackling. She felt something warm draped over her. But she was outside, and the air was warm and the comforting scents of the wolves and her clan were nowhere nearby. Instead there were two unknown scents.
She opened her eyes and waited for her vision to adjust. At the other side of the fire a pair of crimson eyes were watching her. She tensed up, unsure of what to do. The eerie eyes, strangely familiar just observed her for a moment.
The owner of the crimson orbs got up and gracefully moved towards where she was and sat down in front of her. He was in his late teens. His long, raven hair was tied in a low ponytail and everything about him showed that he was a shinobi of high capacity.
"What is your name?"
Sakura shifted under his scrutinizing gaze. "Sakura."
"Your full name?"
She hesitated for a moment, not sure whether it would be wise to give this stranger information about her. She knew that there were people who held a grudge against her clan.
"Don't test my patience Sakura-san."
She almost jumped at his voice. She had a feeling that she needed to remember some important things, but she couldn't. For now it would be best to answer this man's questions.
"Ookamiza Sakura."
"I see."
Sakura carefully sat up, keeping an eye on the man in front of her. When she put her weight on her left arm she winced, and came to realize that she needed to let her wolves out.
The man had noticed her discomfort but stayed quiet. Sakura remembered what her older brother had said when she got her wolves. Without any other choice she slowly lifted her hand to her mouth and bit her thumb. After creating a line of blood on the pawprints she summoned her wolves.
The man remained unmoved and watched the three young wolves appear, deeming them harmless. His eyes travelled from her wolves back to her and stayed there. Bakura shook his head, coming to his senses he moved in front of her and growled at the crimson eyed man. Arashi looked at her, his head tilted to the side.
"Sakura you've changed since the last time we saw you."
Sakura tilted her head in confusion. "What?"
"Well we haven't seen you since Katsurou used shaman jutsu on you on that… day."
Hyouga was observing the man in front of her as well. Sakura raised one delicate hand to rub her temple. What wasn't she remembering? And why was she feeling so different?
"Sakura-san, my partner and I found you yesterday morning, you collapsed from exhaustion before any questions could be asked. I would like to know about your kekkei genkai."
Sakura looked at him warily. She was beginning to feel uncomfortable. "I'm not allowed to talk to strangers."
The corners of the man's mouth twitched in amusement. "My name is Uchiha Itachi. I will not allow you to go anywhere until you answer my questions. Tell me about your kekkei genkai."
Sakura swallowed. He wasn't giving her a choice. "It is called the getsugan. It allows me to see the auras of anyone I want. I can identify their emotions by colour."
"I see."
Sakura fumbled with the object that had functioned as blanket, finally noticing it was a black cloak with red clouds, the scent of the male in front of her was clinging to it. Itachi got up and moved back to his previous spot at the other side of the fire.
"We will wait for my partner to return. After we eat we will leave, and you're coming with us."
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End of chapter 10!
Did anyone expect this to happen? Please review!