At a random shop in Konaha, the next day.
"I'm glad you could join us Temari," smiled Tenten, from where she stood, in front of the store where they were all supposed to meet, a silent Ino at her side.
"Me too. It was pretty hard to convince your village's elders to let me stay a bit longer though," admitted the young blonde woman from Suna.
"Don't let it bother you too much, Temari," advised Ino, a little distracted as she spoke despite her words holding depth "Sooner or later, they'll have to give in to the idea that there's going to be a Suna ambassador stationed here. They'll come round eventually."
Fast approaching footsteps were heard at the end of the street, leading the group of girls to turn around, only to catch sight of Hinata jogging towards them, out of breath: "S-S-Sorry, I'm late, guys, but Naruto-kun wouldn't let me go."
Tenten stared hard at Hinata, who, on top of breathing heavily, was all red, with her hair a mess.
"Seriously, Hinata. What happened?"
The poor girl's face became even redder, rivalling that of a tomato, but before she could faint, Ino smoothly calmed her down by putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.
Unfortunately, she couldn't hold back a small smile and then a giggle as her imagination went wild as she envisioned what her dear friend's private love life could be like.
Hearing her friend starting to snicker and eyeing her with those kind of eyes, the young Hyuuga Princess hastily looked around for a new topic to talk about, leading her to ask, without thinking, the first thing that came to her mind: "So, Temari, how's your love life?"
Temari, fully taken aback by the fact that she was now the new centre of this topic's discussion, couldn't even muster an answer.
"Come on," complained Tenten with persistence, gaze flitting between Temari and Hinata with undying curiosity "Last time, Ino told us about her private life. It's your turn now, girls. Spill."
Hinata's entire world began to spin as she, relatively embarrassed by now, rapidly approached unconsciousness and Temari's thoughts drifted off, just as uncomfortable, whereas, unnoticed in the background, Ino was staring away again absently, her mind off somewhere depressing.
Temari, having enough of Tenten's indiscreet interrogation, attempted to think up a new topic, and instantly found a new one, frowning a bit as she glanced around: "Wait. Where's Sakura?"
Tenten and Hinata immediately fell silent, whereas Ino looked at Temari with rather big eyes, before the latter changed into a pair of sad ones, her voice quiet and just as dejected: "Didn't you know? I thought Shikamaru would've told you back in Suna while you were both thinking up a strategy together, no?"
Temari shook her head, looking both baffled and rueful: "No, he didn't tell me much. He just told me he needed to build up a plan to locate a missing perso- Don't tell me it was her?"
Still silence fell upon the group as the rather cheerful mood from before disappeared. Entirely.
"I had no idea it was Sakura. I-I... I'm so sorry," whispered Temari softly, realizing that, all this, now amounted to at least three months ago.
Meaning that any chances at finding her were even slimmer than what should have been before. Sakura could as well be-
"Please, don't be," reassured Tenten gently "It's not your fault or anything like that. Besides, you shouldn't look so down, Temari. We've recently found a new lead during our last mission."
Temari started feeling a bit relieved, when a small cough drew everyone's attention, especially when they saw that it was Hinata who seeking their notice in the first place.
POOF.
The sudden sound broke the silence as a friend of theirs teleported in, looking solemn and tired: "It's troublesome, girls, but we've been all requested by the Hokage. Let's go."
In the Hokage's Office.
Kakashi let out a deep sigh as he closed his beloved book, one out of his favourite collection, all while mentally preparing himself as he slowly faced Konoha 12 (Sai included).
After eyeing each and every one of them - some expressions solemn, some just outright blank - the grey-haired man began talking: "You should probably have a general idea of why you're all here."
Bending down and opening a drawer, he drew out a single file from it and waved it around for the others to see: "We've only just finished summing up our research on the scroll and the report you delivered. The scroll was in pretty bad shape. This is all we were able to recover from it."
Kakashi then passed the file to Shikamaru who in turn opened it instantly, eyes scanning along the very first lines which contained general information, before he skipped several pages until he reached the conclusion of the research and began reading it out loud for everyone to hear.
In spite of our extensive research, due to limited amount of sources at our disposal concerning the scroll, these findings are all we were able to conclude.
The frozen scroll:
Despite successfully de-freezing it, it had seemed damaged beyond repair. This led us to be mostly unable to retrieve further information or restore the once-present information.
However, with the little text that remained intact, we were able to assume that it could have been someone's journal.
These next lines are from the conserved text:
Conserved text -
The swords: some kind of ancient design, but surprisingly effective. My Inner seemed pretty happy about them. Lately, I've been trying to remember how in the world I was able to retrieve them and have them in my possession. But for some reason, I'm unable to.
Inner convinced me to give my all for the future of my research and not to ponder too much on the past. He recommended that I let go of most of my norms and values, in order to conduct my research to the bests of my abilities.
Researches on the clan's genetic build-up however aren't going as planned. The subjects seem incapable of holding too long onto their power before they either pass out or die of immediate chakra depletion. Perhaps a shinobi would be able to withstand this issue.
The Haruno's Inner: a spirit of some sort, a shadow of our past, perhaps a ghost, an imaginary friend, or maybe even a guide... It is quite unclear. More research is needed on this subject.
After searching through our family tree, I stumbled upon the only shinobi related to me who could've inherited an Inner, without it being repressed by other factors.
My niece: Haruno Sakura.
Weapon(s): some sort of conductor to convey the immense heat emitted from the flames; made from special steel to withstand the shift of temperatures; able to withstand temperature from absolute zero up until at least double the amount needed to melt stones. More research is needed on this subject.
Almost everything is set in stage; I wonder how the seal will work.
Repressing factors: genetic codes which are more dominant than ours, after all pink hair seems to be rarer these days.
Inner: I no longer get it. My Inner is acting strange. I always saw him as a partner of mine, but lately he's been trying to convince me to commit to this absolutely absurd idea. Surrendering my body to him, in order to reach more efficiency. ...Should I?
I currently have complete control of my niece right now. I'm not sure how to feel right now. Maybe I shouldn't go through with this? Or should I? ...I've already done so much.
Inner is whispering constantly into my ear.
I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE! I've been trying to rest, to find some peace and quiet. But every time I close my eyes, silhouettes, shadows of things I shouldn't know about come to haunt me... I can't focus on my work anymore!
My Inner: has been reckless lately, shouting and having loads of fits lately. I've already had several episodes were my body began to tremble without any reason, fatigue maybe? He also begins to sound more 'feminine'? He or she is really getting on my nerves. More research is needed on the gender of Inners.
I haven't slept in three days and there's no progress in these several past days of my research. Maybe I should? ~~~unreadable writing~~~ I've just got a refreshing conversation with her. My Inner says that she has a solution to my problems without taking over my body –which I still refused. She proposed a rewiring of my brain, in order to get rid of those ghostly shadows that seem to following me everywhere I go.
Crazy as it sounds, but - perhaps it's because I'm sleep deprived or getting extremely desperate - I'm actually considering it. ...I suppose I need some time to think about it.
Brain rewiring: the alteration of one's brain waves in order to achieve a more efficient being. Possible side effects may include severe or radical personality change. The best way to do this is by giving permission to the one doing it and convincing your mind to allow it; less favourable and less effective circumstances may include a medium of some kind, with a heavily-powered soul to act upon it.
'Mediums' are like ancient artefacts of some kind - like pottery, books, jewellery or weapons ~~~more unreadable handwriting~~~
I believe that I just came up an undeniable theory about that time I found the two swords. Alas, I instantly forgot about it when Inner all of a sudden began to speak her mind to me.
I MUST DO IT. I've went long enough without sleep, I can't stand it anymore.
~~~ even more unreadable handwriting~~~ I feel a heavy headache coming up, my vision's starting to blur~~~ several random stripes of ink~~~ My hand just went off on its own, as if I just had a seizure solely in my arm. My guess is that it must be some kind of side effect. I see a black tornado surrounding me -more ghosts- and pain is shooting through my forehead now! But I must keep writing. I cannot stop. I must record this. For my research! The sensation feels familiar. Like I've already gone through this before… WAIT A SECOND. This has happened to me before! During the retrieval of the swords- What happened to Satoshi?! ~~~holes in the scroll~~~ I can't stop th- My head- My mind is too- I cannot think at this moment! ...I wonder. I really wonder, if I am still me by the end of th-? ~~~unreadable scrabbles~~~
The room fell eerily silent when Shikamaru abruptly cut off reading, letting the words leaking off of the document sinking in with all this new and, rather alarmingly disturbing, information.
"So...We're dealing with a madman," concluded Sai, literally the only one able to comprehend all this in one sentence, given the ANBU training he once received "However, I suppose we'll need to explore further on this 'Inner' our target has written about."
Blissfully oblivious to the seriousness of this case, Naruto jumped up and exclaimed, fairly motivated now: "So what, if this guy's a madman?! It's not like that's going to stop us from the search for and find Sakura-chan."
The young Uzumaki paused when he noticed that everyone else wasn't as keen as he was, some of them in fact even had a dark look on their faces. And this confused the blond male to no end.
"What the-? Hey, why is everybody so glum and blue? Sasuke-teme, did I miss something?"
His question was only answered with a near inaudible 'tsk' before Sasuke charged out the room, with the door slamming shut behind him with an unforgiving 'bang'.
By this point, Naruto was looking around hopelessly, silently asking an explanation from his friends.
Ino looked at him sadly as she remembered the encounter,
Not wanting to waste any more energy on sugar-coating the information any longer, though he knew it was bound to hurt, the young Nara came straight to the point "That Kaji person told us that Sakura's dead, Naruto."
After a sudden but short silence, there weren't any words further exchanged, for Naruto had stormed out of the office, blindly angered at being kept in the dark and refusing to believe what he had just been told. So, the blond went straight out to the training fields to let out some steam.
Kakashi let out his breath, which he hadn't realized he had been holding until now, before he continued from where he had previously left off: "Because of these unfortunate circumstances Haruno Sakura will be listed in the K.I.A. I will also be sending out a few ANBU members to go after Haruno Kaji. Also, please note that the funeral - Sakura's - will be held in week. ...Could somebody inform Naruto and Sasuke about this? And please prevent Naruto from wrecking the training grounds again."
Never one to talk around facts, Kakashi then dismissed them immediately. And, after everyone was gone, he 'teleported' away, only to be found standing before the Konaha's Great Memorial Stone, lost in his thoughts and the silence of his surroundings.
Tsunade's home.
Idly standing up from her couch, with a steaming tea in her hand as she wandered to her desk, Tsunade glanced down at the file - which Shizune had brought a little while earlier - laid there on the wooden surface.
After sitting down at the desk and taking a sip or two of her sweet tea, Tsunade stared on at the file in front of her, all while thinking about Shizune's advice. To read through it whilst tipsy. And preferably heavily so.
'What in the world could be so awful that I've to be intoxicated to read? Besides, that makes little to no sense, since she was the one who advised me just a week ago to do a bit of detox. What gives, Shizune?'
Warily picking up the file, the woman saw that it consisted of Shikamru's rapport, Kakashi's notes and the researchers' findings. The whole package. ...This was going to be a long read.
Optimist as she went in for the read, with the first part covering the 'Sakura's retrieval mission', Tsunade smiled a bit as she thought: 'Knowing Naruto, he would do everything to bring Sakura back, and will simply not rest until that happens. It won't surprise me if she's back by now.'
Now reading through the part that contained a few of Kakashi's notes, which were jotted down in his scratchy, near unreadable fashion, it took her a while to attempt and decipher his notes. When she was finally able to do so, a small giggle escaped her mouth as she saw a heart around two names scribbled up in the corner: 'Safe to assume that he ships SasuSaku. Who wouldn't?'
She was reading further when, all of a sudden, her tea cup broke and shattered in her hand, just like that, causing a leak which spilled its contents all over her clothes.
Muttering under her breath, the blonde woman wasted no time cleaning up the mess. However, being a superstitious person, her mind presently wasn't at ease at all, well aware that this could only signify bad news. Horrible news. ...Devastating news.
Snatching up the file again, now that she was done cleaning up, she read with a speed she didn't have before, eyes hurriedly chasing down the lines...until she stumbled across her apprentice's status. And her heart stopped there and then.
The file fell straight out of Tsunade's hand, her world breaking down to crushed bits and pieces.
There printed in bold black letters, were the dreaded words.
K.I.A.
Mind now blank, numb, she slowly staggered, like a zombie, over to her couch and sat - fell - down, unfocused eyes wide.
And then, with her hand functioning mechanically, as if with a mind of its own, she reached over to a hidden cabinet in the armrest of her couch, before taking a bottle of sake out.
Too numbed to bother searching for a cup or move, Tsunade bit off the cork with her teeth and just poured the liquid down her dry throat: 'Screw detoxing. Shizune was right. I so need sake.'
Gulping down more and more, she finally felt her reality slipping away when she heard the doorbell ring. She wanted to ignore it - to escape reality not be brought back into it and the hurt it brought her - but when the person at the door insisted, she eventually got up, sighing heavily.
Aggravated, Tsunade teetered and tottered over to her door, ready to punch the person through a wall. But when she opened the door and saw a young raven-haired man, looking more lost than ever, she halted in her momentum, staring at him.
"No questions. I need Sake."
Before she could even muster an answer, he had snatched up the bottle which he had spotted in her hand, before he too began drowning down the sinful liquid, chugging down what was left.
Pushed her aside, firm and gentle, he wandered over and crashed onto her couch, with Tsunade, mind clouded alcohol, stared on for a brief moment before she let out a deep sigh, deciding that she couldn't and wouldn't figure what was going on. It didn't look like he was going to explain himself anyways, even if she were to ask.
Joining him without a word, the blonde woman took yet another bottle out of the cabinet and, with no words exchanged between them, there they sat, emptying bottle after bottle after bottle. Too many to count. Too many for it to be healthy.
After what seemed like forever, the young raven-haired male eventually stood up, with a light blush on his dazed face, though he seemed to have quite clearly made up his mind on something: "Thank you for your hospitality. I need to go now. See you and everyone else in three months."
And with those as his last words to her, he promptly left her house, without looking back once.
Puzzled by the very strange moment that had transpired, and mind muddled by the liquor, the blond woman frowned as she tried to make sense of what had just occurred: 'Could he mean-? ...Probably. But who am I to stop him? I would have done the same, if it wasn't for my age...'
Leaving her thoughts there, Tsunade let the bottle slip through her fingers, so it went to join all the other ones on the floor, while she gradually landed in a deep slumber, her last thought being: 'Shizune's going to have my head tomorrow.'
Thank you all for reading this far :D
Especially thanks to Seth's Kiss, my Beta, who just updated her amazing story.