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Walking with Tazuna-san was an experience to say the least. His drunken gait and intoxicated speech were quite amusing, if Sakura were to say. The man was constantly riling Naruto up and the blond, being the overly obnoxious dude that he was, just couldn't help reacting to the taunts. As always, their sensei just completely ignored them all by contenting himself with that book of his, and Sasuke was just doing…whatever Sasuke did when he was ignoring people. So poor Sakura was left alone, absentmindedly observing the scenery, and the occasional animal which entered her line of sight in the forest surrounding them. It was a disgustingly beautiful day, she thought, the sun was beaming down at them, the wind was tickling her hair, the sky was literally radiating calm and the clouds were big, white and puffy. All in all, a perfect day for cloud gazing. Maybe if she wasn't so bored she would be doing so herself. But alas, that could not be so.
They had been walking for four hours give or take, according to the sun's position; she hadn't brought her watch along, fearing that it would get ruined if the need arose for action. Really, if it kept going on like this, she would just randomly flop down in the middle of the road! At least it would give her something to do…
They passed a puddle, and Sakura didn't really pay much attention to it. Why question the poor puddle? Just let it do whatever it did on hot and dry days was her opinion.
'Wait a minute!' She thought pausing mid-step, making everyone turn to stare at her like she was crazy. Puddle? But it hadn't rained in months! And if some traveller had somehow spilled some water, it would have dried by now in this heat! She turned her neck to look at it once more, and it rippled. Not some gentle wind type of ripple, but like it had just been disturbed.
Then she knew it was no ordinary puddle. It was a Mist jutsu, which let the executors hide inside the water! They were about to be attacked! Her head whipped back towards her teacher, whose expression was also grave and he shook his head firmly, in response to her silent question.
'What do we do?' was her silent inquiry.
'Nothing at all,' Was his response.
The pink haired girl peered at him questioningly, as if he was high on something, but all he did was smile and carry on walking. With one last glance behind her, she too followed his lead, aware of the confused but curious pairs of eyes of their companions.
They had been walking for only ten minutes when it happened, and when it did, it took all of them by surprise.
SWISH!
They heard the sound, and when the genin plus their client looked up, it was to see a spiky-ass chain being pulled through their teacher.
"KAKA-SENSEI!" Naruto screamed, watching his teacher's body fall down, cut to pieces.
For a while, they all stared frozen at their teacher's decapitated head, before Sakura felt the tell-tale tickling sensation at the back of her neck.
'It's a Genjutsu!' She thought, before lifting her hands up in the required seal and calling out a soft Kai, whilst flaring her chakra.
When she looked again, it was just a block of wood in the ground, with their teacher nowhere to be found! Only this time, there were two…interesting looking teens grinning widely at them. Or at least that's what she thought. You couldn't really tell much because of the masks on their faces.
She watched in horror as in a split second, they appeared behind Naruto menacingly. The blond was frozen she noticed, and just as she was about to rush to his side, Sasuke made his appearance. The black eyed boy jumped high and threw a shuriken to pin the chain in the tree, then a kunai to hold it in place, before landing on the two enemies metal "arms". He kicked them both in the face, but they dodged, and instead ran into Sakura's direction.
'Now's my chance!' She thought, getting in front of their client.
"Doton: Shinjū Zanshu no Jutsu!" She called after making the appropriate hand signs and slamming her gloved palms on the floor, making the ground in front of her turn into a slippery brown concoction, which made her opponent slip comically because of his high speed.
"Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!" Sasuke called out, spitting several fire balls to the ground, making the mud harden, trapping the fallen boy's body inside.
The second enemy squirmed, but the mud was too hard for him to break out of, and he eventually just settled with glaring at the two genin menacingly. Sasuke then rushed off to take care of the last enemy, moving so fast that he was a blur. She wished she could join him, but she had to guard their terrified and shaking client. He looked like he was about to wet himself, to which the pink haired girl had to hide an amused smile.
She did a few hand signs before once more slamming her palms to the ground and silently murmuring the name of the required jutsu.
"Doton: Doryūheki!" She said, and she watched as a big wall made of earth came up behind Tazuna, making him jump forward in surprise
"There," she mumbled, smirking at her work. "That should protect our back." Then she held out a kunai and got into a stance, ready at a moment's notice to block an enemy's attack.
As she watched Sasuke, her only warning was a slight shift in the wind before she had to push Tazuna out of the way of a flying body, which hit her wall so hard that it crumbled.
Her wall. The one which she was proud of!
'It just wasn't fair!' She thought pouting.
"Well! Looks like he's out! Maybe I got him too hard…?" A very familiar and very welcome voice asked unsurely.
"K-Kakashi-sensei?" She heard Naruto's shaky voice ask.
Sakura and Tazuna turned around to see the silver haired man standing next to a clearly fuming Sasuke looking like he hadn't just pretended to have been chopped up to pieces.
"Naruto," their teacher stated in such an indifferent voice that everyone knew the blond was in BIG trouble.
The poor guy looked ready to cry, and Sakura walked towards him to give him a reassuring rub on the shoulder. He didn't even look at her.
Five minutes and many harsh glares from Kakashi later, they had securely tied their enemies to a tree and were currently surrounding them, making the two masked teens shift uncomfortably.
It was a long and disturbing silence; everyone watching unsurely as Kakashi silently read his trusty book indifferent to all. Naruto was the most nervous of all, considering what was to come for him. Sakura thought Kakashi just loved to make them all squirm and feel uncomfortable for his own amusement.
"Do you know who these boys are, Tazuna-san?" Kakashi asked, voice cold, yet he was still reading.
Every one of the shinobi heard the civilian's audible gulp and they could all smell his fear, making some like Naruto move his head in the other direction.
"N-no, Kakashi-san," the Wave native stammered.
Once more, they lapsed into awkward silence, as if Kakashi hadn't even heard his reply. Sakura sighed silently, wondering when it was going to end. Kakashi was just like Luna, and sometimes even, Kimimaro. They were blunt, but they liked to prolong the conversation, as if they had no reason to rush. Honestly, the pink haired girl had always hated it, and it had always made her siblings amused about how impatient she was. Really, people should just cut to the chase.
"These two are very dangerous chūnin from Mist," he explained to them all, "known as 'The Demon Brothers' because of the fact that they never stop fighting."
Five minutes later…...
"Do you know what they wanted, Tazuna-san?" The silver haired man questioned finally, turning the page with barely a flick of his wrist.
"N-no,"
"Don't lie to me, Tazuna," Kakashi snarled, snapping his book shut with an audible 'BAM!' making even their hostages jump, startled. "You know exactly what they want. A very valuable piece of information that you have withheld. A decision which could have killed us all. Now, I want you to tell me why we should continue this mission." He turned toward the sweating man with the most pleasant smile in existence.
'Damn, I'm good,' the jōnin thought smirking inwardly.
The five other people watched in morbid anticipation as the old man looked like a cornered animal about to give up on life itself. It was quite fascinating actually.
"W-Well, Tazuna stuttered sweating more by the minute. "I-I-I…I-I mean you should b-because…"
"Yes?" Kakashi asked cheerily.
It seemed that it had just become too much for the old man for he collapsed on the ground, hyperventilating violently. Everyone else just watched in shocked as this silver haired jōnin reduced a man more than twice his age to a nervous wreck with just a few completelynon-threatening words.
'Poor Naruto,' Sakura thought pityingly, sparing a glance at the extremely pale blond who was currently shaking in his boots beside her. Even Sasuke looked sympathetic. They had a damn terrifying teacher.
Kakashi gave the cowering man a hard look before crouching down in front of him, pretending not to notice when Tazuna tried to scramble away.
"Look Tazuna-san," he stated. "We'll continue with the mission, but you must understand what danger you have us in. Other genin teams in Konoha are even more useless than mine, if you can believe it and probably would have already been killed back there. You must tell me the truth and nothing but the truth. This mission will now be treated as an A-rank and we shall be paid accordingly. We shall get into the details later."
After he said this, he straightened up and faced the criminals with a bored look.
"As for you two…Well, I'll let you go," he said to the two scared chūnin tied to the tree. "But I expect there to be a written apology from the Mizukage to the Hokage by the time we get back from our mission. Understand?"
They nodded frantically, anxious to be away from this crazy man.
No wonder he was known as one of the dangerous men in the shinobi nations.
Kakashi nodded and untied them before sparing them with one last glance then signaling that they could go, which they did without another moment's hesitation.
He sighed. "As for you Naruto…I won't punish you because it was your first real fight. Just don't freeze up again. If Sasuke and Sakura hadn't been there, you would've died. Good job you two, by the way. Anyway, let's get going! We have to be there quickly."
He briskly walked away without another glance.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Naruto breathed a clear sigh of relief.
"I thought he was going to kill me!" He exclaimed. Sasuke just rolled his eyes and Sakura laughed.
"Honestly, Naruto though, why did you freeze up?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at him as Sasuke did the same. "That's not like you."
"…I needed to pee," Naruto murmured embarrassed.
It took a moment for Sakura and Sasuke to truly register what the blond had just said.
"No…" Sakura breathed in disbelief. The blond just laughed and rubbed the back of his head nervously, embarrassed.
"Dobe," Sasuke stated, whacking the blond upside the head, making Naruto wince and glare, but not seriously.
"I just can't believe it! You're such an idiot!" Sakura exclaimed laughing, and Naruto also joined in. Sasuke even let out a few chuckles and with that, the tense atmosphere dissipated immediately.
'I honestly have the most retarded students in the world,' Kakashi thought chuckling inwardly.
He missed her.
He missed her white hair, her cunning mind, her bright yellow eyes…He missed all of her.
Tch, how weak he was. Reduced to a mess when just her name popped up in his mind.
He was a disgrace to his clan.
Not that he didn't already know that, considering what he had done but still. Whatever happened to "Never show any emotion"? Where did that go? Well, it had worked, until he met the woman. The woman who, despite doing everything possible to stop it, he was in love with. If someone were to ask him how it happened, he wouldn't be able to say, during the one year of planning and plotting, it had just happened. How though, he did not know. And every time he saw her, rare as the occasion was, he just fell more in love. She didn't know, thank heavens and he wasn't planning on telling her either.
When he was dealing with problems in ANBU, she was there. When he was dealing with bullshit from his clan, she was there. When he was given the order from the Hokage, she was there. And when he was a vomiting and crying mess after the whole ordeal, she was there. Perhaps it was then when he realized it. When even though he was at his worst moment, she still held him close and comforted him.
Itachi wasn't really one to be sentimental, but really, she was the light in his very dark and bleak world. When he was wallowing in the pits of guilt and despair, hoping Sasuke could just get it over and done with, all he had to do was think of Luna and he would be comforted.
'Weak,' he heard his father's voice sneer in his head and he looked away from the wall he had been staring at, and looked down, his crossed legs coming into view.
Maybe so…
Maybe he was weak.
Truth be told, he was never strong anyway.
"My country is being controlled by a very dangerous man named Gatō," the old man stated. "The name should be familiar."
"Gatō?" Kakashi asked, acting surprised. "Of 'Gatō's trading company'?"
Tazuna nodded.
Gatō? Yes, Sakura knew the name too. Unlike her two teammates, she was well versed in the happenings of the international economy. Having an older sister like Luna did that to you. From what she knew about the man was that he was actually one of the richest men in the world, despite his cheap and tacky appearance. He had major connections in each country, considering the fact that he was the man who dealt with most shipping jobs. But what most people did not was that he was also an underground tyrant who wasn't afraid to go to extreme lengths to get what he wanted. His money and power made him dangerous. Thing was, if needed, any old Hidden Village could dispose of him without as much as a trace. Problem was, if he went under, the global economy would be greatly affected, and that was why, even though all the Kage knew of his heartless deeds, they let him be.
After all, no one wants a weak village.
Naruto and Sasuke on the other hand looked completely lost so she took it upon herself to explain when she saw that Tazuna wanted to do the same. The older man wouldn't be able to elaborate in terms Naruto would understand.
"Gatō, richest man in the world. Very valuable economic asset. Secretly an underground tyrant. Trying to take over Wave country. Understand?" She asked Naruto, who nodded frantically with a bright smile.
"Yeah! I totally understood your complicated explanation. Just shows how awesome I am! Haha! I am so going to be Hokage!"
Sasuke just rolled his eyes whilst everyone else just sweat dropped.
"Alright then. Thanks for clearing that up Sakura," Kakashi acknowledged before turning back to Tazuna nodding for him to continue the explanation which he already knew.
"Anyway, he came to our village a few years ago and immediately seized control," Tazuna elaborated, looking slightly sad. "We aren't a very rich village, even our feudal lord isn't that wealthy, and we're located so far away from everyone else that's it's hard to be influenced by others, because of that we have no shinobi. When he came with all his men, armed to the full, we couldn't really resist without being killed."
"But then why did you hire us to protect you specifically?" Naruto asked, clearly confused. "Why not hire higher ranked ninja to just take Gatō out?"
"Dobe, Sakura just told you," Sasuke explained, giving Naruto a look which clearly said "idiot". "If this guy is as valuable to the economy as she says, no village would accept the mission unless Gatō had done something to make them angry. Tazuna-san hired us to protect him because for some reason, Gatō must be targeting him."
"That'a correct," the old man said. "Gatō's targeting me because I'm building a bridge that'll connect us to the mainland. We should be able to see it soon."
Everyone lapsed into silence, looking into the thick mist for any sign of it, the only sounds being the water lapping at the boat and the rower moving the oar to a fro. Soon, a big shadow emerged, faint at first before the shape steadily getting bigger the closer they got.
"WOAH! IT'S HUGE!" Naruto shouted in awe, moving to the edge of the boat to get a better look.
"Ssh!" The rower berated, making the blond smile sheepishly, but quite down nonetheless. "Don't make too much noise. If Gatō's goons catch us, we're dead! That's why I'm not using the engine."
But indeed it was huge, and it wasn't even halfway finished yet. With gigantic pillars holding it up and descending into the deep waters.
'Tazuna must have some skilled workers if he could get those things so deep into the water,' Sakura thought impressed.
She could see how something this big could put a rift in Gatō's plans. If this connected Nami no Kuni with the mainland, there would hardly be a need for boats anymore when people could just get things across easier and much faster. If this bridge was finished, Gatō could kiss his firm hold over the country goodbye.
"I see," Sasuke stated also coming to the right conclusion.
Tazuna nodded, not bothering to keep the smug smile of his face before turning back to Kakashi.
"So you see, if I die, Wave will never be a free country again. But don't worry. You guys can just drop me off at the shore where I'll be killed immediately. It's fine though. Not like anyone will cry for me…Except my daughter and my little grandson who'll cry 'Grandpa! Grandpa!' and grow up to hate the village of Konoha with a vengeance that rivals even the fiery pits of hell. Not to worry though." Tazuna added at the end, seeing the guilt stricken faces of the Genin.
Kakashi listened heartless as he was though didn't even seem moved one bit.
"Fine then," Kakashi stated, his voice offering no compromises. "We'll continue the mission as stated like before. But I don't care how poor your country is, we'll all be getting paid for an A-class mission."
'Meh, I guess you can't have everything,' Tazuna thought sulkily
"Everyone quiet, we're almost there." The boat master said just as they entered a very dimly lit tunnel with a barely visible light at the end.
The three genin held their breath in anticipation clearly anxious to see what Wave country looked like. Slowly but surely, the light grew increasingly bigger until it grew so bright that they had to block their eyes from the luminous rays.
"Finally," Tazuna's happy voice sounded happily next to them and they opened their eyes to a sight they had never seen.
Minus the silver haired jōnin of course.
"Wow!" Naruto exclaimed, shocked. He had never seen anything like it!
The whole village was built on water! And it was quite big too! Not even a quarter big as Konoha but still big nonetheless.
Sakura observed all the foreign views around her, also very interested in her new surroundings. There were many tall and weird looking plants jutting out the water and all the buildings had straw roofs. It was cute, she supposed. But really made her suspicious was the fact that there was not one soul roaming around.
They reached the empty dock, with only a few boats floating on the water, not a fisherman on one of them either. It was eerie to say the least, and the pink haired girl pitied the villagers, so scared they were that they didn't even roam their own streets.
"This is as far as I go," the boat man said to them as they got off the wooden vehicle.
"Thanks a lot.," Tazuna said, handing the man a few bills. "You risked a lot."
The man nodded before pulling the chain to start the engine and streaming away from them.
"Ah!" Tazuna exclaimed, clearly elated. "Feels good to be back. Now take me home guys!" Sakura just shook her head before walking along with her two teammates.
"Sakura," Sasuke said holding her back and waiting for the others to move a distance away. They had only been walking for fifteen minutes with nothing out of the ordinary, so what did he have to talk to her about.
"It's too quiet, don't you think?" He asked, looking straight into her emerald eyes.
Actually, now that she paused to listed, it was too quiet. How could she not have noticed? The birds weren't even chirping!
"There!" Naruto shouted, startling everyone by launching a kunai into the bushes suddenly.
Everyone watched tense, but slowly relaxed when nothing happened, prompting Naruto to look sheepish.
"Naruto! Don't be stupid! Stop giving us all a heart attack!" Sakura exclaimed angrily at the blond.
"He's beyond help," she also heard Sasuke mutter whilst shaking his head.
They all calmed their heart rates before continuing on their route.
"Hyah!" Naruto shouted, launching another kunai into a bush.
"Please use your weapons sparingly," Kakashi said, but he looked up from his book when they all heard a scared "Meep!" sound from the direction the kunai had gone.
'The hell?' Sakura thought surprised.
When they went to investigate, all they saw was a terrified little bunny looking as if it had just seen its life flash before its eyes.
'It probably had,' the pink haired girl thought looking at where the metal weapon was lodged just between its ears.
"Hah! I knew there was something there!" Naruto exclaimed triumphantly, only to receive a smack on his head from his emerald eyed teammate.
"Imbecile," Sakura reprimanded. "Look at what you did to that poor little bunny! You couldv-Wait a minute…Why is it white?"
Naruto completely ignored her and started apologizing and hugging the little terrified animal. Sasuke, Tazuna and Kakashi all paid attention.
"Rabbits are only white in the winter. Buts it's clearly summer here. Someone must have raised it in cold conditions and let it ou-"
"Everyone duck!" Kakashi called out and no one hesitated, doing as told without question.
And just above them sounded a loud "SWISH!" followed by a "THUMP!" and they all looked up to see a huge sword buried in a tree, with a man standing on its blade.
'Ha! Sword my foot! More like giant meat cleaver!' Sakura thought derisively.
Flashback:
"Gaara-kun. Is it true you've never tasted ice-cream?" A little pink haired girl asked, walking down the hot streets of Suna now fully changed and feeling fresh again.
The red haired boy on her side shyly shook his head, feeling slightly embarrassed, for he had a feeling that it wasn't normal for a young child his age to have never had Ice cream.
"Oh! Yep! I know how you feel! Even I hadn't tasted until maybe three months ago! But I know that you'll like it! Right Onee-chan?" The emerald eyed girl asked, looking up to her older sister who was smiling amusedly.
"Yes Sakura," Luna said, her long white hair blowing with the light breeze. "I'm sure Gaara-kun will love it. We are almost there, and I'll buy you guys all the ice cream you want, alright?"
"Yes please! I can't wait!" Sakura exclaimed happily, pouncing on the unsuspecting Gaara, who seemed absolutely terrified of the pink haired terror, prompting Luna to laugh.
Five minutes later, they were standing in front of one of the only relatively cheerful looking buildings in the village, and Gaara had to cringe at all the bright colors and noise the children were making, not to mention the overly sweet smell which immediately invaded his sensitive senses.
They entered, but most took no notice of him, thank goodness, for it was a very hot and busy day, and most parents were just concentrating on calming their children down to take notice of anything else.
"Good afternoon and welcome to our establishment. What can we get you today?" A surprisingly cheerful woman asked behind a counter.
"Two mint chocolates please," the oldest of them ordered, "and one plain vanilla for me, three scoops for each. Wafer cones please." The lady nodded, before quickly jutting it into the machine.
"That will be fifteen," she told them before getting the spoon out from the water and starting with the first cone.
Gaara watched curiously as the weird looking food was scooped up into a ball courtesy of the spoon and put in the cone, tucked deep inside it. It was interesting, as her didn't even know that it existed until today really, and Luna-chan was nice enough to treat him to it.
Then the woman handed it to Luna, who then passed it on to him.
But all he did was stare at it.
Soon the white haired and pink haired girls were given theirs too, and they were now walking outside.
His two companions were happily eating their own sweet treat but stopped, when the noticed that the red head hadn't even touched his.
"Gaara-kun? Do you not like it?" Luna asked him, worried.
But Gaara shook his head, signaling that was not the problem. Then hesitantly, as if his voice didn't even want to come out he asked.
"H-how do you eat this?" The two girls were so shocked that all they could do was stare at him in surprise for a while.
"Well, you just have to lick it! Like this!" Sakura exclaimed then proceeding to demonstrate. He watched as her small pink tongue did just that, and then, he went back to staring at his treat.
It was melting.
"Go on." Luna prompted gently and slowly, he experimentally tasted it.
It was as if heaven itself had graced his mouth.
Not even three seconds later, the whole thing was gone and he was heading back in the direction of the store.
"I want more," he declared.
Here it is people! The tenth chapter! I hope you all like it. I personally hated it. Especially the Demon Brothers scene. Give me your opinions please.
Also, my Beta warned me about being careful about Luna being a Mary-Sue. And she's right when you think about it. If Luna IS a Mary-Sue, please warn me so I can make her better.
For those of you who wanted ItaLuna, well there's a little glimpse of it! BUT! That does not mean it will be the final outcome.
Next chapter, The fight with Zabuza! Yeah! Not.
Thanks for the reviews guys! So far this story has twenty three! How bout we aim for thirty with this chapter! I know you guys can do it!
Thanks to my awesome Beta who is always there for me!
Lots of Love,
Bluetopianprincess^o^