A.N: Hi guys, I know this has taken way too long to upload, I haven't forgotten about this fanfic, I'm just busy. Chapter 11 is in the making as is the pic but I am also working on a Sasuke centered fic and a Soul Eater one so I'm sorry if things are rather slow :( Anyway seeing as it's been ages since i last uploaded i'm typing up the points Kakash pointed out to Team 7 about Akari's nature abilities so you don't have to go back and re-read the chapter :) unless you want to of coarse.
* Akari can't "control" an element that isn't present.
*She can't manipulate things in any way they wouldn't be found in a natural state (e.g rocks don't float, fire isn't found underwater etc.)
*Because there is no chakra involved in the elements she manipulates they make a poor attack (e.g If Sasuke uses a fire jutsu against Akari and she protects herself from it using water, his attack would beat hers because his is powered with chakra.)
*She can't control other people's elemental techniques, their jutsu's are created with their chakra and therefore that attack belongs to them.
Without further ado I bring you chapter 10. Enjoy :D New picture also uploaded to DA.
~Sand Vs Leaf~
The clamor of the crowd up on the benches gazing down at the stadium in front of them grew in volume as more and more people filed into their seats excited for the upcoming matches. None of it was more than a heavy buzzing noise from the arena but it was safe to guess most of them were placing bets on which contestants would make it through the first round of battles.
Inhaling deeply as the crisp November air blew the leaves and kicked up the dust from the ground, Akari scanned the stands taking in the multitude of people all from different countries keen on watching good matches. Her eyes lingered for a while on the rosy haired girl and her blond companion taking in the crestfallen look she had before continuing their journey along the stands. She could understand her teammate's gloomy attitude. Sasuke had seemingly disappeared from the hospital a month ago after sustaining heavy injuries during the preliminary battle of the Chunnin exams and still hadn't turned up at the arena. To make matters worse her other teammate whose battle was the first up was also late and the impatience in the crowd above was practically palpable at this point.
"Trust that man to rub off on his students negatively," she heard Genma mutter under his breath, his senbon bobbing up and down with the movement of his lips.
Akari smirked lightly knowing he was referring to Kakashi's tardiness. Currently only Naruto, Dosu and Sasuke were absent from the stadium and she was starting to find it hard to repress the uneasy feeling in her gut. Kicking over a pebble she turned when a male voice yelling caught her attention and heaved a sigh of relief when she saw her blond teammate running into the stadium waving his arms about like an idiot.
'That just leaves one more to turn up' she thought as she welcomed Naruto to the arena.
"Where's Sasuke?" he asked noticing his friend wasn't present.
"We were hoping you'd know," said Genma giving Naruto a once over, hands stuffed in his pocket clearly fed up with the situation.
"Me? I haven't seen him since the preliminary test," replied the blonde checking over his shoulder towards the entrance of the arena hoping to see his teammate arriving.
"That Dosu guy hasn't arrived yet either," added Shikamaru looking over at Akari who just frowned.
"What if Sasuke doesn't get here in time?" asked the brunette worriedly as the spew of fireworks that had been going off came to a stop signalling the beginning of the tournament.
"Then he would lose by default," replied the Jounin looking up towards the stadium were the Hokage and the Kazekage sat expectantly.
Akari looked down at her feet sighing heavily. They hadn't even started the final part of the exam and already problems were cropping up. Nobody had heard anything from Sasuke for a month and the fact that they were still holding the exam while Orochimaru's location was unknown was really bothering her. The ANBU discreetly positioned around the stadium did little to cheer her up. It just confirmed that the situation was pretty dire. Her only consolation was the fact that she knew if anything had happened to Sasuke, Kakashi would have let them know.
'Unless he couldn't-' she squished that thought out of her head as quick as it had come by slapping both her cheeks with her hands. Kakashi was strong and perfectly capable of looking after himself. If a situation had arisen that he couldn't handle he would have found a way to alert the Hokage.
"He'll be here," Naruto's voice dragged her out of her thoughts and made her turn to look at him. He was gazing up at the cheering crowd his features composed barely managing to hide the glint of worry in his blue eyes. "Sasuke was really looking forward to this battle; he'll definitely make it here in time," he said turning to face her before grinning.
A small smile crept across her face as she felt her worries leave her body and gave her teammate a firm nod as Anko's words bounced up from the back of her mind.
"Listen Akari, right now you have to focus on getting through this test, I appreciate you coming all this way just to inform us, but this is something us Jounin have to take care of."
'Just watch me, I'll pull through this damn test no matter what it takes,' she thought now starring back up at the cheering crowd as the Hokage gave his welcoming speech. Akari tuned it out trying to relax herself before they begun but her attention was caught at the elder man's final words.
"We will now begin the main battles with the nine contestants that managed to pass the preliminaries. Please enjoy the matches."
'Nine? There are ten of us who made it through. Is he not counting the people who are missing? No, there are eight of us here now, it doesn't add up no matter how you look at it,' she thought scanning the other contestants. Shikamaru's frown let her know he didn't understand the situation any better than she did. Maybe the Hokage had messed up while making his speech. It was a possibility that didn't seem likely.
"Before we begin I would like you all to take a look at this," said Genma while retrieving a piece of paper from his flack vest. "There was a little change in the match-ups so double check to know who you will be fighting against."
Akari bit her bottom lip lost in thought upon seeing the new match-ups. They hadn't remarkably changed but the fact that it was her match that had been tampered with aggravated her immensely. She was now paired up against the winner of Shikamaru and Temari's match up.
'Of all the people to drop out it just had to be the only Sound Nin,' she thought the uneasy feeling in her stomach churning once again making its presence known. 'How am I supposed to take that lightly? What exactly are you up to Orochimaru? More importantly, the Jounin already seemed to know about this beforehand, why haven't they said anything until now?'
A light tap on her shoulder brought her out of her thoughts as she turned to regard the blond standing next to her. "Oh, you're lucky, it's like you already fought your battle," said Naruto grinning at the change of events.
Akari's shoulders just slumped in resignation. Trust her blonde teammate to not grasp the seriousness of the situation. Although to be fair on him, Sasuke had decided to keep him out of the loop and not inform him about Orochimaru and the curse seals two of his teammates had.
"The rules are the same as in the preliminaries; there are no rules. The match only ends if either one forfeits or dies or unless I deem the match to no longer be able to continue. Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji stay behind. The rest of you are to go up to the waiting area," explained Genma signalling up to the small balcony between the stands.
Giving her teammate a parting squeeze on the shoulder Akari turned away from the three ninja in the arena and shuffled along with the rest of the Genin into the stadium. Each resounding slap on the concrete below her sandaled feet brought her a step closer to the waiting area, her worry increasing with the strides she took. Before she realized what was going on she was already standing on the balcony above the arena looking down at the battle taking place. She tried to concentrate on the match, she really did, but with each punch Naruto received nearing him to a seemingly inevitable defeat she found herself losing focus. Everything that was happening couldn't be a coincidence could it? Her gut was telling her it wasn't and over the years she had learned to trust gut instincts like these, but maybe she was biased on the matter.
"I don't know what's going through your head right now but I'm sure it's nothing that can't wait until all of this has blown over right? You won't be able to focus on your match if you keep worrying yourself out, not to mention you'll make your lip bleed if you keep biting it like that," whispered Shikamaru with a slight smirk.
"Your right, it's not fair on Naruto, he was after all one of my loudest supporters during the preliminaries," said Akari returning the smile all worries forgotten for the time being as she focused her attention on her blonde teammate. He was panting and in pretty bad shape. It looked like he was trying to concentrate chakra and pump it through his system while Neji mocked his efforts. His smirk was erased when red chakra started to swirl around Naruto's feet. The fact that it was visible even from Akari's vintage point of view was just proof of the massive amount of chakra coming off of her teammate in waves.
"N-no way," she heard Shikamaru stammer beside her. If her attention or anybody else's had dwindled during the match it was most certainly glued to the arena now as both teens charged at each other. After the huge explosion that kicked up enough soil to make even the group of examinees cover their eyes the stands fell eerily silent as all watched expectantly waiting for the final result.
"Neji's still standing," muttered Shino from Shikamaru's right, hands in his pocket, his sunglasses glinting in the sunlight. "Naruto fought well bu-" the rest of his statement was cut short when the crowd gasped in unison as Naruto jumped out of the ground giving Neji a final punch in the chin sending him flying backwards. Nobody spoke for a while not daring to believe the final outcome until Genma rose his arm and proclaimed Naruto the victor.
A shrill cry of 'He did it' which sounded like Sakura could be heard in the stadium just before the rest of the onlookers burst into a cacophonous chorus of cheers and claps. The stunned look on Naruto's face as he looked up at the crowd not quite believing they were cheering at him made an endearing smile break out on Akari's features.
'This is just the beginning Naruto, there's still a long way to go to reach the top,' she thought to herself.
"Oi oi, he won," stated Shikamaru looking equal amounts of bewildered and crestfallen. "Are you serious? I thought that he was in the 'not-so-cool group' like me."
"Not-so-cool group?" asked Shino his facial expression as composed as ever. The pig-tailed kunoichi couldn't help but turn to regard the weird conversation.
"He's getting all those cheers which makes him a member of the 'cool group'," he continued answering the bug masters question, his voice taking on a more resigned tone by the second. "Actually, I probably can't beat him; I'm in deep trouble…now I feel down."
"What nonsense are you mumbling now, giving up before even fighting? You'd better win your match, I'm your next opponent after all," said Akari trying to cheer up the teen beside her while giving him a light pat on the back.
"Ahh so troublesome why am I constantly pared against women," replied the pony-tailed boy leaning against the balcony railing.
"You know when you say that I dunno whether to feel offended or to pity you," replied the girl with a firm look.
A loud laughing and cheering sound had them turning around to face the door where soon after a bundle of bouncing orange and yellow emerged making them all grin unintentionally.
"Great match Naruto," said Akari beaming at her teammate.
"To tell you the truth I didn't know you had it in you," grinned Shikamaru all of his previous babbling about cool and non-cool groups forgotten as he was genuinely happy for the smaller teen.
The praising just had Naruto gushing into a flow of rambling about how he had had it all planned all along and 'did you see me when I did this and that's?' making the other Konoha examinees sigh in resignation. They would let him have his moment in the spotlight; he had earned it after all.
After ten minutes the rambling died down as they all started eyeing Genma frequently waiting for him to announce the second match which consequently had them staring at the stadium entrance wondering where the hell Sasuke was.
"Something's happening," said Shino in a stoic voice nodding towards the Jounin that was talking to Genma before disappearing in a puff of smoke, appearing once again by the Hokage's side.
"Ladies and Gentlemen," boomed Genma's voice over the relentless clamor of the crowd making them quieten down at once. "A contestant for the next match has not arrived yet; therefore this battle will be delayed and we will proceed with the next match first."
The uproar was instantaneous as the multitude made its displeasure known. It seemed many of them had been looking forward to the match with the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan in it. Akari felt more than heard Naruto's sigh of relief at the knowledge that their teammate wasn't being disqualified. This on the other hand had Akari worrying her bottom lip again. Why was Sasuke's battle being pushed back instead of simply naming Gaara the victor of the match? There had to be an ulterior motive behind the whole scenario.
"Next match; contestants Kankurou and Aburame Shino, please make your way down here," said Genma.
"Examiner I'm giving up," bellowed Kankurou making all the other contestants excluding his own teammates turn to face him with varying degrees of shock and confusion on their faces. "I'm giving up," he said once again to reinforce his previous statement, "go on to the next match."
Akari whipped her head to glare down at Genma noticing his scrunched up features and pinning him with a 'You can't tell me that's not weird' look which he chose to ignore. The onlookers were in hysterics by now at the knowledge of having yet another match cancelled and were tossing garbage all over the place.
Something was terribly wrong with this exam and both Suna and Oto were involved some way or another she was sure of it. Crazy didn't start piling up from different places if they weren't connected in some manner or form. Her knuckles were white from the strength she was gripping the railing with barely registering the fact that Genma had declared Shino winner and was waiting expectantly with Temari for Shikamaru to make his way down to the ground. His undignified yelp at being tossed over the balcony by Naruto was what brought her out of her reverie as she leaned over to check on the poor boys state down below.
"Oi oi, you could of at least let him use the staircase," she stated sternly to which the blonde just chuckled as a response before yelling at Shikamaru to 'go get her!'
One more time Akari placed her worries to one side as she found herself easily engrossed in the battle due to the intensity it had kicked off with. Temari seemed determined to end the match as fast as possible. Akari had to admit Shikamaru was right, her fan was just as good as a mace as it was a fan, it had left a considerable sized hole in the ground upon impact which could have easily smashed a lesser persons skull had they been unprepared for the attack. She couldn't help but feel overwhelmed constantly making mental notes of both Shikamaru and Temari's abilities secretly praying for her fellow ninja to win but also taking into consideration the fact that Temari would be an easier opponent to tackle. Not that the Sand kunoichi was weak, far from it, but her fighting style was more straightforward than Shikamaru's.
She inwardly squealed when Shikamaru finally managed to capture Temari with his Shadow Technique, the excitement around really intense. Leave it to Shikamaru to burst the crowds bubble by giving up. While Naruto's jaw dropped to the ground she burst out laughing clutching her stomach. She had to hand it to him, he was a strange man.
"Winner, Temari," said Genma grinning broadly at the turn of events. As both teens turned to walk back to the waiting area he called out to the blonde. "Oi wait, your next match is up," he stated matter of factly.
"Huh?" asked Temari taken aback, "I've just had my first match, it should be Uchiha Sasuke's match before the second round of battles begins."
"Ah but Sasuke's battle was postponed to the end, right now it's Seishin Akari's first battle regardless of it being your second one," he replied eyeing the approaching brunette. She hadn't needed to be called down and after a brief good luck from Naruto and Shikamaru who she had run into on the way down she now stood with her hands in her shorts pockets slightly to his right. She gave him a brief smile before turning to face her match up but Temari clearly wasn't done arguing.
"How exactly is that fair, everyone else gets time to rest, why am I the only one to fight two consecutive battles?" she growled out venom laced in with her voice.
"Haven't you heard? Life isn't fair, besides no one is forcing you to fight," he said bored letting his statement hang in the air for the girl to draw her own conclusions.
"What's the matter, not gonna give up now are you?" taunted Akari smirking adding more oil to the fire. 'If looks could kill' she thought cheerily returning Temari's glare with one of her own. After her constant state of worry and confusion at the way the day's events were unfolding she had decided to not give a damn. Right now she was surprised to find out she was actually really looking forward to her battle with Temari.
Temari replied with a small grunt and positioned herself some feet further away to Genma's left. The Jounin looked at both girls once before raising his hand and shouting out 'Begin' which was abruptly followed by male choruses of 'Go Blondie' or 'You punch that Sand bitch into the ground'.
Akari couldn't help but frown slightly not taking her eyes off of Temari who was unclasping her fan from her back and smashing it into the ground at her side. 'Great, cat calling,' she thought exasperatedly.
"I'm warning you I've already seen through the nature of your techniques," said Temari's calm demeanor from across the field. Akari's eyebrows rose to her hairline hidden behind her fringe. "I already saw what abilities you were capable of during your match against that other Seishin clan member."
"I beg to differ," replied Akari calmly, "you don't understand the half of-"
"No you're wrong, I do," interrupted the blonde making the brunettes face scrunch up in annoyance. "While I may not know how strong or understand the abilities from the Seishin clan to their full extent I am perfectly aware of how far you can go with your nature control."
'What? She has to be lying. Is she trying to turn this into a mental battle or something? Why else would she bring this up now?' thought Akari making sure her features were composed.
Genma turned his head slightly to stare at the Konoha kunoichi he knew fairly well. To those who didn't know her she seemed unfazed by the news, but Genma could see otherwise. Her jaw was too rigid to pass off as relaxed and he could tell she was going over Temari's words carefully. 'Don't let her get under your skin Akari,' he thought twiddling his senbon between his lips.
"Very well, I'm listening," replied Akari relaxing her defensive pose.
'Baka, don't let your guard down,' grumbled Genma mentally.
"Twelve years ago, my youngest brother was born. My mother died giving birth to him, not even the best Medic Nin from Suna could do anything to save her…" began Temari trailing off slightly.
Not really understanding where the blonde was going with her story Akari bit her tongue refraining herself from interrupting the older teenager.
"The day before her contractions began two people came into the village; one was an old man and the other a young woman. They came wanting to purchase some really rare medical plants from the greenhouses and they ran into my mother and me. Upon finding out she was due they offered to help her through labour claiming to be shamans. The Kazekage denied their request but my mother had befriended the young woman… she was always attracted to remedial healing," continued Temari her voice taking on a soft caring tone. " She knew she was going to die giving birth so she wanted to remain with her newly made friend for as long as possible, my father couldn't deny her request and aloud the two strangers to remain in the village for the occasion. It was in the greenhouses that he learned of their remarkable ability. Not only were they able to manipulate the elements at will but also claimed to be in touch with the spiritual realm. They gave up information on their powers easily and in exchange they obtained the plants they had come to get."
Akari swallowed hard barely daring to breathe. Could they have been members from her mother's tribe? Temari seemed to think so. It would make sense for them not to care about explaining their abilities to strangers; after all even with the knowledge they wouldn't be able to fully understand the depth of the techniques, Orochimaru had learnt that the hard way.
"So you see," continued the Sand Nin while opening her fan up, "I understand how to fight against you, your non chakra based attacks don't stand a chance against my chakra fueled wind techniques. What's more here we're only surrounded by soil; I won't go running into boulders as easily as that other kid did."
Akari clutched her hands into fists by her side before staring up at the older girl grinning. "So I've got no trump card huh? I'm more excited to fight you now than I was before, should be interesting to see what we can make out of this fight and I'll do you one better, I won't use any earth techniques on you, what d'you say?"
Genma sighed inwardly. 'Here she goes again' he thought solemnly. Every time Akari rose up to a challenge or a bet while playing card games she rarely failed to lose. It seemed she applied the same fiery spirit to a battle.
Temari smirked slightly while raising her fan behind her head. "Don't go regretting that decision now," she yelled across the field before her face fell in disbelief at her opponents actions. The brunette facing her had pulled out a single kunai from her holster and was pointing it in her general direction.
"That idiot, I told her weapon attacks wouldn't work against Temari, she should have realized that by now," grumbled Shikamaru glaring down at the field. "Oi Naruto what is your teammate playing at?"
"How should I know," he whined back clearly confused with the direction this battle was taking.
Was she mocking her? Akari hadn't been present for her battle against Tenten so maybe she didn't know weapons didn't affect her although she highly doubted it. "I should maybe let you know it won't work before you waste your time," she said not sure of what to do.
The brunette turned the kunai sideways so Temari could see the whole weapon, "Oh really?" she smirked when she loosened three fingers and let the explosive tag that had been hidden dangle from the sharp blades handle.
'Risky,' thought Genma, 'If either one of them sends explosive tags flying into the crowd I'm going to have to disqualify whoever did the throwing. Is she trying to keep Temari from flailing her fan all over the place?' He couldn't help but agree that the whole plan was something Akari would dare risk but there were so many ways for it to backfire it made him wonder if the risk was worth it.
'She's trying to stop me from using my wind Jutsu's,' growled Temari mentally as she quickly shut her fan with a snap while jumping out of the kunai's trajectory. 'I'll just blow the explosion back towards her.' The sharp object penetrated the ground as easily as if it were made of butter, the tag floating lightly in the air before falling limp by the knife's side.
The blonde skidded to a halt a few meters away from where she had previously been and raised her fan ready waiting for the single spark that would ignite the small piece of paper.
Nothing happened.
'A feint!' thought Temari whipping her head back up to the brunette, her eyes widening at the sight before her. The dust was swirling like mad around the girl who was positioned with her arms stretched out wide to her sides; a dozen kunai each with an explosive tag attached to them floated ominously all around her.
'Oh? Good strategy,' thought Genma to himself quite impressed.
"Seishinryoku," whispered Akari, her eyes glowing wildly under her fringe as she mentally sent one of the kunai flying straight at Temari.
The blonde jumped to the side avoiding the sharp blade and guarded herself from the tag however just like its predecessor it didn't ignite. Gritting her teeth she glared at her adversary before once again jumping out of the way of a sharp blade. 'She's keeping me on the defensive, probably only one of those kunai has a real explosive tag; I can't risk sending them flying all over the place though and she knows that.'
Akari's face was one of deep concentration as she started sending the kunai faster keeping the other kunoichi constantly on the move until there were no more blades left by her side.
Skidding to a halt Temari looked back at the girl whose eyes were back to their normal colour her own teal orbs running over the floor littered by shinning metal until her ears picked up a light fizzing noise. Turning abruptly to her left she watched puzzled as the tag stuck to a kunai that was embedded in the stadium wall sparkled before a huge wave of fire burst out shooting straight at her.
'Fire control huh?' she thought while opening up her fan wide and swinging it with a cry of "It's useless against my wind Jutsu!"
Just as was expected the heavily chakra imbued wind dissipated the fire in a matter of seconds kicking up yet another big cloud of soil and dust.
"TEMARI BEHIND YOU!" shouted out Kankurou.
'What?' thought Temari still stuck in mid swing. A cold chill ran down her back at the sudden pressure she could feel behind her.
"GO GET HER!" shouted Naruto excitedly jumping up and punching the air as his teammate appeared behind the blonde rapidly her hand shimmering with a thick blue light. Massed energy is what Takahiro had called it during the preliminary battles. It seemed that Akari had picked up a few tricks in their month training period.
'This is bad,' thought Temari registering the fact that the whole affair with the kunai's was to make her drop her guard and end up in a position that made it hard for her to defend herself.
Akari ran the few meters that separated the two girls and clenched her hand into a fist drawing it back to lash it forward with her final step. In the last second Temari clamped her fan shut and brought it down behind her at an awkward angle the metal plates vibrating heavily upon impact causing the two kunoichi to jump away from the offending object clutching their hands in pain waiting for the shock to recede from their nervous system.
"Argh dammit she was so close," whaled Naruto gripping the railing in frustration. Shikamaru had to admit he was enjoying the match. It was much more strategic than her battle against Takahiro which had just been a pig-headed fight between two hot heads.
'Damn it all, I still can't control the flow properly and when I'm moving my concentration wavers causing my technique to lose strength,' thought Akari clutching her right hand firmly while she stretched her fingers. 'Your amazing Hiro, to be able to maintain high amounts of energy at will.'
The aftershock had worn off of Temari and she glared over at the brunette. That had been an extremely close call. She wasn't supposed to wear herself out, they were still waiting for the signal to start their invasion on Konoha much to her displeasure and she needed her energy in case a fight ensued. 'But It's not like I can just walk away now,' she thought, her pride making her too stubborn to back down.
"Heh you did all of that and still didn't manage to land a hit," she taunted smirking lightly as she dusted herself down quickly. Her smirk fell at the brunettes reply.
"Who said I was aiming for you?"
Both their eyes fell upon the abandoned fan on the ground at the same time and in a fraction of a second Temari was lunging herself towards her weapon, snarling when it disappeared beneath the ground.
"You said you wouldn't use earth based techniques," she growled out trying not to sound like a three year old complaining.
"I said I wouldn't use them on you, you were the one to leave your fan lying around carelessly in-"she was cut off as the elder teen threw herself at her, both girls becoming a blurred clash of legs and arms as they resorted to Taijutsu based attacks.
'She's becoming reckless,' thought Akari while avoiding the onslaught of punches and high kicks aimed at her, she was after all the more experienced of the two in close range combat. The crowd were clearly enjoying themselves at this point the incessant flow of cat calls becoming hard to ignore. In a short moment of bad judgement her foot caught on one of the many kunai littering the arena floor giving Temari the boost she needed to kick her into the ground. Whipping out a kunai she pounced ready to stab the blue eyed girl below her.
Scrambling to collect her thoughts Akari did the first thing that came to mind and dragged the heavy fan towards her underground making it surface between her legs just in time for her to twist her thighs smashing the edge of the heavy weapon into Temari's face. The impact sent her rolling a few meters away, kunai lying forgotten where she had dropped it.
Both girls got up panting lightly, Temari with her hands clutched into tight fists her hair not as neat as it had been a while ago while Akari held her fan loosely between her hands. She had to hand it to the Suna Kunoichi; whipping around such a heavy weapon all day couldn't be easy.
"Give it back," growled the blonde practically livid. At her words Akari clutched the weapon with more force taking a step back with a set face clearly saying 'Come and get it.'
Temari took one step forward when Kankurou's voice broke out over the clamour shouting out her name in a warning tone. Stopping in her tracks she sighed heavily before raising her hand and looking over at Genma. "I give up."
No one bothered to mask their surprised expressions at the blonde's words. What was it with people giving up their matches today?
"Very well, winner Seishin Akari," said Genma biting down on his senbon wearily.
Temari stomped over to her opponent and held out her hand her face turned away from her, distraught plain as day in her eyes.
"Why?" questioned Akari, her voice shaking in disbelief. Temari growled lightly before snatching her weapon back and started walking away towards the arenas exit. The brunette turned to stare up at the waiting area balcony, worry evident on her young face. Temari had backed out of their fight after her teammate had called out to her. The fight had only just started getting heated up and Temari's put off attitude was enough proof that it had been a blow to her pride to give up like that. So then why was she walking away?
"You okay?" said Genma in a low voice now that he was standing next to her.
"Something isn't right Genma I can feel it, I don't know what it is but during this whole tournament I feel like I've constantly had to be looking over my shoulder for danger, and to make matters worse Sasuke still isn't here, god knows where Kakashi is and I'm tired of being left out of the loop all the time," she rambled finally voicing what had been bothering her all day.
Genma didn't bother answering her concerns as he watched Naruto land down in the arena dragging a squabbling Shikamaru by the scruff of his jacket to congratulate his teammate on her victory seeing as she didn't seem to be making her way back up to the waiting area. His eyes flickered over to the Hokage who was deep in conversation with the Kazekage and Raido. He hated to admit it but the uneasy feeling Akari had was mutual. The Sand Ninja had been acting extremely weird all day. Then there was the case of that Sound Nin found mauled to death a month ago and the fact that all Jounin and ANBU were on the lookout for Orochimaru. He could perfectly understand the young girls' uneasiness.
"They're giving Sasuke ten more minutes before being disqualified," whispered Raido in his ear before disappearing again. Pulling out a pocket watch Genma counted down the time the Uchiha had left to show up. Where the hell was Kakashi? He had to know the importance of the situation here. He glanced over at the three teens in the arena with him. Naruto was pacing nervously rambling to himself while Shikamaru and Akari watched in resigned silence. Just as he was about to name Gaara winner by default he saw Akari straighten up out of the corner of his eye and then he felt the chill breeze blow around them mingled with leaves and chakra. It seems like they had made it just in time.
Naruto was beaming at his friend's arrival while Kakashi conversed with Genma. Akari just glared at the older man refraining from whacking him round the head for acting so irresponsibly. She had heard Kakashi arrive more than felt it. Maybe it was because they had been in each other's company for so long now that they were naturally attuned to one another or maybe it had to do with the fact that she could hear his thoughts if she wanted to. Whatever the reason was they were somehow connected and she had heard him arrive seconds before he actually had.
She was happy both her missing teammates were in good conditions but that only left behind the sickening feeling of dread at the battle to come. She walked away from the arena accompanied by Naruto and Shikamaru who was mocking the blonde for letting him use the stairs, not once meeting Kakashi's eye.
She could easily ignore her companions chatter as they made their way up the stairs. In fact, it wasn't until they fell silent that she looked up. Standing at the end of the corridor were, two Grass Nin blocking off Gaara's path to the arena mumbling some nonsense about bets and needing him to give up his match. When the murderous intent flowed off of him in tidal waves all three of them found themselves glued to the spot and by the time they had got their wits about them again, battle noises could be heard from the field.
It seemed like an eternity had passed by the time Naruto spoke, "We need to get to Kakashi-sensei," he began his voice shaking slightly, "we have to tell him to cancel the match, that guy will end up killing Sasuke…" He trailed off before jumping to his feet a protesting Shikamaru following closely behind. Both turned when their female companion didn't get up.
"Oi Akari, you coming?" asked the shadow master.
"No, you go on ahead, there's something I want to check out first," she mumbled quietly not moving from the current stair she was still sitting on. Both boys looked at each other for a brief second before running off down the dark maze like corridors.
There was something definitely going on and she was determined to get to the bottom of it. Getting to her feet she made her way back to the waiting area. Shino was huddled in a corner alone while Temari and Kankurou were on the opposite end talking in low voices to each other. Neither of them had noticed her arrive. She walked over to where Shino stood chancing a quick glance down at the battlefield. Gaara seemed to have cocooned himself in a sand sphere which Sasuke was attempting to break through with constant kicks and punches to no avail.
Her concentration was broken when Shino bumped his elbow against hers making her look at him. He gave a brief side nod at Temari and Kankurou before carrying on watching the match as if there had been no interaction at all between them. She had understood his message as brief as it had been and focused on eavesdropping on the two foreigners, her eyes not once leaving the battlefield.
"This is bad," whispered Temari.
"He's completely forgotten the plan…I've not seen him this riled up for a while, we don't even know when we're going to receive the signal" said Kankurou gripping the railing in despair.
"Maybe we should just leave?" suggested Temari her voice unsteady.
'Plan? Signal? I knew something was wrong with those three,' thought Akari only vaguely taking into account the hand seals Sasuke was running through. She figured it was safe to assume now that Kankurou had forfeited his match to preserve his chakra or to keep his Jutsu's hidden and when Temari got hit during their match he called out to her warning her to not plunge on foolishly and get herself hurt. 'But what could this so called plan possibly involve?'
"Go," whispered Shino beside her, "leave them to me, you go look for your teammates."
She sighed and walking out of the waiting area calmly as if she hadn't heard a single thing. Once she was sure she was out of earshot she sped down the winding corridors to find Naruto and Kakashi. Her best guess was that they would be wherever Sakura was. She emerged into the crowded stalls just in time to see Sasuke plunge through Gaara's defense with his fist, a loud chirping sound filling the air.
She slowed down and gaped slightly at the scene. She knew that sound. It was a sound so familiar and yet terrifying at the same time. It was also a sound she strongly related to Kakashi. The piercing shriek of a thousand birds the Copy Nin's only original move; Chidori.
Shaking her head to clear her thoughts she scanned the area before locating the group of people she was looking for. A clash of orange, pink, yellow and grey standing near each other was easier to spot than it should have considering the amount of people that occupied the stadium. There was even some standing due to the lack of seats. Making her way over to her team it wasn't until she was a few meters away that she realized that Gai, Lee and Choji were part of the group too. Ino was the only one she had been expecting seeing as she had spotted her earlier on with her female teammate.
Naruto turned when he heard approaching footsteps and acknowledged her presence, "Ah Akari-chan." Was that jealousy she detected in his eyes? A while ago he had been all set to cancel Sasuke's match and now he was jealous of his teammate's new abilities. The rest of the gang turned upon hearing the blonde speak and saluted the brown haired girl.
Ignoring their kind words she pinned Kakashi with a worried look. "I need to-," she stopped abruptly when a cold feeling enveloped her making her feel sick to the core; Blood lust. It had come from the battlefield causing everyone to look back down at the fighting pair of males. Akari was panting slightly now cold sweat trickling down her face as a bolt of excitement ran up her spine but it didn't belong to her. It coiled and unwound itself like a snake before disappearing as quickly as it had come. Regaining her senses she found herself gripping her shoulder against the pain, or had she already been doing that for a while?
All proximate faces turned to stare at her again wondering what she was complaining about but only three pairs of eyes widened slightly in surprise at what they saw; Sakura, Kakashi and Gai. Only they knew about the mark that was on her neck. She glanced down at Sasuke who seemed to be wrecked with fear and confusion as Gaara stood in front of him no longer encapsulated in his sand dome. How had he not felt that? Was he that focused on his battle that he hadn't heard the sneering laugh ringing in his ears like she had?
"You okay?" asked Kakashi turning to fully evaluate her. She looked at him and winced at the calculating look he was giving her. She couldn't handle a conversation with him now, she didn't want him to see her in this sorry state and so she did the only thing that came to mind and teleported to the bathroom on the third floor. When she opened her eyes she was staring at her own reflection in the mirror in front of her.
Turning on the faucet she filled up the sink before splashing her face with a good dose of cold water. 'What are you doing you fool, I thought you were done with running away,' she chastised herself gripping the edge of the sink with both hands. Raising her head she stared at her face dripping with water now. The purple ring in her eyes was more prominent than usual for some reason. She sighed lightly peeling her shirt to the side to be able to see the curse mark that marred her left shoulder cursing Orochimaru for being a sick bastard in the process.
"You can keep standing here feeling sorry for yourself or you can pull yourself together and stand up to the real problem here," said her reflection in the mirror. Or at least that was what Akari could here in the back of her mind as she stared into pools of blue.
"I don't want them to see me like this… I don't want them to worry," she muttered.
Great now she was talking to herself.
"They have a right to be worried, Sakura is your friend and Kakashi is the closest thing you have to a family right now" she chastised back.
"He's done enough for me as it is, right now keeping Sasuke safe is the main priority" she said to herself sternly. "He can't be cleaning up behind me all the time."
"Well then you know what to do."
Nodding at her reflection she relished upon seeing her eyes go back to their usual blue, no more purple in them than was usual. Walking out the door she furrowed her brow at the commotion coming from down the hall when out of nowhere a Sound Nin rounded the corner and spotted her. Her eyes widened slightly at the sight of a kunai traveling towards her before her reflexes kicked in and she caught it mid-flight. Her attacker didn't know what had hit him as she teleported behind him in a matter of seconds and knocked him cold with the back of his blade. Not wasting another minute she ran towards the balcony the examinees had been occupying for the tournament. Gripping the railing as she looked out towards the stadium her eyes widened at the sight of Sound and Sand Nin fighting against the few Jounin that were in the area. She turned her head sharply to gaze up at the roof were the Hokage and Kazekage had been seated and noticed a barrier kept up by four Ninja. The fact that an ANBU squad were circling the barrier desperately made it clear the Hokage was in there somewhere and she was willing to bet Orochimaru was behind the whole scheme.
The sound of a blade being draw forced her attention behind her where a Sand Nin had lunged towards her. Jumping over the railing she tossed her last kunai with an explosive tag at her attacker. Not being able to avoid it in mid-air the explosion consumed him in a matter of seconds, but he hadn't been alone in the corridor and his companions soon made it out of the cloud of heat following her descent to the arena.
"Tch persistent bastards," she growled as she landed neatly on the ground before running off at a quick haste closely followed by her pursuers. They couldn't be any higher that Chunnin level the stronger ones seemed to be occupying the stadium benches and judging by the explosions she could hear throughout the village they were also busy wreaking havoc elsewhere.
She stopped abruptly at the sound of shurikens whipping through the air and turned, her eyes glowing, freezing the weapons mid-flight before re-directing them back to their owners. Two of the ninja became victims to her counterattack, the blades slicing their necks while the others managed to dodge or block the rest of the small projectiles.
Waiting for them now as the three remaining circled around her she glared as they simultaneously attacked. Avoiding the punch coming from her front she ducked in time to elbow the one coming from her left in the chin. Using his recoil to her advantage she massed as much energy as she could into her right hand in the short time frame and punched him in the face sending him flying backwards.
She hissed when one of the other two Nin grazed her side with a small katana like sword and quickly teleported behind both of them where she stomped her foot on the ground causing a boulder to raise which she then launched at them throwing them away from her.
Panting slightly and clutching her bleeding ribcage she cursed when the ground took the form of hands and gripped her ankles. 'An earth Jutsu?' she thought as she struggled against her bindings. Looking up she was met with six pairs of eyes and smirks. The group of both Sound and Sand Ninja surrounded her again each running their hands through seals. It looked like they didn't want to get close to their pray this time instead opting to take her out with long range attacks.
A breeze swirled around them for a few seconds, the air thick with chakra and something that smelled strangely like nutmeg before her attackers stopped forming seals and raised their hands to their heads where they then proceeded to snap their own necks falling into a crumpled mess on the ground.
"What the-?" said Akari highly perplexed before she felt movement close by. Grabbing a kunai from her holster and twisting her body to stab the newcomer she blinked at the strong arm that blocked her attack before looking up at his face and grinned. "Kakashi!"
"It looked like you needed a hand," he said channeling his electrical chakra through the ground making the restrains around his students ankles crumble to dust. He gave her his usual inverted U smile when she kicked away the soil, except this time the action was mimicked by his usually covered eye.
"What on earth did you do to them?"
"Meh a little Genjutsu sent through a light breeze. Got them through their sense of smell, figured you'd be unaffected" he grinned placing a hand on her head causing her to duck which enabled him to throw a shuriken at a fleeing enemy catching him in the back of the head.
More enemy Nin had jumped over the stadium walls and were making their way towards them. Coming to a silent agreement they went back to back and proceeded to take out the ninja one by one. Her wound was stinging although it was nothing she couldn't put up with as she ploughed on attack after attack remaining close to the Copy Nin at all times. A flash to her left caused her to look up where a Sand Nin had decided to attack them from the air.
"Kakashi," she yelled causing him to look up, eyes glaring at the formation of hand seals the lone ninja was running through when out of nowhere he gasped and became limp causing the fighting pair to jump out of the way as his body crumpled face first into the hard ground. Looking down at their attacker something shiny caught their attention and upon closer inspection they realized there was a senbon stuck neatly in the poor mans' neck.
"Couldn't let you have all the fun now could I?" asked a deep voice. They turned their heads to welcome the new party member with cheeky smirks. Even though they wouldn't admit it, the work out was proving to be entertaining.
"You're late Genma," said Akari saluting the approaching Jounin who was covered head to toe in dirt and dust.
"I really hope you don't put those in your mouth after you're done with them," Kakashi grimaced as he looked his companion up and down mentally checking for serious injuries.
"Don't be a fool," he replied calmly whipping out more senbon from his pouch and tossing them at the approaching ninja to his right. He placed himself so that Akari was in between them as he watched more enemies flood the stadium over the walls. "There's no end to them is there?"
"Akari you taking up the rear or backup?" asked Kakashi looking over his shoulder wearily.
She raised an eyebrow at his question turning her back on the two Jounin. "Backup of course, you know I'm not an effective solo fighter."
He gave her a somewhat sour look before returning his gaze to the approaching ninja. "Let's do this," he said receiving a brief nod from his two companions. Hands running through a series of seals he inhaled deeply, transforming his chakra into fire and spitting it outwards. "Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"
The flames rushed forwards devouring all the leaves that crossed its path creating a barrier between the Sound/Sand combination and Kakashi's team. The brief diversion was all Genma needed to finish off with his own hand seals bringing up mud golems that enveloped the enemy from behind before hardening and pinning them in place.
With the flames gone, Kakashi clipped open one of his flak vest pockets and pulled out a scroll, opening it he tossed it up high in the air. "Akari!" he shouted before crouching down.
"Leave it to me," she said jumping onto his back and into the air where she grabbed the scroll and pushed chakra into it making the seal break and release a load of water which she piled into a neat sphere over her head. She had been keeping the ninja at their backs away from them with shurikens continuously bringing used ones back towards her with her Seishinryoku but now Genma had substituted her in the rear while she prepared to attack.
Three ninja had come up after their comrades and made their way around their currently stuck companions heading towards Kakashi with murderous intent. He proceeded to ignore them waiting for Akari's move.
"Eat this!" she yelled from above him sending the tidal wave of water crashing down onto the captured enemy making sure it covered every one of them. At the same instant Kakashi sped off into the center of the wave Chidori in hand setting the water alight with blue sparks effectively electrocuting all of the wet ninja.
Everything had happened so fast, the three ninja that had been heading towards Kakashi were forced to stop in their tracks and turn to stare after the Copy Nin confused completely forgetting the kunoichi in the air who landed on top of one of them and snapped their neck. Regaining their senses the other two glared and charged at her kunai's in hand. Cartwheeling backwards out of harm's way she smirked as Genma appeared to back her up with his trusty senbon, he stabbed them through their eyes moving out of the way as they slumped onto the ground dead.
A shuffling sound behind her made her twist to see one of the ninjas that had appeared to be dead running away. Sticking her hand in her pouch she cursed at the realization that she had completely used up her supply of kunai and shuriken. Running after the stray ninja figuring she could deal with a wounded enemy easily she turned her head confused through mid-jump at Kakashi's cry of "Akari don't!"
Out of nowhere and giving her no time to guard herself an ANBU clad ninja appeared kicking her in the chest sending her flying backwards. Gritting her teeth readying herself for the pain she opened her eyes surprised when instead of hitting the ground hard she found herself in Kakashi's arms, his feet skidding across the dirt after catching her, glaring daggers at the newcomer.
"That guy?" asked Genma letting his question hang in the air. All of a sudden the Sand trio's teacher Baki landed next to the cloaked individual. There was a heavy gash in his flak vest and small scratches littered his arms and face.
"Yeah he's with them," replied Kakashi letting Akari stand on her own again. 'But if Baki's here then…' he trailed off relieved when Gai landed next to him, clothes torn with specks of blood on them but apparently unharmed.
"Sorry Kakashi, he got away before I could stop him," explained the spandex clad ninja.
"No worries, we were just about finished here anyway," he replied calmly, eyes not once leaving the pair of ninja in front of him. The fighting around the village seemed to have died down somewhat if the lack of battle noises was anything to go by although whether they were currently winning or losing he couldn't tell. The group of ninja stared at each other for a while before Kakashi addressed the Sand Nin.
"So, what did Orochimaru have to offer Sunagakure to make you ally yourselves with the Sound? He asked gruffly.
"An enemy of the enemy is my friend," replied Baki casually, "the downfall of the leaf village was enough compensation."
"Suna and Konoha had an alliance, we weren't enemies," protested Genma to Akari's left. She was flicking her eyes from one party member to another as she listened to the conversation carefully, on guard in case a battle broke out.
"In politics, countries will always be enemies you naïve fool. Bringing down the current biggest shinobi village would leave Suna in a very favorable position. Treaties and alliances are nothing more than icing on the cake people call peace."
"You're the naïve fool if you think Orochimaru won't double cross you," said Gai his hands balled into fists. The sound of the barrier being dispelled caught their attention making them all look up at the rooftop. A group of Sound ninja were fleeing the site, two of them carrying Orochimaru while the others took care of the ANBU squad that had attempted to pursue them. "The barrier…"
"It disappeared…" said Kakashi.
"Where is Hokage-sama?" asked Genma not really expecting a reply.
"Kakashi, they're making a move. Should we follow?" asked Gai preparing himself to run after the fleeing Nin.
"No, wait Gai…" said Kakashi holding out his arm to stop his comrade.
"Yes, if you make a move without knowing what happened up there you could fall into the enemies trap," said the masked ANBU directing all eyes back towards him.
"I already know that," spat the taijutsu master offended, "whether there is a trap or not, we cannot let the enemy run off freely. That is what Konoha shinobi are supposed to do."
"So, are you just going to watch…Kabuto?" asked Kakashi taking a step forward.
"Kabuto?" asked Akari looking up at her teacher slightly taken aback by the name he had spoken. A soft chuckle made her look back at the cloaked enemy in front of them, her eyes following his hand as he raised it towards his head and unclasped the mask revealing his face causing her eyes to widen.
"Seems like the cat is out of the bag," smirked the silver haired ninja eyes glinting wickedly behind his glasses as he stared Akari down. The reaction was instantaneous as a sharp pain pierced through her body. Clutching her cursed seal she fell to her knees screaming completely paralyzed as an onslaught of images flashed behind her eyes.
"Nee Kabuto-san could you teach me medical ninjutsu?" asked a younger version of herself as she jumped up to sit on a medical bed.
The grey haired man turned to look at her while slipping his glasses back up to the bridge of his nose. "That's not possible Akari-san; you don't have what it takes to become a medic Nin."
"Why not?" she whined.
"Well for starters you don't possess the amount of chakra necessary to perform most of the techniques," he replied calmly.
"But I have great chakra control, my teacher at the academy said so when I graduated."
"That's mainly because you don't have much to control. Over the years your body has automatically learned to dish out the exact amount of chakra you need for pretty much everything you use it for. You practically use it subconsciously and will carry on doing so with the more experience you gain," he explained looking at her crestfallen look. "What brought this on all of a sudden?"
She was silent for a while starring down at her hands before replying, "It's just… all the while I've been here, I feel like I've done nothing but hurt or kill people… I can't help but think that maybe if I had been taught how to heal instead of destroy…back then I could have saved them," she finished off her eyes seeing her teammates and parents dead bodies.
Sighing he put down the medical instruments he had been cleaning and walked over to her. "Fine, I'll teach you the most basic technique there is if it makes you feel better, but I'm warning you, you won't be saving any lives with this," he said watching her eyes beam up at him.
Her hand gripped her shoulder harder as she pressed her other palm to her head the throbbing pain making her grit her teeth to prevent herself from screaming as the memories continued to wash over her.
"Her bloodline limit is still useful right Kabuto?" hissed Orochimaru.
"True, but she only inherited half of the potential the Seishin clan has to offer. If you take over her body… you'll find yourself dealing with the same trouble she puts up with to be able to use techniques."
"… I see no reason to keep her around then."
Genma crouched down beside her, gripping her shaking shoulders firmly while Kakashi grit his teeth in anger, glaring at Kabuto who appeared to be enjoying the scene.
"Oi oi, is she alright?" asked Gai casting a sidelong glance at the girl on the floor as she cried out now holding herself up on one hand as Genma clutched the other which she was squeezing tightly trying to fight against the cursed mark.
She was running like mad through a dense forest the loud footsteps behind her warning her, he was closing the distance between them. She yelped when her foot caught on a loose tree root sending her face first into the ground. Turning around in a panic she just had time to see the flash of light glowing off of a pair of glasses and a twisted smirk as a glowing green hand grabbed her around the face and then everything went black.
Genma's eyes widened slightly as she released his hand from the death grip she had had it in and clutched her face panting as the pain subsided. Catching her breath and organizing her scrambled memories she glared up at the young man she had trusted stupidly many years ago. "You!" she spat.
"Ah she remembers," said Kabuto cheerfully watching the girl get to her feet, her knees shaking slightly. "Took you long enough, I must say I was half expecting you to charge at me at any moment during the Chunnin exams."
"Liar," she muttered to which he chuckled.
"You're right who am I kidding I'm a brilliant medic Nin after all, although I must admit, due to the nature of your mind that barrier was extremely difficult to place. I believe I accidentally cut you off from a great portion of your memories all together even though they weren't related to Orochimaru-sama in any way."
Baki interrupted his companion nervously and ground out, "What should we do?" Akari completely ignored his existence still glaring at the double spy standing beside him.
"It was you wasn't it? My parents and teammates…you've been Orochimaru's double agent all this time!"
"We should retreat for now," Kabuto said answering Baki's question.
"Are you going to run away from me again?" asked Kakashi taking a few steps forward. The girl at his side shifted. He knew if they started a fight she'd jump into it without thinking twice which was why he was a bit weary of the situation. He didn't want her to become reckless.
"For now yes. If I show you my moves, you'll just end up copying them…but then again, it seems like you can't use that eye perfectly like the Uchiha clan," he said taunting the older man in front of him.
"Enough with the bullshit already just answer the damn question," growled Akari her voice a soft, angry hiss as she tried to control her volume. Kakashi gave her a stern look telling her silently to stay put.
Kabuto smiled while forming a seal with his hands whispering a quiet "who knows…" before disappearing in a puff of smoke taking Baki with him leaving the four remaining ninja to drown in their thoughts.
After a brief silence Kakashi turned to regard his three comrades. Gai was staring up and the rooftops worriedly while Genma flashed his eyes between him and the girl standing by him, his senbon swirling around his lips as he fumbled with it having nothing else to do, and then finally his gaze rested on his student. She was glaring daggers into the ground, fists clutched tightly at her side. He understood her rage, he too was livid except he was doing a better job at hiding his emotions from the rest.
"We should go check up on Hokage-sama," said Genma watching as ninja that had been in the imminent area started to flock around the rooftop were the battle had taken place. Kakashi nodded and watched his two comrades leave before looking back down at his eldest student.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled before he could say anything. Sighing he replaced his headband over his Sharingan eye and gave her a small pat on the head.
"What for?"
"Running away when I should have talked to you, letting Kabuto get in my head…I hated the idea of you seeing me like that…I thought maybe you'd stop seeing me as someone important and think I was just a hindrance…" she admitted a slight blush of embarrassment creeping onto her cheeks.
"Have I ever complained about looking after you?" asked Kakashi sternly.
"Constantly," she replied making him sweat drop. She smirked at his sour expression before looking up at the sky which was stained with dark clouds, whether they were natural or just smoke it was hard to tell although she could smell rain in the air.
"Have you ever thought of me as a surrogate parent?" he asked suddenly his hands in his pockets falling into his usual crouched stance that always made her feel at ease.
"Not really no," she admitted wondering where he was headed with the question. "Ever seen me as an adopted daughter?"
"Hell no," he replied. They looked at each other briefly before chuckling lightly. Oddly enough it was the best she had felt in quite a while considering she had been fighting for her life just minutes ago. The feeling was short livid as Kakashi eyed the rooftop where the rest of the Jounin and ANBU where.
"I know you've been on edge the last month, I should have done something more than just leave a small note," he admitted guiltily. She shook her head and stared up at him.
"It's cool, we're both ninja…I don't have any deluded ideas of what this kind of life entails, I figured if you went and got yourself killed I'd get to keep the flat to myself," she grinned turning around hands in her own pockets in an attempt to keep them warm against the biting chill.
He couldn't help the smirk that crept onto his face at her reply. It was easy to relax with her around. She was right when she said she wasn't deluded. She wasn't naïve like Naruto and Sakura still were which made it easy to converse naturally with her. Speaking of his other two students…
"You up for a mission?" he asked her. He felt her look over her shoulder at him before he carried on. "I sent the team and Shikamaru after Sasuke who was pursuing Gaara… think you can track them down?"
"I guess I can afford to use my chakra freely now," she muttered soaking her hand in the blood that coated her left ribcage from her previous battle before running through the hand seals to summon Kaito by her side.
'I'll leave it to you' was all she heard him mutter before he was gone leaving her to bring her teammates back home. Furry companion by her side she set off into Konoha's dense forests thanking the gods they had made it through this horrible day and praying that no other danger decided to creep up on them in the near future. She wasn't deluded… but she could always pray.
A.N Hope you enjoyed it. Battles are so much fun to think up, just a little hard to write in a way that's understandable :) Oh well. Be sure to keep an eye out for my upcoming new fanfics ;P