The Found
Chapter 10
Been There
They left Naruto's room distractedly, they sat down moodily and avoided the questions asked to them. Gaara was next to be done, and Temmari, Kankuro, and Baki rushed in to meet him before any one else got a chance to look up. The emergency light was still on for another half an hour above Haze's room, they had just got back from a silent dinner when Sakura collapsed on a chair.
"She's done." She simply said and Kakashi, Sasuke and Lee rushed off their stools but Sakura help up a hand to stop them. "She only wants Neji, Sasuke and me in there right now." She said getting up again, and stretching, she walked back to the room she had just exited, and Neji and Sasuke fallowed swiftly.
"Hello, I believe we've never met Neji, I'm sorry about that." She held out her hand, wrapped in gauze, like the rest of her, lights blinked above her and beeps reverberated off the walls.
"Hello, Haze, how did you happen to cross my name?" He said shaking her hand slightly.
"Please sit down, this will sadly not be either a pleasant or short talk." She made sure they all had chairs before she continued. "Neji to answer your question fully without lying to you, I need you all to swear never to tell any one, unless I give you permission, what I'm about to unfold onto you all." She said gravely staring each of them down. Neji raised his hand, Sasuke raised his next, and Sakura unwillingly raised her hand. They all thought, What could it hurt, but to listen, and if it's something vitally dangerous we'll just tell the Hokage.
"Okay," She cleared her throat and tried to sit up straiter. "this may freak you all out a little bit, but I've been stalking you since I was her five and my parents died. I wasn't like in your room watching you, I just ind of, collected all the data I could get from you. I was there at you graduation, when you members of your family died, and when you were going through your Chunnin exams. Of course I've been watching Naruto, Gaara, Hinata, Shino, Shikamaru, Lee and the Akatsuki too. Just slipping in and out of your lives, watching, helping where I could, and making sure you don't deviate from you path.
"Then of course came the graduation, I watched team seven more, knowing that you would have a tougher time, and of coarse worried about Naruto, he has drawn my interest for some years. And then the Chunnin exams, that was a disaster, all my efforts of trying to keep you safe blew up in my face. Orochimaru, the matches, everything... I failed there, but I could only do so much, change so much with out causing mayhem. And then you Sasuke, when i found you and Naruto, I knew it was coming, but I didn't think so quickly, and I didn't expect you to be still awake. I'm glad and yet mad that I saved you from Orochimaru.
"Yes Sasuke, if I hadn't come, in about two months you'd be trying to kill Naruto on Orochimaru's orders..." She said staring hard at Sasuke daring him to object.
"Why? Why us though?" Sakura demanded.
"Why... Why not? You need help, and I have some to give, more then others, in fact. Sakura, I've staid in the shadows until now, making sure certain things happened and trying to stop others. Now, though, is the time to come in the light."
"But how could you have fallowed us?" Asked an incredulous Neji. " I would have seen, you any Huygga would have, and Ninja's have set traps and guards out side of the village, how could you have gotten in." He asked coldly.
"I wasn't there in person half the time, only during bigger things, besides I couldn't be five places at once when I was five. I used what Gaara calls his sand eye," She explained. "only made of mist and seemingly invisible and not even a Huygga could see it. I concealed the chakra"
"A five year old..." Sasuke said doubtfully.
"When you were six you went kunia training with your brother, and when you tried to copy his moves, you got hurt and your he carried you home." She said, a taunting edge to her words, Sasuke's jaw dropped.
"As I said, I couldn't watch you all at once, so I planted the orphans there in the villages. Of course I also wanted to help them find a home and stuff, and I didn't make them or anything, it was their choice. Some of them that found homes here keep an eye on you guys, fallowing you, I trained them for it. Thy send me mail about every week telling me what you've done and who your doing. Telling me if there are any important events that I need to be there for.
"Of course some of them changed their mind when they met you, like KouKu, Cesous and his brother KouKu, Sphiso. They didn't want anything to do with this until they met you Sakura. But others like Shiung, Yahen wanted to do it because, obviously, your his family. My cousins though, were not in on it, I refused to let them know what was going on, I let them train and stuff, but not anything else. That's why I left them there, they were too involved, and Kakashi was a perfect parent. But I couldn't just dump him with those two, and I couldn't let Nathaniel and Koji think I abandoned them. I was getting to popularly know any way, Orochimaru was making plans to move in on me. So I 'died' and then that problem was solved." They all stared at her, disbelief etched into their shocked faces, digesting her sacrifice
"This will not be an easy journey for you all," She said, intense "you will have sacrifices to make also. But it's you job, your calling to do this. And, if you haven;t figured it out already, Naruto id the epicenter of it. And as his friends you must help him, you and your team mates." She sighed and sat back in her pillow
"Then why are we just here? Why just us?" Neji asked, his eyes narrowed, he wanted to catch her off guard, to make her words sound like a lie.
"Well you are the leaders of your groups, I only need to tell you at the moment, and then you need to relay this information to Shikamaru. Besides if I told every one... A tung might slip. I can't take that chance. You need to make sure that instructions, that I'll tell you later, are fallowed. Other wise we might as well be doomed. Now, it's not a conspiracy against the world or anything, no big pressure, but for the sake of peace in just this region... You need to fallow my example, in your own way.
"I won't give you directions like a book, or like the Hokage. My directions shall be as simple as give Naruto the piece of pie before nine O'clock. It's up to you to choose how, when and where, so long as he gets the stupid pie." She said sighing, she motioned for Sasuke to come closer.
"Sasuke, go and get the bad on top of the table there," He went over and puzzlement picked up a green bag, it was heavy and bulging. "now give it to me." She commanded
He dropped the bag in her hands lightly, a chime sound echoed within it. Haze opened the bag and took out a scroll, a note book, an ornately painted box, a drawing pad and a tape recording. She silently handed the scroll to Sasuke, who when trying to open it, was slapped She handed the note book to Sakura, and the last three to Neji.
"The box is for Shikamaru, the note book for Gaara, the drawing pad for Hinata." She said. "The others are for you lot, they are my instructions, you cannot show them to any one, unless they are the people that I shall list for you now: Naruto, Gaara, Shikamaru, Hinata, each other, and me. One last thing though, a warning...
"Do not, under any condition, open the next page, hear the next recording or figure out the next puzzle before the date that will be inscribed on the page, marked, or heard over the recording. It's a burden knowing the future you cannot change, instead focus on what you can." She stared them down intently.
"What if we accidentally re-"
"You won't" Haze interrupted
"I'll be watching, waiting, and make sure that Naruto keeps the scroll, there are more directions for him to fallow then you two." She took a deep breath.
"Is that all?" Sakura asked, incredulously, no further instruction? No explanation, just fallow or the village will probably go into ruin... GREAT! And Naruto the dunder head is the center of it!
"Sakura," Haze said slowly. "these things will happen on there own, weather you want them to or not, I'm trying to help you. I'm trying to do my part, but I can't do it alone, I need you to help me." She looked at them, and Sasuke nodded, Neji fallowed then Sakura, looking deep into Haze's eyes sighed and nodded once before leaving the room. Neji and Sasuke weren't far behind.
They all stood silently outside, ignoring the questions asked to them, slowly the questions stopped though. Each was contemplating about the messages in the scrolls and such, reading the dates and frowning at the time. They all went to bed when Gaara's room had been vacated and their dreams were not as sound as they normally they should be when their eyes closed.
"Where are you going?"
"Some where."
"Where were you all this time?"
"Some where else."
"Who have you been with?"
"Some one."
"Who are you going to be with?"
"Some one else."
"What have you been doing?"
"Some thing."
"What are you going to do?"
"Some thing else, related to the some thing I was doing." Haze calmly answered
"Are you staying here?" Kakashi asked.
"Some times."
"Are you staying in the Hidden Lea-"
"No."
"The Sound?"
"Sometimes."
"Will you be fighting?"
"Some what."
"Will you be in danger?"
"Yes."
"Can I come?"
"No."
"Is my team coming?"
"Some times."
"Are Gaara and other Sand nins coming?"
"Only Gaara."
"What about the other teams from the village?"
"Some of them."
"Are the Akatsuki involved?"
"Inevitably."
"Is Naruto a big part of this?"
"Yes."
"Is Sasuke?"
"Yes."
"Is Sakura?"
"Some what."
"Me?"
"No."
"Neji?"
"Yes."
"Shino?"
"Maybe."
"Kiba?"
"Some what."
"Hinata?"
"Yes."
"Shikamaru?"
"Yes."
"Krunia?"
"No."
"Any one from my family?"
"No."
"Tsunade?"
"No."
Have you been making plans on fighting the Akatsuki?"
"Yes."
"How did you get Gaara out of the Akatsuki hiding place?"
"Fast, and with Naruto's help."
"Why cant you tell me anything not vague?"
"Because your asking vague questions."
"Why did Naruto inherit your ring if your alive?"
"Because, I still have mine, he has my double." She said showing him the one now transformed into a bracelet, although the color and shape were still the same. Kakashi was mute.
"Why him?" He asked soullessly. "Why Naruto, he has enough to deal with, and what about Nathanial?"
"Naruto," She said sitting up strait in her bed and glaring at him. "it belongs to not Nathaniel, this ring was not given to me from father to daughter. This ring was given to me from a stranger, right before my parents died, and so it passes. From the one whom eyes have light, to light, to light, to light, and to light. And we never give them the same ring, my ring was a half of the strangers, Naruto's ring is a part of mine, my double. And I have two more rings, one given to me by another stranger and then I have that one half. Each ring had another half," she took a deep breath. "and neither of those half's are Koji's." She leaned back.
Kakashi left with more questions then what he came in with.