Chapter 9:
"You have any idea where she could be?" Naruto asked, turning his attention to Sasuke.
"My guess was the Hokage faces, but she's not there." Sasuke replied.
"How do you know that Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.
"My Sharingan, with these eyes I can see just about anything." He replied.
"Hm, the Hokage faces are the best place to go if you're looking for a view, at least that I know of." (Naruto)
"Maybe we should ask around?" Sakura suggested.
"There's no guarantee anyone could lead us in the right direction, and we only have about fifty minutes left." Sasuke said.
"Well, what do YOU propose we do Teme?" Naruto snapped at him.
"The obvious Dobe, we search, everywhere, starting with high places." Sasuke replied, forcing the desire to bite back at Naruto down as he remembered Ishiko's words. They weren't little kids anymore, they were Genin, and they had to prove it or it'd be back to the academy for all of them.
"Sasuke-kun you're so cool. Your quick thinking is amazing!" Sakura stared at him awestruck. By the time she snapped out of it he was gone and so was Naruto.
"Man, why doesn't he ever say anything back? Can't he see I love him? I thought guys liked it when girls complimented them." She whined sadly to herself, as she took off towards the shopping district. If Naruto and Sasuke were going to search high places, she might as well search low ones.
Naruto had used his Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu to search as much of the village as he could while Sasuke used both the Henge and Bunshin no Jutsu to create a flock of birds to search for her. Neither one of them had any luck. They came back together at the training grounds when there were five minutes to spare only to realize Sakura was missing.
"Oi Teme, have you seen Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
"I thought she was with you." Sasuke replied.
"You haven't been paying attention have you Teme? Sakura-chan's got it bad for you, she'd never go with me over you." Naruto informed Sasuke, bitterly.
"No girl in her right mind would Dobe." Sasuke said, and smirked.
"Teme!" That was it, Naruto exploded, tackling Sasuke to the ground, and started punching his chest and face, as hard as he could.
"You're going down Dobe!" Sasuke exclaimed, and they began to roll around, seriously roughhousing.
When they stopped Naruto's left eye was black, and Sasuke's lower lip was busted. Both of them had massive headaches from too many hits to the head, and Naruto's stomach hurt from a few kicks Sasuke had dealt him there. Sasuke's back was hurting from a few kicks Naruto had gotten in. Both were exhausted and breathing hard.
"We'll finish this another time Dobe." Sasuke said, collapsing next to the blond.
"Agreed Teme. Next time I'm gonna whomp you." Naruto retorted, between ragged breaths.
"Sure you will Dobe, sure you will." Sasuke clearly didn't believe him. Naruto reached over and punched him in the face.
"Naruto!" Sasuke sat up and death glared at him briefly, before straddling him and beginning to pound him. Naruto headbutted him and the two started rolling about again.
"Hey wait, hold on a second Teme." Naruto made a time-out motion, and struggled to speak, blood seeping out of the corners of his mouth.
"What Dobe?" Sasuke lowered his fist, and helped him up.
"Sakura-chan's really late, maybe she didn't hear when you said we should meet back here when there were only five minutes to spare. I think we should look for her." Naruto replied.
"You have a point. Take this, if you find her fire it to give me a sign. I'll do the same if I find her first." Sasuke said, and handed Naruto a flare.
"Wait!" Naruto exclaimed at his retreating form.
"What? This isn't rocket science Dobe." Sasuke remarked with clear aggravation.
"What if she comes here while we're gone?" Naruto asked.
"Hn. You're alright Dobe. We'll leave clones here to inform her we're looking for her, and they can relay information back to us in case she happens to come around. Now get going." Sasuke said, and cloned himself.
"I'm going." Naruto said, and took off in the opposite direction Sasuke had gone. His clone sat down and boredly waited for Sakura.
About fifteen minutes after Naruto and Sasuke had left Sakura showed up at the training grounds, but there were no clones waiting for her, instead Ishiko greeted her. Rather than disperse the clones Ishiko had put them under a special genjutsu so Sasuke and Naruto would not know Sakura had returned to the training grounds and moved them out of sight.
"Ishiko-sensei?" Sakura asked in shock.
"Hello Sakura." Ishiko said, lifting her head.
"We've been looking everywhere for you! If you move that's cheating isn't it sensei?" Sakura's spat angrily.
"Oh? But I haven't moved at all." Ishiko offered in her defense, moving closer to the girl.
"I... I can't move." Sakura realized, as she tried to step back and away from the Black Angel. "What did you do to me?" She asked, clearly frightened.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to kill you child. You're merely under a paralysis jutsu." Ishiko replied.
Taking out two kunai she had two clones of herself bring Naruto and Sasuke's clones from where she'd hidden them. "I think its about time the gang was all here. You guys are terrible." She commented as she threw the kunai at the clones' chests where their real selves hearts would otherwise be.
"Sorry kid but I can't risk you ruining everything." She said, as she tied Sakura to a tree stump and put tape over her mouth. Sakura's cries were muffled by the tape as Ishiko blindfolded her.
"Sakura-chan!" (Naruto)
"Sakura!" (Sasuke)
The calls of her name caused Sakura to try to give escaping from her confines another try. As Naruto and Sasuke rushed over to free her they never noticed the disturbed ground under them, and fell into a deep hole that had been dug just inches before Sakura.
"Ow! Dobe get off me." Sasuke hissed.
"It's not my fault there was a hole Teme!" Naruto bit back, but got off him nonetheless.
"I'm disappointed," Ishiko started.
"I was expecting so much more from the three of you." She said, as she looked into the hole.
"Where the fuck were you?" Sasuke spat. "We looked, everywhere, for you."
"I never left little brother. I merely masked my chakra. Funny that the one place you didn't think to look was where I happened to be hiding isn't it?" She retorted and barely had time to move as Sasuke made his way back to the surface with his fist aimed for her.
"Sasuke, you have failed your mission, but you can still pass. All you have to do is kill Naruto." She said seriously.
"And if I refuse?" Sasuke asked.
"Not only will you end up back at the Academy, but you'll lose Sakura-chan here." Ishiko replied, suddenly stepping out from behind the tree stump Sakura was tied to and putting a kunai to her neck.
"Kill Naruto or I will slit this poor cherry blossom's neck and paint the earth with her blood." She told him.
"That's not your style." Sasuke said.
"You won't do it." He added confidently.
"Are you sure little brother? Do you know me that well?" She countered, her eyes showing no hesitation. She pulled the tape from Sakura's mouth roughly causing the girl to cry out and yelp, then punched the poor kid in the stomach causing her to cough up blood as she screamed at the abuse.
"Are you for real?" Sasuke asked.
"Why don't you tell me?" She answered with a question of her own, as she double slapped Sakura.
"Stop hurting her!" Naruto exclaimed, as he attempted to grab her, having snuck up behind her.
"Earth Style: Stone Wall!" Ishiko exclaimed, and a stone barrier extended from the ground and set him flying.
"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke exclaimed.
He didn't anticipate what Ishiko did next, and if he didn't believe her before he certainly believed her now. Ishiko used a jutsu to phase Sakura out of her confines and used her as a shield. His jutsu made contact with Sakura's backside. Her hair and clothes burning away. First degree burns were visible on the girl's flesh after and that was when both Sasuke and Naruto saw red.
Ishiko dropped Sakura and smirked at them. "I take it you won't be taking my offer little brother." She said.
"You're dead!" He exclaimed rushing her.
"No-one hurts my friends and gets away with it!" Naruto exclaimed, flowing Sasuke's lead. Ishiko simply laughed.
"Pierrot Sasuke, this is genjutsu." She informed.
"Say what?" (Naruto)
"You're joking." (Sasuke)
"No. In time you will learn little brother." She said, and released the genjutsu. She stepped aside to reveal Sakura who was tied to a tree stump with tape over her mouth but otherwise fine.
"I'm really disappointed." She informed them as she removed the tape from Sakura's mouth.
"Back to the drawing board." Sasuke muttered, as he sat down.
"It should be. Were I anyone else I'd fail you." Ishiko started.
"However," She drew their attention.
"The three of you showed dedication to your mission and your team today. You searched diligently for me, and when you realized you'd lost communication with Sakura, you prioritized well and changed your search to your fellow teammate, knowing she was likely in more danger alone than I would be." She smiled at Naruto and Sasuke as she spoke.
"Sakura could've disagreed with my plan once I'd explained it to her, but she trusted me, even though it was a risky gamble. I can see that she knows, that sometimes it's best to trust your gut instead of your head." She praised the pinkette for the first time, smiling proudly.
"So...we passed?" Naruto couldn't believe it.
"But I didn't even do anything." Sakura said.
"I fell for your tricks, as though I were an amateur." Sasuke added.
"It's true your skills weren't up to par, but you have a lot of spirit, and you're not afraid to go against what's been ordered of you, those are two very essential and important qualities needed for this job." Ishiko said.
"Taking everything into consideration, I've decided to give this team a chance. Congratulations, you passed." She concluded, and made a peace sign.
"All right! I'm a ninja! Ninja!" Naruto exclaimed happily.
Ishiko watched as Naruto and Sakura relished in their first victory as ninja for a moment, then turned her attention to Sasuke. Sighing mentally she called him over. He stood at her side with his arms crossed over his chest and waited expectantly.
"Naruto, Sakura don't go anywhere. I'm going to have a little talk with Sasuke, and then we're all going for a late lunch." She said, and walked away motioning for Sasuke to follow.
"This should be far enough." She said, and sat down by a lake.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, reluctantly sitting beside her.
"You passed, why are you so unhappy?" She asked.
"Because you're right. I'm still not good enough." He replied bitterly.
"I knew those words would come back to haunt me." She sighed out.
"Sasuke, I'm not Itachi, I don't think you're too weak to do anything. I have confidence in you little brother, and I know you'll be a great ninja, I'm just concerned with your goal, or as you call it, your ambition." She said.
"I'm going to kill him one day, no matter how much you love him." He said seriously.
"If I got in your way, would you kill me Sasuke? Are you truly willing, to be an avenger?" She inquired.
"No, then I would be just like him. I would incapacitate you, by the time you woke up I'd make sure he was gone. If you killed yourself after, that'd be on you, not me. It would be for the greater good, so yes Ishiko, I would. I'd leap into hell if it could give me the power to kill Itachi." He replied.
"You're going to end up alone if you don't steer clear of that path Sasuke. Make your choices wisely." She said, after a moment of silence. She needed to register his words, he was most certainly not the same anymore, and she had only truly just realized it.
"Believe me I know what I'm in for." He said.
"I just don't care." He informed, and she stared at him.
"Stop looking at me like that, the little brother you knew, died long ago. Itachi killed that one." He told her, and started to head back to the training grounds.
"Aniki, I must admit you've outdone yourself with this one." She whispered, as she wiped a few tears from her eyes. With a troubled mind, and aching heart, she headed back to the trio of Genin.
A/N: Finally done with this chapter. My head hurts! I hope you all enjoy and thank you so much for the continued support!