NOTE:I'm replying to reviews at the end of this chapter! I'll be replying to Wyrvel, (ch 8 comment) Vindicated Irony (chapter 8 comment), IciclefangAJ (chapter 9 review) and Tobee (chapter 2, 6, and 7 review. ALSO, it's a very long explanation/review to his review)

苺 - Strawberry

(Arc II: Missions arc)

Chapter Ten: 数分隊 (ODD SQUAD)

My team was a mess.

Compared to the other teams - and I later found out that four teams made the cut - we were the 'Freak Team', as Hamu eloquently put it. The teams that had made the cut were Team One, comprised of Aburame Shimi, Sarutobi Hikari (a very pretty, albeit stoic, young girl with tan skin), and Metusmi Akako, who was a lanky boy with long arms and cherry-top hair.

Team Three, also known as Team Gai, had obviously made the cut. Team Five, consisting of Akimichi Sutekina, who was a pretty, nice, and chubby girl, Hayashi Aiko, a very mean girl who glares at everyone with beady, hazel eyes, and Minami Emi, a girl who fades in the background, who was extremely good in chakra theory and ninjutsu. (Everyone was shocked that Team Five was an all-girl squad, including their senseis, Nara Kaori. Everyone was even more shocked that they passed the test, especially since two out of three of them were civilians.)

We were the 'Freak Team', simply because of our lineage and status. Ibo, although he was strong, smart, and handsome, wasn't exactly popular with his clan, and was overshadowed by Ino, (who he proudly informed us was entering the Academy and was already climbing to the top of charts) another prodigy-like Yamanaka named Shiro, (who I've had the pleasure of meeting. He was a scowling, brooding, stoic dickhead and was fifteen.) and many other Yamanakas.

Hamu was a part of the Nezumi clan. The Nezumi clan weren't exactly noble. They were dirty, they summoned rats (and looked like them, as well), and they didn't have any prestige, hidden techniques, kekkei genkai, or doujutsus to save them like the Hyuugas, Naras, or Aburame. They were even dirt compared to the Inuzukas; least the latter clan used their animals in combat. The Nezumis used their animals to track and infiltrate.

I was a plain civilian, and my lineage was laughable. Have you ever heard of a girl deciding to become a kunoichi, and she was born to a tea-obsessed civilian family who ran a slightly successful tea house?

My sensei wasn't even as renowned as Gai or Kakashi. He was a twenty-something year old man who blushed, stammered, and giggled behind his bandaged hand frequently. He was single, he never allowed his chlorochrous green eyes linger on any woman's body. He was shy and preferred to drink tea alone and didn't seek out to find a girl. He wasn't close to Kurenai, Asuma, or Kakashi, and was acquaintances with Gai.

"As a taijutsu master, Gai-senpai is my inspiration," He supplied us when we had asked him.

While I wished I had stronger, cooler, and slightly more attractive (Hamu wasn't exactly easy on the eyes) teammates, I've grown to be fond with them.

Around the time I was eased into the team dynamics, Team Yasa was called in for a mission. It wasn't a particularly hard mission - we were genin, after all - but it changed my genin squad forever.

Hamu rubbed his thumbs subconsciously as he snuck a peek at the charge we were escorting. I narrowed my eyes and followed his gaze.

We were assigned a simple, C-rank mission: escort Nakamura Aki, the son of the leader of the Nakamura Corporations inc., who supplies the whole nations with scrolls. (We were assigned simply due to the fact that the Chuunins in our village were suddenly absent, although I had a notion; also because we completed quite a few D-rank missions, over thirteen, and the Hokage decided to grant us a C-rank mission.) It was a low-ranked mission because Nakamura-san, Aki's father, was very cheap, despite being successful; also, Nakamura-san wouldn't be targeted since his job position didn't allow him to create enemies who were angry enough to kill him.

Aki was a skinny, pretty boy - this wasn't even meant as an insult. He had lush, rosy lips and an olive-skinned complexion. His eyes were large and a vivid sapphire blue with long, thick eyelashes. He was tall and lanky and his hands were soft - it was evident that he's never trained before and he wasn't a shinobi.

My nerves were eased.

Aki decided to break the tense silence.

"So, erm - is this 'yer first mission?" He inquired politely, smoothing his yukata.

"No," Ibo answered smoothy. "We've been on plenty of missions before. However, this is our first C-rank."

Aki's expression soured, but he said nothing. Instead, he gave us a pasty, pallid smile and stared down at his shoes.

I allowed my thoughts to wander. My missions consisted of picking weeds and housekeeping - it was simple and I liked it that way. I didn't have to kill or harm anyone; I didn't have to be on edge or on the look out for any bloodlust enemies, ready to impale me with a kunai.

However, Ibo and Hamu were just the opposite. They were restless for a higher ranked mission. It amazed - and frightened me - how excited they were to kill someone. Their fingers itched to their cold kunai. They wanted to impale someone's spleen and damaged their psyche and dehumanize themselves to the point where they were bloodlusting, unapologetically killing savages - barbarians - who pleased themselves by killing.

I swallowed thickly at the thought and refused to look at my male counterparts. I wanted to throw up. I loved them - I really did, they were great 'mates - but the way they loved killing frightened me.

"We're almost there," Yasa announced happily. "We'll be in Sumigakure (1) shortly. How about we stay in an inn in the meantime?"

"Hai," We chorused cheerily. I was glad to rest, shower, and sleep. We were walking an awfully long time and my ankles were burning and growing heavier. My back was also cramped.

In the distance, a small inn came into view.

"We'll rest here for a few hours," Yasa ordered.

"Will we get our separate rooms?" Ibo asked innocently as he tousled his own hair.

"It depends," Yasa suggested mischievously, and I widened my eyes.

Eh?

We arrived safely to our inn in good timing. The sun was setting and it was darkening. Seeing as how we don't have a Byakugan user on our team, it would've been hard to navigate, especially through the thick grass and tall trees.

I shifted my weight as Yasa got our rooms. Without preamble, I snatched the key from his hand and bolted off, shoving my key into the keyhole and unlocking my room. I slipped off my bag off my shoulder and stripped down out my clothes, desperate to remove the gunk and mud off my clothes. I previously removed it in the nearby stream but it just caused my clothes to get heavier.

I took a long, cold shower - because really, in the Hi no Kuni, it was sweltering hot like Cuba in the summer - and dried my burnt sienna hair. I put my dirty clothes away and dressed into a dry spare.

I took out my scrolls decided to write about all I knew in Naruto. My new memories were replacing my old ones, and I needed to remember if I wanted to survive as a kunoichi. I was a bit cautious since I was on my C mission. And seeing how I would be a mediocre kunoichi, I could use my private knowledge to at least help me dodge any problems that would be soon barrelling fast towards Konoha. The soonest one would most likely be Suna's coup and Suna and Oto's alliance - Konoha Crush, where the Sandaime dies. I already told myself I wouldn't interfere or share my knowledge. It would raise questions and I didn't want to put myself in the spotlight.

With a flick of my wrist, I started writing. I continuously transitioned from Japanese to English. Not because I wanted my scrolls to be cryptic, but my memory of English was slipping from my mind and I wanted to keep a hold of it forever - it was the only souvenir of my past life. That and my knowledge of Naruto.

My knowledge was limited, however; I stopped watching Naruto a little bit past the Kazekage Arc, so I didn't know everything. All I knew was that there's a new Akatsuki character, who's a little bit mysterious, named Tobi. He has two voices (from the Three Tails' filler arc) and I don't have all the information on him.

I scratched my eyebrow dejectedly and began writing.

I woke up with a knock on the door. With a start, I jolted awake. Dozens of scrolls rolled off my abdomen and face and I realized I dozed off. I had finished quite a few scrolls, all from the Uchiha information, Orochimaru, Naruto, Nine-Tail Fox, and the Bijuu. I also input a few theories of my own in there about the Uchihas, Hyuugas, and Naruto's lineage, as well as Sakura. I squawked out an, "I'm indecent, hold the fuck up", and I read off one of my theories.

Haruno

As Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura are meant to mirror and parallel the Legendary Sannin (see: Tsunade Senju, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya), Sakura may parallel Tsunade, who's a hybrid of Senju and Uzumaki - with this, Sakura may be apart of a secret bloodline.

Haruno may be a clan, perhaps from another country, who migrated to Hi no Kuni and Konohagakure. Sakura may be the relative of a mildly important canon character, like a Sarutobi child or -

The knocking grew louder, and I quickly ceased my musings and rolled my scrolls up. Stuffing them under the bed, I skipped showering and threw on my now-clean clothes.

I was managing to clip my boots up when the door was roughly opened.

"You liar! You weren't indecent, you were reading!" I heard a shrill voice and an accusing finger. I whirled around and saw Hamu standing in my room, his finger pointing at me as he snarled, baring his pointed teeth.

I slipped off my boot and threw it at him. He dodged it easily and I lunged at him.

"You pig!" I squawked. "What if I wasn't decent yet? I'm telling Yasa-sensei!" I threatened shrilly as I batted him out the room. He was out in a millisecond, his face flushed and red.

I slipped on my boots quickly, buttoned up my shirt, and headed out the door quickly. I blinked out the sleep clinging to my eyelids and licked the corner of my lips as I habitually scratched my eyebrow as I reunited with our client and my teammates.

"Ohayo goziamasu," I greeted as I fixated my gaze on my dark open toe boots.

"Sumigakure isn't too far away," Yasa told us. He set down a few ryo, flashed a soft smile at the receptionist and lead us out the small, ramshackled inn and shouldered his bag.

"Sensei?" I quipped, curiosity lacing my words as I formulated my question, scrunching my eyebrows as I began, "isn't Sumigakure a dominantly civilian Village?"

"Hai," Yasa answered. He capped his bottle. A smile quirked his rosy lips. "Sumigakure is predominantly a civilian village; there are little to no shinobi in there, and if there are, they are retired or injured shinobi - they cannot continue their duty, and they settle in Sumigakure; it's a pretty industrial village for a village with ninjas. They have companies and they export ink to neighboring villages -"

"-Ink?" Ibo inquired as he scratched his knee. "Is ink that industrious?"

"You wouldn't think so, seeing how Sumigakure is a small village and it neighbors Sugigakure, another minor village, and Dōgakure, who also export cedar wood and copper. Anyways, Sumigakure exports ink - ink is very important, not only to paint but to write scrolls, write formal invites, letters (to the daimyō or kages, perhaps) and mission reports. In the Elemental Nations, sumi-e is very popular and requires a lot of ink." Yasa finished his explanation with a rub to his chin and gave us a smile.

"Well, I may have bore you, but at least we've passed time." He pointed out. He turned to our charge. "Aki-san, are you thirsty?"

"I'm fine," He assured Yasa hesitantly. His eyes darted around the forest.

Something's about to happen, I realized darkly. I wasn't sure what made me realize it; perhaps it was the way Yasa bristled, just slightly - his relaxed, cheerful posture faded rapidly and was instead replace with a taut posture, masqueraded by a cold, saccharine 'cheerful' stance - or the way Ibo's eyes were blinking and his lips were pushed into a thin line.

I think the biggest dead giveaway was the way Hamu excitedly rubbed his thumbs, licking his lips and baring his sharpened teeth, his beady golden eyes narrowing in a bloodthirsty excitement. His shoulders rolled and his flaxen eyes darting around the area.

What the fuck is going on? There aren't any shinobi around here - it's a civilian-dominant village. Why would there be shinobi, especially after our client?

This is just like Naruto's Waves' mission, I thought darkly. Was my pure existence in this dimension, in this world, causing a rip in time? Was I given his mission? Was me being born causing things to change around here?

My heart thundered loudly and my fingers trembled.

Move, dammit, I cursed at myself. I had to move - something, no someone, was coming, and they were coming now, and I needed to stop fucking trembling and I had to move, Ichigojustmoveonefingerjustmovejustfuckingmove -

That's when the metal glinted in the shaded sun, soaring through the air and piercing the wind - and that's when the small, cold and blood-stained shuriken impaled my shoulder, and my world went foggy, bleary, and dizzy.

And I felt pain.

FOOTNOTES:

- Sumigakure is by my imagination. I simply made it up; Sumi means 'ink' (as in calligraphy) in Japanese. It's been explained already, but to sum it up: it's a civilian populated village where very few shinobi live. They produce ink, which is actually pretty damn valuable if you think about it in the feudal lord era.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Yes, yes, the mandatory Author's Note. This chapter took me a pretty long time to read, because if you didn't know, I'm a more think-and-write-as-you-go author, where I don't really plan each chapter. Whatever comes to mind, comes to mind. However, I have planned quite a few information. I've planned the relationships, the drama, the battles, and I've also already written the plot for each OC (Hamu, Ibo, the Ochas, Yasa, etc.) lineage, abilities, weaknesses, personality and mental weaknesses, and etc.

I'm so glad that I've already written chapters in advance, so if I have Writer's Block for a few weeks, you guys can still be updated w/ my chapters! :))

Thank you all for the lovely and constructive reviews, follows, and favorites! It motivates me to continue all writing! xx

REPLIES:

iciclefangAJ said: I'm happy that Ichigo isn't OP, but isn't too weak. She's a little on the weak side, but at least sh can protect herself

I'm going to take this as a compliment, haha! Ichigo will slowly but surely improve. It won't be rapid. It'll be a normal pace. In fact, I'm considering writing a sequel after to write a post time skip (Regular Naruto Time Skip) to show her improvement! xx

Vindicated Irony: This story is cute and interesting - so I'll be keeping an eye on it! And you're right, there is a lack of those types or characters in the fandom, so good on you for planning to involve them in your story. I've always been a bit miffed/curious as to why Kishi never had more diverse skin colors within the villages - except for Kumo.

Though, Sakura isn't a civilian child. Both of her parents were/are actually shinobi.

Oops! Thanks for informing me. I actually thought Sakura was a civilian child. I'd think the story (manga) would've been better if she were civilian; so she worked extremely hard from a civilian family.

Thanks for your comments! xx

Wyrvel: I always get teary eyed at your reviews :') it's such an honor to hear it from you. I love your fanfic, 'Death and Sake'! and lol your comment. I agree. Everyone, generally, when reading a story automatically assumes that the protagonist, or actually any characters are cis, white, and heterosexual. Lmao! I'm trying to put it out there that my cast of characters are diverse, varying from different skin complexions, genders (and identifying genders) and sexuality. Thanks again! xx

TOBEE said: "Ichigo Kurosaki?" , "

Huh? That makes no sense because you need to have a LOT of extra spiritual energy to dispel or make genjutsu (something Baka Naruto didn't have which made him fail at dispel) but Ichigo has...
At least you didn't take away her ability to mold ninjutsu just bc she has extra spiritual chakra. So yay! Action and adventure still possible!" and "Lots about protection, just like that guy from bleach!"

No, Ichigo is NOT based off of Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach. Ichigo means 'strawberry' in Japanese, and that is a huge indicator of her lineage! Also, I'm pretty sure EVERY shinobi has a balanced chakra : spiritual AND physical. Naruto just had a LOT of excess chakra from the Kyuubi/Nine Tails which made it EXTREMELY hard to control. He had terrible chakra control and couldn't mold it properly, most likely due to excess physical chakra.

I made it the totally opposite for Ichigo. Because she's a reincarnated soul, and spiritual chakra is related to the mind and spirit/soul, (and her soul/spirit has been twice else where - - since she's reincarnated) she has extra spiritual chakra. I'm assuming for genjutsus to be dispelled and to perform them, (I'm aware its spiritual chakra / yin chakra) you'd need a perfect balance of spiritual and physical, something Ichigo doesn't have. This is why she cannot be a medical nin or a medic - because you need a balance + perfect control of chakra) or dispel or perform genjutsus. I also made this so she can have flaws, so if she ever come across a strong genjutsu user (or even mediocre genjutsu user, really) like Itachi, Sasuke, Kurenai, Kakashi, etc., she'll be completely helpless unless she has outside help to pump chakra into her cerebral nervous system.

I hope that cleared that up! xx