Right now, Akatsuki are a generalized shadow looming in the distance, but they will come into play later in the story. So those of you who were wondering where they were will be able to find out... sooner or later. Same goes for another character who is currently conspicuously missing.

Enjoy the update! There'll be another one next Wednesday. Updates are on Wednesdays, barring complete lack of internet access on my part, or catastrophe. (or life... so sorry it's been 5 years, guys... have some edits and repairs just because I'm sorry)

Chapter 11

Sakura had been into the jungle a few times before, as part of training missions with other initiates and then with other novices as she got older. She had never been there without others her age, and she had never been there without an experienced priest to lead her. Nevertheless, she felt confident that she could handle it. There were predators in the jungle, but with her control over chakra she could easily set wards to keep herself from being surprised. A jaguar was no match for a trained shinobi, as long as that shinobi came prepared. All it would take was a nick from a poisoned kunai.

It had taken her two days to get to the jungle. She could have made it there on the first day by pushing herself, but she suspected she should conserve her chakra. Instead, she'd camped out twice, delaying setting her camp by several hours and then sleeping in each time, in an effort to get herself on the same schedule as her prey. Tarsiers were nocturnal. Sakura would have to hunt by night.

It was still daylight when she entered the jungle. Fortunately the rainy season had not yet begun, so navigating was still not as problematic as it would be in a few months. She'd allowed herself time to get deeper into the jungle before darkness fell. She suspected her prey would be elusive, and that it would be found deeper in rather than closer to the farmlands.

Though it wasn't raining right now, the jungle was still humid and hot. Farther to the south, there were countries that experienced winter, and she supposed it was the same situation at the same latitude to the north of the equator. But Miyajima's version of winter was a slightly drier time of warmth. The jungle wasn't much different. The humidity caused it to get frequent rain even in the dry season, but in the wet season it got torrential downpours. The wet season would be here soon enough.

She stalked through the jungle, trying to get through without disrupting the vegetation as much as possible. She'd brought a machete (and a sharpening stone) for if she needed it, but she'd been taught to attempt to move without leaving a trace of her passage. Jungles were great practice. She'd also brought a compass and a chakra-activated map. Landmarks were hard to spot in the thick vegetation, and it was very easy to get turned around and utterly lost when everything, even the sky, was obscured by leaves and trees.

All around her she could hear the sound of animals and birds calling. Many of the plants that surrounded her bore edible fruit, and she was familiar with enough of it to supplement her rations richly with wild-grown food. She also stopped to gather the occasional medicinal herb or substance that she knew would be appreciated back at her temple. She'd brought along extra bags to carry, but she had to keep her goal in mind. She would have to carry the corpse of the animal back when she got it.

As night fell, she wandered the forest, moving as silently as she could. The sounds of the jungle didn't taper off with the coming of the dark. Instead, they changed, with what were clearly different animals and birds now making their noises. Sakura dug out of her packs her 'cheat', a special set of chakra-activated goggles that allowed her to see living things in the dark. Sakura could rely on her senses to a point, but in order to be sure, she'd gotten these. They were expensive. Gaara had been right; someday there would come a time when she would need the money she made at the arena. She told herself if there was a next time, she'd give an actual tithe.

With the goggles, she saw that the jungle was as teeming with activity by night as it was by day. She was actually a little surprised by the activity, although the sounds had certainly announced it. All throughout the jungle, creatures lived and died, fought and mated, hunted and fed. Insects glittered on almost every surface. She was glad that she'd brought lots of the salve that would keep off biting bugs.

The young shinobi snuck through the jungle, covering what ground she could and searching for any sign of the shy creature that she was to retrieve. At one point she thought she'd spotted one, but then she had a better look at its hands, and realized that they weren't the distinctive, elongated paws that she recalled from the illustration and from the god's vision. It was also eating a fruit, and Sakura knew that her quarry ate meat and insects.

She searched through the night, moving deeper and deeper into the jungle. Finally, the jungle grew misty and incredibly difficult to navigate, even with the goggles. They penetrated darkness, but not fog that seemed as solid as a wall. Her inner clock told her it was almost time for the sun to rise, and she found a tree she could climb with a branch high enough, and wide enough, for a sleep. Setting wards and alerting tags around herself, and setting up an alarm to wake her if she got to close to falling out of the tree, she curled up for a day's sleep.

Surprisingly enough, she slept through most of the day, only waking a few times when particularly loud animals had called nearby. She blinked herself to alertness and sat up in the tree, pulling out her rations for an early evening breakfast. She finished that up, and then got down out of the tree to make a camp latrine.

Sleeping in a tree wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world. Sakura had done it before, and every time she had woken stiff and sore. Today was no different. After she'd finished her business she did a series of quick stretches, reapplied the bug balm, and gotten herself limbered up for another night of hunting.

This night was to be her lucky one. Somewhere in the wee hours of the morning, after midnight, but before dawn, she'd spotted her tarsier. Mindful of her near misidentification of the night before, she stalked the creature until she saw it hunting its own prey. She noted the long, delicate paws. She'd found what she wanted. Silently, she prepared her blow dart, dipping the tiny dart in the poison before capping the vial once more. She loaded the dart into the blow tube and inhaled before bringing the tube to her lips.

A quick *tff* and the dart launched. She didn't see it hit the tarsier; her goggles weren't that good and the dart wasn't living. But she saw the tarsier whirl, obviously looking around for something. She waited, motionless, watching. A few seconds later, its grip on the branch loosened, and Sakura leapt forward in time to catch its corpse as it fell. She'd hit, and the poison had done its job.

Remembering that animals that weren't cleaned promptly after killing would rot, she deftly eviscerated the creature, although she held of skinning it. That could wait until she got back to the city. It would be harder to do when it wasn't fresh, but it would still be manageable. She wrapped the poor dead animal up in the coverings she'd brought for that purpose, and put it into her pack.

She judged that she had enough time for a quick nap before the sun rose, and then she would head back to the city as fast as she could. The irony is that the journey back would take a lot less time than the journey there, because she would be free to travel at top speed. She'd finished the first part of her task in good time. Now, she would need to finish the next part, and prepare the bones.

Another several hours' sleep in a tree and she was up again and on her way, flying through the branches confidently, alert for any sign of danger. By mid-morning she'd reached the edge of the jungle. By nightfall, she'd made it back to Miyajima City. She hoped that Shino would be ready to help her, even at this time of the night.

Before she went to see him, however, she took some time to carefully skin the tarsier. She thought that the cured hide might make a fine offering to the Seven Tails, in addition to the completion of her task. Why waste that? She prepared the skin with salt so that the fur would not fall out, and set it aside for curing.

It was a very exhausted Sakura who stumbled through the Seven Tails' temple gate in the early evening. A passing priestess spotted her and asked if she could help. The tired novice got out "I was wondering if Aburame Shino—," before the priestess smiled and said she'd go fetch Shino.

Sakura leaned against the wall, feeling about ready to drop to sleep right then and there. But she couldn't yet. She still had work to do.

"Sakura, you have returned from the jungle already?" Shino's voice inquired. Sakura looked up to see the young acolyte approaching her. She nodded.

"I have the tarsier. Can you help me prepare the bones?" she asked. Shino nodded.

"I would be happy to help. Give it to me and I'll let you know when my insects have done their job."

Sakura removed the package that contained the creature and gave it to Shino. "Be careful. It's fragile."

"My insects are very gentle. I will be careful," Shino promised. "It will take a few days. I will send a message to your temple when it is done."

"Thanks, Shino!" she smiled.

"You're welcome."

That part done, Sakura bade him farewell and had just enough energy for a quick shower before finally seeking her bed.

In the morning, after a good night's sleep, she rose, feeling refreshed and ready to take on the world and… really hungry. She headed to the refectory for breakfast, realizing that she had missed supper the night before in her haste to return to meet with Shino and hand over her prize.

"Hey, Forehead, how was the jungle?" Ino asked as she brought her tray of breakfast to their usual table.

"Actually it wasn't that bad. It only took me two nights in the jungle to find the creature. I brought it back last night after travelling all day," Sakura told her friends.

"All day? You must be tired," Hinata commented.

"I had a good night's sleep," Sakura said.

"So what do you do now? Are you done with the task?" Ino asked.

"No, now I have to remove all the flesh from the bones," Sakura replied.

"How will you do that?" Hinata gave her a curious look.

"I'm not sure I want to talk about it over breakfast. It's kind of gross." The pink-haired teen averted her gaze. "Shino's helping me, let's leave it at that."

Ino made a face. "That's all I really need to know."

"So how long will it be before you can do what you need to?" Hinata asked.

"Uh," Sakura froze. She realized suddenly that she hadn't asked Shino how long it would take. He said he'd contact her when it was ready. If the books were to be believed, it could take anywhere from a few days to a week or more. It was still faster than maceration, but… "I really don't know. Shino will send a message when it's ready for the next stage."

"So what are you going to do while you're waiting? Hey, don't novices on pilgrimage basically have an open pass to the City?" Ino mused, getting visibly excited. "You could go shopping!"

"Uh, yeah, no. I spent all my money on supplies for the jungle. I don't think I'll be shopping," Sakura said. To tell the truth she wasn't as interested in the city as Ino was. Ino took every opportunity to go into Miyajima that came her way. Sakura had never understood the fascination. But then, Sakura had reason to believe that her friend was using the city as a place to meet Shikamaru without having as high a risk of discovery. The pink-haired girl wondered briefly if Ino had some hideaway there.

"It's a pity the pass is in your name only," Ino mourned.

"Well, start your pilgrimage, and you'll have a pass of your own," Sakura pointed out. Hinata giggled at this.

"Ino, I'm going to be starting mine next week. With Naruto!" The Hyūga smiled at them. "You could join us."

"Uh…" Ino's big blue eyes widened and she looked almost frightened. "You're all leaving me! I'm going to be the only one left in the novitiate. This sucks!"

"You could just do your pilgrimage. Honestly, it hasn't been that bad for me yet," Sakura commented.

"Damn it!" Ino's gaze dropped to the table in defeat. She flushed. "I'll think about it, ok?"

"It's not us you need to please, it's the gods." Sakura smirked at Ino's murderous glare. Then the pink-haired girl continued, "I think maybe I'll just keep training, or see if Tsunade has some work for me in the meantime."

"You're so dedicated," Hinata smiled.

"Yeah, too dedicated. I don't know how the rest of us are supposed to manage with you always setting the bar so high," Ino grumbled. Hinata rolled her lavender Hyūga eyes at the blonde, which surprised Sakura. Ino's bitching, she expected, but since when had Hinata started reacting with anything other than polite, shy sympathy to the whine-fest? Was their sweet little Hinata growing up at last? Sakura wondered if it was the influence of Naruto.

"No one's comparing us. You know we're all assessed on our own merit," Sakura pointed out.

"So they say. It still puts a lot of pressure on the rest of us when you're such a little shining golden girl," Ino complained.

"I'm not," Sakura insisted.

"You are. Tsunade loves you. You're the greatest thing since rice balls," Ino snapped.

"Well what do you want me to do about it?" Sakura felt a little bit angry. "Stop working hard?"

Ino stopped to consider that, looking a little chagrined. "Well I guess that isn't fair either," she admitted.

"I don't know what I'm supposed to do, then. Can't you just be happy with your own progress? You're a good healer Ino, that's not in question," Sakura said.

The blonde looked a little surprised at Sakura's words. "You think so?"

"Yes!" Sakura sighed in exasperation. "Ino, your skill at healing is great. You don't need to worry about it, really you don't."

"Thanks, Sakura. It actually means a lot for me to hear that coming from you," Ino said, quietly. The blonde looked more subdued than usual. She turned her luminous blue eyes on Sakura with a genuine smile.

Sakura hadn't ever really considered how her excellence was affecting her friend. It was a little bit of a shock to realize that Ino was jealous of her healing abilities. It was even more surprising to see how much Sakura's praise affected Ino. She was glad she'd said what she'd said.

"And you, Hinata, do you feel the same way? Because you have a lot of skill at healing too," Sakura said, turning to the dark-haired girl, who had witnessed the exchange between Ino and herself quietly and apparently without reaction.

"Watching you has never really bothered me. I know my own skills and I'm happy with them. I'm happy that you do well in this. It just tells me that you picked the right temple, which makes me happy because I'm glad we can still spend so much time together. When everyone was sorting into temples I lost a lot of friends from my initiate days, and I'm too sh-sh-sh-shy to go get back into contact." Hinata blushed towards the end of her statement when her stutter returned. "I'm working on that, though. The shyness, that is," she followed up, with more conviction.

"I still don't understand why you insist on practicing with Lee, though. We get combat training at the Six Tails' temple and that's good enough," Ino said.

"Eh, well, it's partly because he's a friend. And he challenges me. A little too much sometimes, but I figure what doesn't kill me can only make me stronger," Sakura admitted. "Though the green jumpsuit is a little much."

Both Ino and Hinata laughed at that.

Sakura pushed her leftovers around on her plate. She shouldn't have taken so much egg. Waste was inexcusable when one lived on the proceeds of offerings and tithes. Her eyes had been bigger than her stomach.

"Can't finish it?" Ino asked, slyly.

Sakura blushed. "I misjudged my appetite after trudging through the jungle for two days."

"So she isn't perfect! I'm relieved," the blonde gloated. Sakura sighed, but she let Ino have her small victory.

"I'm going to go find Lee and get some training in," the pink-haired girl said, rising from her seat. Ino and Hinata, also done their breakfast, rose and followed her to the tray return.

"Well, I'd better get back to the children's ward," Ino said, rolling her eyes.

"I've got the intensive care unit this month," Hinata mentioned.

"Good luck, you two. I'm off to get beat up by green monsters," Sakura smiled.

"Crazy woman!" Ino laughed. "If you need bruise balm, look me up later."

"Thanks, Ino-pig!" Sakura laughed back.

It was a beautiful sunny day out, and Sakura felt at the top of the world. She knew that would last up until a little while after she met up with Lee, after which she would shortly feel like something scraped off the bottom of a particularly soiled shoe. Still, she was in great cheer as she stepped out of the gate to the Six Tails' temple and swung down the path towards the Ox's gate.

This time, she did bounce off the person standing in her path, as oblivious as she'd been. She froze, feeling acutely embarrassed. "I'm sorry! I wasn't watching where I was—,"

"Sakura," came that familiar, melodious voice. She looked up into glacier blue-green eyes. "We keep meeting each other like this," he smirked at her.

"Hi, Gaara," she said, hesitantly. Seriously, this was weird. She always seemed to either run into him (literally) or end up with him sneaking up on her. The only time she could distinctly recall having spotted him was that day practicing with Lee in the training field, when she'd felt the heat of his gaze upon her. How did he always manage to be right in her path, or find her? It was weird!

"You're back from the jungle, I see. Unharmed, it looks like." His eyes raked over her in a manner that was at once assessing any potential damage she might have sustained, and somewhat possessive.

"Well, of course I'm unharmed. What do you take me for?" She gave him a flat look.

"The jungle can be dangerous. I wouldn't like it if anything happened to you, you know. You're important to me," he said, face serious.

She felt a little bit surprised. Yeah, he seemed to try to get away with putting the moves on her any chance he could reasonably get away with it, but to hear him out and out say that she was important to him… it was unexpected, to say the least. What was as unexpected was the fact that she returned that sentiment as far as his own health and safety were concerned.

Really, how did either of them get away with that kind of seriousness? She'd known him all of a month and a bit, been kissed by him twice (somewhat against her will, as enjoyable though those kisses had been), and really not spent all that much time around him. Surely it was illogical to form this kind of attachment to someone that quickly? Sakura was familiar with infatuation – she'd felt it before (not that she would ever admit it to anyone else; but Hinata's cousin in the Four Tails' dedicated was very attractive). This didn't feel like that. It felt… deeper somehow.

"Don't worry. I was safe the whole time. I've been well trained," she insisted.

"I know," he said, softly, gazing at her through slightly lowered lids. His eyes glittered as they roved over her. "Like I said, I'd be upset if something happened to you. I would have preferred to go into the jungle with you."

She smirked, remembering how he'd been shot down by the head priest for the One Tail's Miyajima temple last time. "Talk to the priest about it yet?" she taunted him, feeling confident that if he had, he'd been denied permission.

"Yes, and I have clearance to go with you if you go into the jungle again," he said, surprising her. He looked smug at her obvious annoyance. "So if you're sent into the jungle again, alert me." It wasn't a request. Sakura felt herself flushing slightly. Really, who did he think he was? Just because he was a hereditary member of the clergy, and powerful, and attractive, he thought he could order her around?

"What if I want to go by myself?" she retorted, letting her annoyance come through.

"Er," he looked a little surprised at the resistance she was putting up to his intention to come with her. He seemed to consider her for a moment. "I tell you what. If you can take me in a taijutsu match on the training ground, I'll agree to that," he smirked.

She snorted. "I've already seen you fight. Your taijutsu is better. That's hardly fair."

"Name your handicap."

"I get to use chakra and ninjutsu," she smirked. "You don't."

"You're on," he smirked right back at her. Wait a sec, had she just agreed to his proposition? Yeah, it was a loss condition, but still… She suddenly felt outmanoeuvred. As they walked to the practice grounds, she glanced over and noted his smug look. Mind you, he often looked smug, but still… Sakura hated losing. Gaara would probably give Shikamaru a fair challenge at shogi.

Sand squished under their sandals as they left the stone paths for the training ground. It made her wonder a bit about Gaara; after all, he had a sand affinity. That was pretty rare, as far as she knew. She'd never heard of anyone else with a sand affinity, and his seemed a strong one. Though, maybe it shouldn't surprise her either. The Tanuki was always associated with sand and the desert, and she was fairly certain he was related to the high priest of the One Tails. He might even be the high priest's son. She knew from the studies of the pantheon all the novices took that the current High Priest of the One Tails had several children, and was himself blessed by the favour of the god. She was glad that she wasn't going up against his sand abilities. Sakura was strong, but she would never be able to hold against that kind of power.

They separated, walking a short distance away before turning to face each other across the sands. While Sakura shifted her feet into a better stance, she watched as Gaara planted his shoulder-width apart and crossed his arms in front of him. His smirk was infuriating.

"Begin whenever you want," he said, loud enough for her to hear the amusement in his tone. Feeling a little miffed at being treated so dismissively, she glowered at him. This only seemed to amuse him more; as his smirk widened.

She rotated her foot in the sand, adjusting her position. And then the sand under her feet sprayed as she used chakra-imbued strength to propel herself forward at high speed towards him.