[(Warning! - Violence, Bad Language, Limes, and mild Lemons!) * Breaking Through to My Heart is influenced by Naruto and Naruto: Shippuden. But, it won't follow the exact storyline. I've changed a couple shinobi's ages around, taken some events and used them, and made some events that never happened. *Notice: All the Naruto characters do not belong to me, nor do the places, except for the Hanahara family, the Hidden Village of the Blossoms, and a few other characters.]


Chapter 12: Naruto, Sakura, & Sai

[Sai]

Following behind Naruto and Sakura, I quietly covered our tracks. Tsuki probably wouldn't follow them but instead would follow our chakra, but covering our tracks was still an important job of a shinobi. We had to cover every base if we wanted to win. I knew that I could win by myself, but not with Naruto and Sakura. I had to make sure they didn't get hurt badly, since they had become two of my close friends ever since pairing up with them as a team. Even if I still pissed them off once in a while.

Sakura slowed down and moved in beside me. "Do you want me to lay traps?"

I shook my head. "She won't fall for them."

"But I heard all kinds of explosions during the last battle. Surely some of them will work?"

I looked over at her and shook my head. "She will be wary this time. We have to come up with a plan that will trap her so that we can quickly take her out. Hiding and running aren't what we do."

Sakura gave a small laugh. "No, I suppose not. It's definitely not in Naruto's thoughts. He wants to face her head on."

I frowned. "He won't win that way."

Sakura gave a small shrug. "He rescued me from Gaara during one of his early rampages by facing him head on. Surely you've noticed he doesn't give up easily since you've been a part of our team? Haven't you? Naruto is stronger than all of us, if he puts his mind to it."

I sighed. I had seen many fights between Naruto and others and I have indeed seen his strength. And it wasn't always centered on him having the Nine-Tails sealed inside of him. He was something special. "Then our best bet is to back him up, by having a plan of action."

She nodded. "I agree." She ran ahead to catch up to Naruto to discuss the things we'd just discussed.

I paused in my covering our tracks and pulled out one of my smaller drawing scrolls. I quickly drew some black birds, drawing them off the page with my chakra so that they could be my scouts in the sky. Then I drew some bugs to help scout the woods for me. I could keep in contact with them at all times with my chakra connection. Finally I drew a couple massive birds, but didn't release them from the paper yet; they were for a little later when I fought Tsuki. I put away my ink and scroll and continued to cover our tracks.

At one of the streams that ran through the forest we all stopped and circled up. Naruto smashed his fist into his palm. "Alright, Sai. Sakura said we need a plan, so what's the plan?"

"First we need to scout out an open space, where the trees are a considerable enough distance from the center. We know that she can use earth jutsu based on the roots that had wrapped around Neji, Tenten, and Lee. I also know from Kakashi, Asuma, and Genma's battle with her previously that she can use water jutsu. I want us to assume that she is very, very skilled in both types of jutsu, so I want you both to be wary and watchful."

Sakura clenched her fist with a grin. "If she is an earth and water user, then I may have a good chance of beating her."

I gave a small shake of my head. "Just because you both share similar jutsus doesn't mean you are on equal ground. She was trained to kill; you were trained to save lives. I hope I don't offend you in saying so, Sakura." She frowned, but I continued. "I'm sure though that you will weaken her enough for Naruto and I to finish the battle."

Sakura wasn't happy but gave a small nod anyways. "I guess I can't underestimate her, that would be bad for us all. And I know the perfect place to fight her." She pointed towards our right, further into the training grounds. "It's a short distance away, but we have enough time to get there and get ready to fight by the time she finds us."

I nodded. "I've already sent out spies, so when she appears close by I'll know, then we attack with everything we got. We should get going, Naruto, Sakura."


[Tsuki]

I watched as Sai, Naruto, and Sakura disappeared into the trees before I started heading that way myself. Kakashi called out as he peeked over his book at me. His eyes crinkled up into an eye smile. "Good luck."

I rolled my eyes and continued to walk away. Soon I was back in the cover of the trees. I didn't head back to my base. Instead I slid some of my chakra into the ground beneath me as I walked and stretched it out along the root system of all the trees. I was looking for any signs of my next three opponents. A few minutes of walking brought me to large clearing with a stream that was running through it. I slumped down beside the edge and ran my fingers through the water, enjoying the cooling feeling. I splashed some water onto the back of my neck and gave a sigh. "Wonder where they are?" A small twig snapped off to my right and I jerked upwards while pulling out one of my hidden kunai. A medium sized toad hopped out. I reached up and rubbed my thumbs into my eyes. "It's just a toad… what the hell."

I turned away from the toad and moved to head across the stream. I only got halfway across before I heard more twigs breaking. I turned and watched as more toads hopped out of the bushes. There was a loud pop and a snicker as Naruto appeared, crouched very toad-like. "Figured I'd see what you're up to, Tsuki."

"Huh?" I couldn't believe how stupid he was. I rolled my eyes at him. "What are you doing, Naruto. You're supposed to be hiding or fighting me." I don't know how to explain it but I felt like something was wrong.

Naruto shrugged and crawled forward a little. This toad thing was creeping me out just a little. I backed up away from the bank of the stream. "I was told to come scout you."

I looked around. "Oh?"

He flashed me a bright smile before disappearing in a puff of smoke. I stared at where he had been for a few moments before I turned back to head to the other side of the stream. I stopped when I saw Naruto standing on the other side watching me. "Aren't you going to attack me?"

I frowned. "Are you trying to toy with me, Naruto. 'Cause I'm not in a playful mood. We're supposed to take things seriously."

He grinned again. "I am taking this seriously. I'm waiting for you to attack me."

I arched a brow and slowly pulled out another kunai. "Where are the other two?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I left them after we got into the woods."

"Hnn." A soft whistling above me gave me enough warning that someone was attacking from above. I used my Body Flicker Technique to transport myself a short distance away down the bank. I watched as a giant ink-like bird slammed into the water, its claws slashing into the rocks beneath it. I gave a low whistle of appreciation. "Now that's something you don't see every day." The bird looked like someone had drawn it.

Naruto disappeared seconds after the bird landed. I took a rolling dive along the bank of the river when I felt several people coming at me. I blocked a kick from one of them and stared up into Naruto's blue eyes. A fist landed against my side before I turned and kicked upwards. I arched a brow when I hit another Naruto. He smiled and disappeared in a puff of smoke. The other one did the same thing. Several more Naruto's tumbled out of the trees and surrounded me. They all pulled a kunai out and grinned cheesily. I gave a small sigh. Naruto was going to toy with me it seemed. I figured the bird was from Sai because he was the only one I'd seen who was artistic. I threw several kunai once the mob of Naruto clones began charging at me. I flipped this way and that, avoiding kicks and punches. "Is that all you got, Tsuki?" All the Naruto clones taunted me.

I growled and slammed my fist into one of the clones. There was a whistling to the back of me and I turned quickly, grabbing the large kunai out of the air as it sailed towards me. I flung it back the direction it came and grinned when I heard a shriek from Sakura as she dodged. She was hiding close by. One of the Naruto kicked me in the shoulder so I turned my attention back to the clones. "Dammit, Naruto. When I get my hands on the real you I'm going to strangle you!"

There was a gleeful laugh from all of the clones. "You'll have to catch me first."

I growled as another Naruto landed a heavy blow against the back of my leg, dropping me to the ground. I'd had enough. I slammed my fist into the ground and shoved my chakra into the plants and roots surrounding me. The ground began to shake as they began pulling out of the ground and started swatting at the Naruto clones. Each one disappeared with a pop.

Just as I stood up to dust my hands off, satisfied with the destruction of the clones, there was a ting of metal as a blade was pulled from a sheath. Said blade slammed down into my left shoulder as if from thin air. I hissed in pain and slumped to the ground again. I peered over my shoulder at Sai as he held his tanto expertly. "You should pay attention, Tsuki."

I slowly pulled away from his sword and grimaced at the sickening sucking sound resulting from my movements. He'd buried it deeply. Sakura came running out, dodging around the flailing roots and plants. "Stop it Sai!"

Sai turned and looked over at Sakura. "What? I thought we were supposed to win?"

Sakura shook her head and her pink hair bounced around. "We are, Sai. But we're not supposed to kill her."

"I'm not killing her."

Sakura sighed. "Stabbing her is getting pretty close."

I inched myself away from the both of them and gripped my shoulder as blood ran down my uniform. "It's ok, Sakura." I hissed a little as my shoulder moved with my voice.

Sakura frowned at me and shook her head. "You're going to bleed to death if I don't heal you right now."

She walked towards me but I growled and shoved myself backwards. I didn't want to be touched right now. I never liked being touched when I was injured. "I can heal myself."

Sai flicked his tanto to remove the blood before sliding it into the sheath strapped to his shoulder. "Still feel like fighting?" It seemed like he didn't care if I was hurt.

I didn't either. I narrowed my eyes and gave a deep growl. "A little scratch like this isn't going to stop me from winning."

Sakura gave a sigh. "Don't tell me later that I didn't warn you."

I ignored her as Sai flickered forward, using the same Body Flicker Technique I had used earlier. Not many people could do it as smoothly as he did. I wasn't impressed though. I pulled my chakra around me and formed a shield of roots as he slammed his fist downwards. He grunted with the impact and twisted to kick out at me. The roots blocked him again, except this time I wrapped them around his legs. "It's not wise to underestimate me."

The roots picked him up and slammed him into the ground, leaving a nice dent where he landed. They repeated it a few times, each impact making Sai grunt in pain. I could feel the strength of my chakra growing as I grew angrier. Sai didn't seem too fazed by himself being slammed into the ground.

I ducked as the bird he'd drawn flailed its massive wing at me from where it was still standing in the stream. I reached up and grabbed the wing after it flew over my head and jerked, adding a huge burst of chakra into my pull. There was a loud ripping sound and I grinned when its wing flopped to the ground, black ink splattering the dirt. It gave an extremely loud shriek. Sakura moved forward voicing her distress. "Tsuki!"

I turned to glare at her. "Are you going to fight me now?"

She stopped where she was, trying to remember Sai's words. It was going to take all three of them working together, not just one person in the team. "Only if it comes down to it."

I flung out my hand and one of the trees behind her bent with my movement, intending to crush her. She turned to stare up at it in surprise, but seconds before the tree hit her Naruto came flying out from somewhere and pushed her out of the way as it crushed down on him. She called out to him from the ground as it hit. "NARUTO!" There was a loud pop as the clone disappeared.

I waved my hand and the tree sprung back up into the air, waving back and forth from being released suddenly. "Fight me, Sakura."

She slowly pushed herself up onto her knees and looked up at me. "Are you crazy?"

I gave a short laugh. "Right now? Yes."

I moved around the roots that were holding Sai and struck out at Sakura. Her bright green eyes widened and she blocked my kick with her forearms. I allowed her to roll away from me before continuing my assault. I ran and did a jumping drop punch, intending to slam her into the ground. Her tiny hands wrapped around my fist, stopping me. Her voice shook with anger and her eyes glittered with it too. She was finally serious. "It's not wise to underestimate me either." She turned and flipped me over her hip. I grunted loudly as I smashed into the ground. Her fist slammed downwards at me but I rolled to the side quickly. I felt the ground buckle beneath me as her hand dug into the earth, creating a little crater. She pulled it free and shook the dirt off of it. There wasn't a single scratch on her fist.

I stumbled to my feet and clutched at my shoulder, pushing some chakra into it. I spoke while I did this, hoping to distract Sakura long enough to stop the bleeding. "Impressive I suppose."

She arched a brow, watching me intently. "I learned from the best."

"Oh?" I could feel the cut stitch together beneath my fingers. "And who's that?"

"Tsunade." She zigzagged forward and struck out at me. I ducked and dodged her punches and kicks but didn't expect her to speed up as much as she did within a few seconds. Her fist slammed into my thigh and I audibly heard my thigh bone break.

"Aaahggghhh!" I rolled away from her and huddled against a nearby tree. Its branches reached down to cocoon me.

She slowly walked forward, her hands held out trying to present herself as non-dangerous. Her voice trembled with concern. "Tsuki… I'm sorry… I didn't mean to hit you that hard."

I growled at her like a cornered animal. The plants around me started to respond to my chakra spikes and the earth began to buckle as thousands of tiny roots flew up from the ground. They wrapped themselves around Sakura like shackles, binding her legs and arms to her body. She struggled, breaking a few of them, but more grew and wrapped around her and the harder she struggled, the tighter they held her. In the end she couldn't move. I slowly pushed at the branches cocooning me and propped my leg out in front of me. I slid my hands along my thigh, hissing at the annoying sting, and pushed chakra into the broken bone. It hurt as it knit together but I suppressed any sounds of pain as it did so. This wasn't my first broken bone, and I'm sure it wouldn't be my last. Simultaneously I tried to heal my shoulder but I was getting a little too weak from losing so much blood that I couldn't do much except close the wound slightly.

"Sakura!" What now seemed to be the real Naruto finally came charging over to where I was sitting and Sakura was suspended in the air. "Sakura, I'll get you down!" He slashed at the roots holding her but they only multiplied over and over.

I gave a small chuckle and stood up on my newly healed leg. "You're only making it worse, Naruto. You can't get her out of there."

He turned back to me and his brilliantly blue eyes glittered angrily at me. "That's no fair, Tsuki!"

I shrugged and decided to use the same exact words Orochimaru had used on me when I was a little girl. "There isn't anything in life that is fair, Naruto." Off to the side there was a loud crash as Sai finally broke free from my roots. I gave a deep sigh. I was running out of time and I was tired of fighting right now. I looked back at Naruto. "I'm sorry to rush this but I'm tired of fighting." It kind of hurt to say that since I'd told Tsunade I could still fight without resting. "I'm going to end this right now."

Sai flashed over to where we were standing and stopped next to Naruto. "How's that going to happen?"

He didn't seem fazed by my words. It angered me a little but I shrugged it off. "I'll show you." I closed my eyes and slowed my breathing. I could feel the earth pulse beneath my feet and I could feel the water flowing close by. Sai drew out his tanto again but it was already too late. I released my Kekkei Genkai as completely as I could with my seal still on, which allowed my silver and green eyes to turn to obsidian black. The wind picked up and the tree's bent in time with it. I began to form two sets of seals one after the other, combining them together. Water and Earth were my most powerful jutsus. The water from the stream bubbled over the bank and slithered its way to where we were.

Naruto's eyes bugged out. "WHAT'S THAT?!"

I grinned and began combining more seals into the first two I'd preformed. The earth began to shake. "This is the true nature of my powers, Naruto."

Just as Sai leapt at me intending to slice downwards with his tanto, the water that had been slithering along the ground splashed upwards and engulfed Sai's feet, pulling him away from me to hang suspended in the air. He struck out at it with one of his fists but it sucked at him, capturing the fist in its grip. "What is this, Tsuki?" I didn't speak as the earth came next, fusing together with the water to form another gripping barrier around his body. It slowly spread upwards and no matter how hard Sai struggled to get away, it just kept moving.

Naruto reached up and tried to rip it away. "I'll help you, Sai!" He gripped the earth and water mixture but his hands only sank into it. It began moving up his body now.

Sai had almost completely disappeared beneath the earth and water and Naruto was still struggling to get away. I formed one last seal before clapping my hands together. The shockwaves from my actions moved the trees and grass around me. The blob attached to Naruto and Sai sucked them completely in and all sounds of their struggles stopped. Finally I had them. I turned and started walking towards the entrance of the training grounds. The prison holding Naruto and Sai snaked behind me and the roots that caged Sakura inside them followed as well. I didn't need to lift another finger.


[Kakashi]

The sound of earth moving turned all our attention to the far side of the training grounds. Tsuki slowly walked out from beneath the bending trees. They seemed to be reaching out to her. From here I could see the blood soaking the left side of her uniform. Her hand was dangling limply at her side. A few seconds passed before a huge mud blob thingy came slithering out of the trees behind her. Following close behind was a cocoon of roots. As she got closer I noticed that her eyes were still solid black which meant that she had released her Kekkei Genkai. It worried me. I flashed forward just in time for her to collapse into my arms. "Tsuki!"

Her body was trembling against mine and I could feel that her skin was cold. The wound on her shoulder was gaping open and her breathing was becoming laboured. She looked up at me and I watched as her eyes faded from the obsidian black of her Kekkei Genkai to her natural, beautiful silver and green eyes. She had finally turned off her 'gift'. "I… win..."

I looked up as people rushed forward and watched as the blob of mud and the cocoon of roots dropped to the ground exposing a rumpled version of Sakura and a muddy version of Sai and Naruto. Tsunade dropped down beside me and peered down at Tsuki. "What the hell happened out there? It looks like you went to war?"

Tsuki gave a shallow chuckle and a small attempt at a shrug but she hissed when it pulled at the gaping wound. "Guess we went overboard just a little."

I arched a brow. "Just a little?"

She nodded. Tsunade moved away from us and went over to where Sakura was sitting, rumpled, looking at the roots as they sank into the ground and at the mud as it did the same thing. "What the HELL happened, Sakura?"

Sakura flinched back. "I guess we went too far with her… I'm sorry, Tsunade."

"Who nearly sliced her arm off?" Sakura meekly pointed over at Sai who was standing and flicking mud off of his arms. Tsunade narrowed her eyes and strode over to him. She grabbed a handful of his short jacket. "What the HELL were you THINKING, Sai?! Were you TRYING to KILL HER?"

Sai gave a small embarrassed shrug. "Not particularly. I was just fighting."

Tsunade growled and I knew she was pissed. "Nearly chopping her arm off isn't just fighting, Sai. The next time you do something stupid like this I'm going to beat the living daylights out of you. I don't care if you're an important member of the ANBU. Do you understand me?"

He nodded his head slightly, a surprising blush stealing across his pale skin. "Yes."

She gave him a small shake and glared at him. "Yes what?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama. I understand."

"Good." She dropped him back down to his feet.

She looked down at Naruto for a few seconds before giving a small smile. He'd wiped the mud away from his eyes so it looked like he was a reverse raccoon. "You look hilarious covered in mud, Naruto."

Naruto pouted as he stood up, his orange and black uniform not orange and black anymore. "It's not funny, Tsunade." He flicked mud off of his hands

Tsunade shrugged and turned to walk back over to me. "Sure it is, Naruto, at least from my point of view."

I rolled my eyes and laid Tsuki out on the ground. She had finally passed out. She needed to be healed and quick or she would be in danger. I started unzipping her vest as Tsunade knelt down beside me. I pulled out one of my kunai and cut through the right shoulder of the vest and shoved it the rest of the way off of her. The left shoulder had been sliced through so there wasn't any need to do anything with it. "She's lost a lot of blood, Tsunade."

She nodded and shoved me to the side. Gai, Yamato, Genma, Asuma, Rikiya, Anko, Neji, Tenten, and Lee all crowded around us. Shizune, Sakura, Sai, and Naruto stayed back. "I know she has, Kakashi. I'll fix her up though." Tsunade let her hands press against either side of Tsuki's wound and closed her eyes. She drew on the massive store of chakra inside of her and slowly threaded it into Tsuki's shoulder. The muscles and veins slowly knit together until the skin was smooth again. It took a few minutes to accomplish. While she was at it, Tsunade used her chakra to help Tsuki's red blood cells reproduce like crazy.

She pulled back finally and gave a huge sigh. "That should do it. She'll have a scar though." I watched as she ran her finger along the thin scar. Sometimes even the best healing doesn't stop a scar from happening.

Naruto finally walked up and pushed through everyone. He knelt down beside Tsunade and wrung his hands. "Is she going to be ok?"

Tsunade smiled at him and reached up to ruffle his muddy hair. "Of course she is, Naruto. Who do you think healed her? Me!" Everyone gave a chuckle as Naruto turned a little pink. Tsunade stood and groaned as a few of her bones popped. She absently flicked the bits of mud from Naruto's hair off of her hand. "Maybe we should just stop here today. It seems like Tsuki's gotten herself a little banged up."

Almost everyone nodded and moved to start heading home. I moved to reach down and pick Tsuki up but stopped when I saw her staring up at me. "No."

Everyone stopped walking and turned to look down at Tsuki. Tsunade propped her hands on her hips and stared down at her. "No what?"

Tsuki slowly sat up with a small groan and blushed a little when she realized her vest was missing which left her with her tank top and bra visible to everyone. She quickly wrapped her arms around herself before answering. "No I'm not going to stop the training."

Tsunade arched a brow. "Oh? And why not? In case you didn't notice you just almost bled to death."

I reached out to steady Tsuki as she stood up, rocking back and forth on her feet. "That doesn't mean we have to stop. I'm still able to fight and I intend on doing so."

I sighed behind my mask. "There isn't a need to push yourself, Tsuki."

Naruto decided to put his two cents in as well. "Yah. It's not like we're all going to run away!"

Tsunade reached back and thumped Naruto upside the head. "We don't need your input right now. Go stand by Sakura or something."

"BUT…" His voice had gotten its whining lilt back.

Tsunade gave him a death glare. "Move or I'll move you, Naruto."

He pouted but moved back to stand with Sakura and Sai. I ran my hands through my really messy hair and gave another sigh. This was going to be a long day. "Come on, Tsuki. It's ok to take a break."

She shook her head sharply which caused her high ponytail to smack roughly against me. "No. I'm going to finish this."

She and Tsunade stared at each other for more minutes than I wanted to count. When I was about ready to walk away, Tsunade finally shrugged. "Whatever. I'll allow it this once. It was supposed to be two battles today, two tomorrow, and the last the following day. Not all at once. If you get hurt this bad again don't expect me to save you and then let you go off to kill yourself again."

Tsuki grinned. "Thanks!"

I closed my eye and let out a barely audible sigh before mumbling to myself. "She's gonna kill herself."