This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto, which is trademarked by Masashi Kishimoto. Everything aside from the original characters are created from the wonderful mind of Kishimoto.
Misaki, Kaede, Akihiko and Kazuhiko are the original characters of mine.
Also, comments, suggestions, criticism, even just simple messages are welcomes, please feel free to message me anytime.
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 14: The Land of Tea
"Oh, he kinda looks like Kakashi' Misaki said as she and Naruto looked at some pictures on the magazine.
"Eh, you mean you have seen what Kakashi's face looks like?" Naruto exclaimed outside, earning him the stink eye from everybody else who was at the bookstore.
"You mean you haven't?" Misaki asked, eyes wide with surprise. Kakashi spends a lot of his time with them especially because he is their jonin sensei.
"WHATTT?! You have seen Kakashi-sensei's face?!" Naruto said, hounding on Misaki, as she proceeded on different shelves looking for books she'd like to purchase. Throwing her questions such as why does he wear a mask, what is he hiding under the mask, if he had some sort of hideous thing under the mask, yadda yadda yadda.
"Naruto!" Misaki finally snapped, placing both her hands on the sides of Naruto's face pressing on his cheeks making him look like something resembling a fish.
"There's nothing special about Kakashi's face" Misaki said and left to go finish her day's purchase.
That was the beginning of a special mission designed by team Kakashi for team Kakashi, to see what Kakashi had underneath his ever so constant mask.
Days later, Kakashi and Misaki was at the market place, shopping for food, laundry stuff and household items needed in the Namikaze household.
"Hey, Kakashi, what kind of fruits do you think we should get today?" Misaki asked smiling as she held up a juicy looking watermelon, her smile faded when she saw a familiar orange, blue and pink figures behind Kakashi who disappeared as soon as she spotted them, making her frown, was it just her imagination?
"Uh, Misaki is something wrong?" Kakashi asked as he looked up from inspecting the apples in his hands.
"It's nothing, I thought I just saw someone I know" Misaki pursed her lips in deep thought before finally brushing it off and resuming her pick with the fruits.
In the alley, not even a three meters away from them, Sakura, Sasuke and Naruto pressed their backs against the walls, panting with nervousness at the possibility of them getting caught.
Naruto peeked through the corners and sighed in relief when he saw that Misaki and Kakashi had reverted their attentions back to the fruit stands.
"That was so close" he said pressing a hand on his chest, his words, calming his teammates. As silently as they can, they followed their target as it walked away from the stalls.
"Mom's planning to cook Hayashi rice tonight, so we still have to buy some beef, -" Miskai stopped talking and walking at the same time the moment Kakashi stopped walking.
"Kakashi?" Misaki's confused face stared at him, as he dropped his grocery bags and rushed to the nearby window where in rows and rows of shelves displayed books of his favored genre.
Misaki sweat dropped and looked sullenly at the dropped grocery items, her mind already thinking of the ways Kaede would physically hurt Kakashi the moment she finds out the groceries have been in this kind of situation.
Kakashi turned around and all the expression he needed to show was evident in the only visible part of his face, his right eye.
"What?! They're making a movie? I'm going to get myself an advanced ticket" Misaki looked over to the large poster, before shaking her head at Kakashi's antics.
"Kakashi, let's hurry, or else mom would both have us for dinner instead" Misaki called out, and Kakashi's attention was suddenly snapped back to her.
"Yes, yes" he muttered quickly picking up the fallen and forgotten groceries and brisk walked towards Misaki who waited for him to catch up to her before resuming her walk. Once they turned around the corner, Kakashi stopped once again and grabbed the groceries from Misaki's arms, shocking Misaki.
"You have a training schedule with Kaede today don't you?" Kakashi said smiling at Misaki, who nodded guiltily, she didn't want to admit that she was already running late for something, especially if that person she was admitting to was the famed man who was known for being late.
"Get going then, your mom might already be waiting for you" Misaki nodded then flashed away before his eyes.
'I'm still not used to seeing anybody other than sensei use that technique' Kakashi thought as his three genins obliviously followed his clone.
By the time Misaki had arrived at the training grounds, Kaede was standing to an unexpected person.
"Tsunade-san er sama, I didn't know you'd be here!" Misaki said walking towards them, both older women looking at her intently, and she visibly sweated with anxiety, both women were famous on both accounts of their immense display of strength and immense display of temper.
Misaki watched with careful eyes, the two of them exchanging non-verbal conversations shared with just looks, a sensei student bond, something she too shared with Hayate, something that was simply untarnished by their time apart, apparently.
Kaede finally nodded towards Tsunade, followed by the legendary sannin looking at her, right before leaping to the air to gain momentum, fist poised ready to punch her. Misaki side rolled away from the intended target just in time to avoid a punch that would have surely ruptured her insides.
"What's going on?" Misaki asked, as Tsunade simply smirked at her with menacing eyes and continued her assault at Misaki, each attack dodged earner a crater on the ground. Misaki looked to Kaede who simply regarded her silently, showing no since of intervening nor explaining what was happening.
"Never take your eyes off of your opponent" Tsunade yelled, as she leaped to the sky and poised to give her the heavenly spear kick. Misaki back flipped out of range with only seconds before the attack landed to where she had just been standing.
Misaki landed on one knee, crouching as she observed her opponent quickly replaying every move, every technique she had used and was used against her during the previous battles. Her approach was direct physical, both proficient in taijutsu and strength department, meeting her head on would be suicidal, in close combat, evading her would be Misaki's only option, since deflecting her would only bring more harm than help. Distant techniques are probably her wisest and only option in fighting such a well-versed, war experienced, legendary kunoichi.
Tsunade charged at her once again, and Misaki leapt to the air, using the leverage from her jump to make a quick hand sign.
"Futon: rain of shuriken" Misaki said and Tsunade was attacked by a rain of seemingly invincible blades, causing smoke and debris for each time they made an impact on the ground. Misaki's eyes wandered around, blindly assessing amidst the smoke and debris, before she knew it, Tsunade emerged from the smoke unscathed with her fist drawn for a punch, and Misaki dreaded the fact that this time she won't be able to dodge.
Misaki closed her eyes as the impact of her fist landed square on her stomach, sending her a few meters away. She had to anchor in her feet and one of her hands on the ground so that she won't sustain another damage by hitting the trees behind her as she held on her stomach panting, she surely had broken something. Recovery time wasn't even an option for her the moment she saw Tsunade still going at her, Misaki side stepped to dodge her, but Tsunade had already been anticipating this move and kicked her legs from under her, making her lie on the back as Tsunade lunged her fist towards her face.
Misaki steeled herself for the impact, however, the dreaded strength never came, and she opened her eyes to see Tsunade smiling at her.
"You passed!" Tsunade said helping her up then healing the hit she received on her torso.
"Passed?" Misaki whizzed, finally feeling the actual damage Tsunade's hit had given her.
"Tsunade-sensei had been meaning to take you in as her student under my request," Kaede explained smiling at her with pride.
Misaki's face was unreadable for a few seconds, she might not have shown it, but ever since Hayate's death, Misaki would look at teams with their sensei, and it didn't take Kaede to be a mind reader to figure out what Misaki had been thinking.
For a few moments, Misaki was unable to collect her bearings, she didn't say anything, she didn't know what to say, so instead she resorted to what feels like the best and right thing to do, she launched herself on Tsunade and hugged her.
Sasuke leaned against the tree with his arms crossed in front of his chest, he was supposed to meet up with Misaki for lunch as they have been doing for the past few weeks if both of them weren't too occupied with a mission, but she was running late again, could it be a memento that she has been spending way too much time with a certain ninja famed for always being late?
"Sasuke!" Misaki said approaching Sasuke with an apologetic smile, when Tsunade told her that she would take her in as a student, Misaki didn't thought she had meant immediately on the spot. Now she finally understands where Kaede had outlined her training regimen on.
"I'm sorry I'm late, I was held back at training" Misaki bowing to show the sincerity of her apologies, Sasuke just looked at her then faced the other way.
"You weren't training with Kazuhiko by any chance" he asked in a low voice, like he was afraid someone would hear it.
"Nope, I was with mom and the fifth hokage" Misaki said, not really knowing where the thought of Kazuhiko came from, since her teammate had been scarcely seen these days due to the fact that he was training under Morino Ibiki.
Sasuke hid his relief and simply started walking, Misaki following beside him. None of them mentioned the kiss from the other night, but none of them were adverse to it either, like everything else that had anything to do with the both of them, it remained unspoken and try as she might deny it, unclear. What mattered most to Misaki right now it the time she has with Sasuke, label or no label for whatever they had between them, besides they had all the time in the world for that.
Sasuke and Misaki went to the barbeque place for lunch, with Misaki doing most of the talking, with pertaining to several things, in which Sasuke just listened to fervently never showing any signs of irritation, and if Misaki was lucky, he would talk on his own accord and say a few words about the current subject, today was not that case.
The following days passed by a quick blur, with no major events occurring, except for the fact that Kakashi told her what his little team of genins were up to the day at the market.
"Sorry sorry, I guess I was the one who planted the idea in Naruto's head when I said I had seen your face" Misaki said laughing and rubbing her head at the same time, Kaede who seems to be in an eternal good mood those days laughed with Misaki as Kakashi sighed.
Today, Misaki was sitting next to Akihiko and Kazuhiko, doing what they did best together, nothing. Kazuhiko has already fallen in a light sleep next to Misaki as Akihiko told another one of his manga.
"And then and then the hero ended up with his longtime admirer instead of the girl he has always loved, I was totally not expecting that, like seriously, the guy had been loving that girl for a long time and then boom, he's suddenly in love with the other girl. What a major plot twist!" Akihiko exclaimed and Misaki laughed at his antics, he alone with everybody else in the village rarely liked something they didn't understand.
"I think it's kinda fitting, you did say that the hero was utterly rejected by the girl he had loved all his life, even after all the things he had gone through for her, protecting her, fighting for her if a man had to work that hard for just a single ounce of affection, imagine how much the guy would still fight to have the love he wanted, I think he deserves to be with someone who loved him from the start, the one who had loved him unconditionally right from the start." Misaki pondered as she stared at the skies, the a hawk passed, then passed again, until such time it was flying in circles above her, wait a minute!
"A summon!" Misaki jolted up, feeling so stupid that her mind had been so blank to even notice the bird calling out to her, of course it came by as a surprise because today had been her off, no missions no training, just a little down time. Kazuhiko sprung up in shock when Misaki quickly stood up beside him.
"What is it!" Kazuhiko said, suddenly alert, too alert, as he was crouching down a hand seal formed in his hand ready for battle.
"It's nothing big, I'm just being summoned by the fifth, I wonder what for?" Misaki answered, laughing lightly, if only anyone else outside their team knew what cool calm and collected Kazuhiko looked like when he was shocked awake.
"Oi, Kazuhiko you panicked didn't you?" Akihiko said pointing at Kazuhiko laughing uncontrollably. A popped nerve appeared on Kazuhiko's forehead and he started chasing Akihiko who was having trouble running away from him whilst laughing hard, so hard he practically had tears in her eyes.
That was the condition Misaki left them in when she flashed out of sight to the hokage's administrative building.
Whilst walking towards the room itself, Misaki bumped into Jiraiya muttering with tears in his eyes as he rubbed his hand on a throbbing slap mark on his cheek.
"Jiraiya-san!" Misaki called as their paths came closer.
"Oh, Misaki, what are you doing here?"
"I've been summoned by Tsunade-sensei"
"Sensei?" Jiraiya asked, even as Tsunade was inaugurated, Misaki's honorific of the woman had always been –san.
"Oh, she took me in as her student a few days ago" Misaki explained
"I'm surprised she took in a student so easy" Jiraiya asked wondering out loud, chin in between his point finger and thumb.
"It wasn't exactly easy" Misaki sulked, her hand unconsciously going to a part of her torso that Tsunade hit, a notion that did not go unnoticed by the famed toad sage.
"I'm surprised you still here Jiraiya-san, I would have thought you already left the village by now" Misaki asked him.
"I was just about to leave, come to think of it, do you know anything about his seal?" Jiraiya said taking out a scroll from his pocket and handed it to Misaki who accepted the scroll and opened it, reading on the contents.
"Oh, this is the eight trigrams seal? Two four ones?" Misaki asked, and Jiraiya's eyes focused sharper on the girl.
"I've seen these seal, I think in one of the fourth's secret hideouts, oh come to think of it, do you know that there are a few inside the village, it's so cool he had scrolls of several techniques too, I think I've even read the rasengan at one point," Misaki told him about the several hideouts and how she found them and what she found in them, unbeknownst to her that Jiraiya wasn't listening to her, nor looking at her, instead he was looking at a figure that Misaki mirrored, without even glancing at.
"Hey, Jiraiya-san are you there?"
"Sorry, sorry, I guess I just zoned out a bit" he laughed out loud, rubbing the back of his head.
"Really, here I was talking about the awesome things your student the fourth hokage has in his hideouts and there you are zoning off" Misaki pouted.
"Hey, Misaki, why do you snoop around the fourth's stuff?" Jiraiya asked genuinely curious.
"I'm not snooping! I was just, well he was kind of my idol growing up, and being in his hideouts, reading the things he had written himself, jutsu or not, I feel like I'm getting to know him, getting closer, I think" Misaki said, her eyes hazy as she smiled a small and sincere smile as she scrolled her memories of what and how she felt every time she 'snooped' around.
Jiraiya almost melted at the sight of Misaki, a girl who never spoke of it, never even dared to think about how she really yearned for her parents, she had Kaede, but even Kaede confessed to him that she can only stretch so far. The sight tugged on his heart so much she almost wanted to tell her the truth about everything.
"Misaki-"
"MISAKI!" two voices said simultaneously, one was Jiraiya and one was Iruka's as he ran towards her.
"What are you doing? You have been summoned by the fifth moments ago!" Iruka said dragging Misaki as he apologized to Jiraiya for stealing Misaki away.
"My, that was a close call, I almost told her" Jiraiya said, it seems that fate itself had dictated that now was not the time.
"A mission, I'm so eager to do it!" Naruto said crouching down, his body shaking with excitement.
"But, Kakashi-sensei is not here yet"Sakura said looking around the vicinity, making sure that Kakashi wasn't just hiding somewhere in the room.
"No, Kakashi will not be coming today" Tsunade announced as she walked in with Shizune, who was carrying TonTon in her arms.
"Tsunade-no-bachan!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Don't call me old!" Tsunade said as she sat down on the table.
"Um, excuse me, Hokage-sama, what do you mean that Kakashi-sensei will not be coming?" Sakura asked.
"As you three may have known, Kakashi and most of the jonins are on different missions, this time the three of you will be completing this mission with someone else" Tsunade explained and at that precise moment, Iruka opened the door behind them muttering his apologies, then walked in followed by Misaki.
"Misaki! Just in time" Tsunade said making Iruka sigh in relief, he had found the girl in a comfortable conversation with Jiraiya, who knows how long that conversation would have gone on if Iruka hadn't found Misaki.
"Huh, Misaki? What are you doing here?" Naruto asked as Misaki walked towards them, lining up next to Sasuke.
"I don't know myself" she said, harboring the same look of query Naruto had towards her sensei.
"As I was saying, Misaki will be your captain for this mission" Tsunade announced shocking every single person in the room.
"But, hokage-sama Misaki-san is also our age" Sakura reasoned sourly, still stingy about their last encounter.
"Misaki is already a chunin and has had experience with missions on a higher caliber, besides she is after all training as my student so don't count her out just yet" Tsunade said confident about the training regimen nodding her head whilst Misaki sweated bullets as she vividly remembered her training program the moment the word training left Tsunade's lips.
"This is a B-rank mission: You'll be escorting an important figure"
"An important figure?" Sakura repeated.
"Of course, depending on the outcome, this mission has the possibility of becoming an A-rank mission" Tsunade continued. The four young shinobi waited for her to continue in a short silence.
"And? Who are we protecting?" Sasuke finally asked.
"Don't know" Tsunade said casually.
"What do you mean you 'don't know!" Naruto butted in.
"In the neighboring nation of the land of tea, they have a dedication ceremony at the Todoroki Great Shrine once every four years, we've received a request to escort the runner, who will be participating in the race that will be held there, but an assailant attacked the messengers before they arrived here," Tsunade discussed as she read the scroll in her hands.
"An assailant?" Naruto asked.
"Um, excuse me, but I still don't understand the mission," Sakura, despite her pride of being smart admitted.
"Every element of the mission is completely detailed out down to the frequency of the contest of the client will be participating, except that the participant itself is not mentioned, I'm guessing the very reason why they didn't place the name is the very same reason why we are being hired" Misaki asked Tsunade who nodded with a smirk.
"Yes, you can get the full details directly from Boss Jirocho," Tsunade said.
"Boss Jirocho? Oh the boss from that time" Naruto said recognizing the name.
"You know him Naruto?" Misaki asked.
"Yeah, we met him whilst you were recovering on our way back to Konoha" Naruto said and all of a sudden Misaki was surrounded by a dark aura of glum, just as she did every single time someone mentions that she had to be carted back to Konoha.
"I'm sorry about that" Naruto sweat dropped at the sight of Misaki, unsure how he's going to console his best friend.
The four of them have been walking for quite some time that day, going at a leisurely pace. The moment they left the village, Naruto's mouth had not stopped yapping, Sakura and Sasuke could almost praise Misaki with her patience to listen to Naruto.
"Misaki, are you sure it's alright to move at such a slow pace?" Sasuke said, it unnerved him that Misaki, someone from his age is assigned as the captain of their team for this mission, but nevertheless he trusted Misaki's wits and perception.
"Yeah, the assailant who attacked them probably thinks he had already subdued the target, however they said that a member was missing right before they were attacked. If the person we are going to escort had been one of them, then this mission itself would be over before the request had been made."
"You're thinking that this person is the same person who went missing before they were attacked?" Sasuke asked, and Misaki nodded.
"That is a possibility, though I could be wrong," Misaki said with a smile.
"Hey, Sakura are you hungry?" Naruto who was walking behind them asked.
"Well, I guess I am a little" she answered.
"Perfect timing, cause there happens to be a tea shop right there" Naruto said literally running ahead of them, at the mention of food, Misaki immediately followed after him, leaving the two to sweat drop at the gluttons.
"Having tea at the land of tea, how very fitting" Misaki said sitting next to Naruto across Sasuke while an old lady served them guess what, tea.
"Oba-chan, I'll have oshiruko" Naruto said
"I'll have some dango, what about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked Sasuke, whom she had purposely sat beside. Sasuke was quiet for a moment, not really knowing what to get because tea shops usually have sweet food and he didn't like sweet foods.
"He'll have some tokoroten, and I'll have some imagawayaki" Misaki said ordering for him, then the old lady told them to wait for a couple moments for their food. Sakura watched Sasuke from her peripheral, waiting if he had any qualms about Misaki ordering for him, but his reaction hasn't changed so far.
"I'm going to work hard right Misaki?" Naruto said, still excited by the fact that they received a very high ranking mission, not worrying about the mysterious nature of omitting the very person they were hired to protect.
"Naruto, don't take unnecessary action by yourself" Sakura said then someone walked by their table and stayed by their table.
"Having oshiruko on a nice day, being a shinobi sure is carefree" everyone looked at the person who spoke.
"What did you say?" Naruto said, the question sounding like a challenge more than anything else.
"Things must be very peaceful in Konoha, such dense looking bunch of guys" he said mocking the group of shinobi.
"Hey, I didn't know there was a cutie here I take back what I said" he said leaning on their table. Sakura was about to say something, when the guy in the pony tail looked over to Misaki.
"You with the red hair, I'm Morino Idate, what's your name, beautiful" he said staring at her in such manner that made Misaki uncomfortable, Sasuke was about to react against their intruder when Naruto had beat him to it.
"Don't you dare talk to Misaki in such familiar tone!" Naruto yelled, standing back and pulling back his sleeves ready to give the guy a good hit. Naruto had always, always been protective of Misaki against guys like this, however Misaki was more occupied by the thought of his name, Morino, could it possibly be just a coincidence, she was in deep thought as the guy continued to stare at her in a blatant manner.
"Oh, so it's Misaki, a fitting name, a beautiful blossom, even a chance meeting like this must have been due to karma from a previous life, why don't we talk about our future?" he said, the last phrase the only thing Misaki was able to catch on.
"Future? Oh are you by any chance a soothsayer?" she asked, her entire presence shining with innocence, making Idate fall on the ground.
"What I meant, was quitting your profession and becoming my bride" he said, his confidence, quick to recover.
"Oi, what are you doing hitting on Misaki, huh?" Naruto said about to completely lose his cool.
"It was just a joke, I hate ninjas, and if you wander around the land of tea anymore, there will be a price to pay!" he declared, and just like that Naruto bit the bullet and challenged Idate even more.
"Wait, Naruto!" Sakura warned.
"Ridiculous, we don't have time to waste on a hooligan!" Sasuke said, hiding the fact that he too was irritated at the guy.
"Shut up Sasuke, I'm not going to forgive the guy who-"
"Um guys, he just ran off" Misaki said, making them all look at the now empty space. Naruto started jumping in irritation, but Misaki pulled him by the jacket to sit down once she saw their food was about to be served. The old lady placed two, bills and said that the guy from earlier had her place it in their tab, making them all the more rattled, at the mention of this, Sasuke knelt to the ground and placed his ears against it, listening to the sound of footsteps.
"He has made a fool of us, I just can't sit this by let's go" he grabbed his bag and run out, followed by Sakura then Sasuke.
"My everyone seems to be in such a hurry today" the old lady said then looked to Misaki who just sat there, a cheerful smile on her face at the sight of food.
"Huh, aren't you going to join your friends?" the old lady asked as Misaki continued to eat.
"I have to, but I can't let such good food go to waste, hey, oba-san do you think you can wrap this for me, such a shame that they didn't have the time to taste it" Misaki said pointing the rest of the food.
Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke all tried to chase Idate, but to no avail. They lost their chance the moment Idate had removed his weights and left them biting the dust. Failing to catch their target, Sasuke, Sakura and Naruto decided to head to the Wasabi family home to meet with boss Jirocho and wait for Misaki there.
Only, Misaki was already there already at the audience of the head of the Wasabi family, boss Jirocho, waiting for them, and with her were the food they ordered.
"Oh, hey guys" Misaki greeted them as they stared at her in shock.
"All of you, thank you for coming" Jirocho greeted. Naruto made a very formal introduction, leading him to be lead on and shot down by Sasuke, earning a laugh from Misaki and Jirocho, as Naruto realized that he had fell exactly where Sasuke wanted him to be.
"You're same as always Naruto!" Jirocho chuckled.
"And you're looking good as always, boss Jirocho!" Naruto said casually earning him a warning from Sakura, for being so familiar.
"It's okay, boys your age should be this spunky" Jirocho said.
"Well since introductions are over, let's get to business" Sasuke asked, and thus Jirocho told them an even more expansive and detailed version of their mission, it was so lengthy that Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had chosen to sit down next to Misaki.
By the end of his explanation, he bowed down to the four of them and asked them to help them win the race.
"Leave it to me!" Naruto declared, his fist in his heart to show his sincerity.
"Who do you want us to escort then?" Sasuke asked, eager to know the answer for the question he had been asking from the start.
"Really, you'll really accept this job?" Jirocho said and clapped his hand.
"Boss, you called for me" the door opened to revealing the very answer to their question, the prospect of their mission, and at the same time their target.
"Morino Idate" Misaki exclaimed in amusement, fate had just dropped a major plot twist on their hands.
Misaki was walking around town with Sasuke and Sakura, since they needed Idate to be alive until he wins the race, Misaki assigned them to shifts, with Naruto currently taking the first one. Misaki browsed tourist stall from stall, buying souvenirs for everybody back home. She bought the key chains Sakura saw, since for some reason the key chains looked like folks she knew, and of course, who would come to the land of tea without buying tea?
They were currently browsing around when a commotion broke out on the streets, involving member of the Wagarashi family, terrorizing a man.
They stepped out and watched as the poor man who had already given what he had to give, was on the ground, shaking in fear, the mean assaulting him not content on taking what they want. Misaki clenched her fist and was about to step in, when Sasuke's hand covered her clenched fist for a quick moment before stepping up to defend the man.
As subtle as their exchange had been, it didn't go unnoticed by Sakura. As expected Sasuke was victorious in not only beating the other guys, but also scaring them away. In thanks, the man Sasuke rescued tried to offer him the wallet the punks wanted, but Sasuke curtly turned it down.
"Are you okay?" Misaki said helping the man up, as the owner of the shop they had just been in declared that the town needed the Wasabi family to win to free them from the Wagarashi's reign.
That night, Misaki was on her way to Idate's room for her shift, when she saw Sasuke sitting cross legged outside his room.
"Sasuke, what are you doing here?" Misaki asked, approaching him. Sasuke stared at her, the light of the moon reflecting on her fair skin, Sasuke looked away from her and to the ground.
"I don't want you alone with him" Sasuke said lowly, lowering head face even more, hiding his face behind shadows and his own long hair.
"Thank you Sasuke" Misaki said and sat next to him, sitting in comfortable silence.
In the shadows of the night, Sakura moved from where she had been watching, walking towards the direction of their room.
Hours later, four of them, along with Idate and the rest of the town gathered at the starting line before the sun can even rise, together with fireworks commemorating the event.
"Wow, I didn't think it was going to be this big!" Naruto wondered looking around. Sakura discussed the very nature of the race to both Naruto and Sasuke, whilst Misaki was looking at every single person, trying to read their faces, amongst the crowd stood one man, who was wearing a face of amusement.
Dawn had signaled the beginning of the race and both parties began sprinting, only Idate had another path he intended to take. The four of them, although reluctantly and with no other choice followed Idate.
Misaki was the only one amongst the four of them who wasn't worried about Idate's course, to Misaki what was more worrisome was all the while before the race, there was no move made against Idate, meaning, they plan to attack him during the race. In that case, it would have been the smart thing to change courses, if that's the case.
"Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, keep tailing Idate," Misaki said the quickly pivoted away from them. Sasuke stared at Misaki watching here disappear behind the leaves, gritting his teeth, besides the fact that he never liked watching Misaki leave, she knew what could only be the other reason Miskai was leaving the group.
However, the mission was first priority and right now Idate and Naruto have both mindlessly ran into a genjutsu, running on the edge of the mountain blindly. I had been a close call when Idate ran right off the edge, and Naruto went to jump after him as they got pulled up by both Sasuke and Sakure.
"That was a close call" Sasuke said as the two stubborn idiots resurfaced. Starting there, Idate began to listen a little more to the three of them.
A few moments later, they reached a man who had already prepared a boat that Idate was going to use to cross the seas. Only there the team they encountered during the first phase of the chunin exams, the very team that activated the double genjutsu, their attack leading to the both burning and separating from Idate.
Misaki running along the forest when she saw the smoke from the ocean, with the event on, there can only be two boats active on the sea, and one was on a completely different track. Misaki had half the mind to surrender her search for what seemed to be just her speculation but, she had to remember that these three were strong in their own right. Clenching her fist, she decided to place her faith in the three and continue her search.
In the rain, that's where she found it, the green haired man who wore the amused expression at the beginning of the race standing above a fallen Idate.
"I'm sorry boss, I couldn't keep the promise I made with you" Idate muttered closing his eyes.
"IDATE!" Misaki turned to the three running figures towards Idate, it seemed that they had made it out of their predicament easily.
The Ame-nin launched an aerial ninjutsu on the ground towards them, pushing them on it. The moment the ame-nin released senbon needles upon them, Misaki threw some of her shuriken, deflecting his attacks as she stood before them, sword drawn.
"Misaki!" Naruto said in surprise.
"Take Idate and go" Misaki said, looking over her opponent, the guy with green hair and violet eyes.
"But," Sasuke began, but Misaki didn't give him a chance to continue.
"Just go" Misaki said not even bothering to look at them. Surprisingly, it was Naruto who moved first, taking Idate's arm over his shoulder to help him up. Aoi was livid, this girl had intervened with her plans when he was so close to accomplishing his mission. He sent another series of senbon needle towards Naruto and the others but she skillfully deflected every single on with her sword.
"I'll be your opponent" Misaki said placing her sword in front of her and lunged at Aoi.
"Tche, don't make me laugh" Aoi said jumping and spinning his umbrella to release a rain of senbon needles.
"Too slow" Misaki said appearing behind him and spear kicking him to the ground. The moment Aoi hit the ground, he had already realized and accepted his mistake of underestimating the red head, but he didn't have time to waste on her now, so he quickly released a poisoned gas bomb and escaped.
Misaki stared at the ground where Aoi had been frowning when the smoke settled and he wasn't there, or anywhere to be found. Her eyes widened as he breathing became laborious, her chest tightening. Misaki fell to her knees clutching her chest, katana long forgotten beside her as she -wheezed, struggling for breath, and then very slowly passing out on the ground, under the rain.
'Misaki!' voices of people she holds close in her heart called out to her, their faces looking at her, forcing her to wake up, Jiraiya, Tsunade, Akihiko, Kazuhiko, Kakashi, Kaede, Naruto, and Sasuke…
"NO!" Misaki screamed at the top of her lungs her voice barely coming out as a soft whisper, she slowly reached for her pocket and retrieved a bottle of medicine, one of the many medicines Tsunade gave her, struggling to keep moving, Misaki pressed the tablets in her mouth and forced them in her throat, struggling as the medicine took their time working.
"SAKURA-CHAN!" Misaki heard Naruto scream and as quick as she can, but not as quick as she would like ran towards Naruto's voice.
"Damn it, what's going on" Misaki groaned, panting, still haven't recovering from the poison gas that entered her systems. When she got there, Naruto and Idate stood against Aoi, who was holding a sword out of lightning. Misaki frowned, recognizing the sword from books she had read before, the Second Hokage's sword, so this was the guy who stole it.
Naruto clenched his teeth, he had to defeat this guy and he had to do it fast if he was going to rescue Sasuke and Sakura. That's when he saw it, the crack the sword suffered from Sasuke's chidori attack.
"Futon: dance of blades" Misaki's voice broke through behind him, and suddenly winds gushed violently towards Aoi.
"Misaki!" Naruto called as Misaki walked towards him, weakly.
"Naruto, that justu, let's do it together" Misaki said and held out her right hand, already starting to form her gold chakra on her palms, Naruto nodded in comprehension and swirled his hands over Misaki's joining it with his very own blue, forming a unique rasengan surging with blue and gold, growing bigger, and stronger, due to the combined efforts.
"Let's go!" Naruto said, his clones launching themselves at Aoi to give them a perfect window. Distracted by the clones and Idate' efforts, Aoi turned his attention towards them.
"Now!" Misaki said and together they launched at Aoi, their combined rasengan in hand. Confident about the sword's strength, Aoi poised to deflect their rasengan with the sword, but it had been his biggest mistake.
"RASENGAN!" Misaki and Naruto yelled in unison, breaking the sword the moment the rasengan made contact. Once their feet landed on the ground, they used their legs to spring board upwards, pushing the still active rasengan on Aoi's body sending hurtling backwards beyond the cliff.
Misaki and Naruto had both been panting once the ordeal was over.
"We did it" Naruto said in between his pants and Misaki laughed fist raising towards Naruto, in which Naruto eagerly bumped his fist at.
"Oh, wait Sakura-chan" Naruto said running over the edge of the cliff, Misaki and Idate following close behind him.
"Naruto, Misaki, Idate, I'm okay, Sasuke's okay too!" Sakura announced.
"I'm going to come down and save you now!" Naruto announced but Sakura stopped him reminding him that Idate still has a race to win. Naruto was conflicted, he had a mission to accomplish, but he had his friends to save, he felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to look at Misaki, who was smiling at him.
"You go with Idate, I'll get him out of there" Misaki said and Naruto nodded.
"I'll leave it to you then" he said and together along with Idate used the bridge's rope to swing themselves to the other side. Misaki watched as Naruto gathered chakra on his feet and used it to push him and Idate up towards the edge.
"Good job Naruto, now sprint and get Idate to the goal" Sakura cheered.
"I will believe it!" Naruto said and ran together with Idate. Once out of sight Misaki created a makeshift pulley, which would send Sakura and Sasuke up as a rock drops.
"Sakura, can you tie yourself to Sasuke on the swing" Misaki yelled over the edge, as the rope dropped in front of Sakura, who followed just as she was told. She tied herself and Sasuke together then tied themselves on the roof.
"It's done" Sakura yelled over the edge and Misaki pushed the huge boulder, sending Sakura and Sasuke hurtling up in a very fast pace. Once the rock had hit the ground and lost pull, Misaki herself pulled the two towards flat ground.
The moment Sakura and Sasuke was safe on the ground, Misaki launcher herself at Sakura, enclosing her in a fierce hug.
"I'm glad you're okay" Misaki said then moved to inspect the damage done to Sasuke.
"You care about him do you" Sakura finally said, what she had been wanting to ask since the chunin exams.
"Of course I do, he's my friend" Misaki said forming green chakra on her hands and placing it on Sasuke's torso.
"No, you care for him more than a friend" Sakura said with a fierce look in her eye. Misaki's eyes widened at Sakura's words, shocking her into a deep self-contemplation, her mind racing a thousand miles per hour reliving every memory she had with Sasuke, and how she felt. How her heart soared every single time he was happy or how her heart ached every time that he was down.
Sakura 'Even she had not been aware of her own feelings' Sakura thought as she watched Misaki's face shift from confusion to realization, to the deep thoughtful face she had when she was trying to figure out something. Sakura clenched her left hand and pointed at Misaki with her right ones.
"If that is the case, I will definitely lose against you!" Sakura declared voice filled with resolution.
"So don't you dare try to lose purposely on me this time" Sakura said with a smile, the pink haired kunoichi pulling at her heart strings, her fist raised pointing it towards Misaki
"Yes definitely!" Misaki said smiling and bumping her fist against Sakura's.