Chapter 17 is here for you all to read. Hope you all enjoy this new chapter of Sky Ninja!
Things have been going slow for me, what with school and everything. But luckily I've kept this story alive and well in my head, while at the same time trying to organize other stories. Writing won't be my difficulty for the time being, the problem right now will be finding the time to do so and actually getting it posted up before you guys lose interest in this fic.
I'm glad that all of you are enjoying the story so far, and the only complaint I've had is how quickly Hinata got together with Chichi, and honestly, I'm not really concerned about that. As long as everyone else is not having a problem with that, then it's fine with me. If it is a problem, how am I suppose to know if you don't tell me? Any problems, questions, queries, or compliments will all be accepted gladly.
Enjoy this chapter all of you!
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, or anything else famous. Except for myself
Naruto came running out of the hospital in absolute joy and excitement. He, along with the pervy sensei, was going to look for the fifth Hokage tomorrow. He knew what he had to do, rush home and get his stuff around to leave.
Since the Hokage's death, nothing had been going on, the villagers and other ninjas had been helping each other rebuilding what was destroyed by the Sand/Sound invasion. The damage done wasn't all too great, but it would still take some time until the village was completely back to normal. As long as nothing like the invasion happened anytime soon, there would be no need to worry about completion.
The blonde ninja was heading towards his apartment, planning on what he was going to pack. Until something hit him, literally.
"Hey, dummy!" An angry female voice was heard just as Naruto felt a fist hit him in the side of face. Looking over, the blonde shinobi spotted yet another blonde shinobi, Ino.
"Why on earth did you punch me in the face?" Naruto said, rubbing the hit spot, "You could have just called out my name."
Ino came over to him and appeared to be sorry for her actions. "Sorry, just a force of habit." Reaching into her weapons pouch, she grabbed a cloth and bottle of water, "Let me help with that." Ino poured some water onto the cloth and started patting down the struck area on Naruto's face.
"You a medic now?" He asked.
"I'm just the one who carries the medical equipment. Oh, and I'm the female of the team." Feeling that it was enough, Ino put the cloth and bottle away. "Before this whole fiasco started, I wanted to stop you to ask you something."
"Please," Naruto placed his hands out in front of him, with an irritated look on his face, "Don't tell me you want to know where Musuko is?"
Ino quirked an eyebrow in return, "No, why on earth would I want to know that?"
"It's just that quite a few people have been looking for him." Naruto responded, "And somehow, they can only manage to find me."
Quickly changing back to the original subject, "Anyways, I just wanted to know if you… if you knew what was up with Sakura?"
"Huh?" the Uzumaki scratched his brow, "There's something up with her?"
"Well, not really something up with her. I know she's been acting pretty much the same. But," she paused, wondering if Naruto was really the right person to talk to about this, "But Sasuke is looking for her."
"Sasuke is looking for her?" Naruto repeated. Ino nodded, and then Naruto's face turned to one of worry. "He's actually going that far."
Ino didn't like this one bit. "Why? What's wrong?"
Naruto quickly responded, "We gotta find Sakura, fast."
"Why? What's wrong?" Ino repeated her question, but now with more concern.
"Sasuke, that's what's wrong." Naruto moved closer to Ino and grabbed her by the arms. "Where's Sakura?"
Ino became a bit frightened by Naruto's assertiveness, but answered his question. "Sh-she sometimes goes t-to the the garden, where the sakura flowers grow. Naruto, you're scaring me."
Naruto released Ino after that, replying, "Not as much as Sakura will be when Sasuke finds her." Running off in the direction where the gardens were located, Naruto still had a look of worry, but also determination to reach his destination in time.
"Wait!" Ino cried out to the running shinobi, "I'm coming with you!" She dashed up right next to him. If this thing was going to turn into a fight, Naruto would need more than himself, because Ino knew that Gaara was with Sasuke as well.
Chichi and Hinata had decided to take a walk in the forested area of the village, taking their time to reach their destination to keep training. At the moment, the two were walking with an arm around the other, and their new pet, Nintai, was running around along their shoulders being petted by the two of them as she passed by. Until they got further into the woods, there had been no conversing between the two, but then Hinata broke that silence.
"You said you were on a mission right?" Chichi replied with a 'yep', "Is it possible for you to tell me what it is?"
Chichi let out a sigh and looked at her, "Sorry, but no. This mission is pretty high up there."
"Okay then." Hinata slightly disappointed that she couldn't find out why he was here, but she understood that if it was kept secret, that the mission was indeed very important to his village. This then brought her to their next subject. "Could you tell me of where you came from then?"
With a smile, the sky ninja asked, "So you finally want to get to know me?" Hinata nodded with the same smile as Chichi had. So then Chichi tried to explain what he could of his village. "Well, where to start?" after pondering for a moment, Chichi began to talk in description, "The village is located on top of the highest mountain in our country. The tip is so high, that the village itself can never be seen because the clouds would conceal it. Hence the name, "Hidden in the Sky". Our village is about as large as yours, except we do not have a massive 100 foot wall surrounding the entire area that we live in. We don't honor our kages in the same way you guys do, but instead we raise statues on the sides of this massive walkway which leads straight to the Kuukage Tower. That is where our sensei is. Travelling around, you'd see the outer rims of the village is where all the training areas for our shinobi are, and going in further would be business buildings until finally all the houses where the civilians live and the Tower standing in the very middle of it all." Looking back down at Hinata, who was petting Nintai's tail, Chichi stopped his tour of the village, "That's a general idea of the village if one was to just visit."
Hinata looked at him now, "I'd like to see it myself. Hopefully after your mission, I can come and visit."
"If only that were so." Chichi said under his breath.
"Did you say something?"
"…No." "We should be there soon."
"Yeah. Wish we could still walk around a bit."
"You know Hinata." She looked back up at the gray haired boy, "I really haven't gotten to see this entire forest, why don't you show me around?"
The Hyuuga grinned at the request, "By all means. Right this way." And the two veered off the path and into the trees, to explore the forest.
Seirei was in a better mood than he usually was, as he headed back to the top of the Hokage Monument to see Temari. Thanks to that little rabbit incident, he knew what he to do. After a couple more leaps up the staircase, he had reached where the boulder was lying over the hole. Or at least, where it was suppose to be lying.
The boulder had been smashed to pieces, and the hole perfectly revealed. Quickly, Seirei jumped down into the hole to examine if anything had happened, or if the boulder breaking was just some freak accident. Oh how he wished it was.
Entering the room below, the sky ninja was in shock. All the doors had been opened, some by force. Looking in most of them, they were all empty. The room with Kankuro's puppets, the room with Misumi chained up, all empty. He didn't even want to look in Room #1, where Temari was held. Just looking at the door told him the majority of the story. There was no door, but instead splinters scattered across the floor. When Seirei finally decided to look into the room, he saw cut marks all along the walls, shuriken and kunai on the floor, and the chair and mattress that had been in there torn to pieces.
To Seirei, one of two things had happened. One: Temari managed to retrieve her fan from the opposite room, got angry at her room and went all medieval on it with the weapons she found in the puppet room, then vaporized Misumi, and finally destroyed the boulder above her and escaped. Or two: Someone managed to destroy the boulder after being greatly damaged by Seirei's own punch to it, sent ninja down into the area to search it, got in a fight with Temari, captured her, Misumi, and took everything from all the other rooms for inspection. The first was what he was hoping for, that way Temari would at least not be in serious trouble. The second one meant that they took her to their holding area for shinobi, where her puppeteer brother was being held. And sadly, he knew that was the situation that Temari was in right now.
"So troublesome."
"Neither one of them." Musuko deactivated his Mitarigan, after a failed attempt to see what his brothers were up to. "Either they're doing something I don't want to see, or they are sleeping." Placing his hands on the back of his head, he looked up into the sky, "Oh well, I guess it's not my problem if they don't want me to see. This means I have the rest of the day to myself."
The white haired sky ninja had been taking his own little stroll around the Forest of Death, knowing that no one would bother him anymore if he was in there. As long as he stayed away from any of the areas where the dangerous animals were, then he'd be able to wander in peace. On a large branch that was stories above the ground, Musuko took his time to reach the end of it, then turn around and head back. He had nothing better to do that day and just wanted the rest of the day to himself, so this was the perfect thing to do in his mind.
"Now if only it were that simple." Musuko sighed. Quickly raising his left gauntlet to his face, he was just able to deflect a kunai coming from the left and above. He then sent his arm down to his side to deflect yet another kunai which had silently followed the first. "Why are you here? And could any of you just come up and talk to me like a normal person?" The attacker snickered, and then complied with Musuko's demand. Coming out into sight, the other forest wanderer was the snake jounin, Anko.
The jounin was twirling a third kunai in hand as she approached the sky ninja, "Sorry about that, it's just a force of habit." Anko placed the kunai back into her pouch. "You're a hard ninja to come by, you know that?"
"I try. I haven't had a day to myself yet." Musuko sort of lamented over the fact.
"Lucky for me that this is my training grounds, so just happening to run into you was pure-"
"Coincidence?" Musuko finished her sentence, "I knew that this was your training ground. I just didn't think you'd come to train today that's all."
"Again with this 'I know' stuff of yours." Anko said, being a bit annoyed. "You think you know everything about me? You probably don't even know the first thing about me."
In response to what Anko said, Musuko reached into his back pocket and pulled out the notepad he carried with him. Flipping a few pages, he began to read one of the lines. "Sadistic, snake style via sensei, and let's not forget, painful childhood caused by her sensei." Closing the notepad, Musuko looked at Anko, who had the same look of shock as when she first read the notepad herself, "If I'm not mistaken, I was spot on wasn't I?" Anko didn't answer, "Did someone forget about that day? That's a shame. It was pretty memorable to me."
"How much do you know about me?" Anko asked, with a hint of nervousness in her voice, but with eyes of interest.
Musuko sighed once again, "I know that you were, and are, an orphan. That your sensei was a man that you had looked up to. On the left side of your neck, there is a mark. Not a birthmark, but one that your sensei gave to you. You enjoy dango, probably as much as Naruto does ramen. More importantly, you were pretty much marked just like Naruto was. An outcast. However, you stayed in the village and became jounin. You don't really have any friends, because you are always sadistic to others and you keep yourself distant from them." Musuko paused to see Anko had back up some and had her hand covering where her mark was on her neck. "Do you want me to continue?"
"You know more?" the snake jounin backed up more. From what she could remember, this was the first time she felt scared since her sensei, Orochimaru, had destroyed her life. "H-How much more?"
"Lady Anko, I-"
"'Lady Anko'? Why are you calling me that?"
"Would you rather I just call you 'Anko' then?"
"Yes please." Anko returning to her normal self, but still where she was when she backed away from Musuko.
The sky ninja continued, "Anko, I know all there is to know about you. And believe me when I say it sucks. It's sort of a talent of mine."
"Bullsh-"
"But it's not Anko. I'm am telling the downright truth. If you don't believe me then that is your choice." The white haired shinobi turned around and leapt off onto another branch. Landing on it, he turned back to Anko, "If you want proof of it, then follow me. I'll find someone so that you will believe me."
Anko stepped forward, interested in Musuko's proposal, but also surprised at what he said, "You know more about others too?"
Musuko turned away and jumped off into the trees, "More than you know."
Sasuke was grudgingly walking down the village streets with a disguised Gaara walking right by his side. For the past ten minutes, they had been walking around the streets, taking every turn of the road, even if it wasn't the one that was going to the gardens. And why were they doing this? Because…
"Gaara," Sasuke asked his walking comrade, "Why are we walking?"
"Because," Gaara answered, with his hands still up on the back of his head, "I need to walk around. I haven't really done this before. Usually for us ninja, we have to be somewhere immediately. We don't really take the time to just walk, now that I think about it."
"But we do have to be someplace Gaara!" Sasuke's voice began to rise, "We need to be at the gardens, before we lose Sakura. And you're going to lose that chance just because you want to walk?!" Gaara nodded gladly. "Fine. You can have your little joy walk. I on the other hand, have somewhere to be right now." with that, the Uchiha sped off down the road. However, Gaara, with his sand, had caused Sasuke to trip over himself and fall onto the ground.
"I have to be at the same place too, Sasuke." The sand ninja went over to help Sasuke up, "But all work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy. You need to learn to relax a little."
"Relax?" Sasuke couldn't believe what he was hearing. "When on earth- did you become so- so…" He still couldn't believe it. The person right in front of him was just more than a week ago a psychopathic killer who thought of nothing but drinking the blood of his enemies. But now, now he's… this.
"How did I become so calm?" Gaara finished Sasuke's question, "To tell you the truth, I have no idea. Right now, a part of me wants me to kill right now. But the other part, it's just…. Calm. And you know something?" He turned to look at Sasuke, who looked back in return, "I actually like the new me." After a few more steps, Gaara pointed down another road. "Let's take this one. It'll get us closer to the gardens."
"Glad you still have priorities." Sasuke walked down the new road, once again, begrudgingly.
"I said I don't-UGH!" Her speech was stopped short by a fist flying by and striking her across the face. "And again with the hitting of the face." She said mockingly.
A leaf ninja retorted, "I'll be happy to hit that pretty face of yours again if you don't give us the information we're looking for. Otherwise you're not getting out of this cell."
Temari was definitely in a predicament. She was chained up pretty well in a small holding cell. From what she could remember, she was about a few floors underground, meaning she was probably in a pretty secure area. At the moment, she was being interrogated by two leaf ninja. One was doing most of the interrogating, while the other was just being there in case things got out of hand. As of yet, the second hadn't done anything to stop his partner.
"I've answered your question I don't know how many times. I have no idea where my brother is." She got slammed in the face with another punch from the shinobi. "Can you please, stop going for the face." She looked up at the assaulting ninja.
"No, I think I'll stay with what I'm doing." He spat down at her feet. "For someone who decided to destroy our village, I'm not going to show any pity for. I don't care if you're daddy is the Kazekage." The ninja gave a small, sadistic chuckle. "Or was the Kazekage anyway."
"Was?" Temari lifted up her head, showing some blood on the side of her head, "What do mean was?"
"What? You didn't know?" He asked her, babying the kunoichi now, "Turns out old pappy had been dead since before the Chunin Exams even started." At hearing this, Temari's eye widened with utter shock. "Congrats." He continued to mock her, "He's been dead two months, and you didn't even know about it."
"That's impossible!" Temari shouted back to the interrogator. "I saw him sitting right next to the Hokage during the finals. There's no way he could have been dead!"
The leaf ninja grew a smile on his face, "Oh man, this is going to be good." He placed his hand on the wall right next to her head, staring her down, still with that smile, "A ninja known as Orochimaru had taken his place. It was he who sat next to the Hokage. Not to mention," The leaf ninja grabbed Temari's hair with his other hand and pulled her head forward. "He killed our Hokage!" He slammed the back of her head into the wall.
"Okay that's enough." The second shinobi finally spoke up, as he opened the cell door.
"Yeah," The interrogator agreed, "She's broken now. Just look at her." They both saw Temari's body; almost lifeless, only being held up by the chains, and her eyes wide with shock. "We'll get all the information we want out of her tomorrow." With that, he closed the door behind him, and Temari listened as their footsteps got quieter.
'He's dead?' The information finally sinking into her, 'My father's dead? It was Orochimaru who killed him?'
"Temari!" Temari couldn't believe it. She had finally started talking to herself. "Temari! Is that you?" She hadn't realized it at first, but she made a good recreation of her brother Kankuro's voice. "Temari! It's me Kankuro! Look up at the vent!"
Looking up, she saw the vent, where the voice was actually coming from, "Oh thank goodness, I'm not going crazy." Temari said to herself, totally relieved. "Kankuro!" She called back to the vent, "I'm here!"
"Well it's about time you answered!" Kankuro shouted back through the vent, "I was beginning to think that I was yelling at the wall."
"Are you up in the vents?" Temari asked.
"No." Her brother sadly answered back. "I'm locked up in the cell right next to you."
"Why would they do that?"
"Probably to break us even more. Give us a sense of false hope."
"How have you been doing in here?"
"Oh I've been just fine. They serve me tea and crumpets every day." … "How do you think I've been doing!?"
"Glad you're still yourself."
"How about you? It didn't sound like anything near tea and crumpets."
"Eh, they roughed me up a bit."
"….Temari?"
"Yeah?"
"Is it true what they said? That our father's dead?"
"I…I don't know. But if that's so, then the rest of what they said means that-"
"Orochimaru set this whole thing up. Even if the invasion succeeded, we'd still be in a bad position."
"When I get out of here, that snake's going to wish he was never born."
"Yeah, I'll give him a taste of the Sand Village's fury."
"Is there any way you can get out?"
"No. They placed paper seals on all of my fingers. You can tell this is a ninja's prison. You?"
"My hands are chained up pretty well. I'm not getting out anytime soon."
"It's not like you would get anywhere far anyways. Our weapons are probably on the other side of this place. At least mine are. The chakra I left in them is just enough to sense."
"So we only have two hopes of getting out then, huh?"
"Two?"
"Someone has to get in here and break us out. That would either be the only other relative we have, Gaara."
"No chance that'll happen. If he shows up it'll be war between both villages, not to mention the massive bloodshed here."
"Well, then I guess our best bet is him then."
"Who?"
"You'll see. He'll be here." 'I hope.'
"Who?!"
In the gardens, sure enough, Sakura was found sitting on one of the many benches along the walkway. The one she was sitting on was the bench in front of the Sakura flowers. Ever since Musuko had last talked to her, she had a lot on her mind, so she went to where she knew she could be alone and think. The pink haired kunoichi held in her hand one of the many flowers that were in front of her and had looked closely at each petal as she slowly twirled it back and forth in her hand.
'No, that can't be the only one. There has to be another reason I did this. My family? They both supported me in my decision, but neither one of them was a ninja, so they didn't even suggest it to me. My friends? Yeah! It was my friends. They were going to the academy as well. So then… I did this out of peer pressure? No, no that's not it.' Sakura grabbed onto the sides of her head, closing her eyes to think harder, 'Come on, I didn't become a ninja just for that. I didn't become a ninja just for Sasuke! Think Sakura think! Why is it that's the only reason you can come back to? Why?!' She squeezed her hands so tightly that she had crushed the Sakura flower, which she had forgotten all about. 'You know why that's the only reason you can think of.' She began talking to herself, 'It's because that is the reason you joined. There was no glory in it for you, no need to make a name. You didn't even have a decent goal. All you were thinking about is having Sasuke as your boyfriend. You knew that the academy was your best chance at doing that. You even were willing to destroy your friendship with Ino, who had been by your side for years. Face it Sakura, you've got no reason to be a ninja aside to fulfill a fantasy.'
Sakura's grip loosened on her head, releasing the crushed flower as well. Her arms fell to her sides and she fell back onto the bench, looking up to the sky.
'Great. Now I'm sounding like Musuko.' … 'Maybe- Maybe that's a good thing.' Closing her eyes, she relaxed a bit more on the bench, but still continued to think to herself. 'I'll stay here for a little while longer. Then, then I'm going to look for Sasuke, and ask him what he thinks about me. If he accepts me, then my reason is all that I'd need.'
A wind blew by, sending the crushed Sakura flower into the distance, out of the kunoichi's sight.
"So this is what it's all about? Musuko!?" Ino said in annoyance, finding out something that the Sky Ninja were involved in, once again. On their way to the gardens, Naruto had given a short summary of what was going on to Ino.
"Yeah, Sakura was the last person I knew who was with Musuko. That's what I told Sasuke. So he must be out hunting her to find Musuko."
"I don't get it." Ino questioned, "Why doesn't he just find Musuko and cut out the middle man."
Naruto smiled at the question, "For some reason, it isn't that simple, even a jounin asked me where he was." Ino was surprised at the new info, "That probably means that if he doesn't want to be seen, he won't be." Ino, again, was surprised, "But Sasuke doesn't know that, so he'll look all over this village to find even one of them. If he has a lead, he'll take it, and he'll get one by any means necessary." Naruto looked over at Ino, "That's why we have to reach her before he does."
Ino, fully understanding the situation now, was just as concerned as Naruto was for Sakura. Ever since the Chunin Exams, he had been acting more and more aggressive to others. She wanted to know what was wrong with him, and maybe help him, but the more important thing at the moment was to find Sakura and keep her safe from Sasuke's hunt for the Sky Ninjas.
'Please,' Ino said to herself, 'Let us reach her in time.'
"Agreed." Ino, surprised for a third time, looked over at Naruto.
"Were you just talking to me?" The kunoichi asked.
"Yeah. Didn't you say something?" Naruto replied. Ino was utterly confused. Didn't she say that in her head?
In an open area, only being covered by the treetops, Musuko came falling through the leaves above and stood in the center of the opening. After he had looked around his surroundings, he walked over to a nearby tree, and leaned up against it. As he lay against the tree, he went to fiddling with the gauntlets on his arms.
"3… 2…" A rustling was heard from the trees above, and then Anko came landing down onto the ground in the middle of the clearing, "Oh, just a little bit off."
The snake jounin didn't take too long to spot her genin target, but she stayed where she was, not liking the terrain at all. The place was well covered by the trees and bushes surrounding the area. Also, from the journey over here, she knew that it was far away from hearing distance. Only another ninja, or a lost villager, would be there or even show up. Obviously, she was ready to battle if the time came for that.
"Well," Musuko started off, "You actually did follow me. Not like I tried to make it hard either."
Anko, a bit annoyed that her curiosity had gotten this much out of her, the last person she went looking for was the blonde Naruto boy, but that was just to find this white haired boy instead. The jounin then engaged into the conversation, "So, where are they?"
"Who?" Musuko looked confused.
"The person that you were going to use to prove that you haven't been stalking me my entire life." Anko was starting to become impatient. She wanted to know just how on earth this little boy knew her entire life, even when she didn't even know it.
Musuko slapped his forehead, with a smile on his face, "Of course! I almost forgot about that."
"Seriously." Anko sweat dropped, "It hasn't even been three minutes…"
"I know, it's just I was thinking about if you'd really be able to find me. Even though it should have been ridiculously easy. But then again, it seems Naruto is easier to find than I am." Musuko's smile turned into a smirk, "Am I right?"
Anko's expression became that of surprised again, "H-how did you know I met him?! That was today, and we were the only two presences that I sensed. No way could you have been there!"
"That's even more proof of my talent. I know everything that you have done, even the things you don't remember."
"You really are a stalker, aren't you?" Anko mocked the genin.
"Just wait," Musuko sighed at the insult, "When they show up, you'll get a better understanding as to what I'm able to do. And better yet, it'll prove that I'm no stalker. If anything, I'm a ninja, which is like a stalker, only we're supposed to kill our target." Both Anko and Musuko smirked at the comment.
"So," Anko said, "Am I allowed to know who these people are that are coming? Or is that another surprise that you're hiding?"
Musuko replied as he looked around, "That's fair enough, the people who are showing up are," looking around a second time, "Chichi and Hinata." Musuko continued to look around, while Anko returned the action.
"….? What are we looking for?" Anko looked in every direction that Musuko had.
Answering her question, "For those very people, Chichi and Hinata. They usually come through this area around this time. Maybe they started late." Once more, he looked around the area, finally giving up, "Well, I guess we'll just have to wait until they show." Musuko slid down on the tree behind him and sat down on the ground and placed his hands on the back of his head.
"Wait," Anko walked towards Musuko with her hands on her hips, "You're telling me to just sit here and do nothing? I have better things to do you know. I'm a jounin who has a full schedule today!"
"No you don't." Musuko replied, closing his eyes, "You have absolutely nothing to do today, why do you think I allowed you to find me of all days?"
Anko was annoyed at the sky ninja's tone, but was even more annoyed by the smile he had after he told her that she knew she had the day off. With a huff of air, "Fine."
"Pick a tree." Musuko said without opening his eyes. Anko complied, and chose the same tree that Musuko had chosen and slid down a foot away from the little guy. "Thought you would choose here."
"Why's that?" Anko asked, closing her eyes as well.
"It's a good tree."
Chichi and Hinata were still on their 'scenic' detour through the forest, when Chichi looked up into an opening in the trees above him.
"The sun's getting close to setting, I guess when we get there we won't have much time to train." Chichi turned to his female companion, smiling at the misfortune. Hinata returned the smile, "Oh yes, but I guess we can do some training in the dark, couldn't we?"
Pausing to think about Hinata's suggestion, Chichi gave a nod of agreement. As he nodded, he reached down to Hinata's arm to let Nintai crawl up on his own. The diamonite quickly leapt onto his hand, and once it did, Chichi raised the pet up to his face.
"So what do you think, Nintai? Does she make a good owner?" Obviously, the creature couldn't answer, so Nintai answered with its tail wrapping around one of Chichi's fingers. "I thought so too." With that answer, Hinata stepped in front of Chichi, having them standing face to face with each other. Slowly, the Hyuuga heiress placed her arms around the sky ninja's waist, holding him in embrace which Chichi returned.
Looking up to her dear friend, Hinata said quietly, "Kiss me." Closing her eyes, she waited as Chichi's head came closer to her own. When her lips met, she realized that she was not touching lips. Opening her eyes, the Hyuuga saw Chichi's forehead instead of his lips, and looking further down, she saw that Chichi looked like he was deep in thought. She was about to say something to get him out of it, but then she looked closer at his eyes. The left one was green with a black line coming out of the pupil, the Mitarigan.
"You know something Hinata?" The sky ninja raised his head. His expression showed that he was annoyed, "Sometimes, I really hate my brothers."
"Why's that?" Hinata was concerned now, "Is there something wrong? Did you see something that you didn't like?"
"Yeah." Chichi answered, walking by Hinata, "It's Musuko, and he's waiting for us at the training ground."
"What? What for?"
"I don't know, but we better hurry, it's probably something important." Chichi leapt up into the trees, leaving Hinata standing where she was. She was feeling very disappointed that the moment was ruined for the two of them. However, after being around one of them for this long, she knew that this indeed was something important. She just wished, it could have lasted just- "Oh," All of a sudden Chichi came back from the trees, standing in front of the surprised Hinata. Grabbing her, he placed a kiss onto the kunoichi's lips, leaving on her a smile, "Shouldn't leave you like that, now should I?" With the two of them now smiling at each other, they both jumped up into the trees, to hurry on to the training grounds, before it got dark, which wasn't too far behind. The sun was just touching the horizon.
"Finally!" Sasuke said out in relief, "I can see the gardens." He started to run off, but once again, he was tripped over by Gaara.
"Just take it easy, Sasuke. It's not going anywhere." Gaara said. For the entire walk there, he had been strolling along casually, waving at people who were on the streets, and all of them waved back gladly. "I really enjoyed this day."
"You know what?" The Uchiha said back to his companion, "I would have enjoyed this day too. If we actually were able to have gotten here half an hour ago!"
Gaara just shook his head at Sasuke's remark, "You take these days for granted. That's why I envy you so much. I wish I could have had these days. Days where everyone saw you, and instead of screaming and running away in fear, they are waving at you with smiles on their faces."
"Those days mean nothing. They're wasted when one could be using them to reach their goals."
"And what are your goals, Sasuke?" Gaara asked.
"It is to kill a certain someone." The raven haired genin's fist began to clench, "The man who killed my entire clan."
Gaara stopped walking and looked at Sasuke in disbelief, "You're goal is to kill one man?"
After walking a few extra steps, Sasuke too stopped, "It has been the only thing I've wanted to do."
"Then I have a question to ask of you." Gaara responded. Sasuke turned to face the red haired ninja, "What are you going to do after you achieved your goal?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
"…Is it?" Gaara crossed his arms, waiting for the shinobi in front of him to answer. "What plans have you really made, aside from revenge? What will you do ten years from now? Five years from now? What about even two?" Sasuke did not answer he just stared at Gaara with a stern face, "You really haven't seen past your quest for revenge, have you?" Still remaining silent, Gaara and Sasuke just stood there as the wind blew past them, sending a sakura flower past them and off into the distance. "Very well then," Gaara spoke up, "I won't say anymore, let's go." He went walking, Sasuke shortly followed.
Sakura was still sitting on the bench in the gardens, she didn't know why, but she felt like she needed the time to herself.
Feeling that she had sat down long enough, she had gotten up and walked over to the sakura flowers again. She grabbed yet another flower, this being bigger than the previous one she had picked. Sakura looked deeply into the flower, only to show that she was thinking just as much.
'What will happen? What if he rejects me? Can- can I really handle it? I have been holding through for this long, this shouldn't be any different. Right? But, what if it is the exact same thing. This just shows that he will never accept me. I've tried everything, and the closest thing I've gotten is him asking if I was alright, then it went back to how it used to be. Actually now, now it seems it's even worse.' She sat back down onto the bench, moping to herself again. 'If he refuses me, it'll be just like every other day that I've tried, and if he accepts me, what then? Do I stop being a ninja and support him back at home? And his clan? We'll be the ones who would have the duty to restore it. Am I actually ready to have children? To hold that kind of responsibility? Would he even let me have a choice in such a matter? He is very controlling, when it comes to working together, he usually does things by himself.'
She closed her eyes and bowed her head so that her hands where touching her hair band, still holding the sakura blossom. 'Musuko was right. I- I don't-'
"I don't love him." She crushed the second blossom in her hand, but also, watered it with a single tear falling from her face. "I don't want to anymore."
"Exactly," Sakura looked up to her right to see who was talking to her, "What is it that you don't want anymore?" She didn't recognize this person, he had read hair and a green cloak over most of his body, but he carried a relaxed smile, like someone she knew. However, when she looked past the stranger, "Hello, Sakura. I'd like to have a little chat with you." Sakura's eyes widened, Sasuke was here!
"Sasuke!" Another voice shouted out in the opposite direction. The three looked over to see who it was, even though from the shouting voice, it was pretty obvious. Naruto stopped at the left of Sakura, with Ino following right behind.
The two groups stared at each other, Naruto at Sasuke, and Ino at the stranger who was Gaara. As they were staring, Naruto walked forward.
"You stay away from her, Sasuke." Naruto pointed at the Uchiha.
Musuko's eyes opened up, remembering that they were actually waiting for someone. He had almost fallen asleep, and he would have if he didn't wake himself up. Looking over at Anko, it didn't look like she had dozed off at all. She was instead playing around with one of her kunai, having the flat part slide up and down her arms, and then throwing it up in the air only to catch it and repeat.
Anko heard a quick breathe from Musuko as he stood himself up from the tree. The jounin did so in return, seeing that it was finally time to get her answers.
"It's about time," Anko said while stretching her arms out. "So, where are they?"
"They'll be here in a few seconds." Sure enough, as Musuko said, Chichi came landing down into the middle of the clearing, with Hinata by his side.
Anko was a bit surprised, she was thinking that the person that was going to show was going to be someone like Naruto, or maybe even Shikamaru, but Hinata was not really who she was expecting. Still, if this was the person Musuko was going to prove to his skill with, then it was perfectly fine with her. However, after a few seconds of realizing who it was.
"Wait a minute." The jounin grabbed the attention of both sky ninja, "This is the Hinata you were talking about? The Hinata? This is the heiress of the Hyuuga Clan. How on earth did you get her out into the woods, by herself, with no guards at all?"
Chichi turned to Anko, with a smile on his face as always. "Her father lets me train with her."
Anko stood there, not convinced by his answer. She reached behind her to grab a kunai, "Don't give me that. There's no way that her clan would let her go with someone who hasn't even been in this village a year, not to mention someone who isn't even from this village." The kunai now in her hand, "Now I'll ask you again, how did you get her out of the clan's hold?"
"She does make a good point." Musuko spoke up, with his hand on his chin, "The Hyuuga clan shouldn't be so lenient, since this is their heiress, and that she had already been kidnapped by the Cloud Village. You'd think they would keep a tight chain on her."
She had lost track of how many times she had been surprised by Musuko's knowledge, but once again, Anko looked astonished as the white haired ninja spoke of such a discrete manner.
"That's classified information. How on earth did you get your hands on the Hyuuga's records?" Anko held her kunai steady, she was on edge now. She didn't know whether these two were going to ambush her for finding out what they know, or not. Hinata too was feeling on edge, in a worried tone, "Yes. I haven't told anyone about that, ever. How could you know?"
Chichi responded this time, "Nothing is classified for Musuko. He gets his information whether he likes it or not." Turning to Hinata, he showed to her a concerned look, "Don't worry, everything will be fine." He then looked over to his brother, "Musuko, I'll be taking my leave for this one. I don't want to know things that she hasn't told me herself."
Musuko nodded to him, "Very well, this should only take a few minutes." Chichi nodded in return, and left the scene. "Besides, the sun's almost completely down. We should be heading home soon."
"There you are." Seirei stood up in a tree, a few hundred feet away from the building he was looking at. He had finally found the prison that Temari was being kept.
The building looked like a rundown hotel, but that was just to make it blend in with things. Looking closer, the hotel was not that far away from the Hokage Tower, giving a perfect excuse for jounin and ANBU to be crawling around without any suspicion. And since the building is abandoned, no one would have a reason to look, let alone enter the building, making sure that whoever enters is either a fellow ninja or an enemy. The prison was most likely underneath the actual building, but either way, it was going to be hard for Seirei to get in, and then get Temari out without causing a ruckus.
Opening his book, he gave it a quick glance over, and then just as quickly closed it. "You are so lucky." Just then, Seirei grabbed his sword and quickly swung across the right side of his body, using the flat part of the massive blade to strike the invisible figure standing next to him. A thud was heard down below at the foot of the tree. Looking down, Seirei saw the invisible guard quietly groaning from the fall. The invisible jutsu was deactivated and Seirei leapt down right next to this shinobi.
The leaf ninja was on his back looking up at Seirei, but couldn't speak. 'I didn't expect him to be that fast, swinging such a huge sword, only to hit me with the flat part of it.' Seirei grabbed the shinobi by the front of his shirt and placed him up against the tree. 'Now I'm screwed.' He closed his eyes, waiting for the final blow. Seirei punched him across the face, only to knock him out cold.
"Like I said, 'You are so lucky.'"
"Naruto?" Sakura sat straight up on the bench, looking at her blonde team mate, "Sasuke?" She stood up as she looked over to her other team mate on her other side. "What's going on?"
"Sakura," the kunoichi turned back to Naruto, "Move away from Sasuke. I'll explain it later, but he's not safe."
"Don't listen to the dobe, Sakura." She turned back to the two on her right, "All I'm here for is to ask you something." Sasuke said calmly, but his eyes said he was anything but calm which made Sakura worried even more.
"Naruto, Sasuke, What's going on?" Sakura asked again.
Ino answered, "Sasuke is hunting down the sky ninja."
"All we're trying to do is to find Musuko, nothing else." Gaara said raising his hands up calmly in defense and wearing an innocent smile.
"You're not going to find him Ga-" Ino held back her last words. 'I can't say Gaara's name. Naruto and Sakura don't know who it is. If they do, there will be a massive fight. I need to keep that from happening as long as possible.' Ino continued, "Why are you looking for him anyways?" She began to interrogate the two opposing shinobi.
Sasuke took a step forward, causing Sakura to lean back away from him, "You saw it yourself, Ino! The way they fight, they can't be genin! There's no way they could. They have power, that power is something that I can obtain."
"Sasuke," Naruto stepped forward this time, making Sakura stand back up, "That kind of motivation is the very reason that you're not safe. If you just-"
"Don't you dare talk to me about reason." Sasuke shouted back, "You, you who took out Neji during the finals. You're the perfect example of what the sky ninjas can give." Sasuke's rage then gave to a hint a confidence, "If you could have come this far from them, imagine what could happen to me? I'd be unstoppable." Sasuke being within reach, he grabbed Sakura by her arm and pulled her towards him, "Now tell me!" Sasuke looking straight into her eyes, eyes full of a lust for power, "Where is Musuko?"
"Sasuke, you're hurting me." Sakura whimpered out, feeling his grip getting tighter. The more it tightened, the more she moved down to her knees.
"Let her go!" Naruto's fist came flying by Sakura's head and straight into the Uchiha's making him release Sakura and sent into Gaara behind him. The force of Sasuke knocked both of them down to the ground. "Sakura!" She turned to look at Naruto, holding her arm at the same time, "Get out of here! Run!" Sakura quickly complied and fled to the rooftops behind Ino and Naruto. "Alright. That takes care of one problem." He turned to Ino, "Don't worry, I know who he is."
Ino looked at him confused, "What?"
"The stranger. It's Gaara."
"…What!?" Ino shouted out, "When did I say anything about that?!"
Naruto looking confused, "Didn't you say that Sakura and I didn't know who he was?"
"Never!" Naruto just shrugged his shoulders and returned his attention back to Sasuke and Gaara. 'Again, I'm sure I said that to myself. How did he hear me?'
The attention was changed back to their two opponents, who were both standing back up. One was smiling with a calm face, the other furious that their target escaped. Sasuke looked in the direction that his pink haired team mate had fled. Knowing he was much faster than her or anyone still here, he took charge of things. "You can take care of these two." He said to Gaara, as he crouched down to make a dash, "I'll get our lead." As he jumped up, the Uchiha was quickly stopped in mid-air by an arm of sand grabbing onto his foot, causing him to fall on his front right in front of Naruto and Ino.
"I won't let you do that." Gaara said bringing his sand back near to his person, "Not if you're going like this."
Sasuke looked back at his comrade turned enemy, seeing the still calm look on his face and his arms crossed over his chest. Looking forward again, he saw Naruto in the same position as Gaara with Ino looking more concerned now that Sakura had escaped. "What are you looking at?" He said coldly to Ino, causing her to step and increase her concern for the fallen ninja, "I don't need your sympathy." Sasuke rose up to his feet, closing his eyes, "All I want," reopening his eyes, the Sharingan was revealed, "Are the sky ninja!" He made a mad dash at both Ino and Naruto, since they were the real ones in his way.
Naruto stepped in front of Ino, as Gaara sent out his sand against the Uchiha. Sasuke quickly sent a punch into Naruto's gut, which made him disperse in a cloud of smoke, but that didn't stop him, he continued running through the smoke and straight for Ino. She only had enough time to place up a defense, readying for the hit to come, but instead Sasuke leapt into the air with a trail of sand following close behind.
'He saw that it was a clone that quickly.' Ino noted. She looked to see her opponent dodging the sand in mid-air and land about ten feet to her left. Placing her hand on her mouth, 'That Sharingan of his is going to make this difficult to land any hits. Even Gaara is just missing with his sand. If Naruto could use his shadow clones to outnumber and overcome him, then we should be able to make Sakura safe from his hunt.' Putting her hand down, Ino looked over to the side of the battle, "Let's see if he heard that."
The twilight had fallen on where Musuko, along with Anko and Hinata, were standing in silence. Waiting until they believed Chichi was clear from hearing range.
"Shall I start?" Musuko asked when he believed it to be safe.
"You better." Anko said, "I've been waiting for I don't know how long. So this better be worth my time."
"Very well then." Musuko turned to Hinata, who was looking rather uncomfortable with not knowing what exactly was going on. "Hinata," She responded by looking at him, "I have never once talked to you, am I right?" Hinata took a moment to think over this question, and then finally answered with a nod, "And you have rarely seen me since the Chunin Exams right?" Once again, another nod, "So in effect, I should know very little about you, if not anything about you." She gave a third nod. Musuko smiled, "Thank you for your help. Now then, let's begin the show." He placed his hands together, rubbing them with joy as he looked at Hinata for another second. Then he began,
"Obviously, you are named Hinata Hyuuga. Apart of the Hyuuga Clan in Konoha, and as a matter of fact, you are their heiress."
"That's… That's true." Hinata answered jaggedly.
"No it's not." Musuko said back, attracting both Hinata's and Anko's attentions even more, "You're no longer the heiress. Your father told you that himself. 'A lost cause.' Is what I believe he said, and so the position of heir went to your younger sister, Hanabi. Kind of funny though. A man who only had daughters, and forced both of them to act like a son, one could take it, and the other couldn't, and that is how he chose who he cares for more. And yet… and yet you still became a ninja. You still love your father and you wanted to show him that you weren't a lost cause at all. Sadly, every time was just not enough for him." Hinata's posture slumped down after each sentence he said. Not only was it all true, but it was all the painful truth that she wanted to remove from her memories. Musuko continued, not having the smile on his face for awhile, "Then someone new came into your life, a kunoichi named Kurenai. The mother you never had, she took care of you like her own, and that's even after your father said he did not care if you died in a mission. Even now she cares for you. After her, more came to notice you, you began to train more and more, and you even obtained a crush on a certain someone. Your life finally took a turn into a better world." Hinata's slump began disappearing as more supportive words came from Musuko, "And then, just a few months ago, you met someone that truly did change your life. You met my brother, Chichi. Now this is probably something that you won't ever find on a file, not like most of what I said could anyway. You began training with him, obtaining an increase in strength, speed, and most importantly, self-confidence. Best of all, you fell in love with him, and he fell for you in return. With Chichi, you have gotten along with your little sister, Neji has been training with you while Chichi wasn't, and your father has even begun to reconsider to return you as being the heir of the clan." The sky ninja walked over to Hinata, who now had a small smile on her face, showing that she appreciated what he said about her, Musuko smiled as well, "In the end, you're just like me." He took her into an embrace, which Hinata gladly accepted, "Welcome to the family."
Hinata, holding him tighter, "Thanks."
"Just as a warning, it isn't easy living with us."
"Oh don't worry," Hinata released her hold and lifted up her necklace to look at it, "I already know that." Just then, Nintai came crawling out of her sleeve and wrapped herself around Hinata's index finger, making glassy noises to show her happiness.
"So this is Nintai, huh?" He began petting the little diamonite, receiving sounds of content as well, "At least you'll have-"
"Wait a minute!" the two turned to the snake jounin, remembering that she was here, "You're telling me that everything that he said, was a hundred percent true?" Hinata gladly nodded.
Musuko remained smiling, "I told you, Anko, even Chichi told you. There is nothing that I can't know about you. Nothing is classified to me. That's why I know so much about Hinata, you, or anyone else."
"But…" Anko started, "How do you know all of this then?"
"Like I said, it's kind of a talent of mine. One that I'm not entirely proud of, but that's a story for another time."
Anko crossed her arms, annoyed that she wasn't getting an answer, "Will I ever hear it?"
With glee, Musuko answered, "Depends if we meet each other again." He looked over in the direction of the sunlight, as it slowing was fading away, "But not today, it's getting late, and we need to find Chichi. I bid you farewell for now Anko."
The jounin sighed, knowing it was no use trying to get answer out of the little snot, "Fine. Maybe next time, I'd like to have a match with you too."
"I'll be looking forward to that, Lady Anko."
"I told you, just… Never mind, I'll let you live with that." Musuko gave her a thumbs up, as Hinata waved bye to Anko. She returned both of them gladly, and the two disappeared. "Lady Anko, I think I could get used to that."
Further off in the woods, Chichi was found kneeling down in front of a tree, looking at a rabbit who was hopping by. Giving a quick whistle, the rabbit stopped in its tracks and looked up at him, twitching its nose. Quietly, he reached out for a handful of grass and placed it in front of the rabbit so that it would come and enjoy a meal. The rabbit was at first fearful, as the hour was getting late and predators we be coming out soon, but the rabbit walked over and received the grass that Chichi had provided for him.
"Now that I have you," The rabbit continued eating away at the grass, not understanding what the human in front of him was saying, "What should I do when you go?" Once he asked that question, another rabbit came hopping over. This one was much smaller, obviously a baby, and had come up next to the first rabbit and started eating from the grass also. After looking at the two rabbits eating for awhile, the sky ninja smiled, "Good answer." He dropped the grass and began walking towards the area that he had just come from, "Good answer."
Landing on the ground, Sasuke took another hop to the side, to evade the wave of sand from catching him. He knew that they were only trying to capture him and not hurt him, but if this fight goes on too long, they just may eventually turn to that if it's the only way. When both feet touched the ground, he once again leapt up into the air and dodged the sand.
As he was hanging in mid-air, he heard something coming from his side. Looking over, two Naruto's were heading straight at him from one direction, then he looked the opposite direction to see yet two more coming at him.
"Very ingenious of you." Sasuke said with a smirk. His arm stretched out to one of the clones and grabbed it by their collar, "But I know the real one in this skulk." And he brought that clone in his hands across his body, striking the two clones on the other side, puffing them out of existence. Once they puffed out, the remaining of the four had almost grabbed hold of Sasuke, but with his Sharingan, Sasuke swung his leg behind him to send Naruto down to the ground.
Hurtling to the ground, Naruto called out, "Gaara!" the sand ninja quickly responded, sending a tentacle of sand between Naruto and the ground. Landing feet first in the sand, he called out to Gaara again, "Slingshot me up!" Gaara nodded and lowered Naruto close to the ground. The blonde shinobi got into a readied stance as the sand holding his feet shot up and then released him, sending him speeding at Sasuke.
Sasuke, seeing there was no way to dodge the genin, smirked once again, "Quite inventive." He said just before Naruto came flying by and taking the Uchiha with him.
Naruto latched onto Sasuke's arms and locked them behind his back. Sasuke began tugging away from Naruto, knowing full well that he was stronger that his opponent. "Not this time." Naruto retorted. Before Sasuke could get loose, "Kage Bushin no Jutsu!" Clones began appearing on Sasuke, holding onto him. More and more appeared until finally all that could be seen was a giant ball of Naruto clones with the original and Sasuke in the center of it all. "Kage Bushin no Kinko! (Shadow Clone Imprisoning)" With the sudden change of weight from all the clones, they went from flying up, to crashing down onto the ground.
When they landed, smoke rose from the area after a few clones had dispersed from the impact, but still more than half of the ball of clones remained intact. As the smoke cleared, one of the clones from the surface stood up on top, giving a smile and a thumbs up to Ino.
"Thanks for the tip, Ino!"
Ino smiled back with her own thumbs up, "No problem. Happy to help!" 'So he can read my thoughts.'
"I can read what?" Naruto shouted back. Ino answered, still smiling, "Nothing! Nice job with the clones, didn't know you could think that quickly."
"Well," Naruto scratched the back of his head, smiling even more, "Thanks for the compliment. I don't think-" he stopped short and looked down on the ball he was standing on.
Ino looked confused, "What's wrong?" she was answered by an explosion that blasted away a side of the ball, sending most of the clones flying in all directions, puffing them out into smoke if they already hadn't by the explosion itself.
Gaara ran over to where Ino was, seeing the explosion himself and wanting to get a better view of the situation. Ino had a perfect side view of what was going on, but now with the smoke everywhere, she hadn't a clue what was happening with the ball of clones. Just then, out from the smoke, came a blurry object that landed on a roof off to the side of the garden. Both Ino and Gaara looked up to see the silhouette of Sasuke, with the twilit sky right behind him. They couldn't see the smile on his face, nor the blood on his fist, but what they could see, was his eyes still with the Sharingan in them. For a second or two they saw him on the roof, and then he disappeared in the direction which Sakura had gone.
"Gaara," Ino said, worriedly, "What was your reason for finding Sakura?"
Gaara replied, "My reason was to find out where he would be tomorrow." He also continued looking at the spot where Sasuke was, "For Sasuke, I'm not sure. However, from his eyes, he has a dark purpose."
The smoke had cleared up and all that was left were a few clones rubbing their arms or legs in pain while one was lying on the ground with a bloodied face, the original Naruto. Ino came running over to him with Gaara close behind.
"Naruto! Are you okay?" She asked lifting up his head.
"His clones haven't disappeared, so he shouldn't be dead." Gaara said looking at the weary copies.
"Heh, thanks for your concern." Naruto opened his eyes, straining a smile. "At least you were nicer to me than Sasuke was when we last fought."
Gaara cracked a smile, "Don't mention it."
"What happened back there?" Ino asked her fallen companion.
Naruto moved his hand to his bloodied forehead, wincing from the pain, and then answered, "Something happened."
"………" Ino remained silent, waiting for more of an explanation, "………" "Something happened…?"
BAM!
Naruto lied on the ground with spirals in his eyes and a bump on his head, "That's the vaguest thing you can say! How am I supposed to know what, 'something' is?!"
Gaara showed another smile as he turned around to where Sasuke had been standing. "I'll go after Sasuke," He said to Ino, "You stay here and mend Naruto's wounds from Sasuke. Oh, and the ones from you too." His smile grew at the last sentence as he saw Ino become a bit irritated. "I'll go find what that something is." After that, Gaara disappeared into the direction of the twilight which was beginning to turn into night.
'You know,' Ino thought to herself, 'In this light, he's kinda cute.'
"Ugh," Naruto's eyes opened up, "Who's cute?"
BAM!
Naruto was back down with spirals. "STOP READING MY THOUGHTS!"
Sakura knew this was the fastest way to her house, and she wanted to get there before Sasuke could get to her first, so sped up even more as she leapt through the forest from branch to branch. All she could think about, was the look that Sasuke had in his eyes, it was not a look that she had ever seen from him, and that thought made her want to get away even more. Luckily Naruto and Ino were there to stand in his way, but she didn't know how long that was going to last. The stranger that was with Sasuke, she didn't know who it was, but she had a feeling that he was pretty strong as well. All these things kept moving further and further, worrying that Sasuke would catch up with her.
Looking up through the trees, she could see stars in a partially clouded sky, knowing that it will be dark soon and it will be harder to find her way out around the trees. So to add another reason to her already long list, she was kept motivated to get home as fast as possible.
As she was running through the treetops, she soared over two people who were walking on the forest floor. She didn't get a good look at them, but she knew they were a boy and girl. Seeing those two together, Sakura felt a tinge of pain in her heart, that's all she ever wanted. She wanted to be with the man she cared about, that they could see each other with a smile on their faces, to eat with each other, to hang out with one another, to hold hands, to kiss. Now, after all that, she is running away from the very man she had been pursuing since before the academy.
Thinking of the times she thought they would have, she then remembered the times that they actually did have: so many rejections that she lost count, cold remarks and being snapped at, absolute ignorance, and nothing came out of his mouth unless it had something to do with a fight, or him. She almost had something going on with Sasuke in the Forest of Death, but after that, he went back to the way he was, if not, worst. She wondered why on earth he would be this aggressive with her now. He had never been like this before. But with all that has happened today, she couldn't think straight, in the end, she just wanted this day to end.
"Sasuke." She whispered, "Why?" Looking forward, her eyes narrowed as she saw a figure blocking her path. Not wanting to run into them, she stopped quickly on the branch in front of the figure. Now that she was closer, she could see who the figure was.
"Why? Because I need something that you have." Sasuke said. Sakura saw his eyes, the Sharingan was still in them, but the same look in his eyes was there as well.
"Umm, Musuko?" Hinata asked her white haired friend, "How did you know that much about me?"
"Well, Hinata." Musuko put his arm around her, "I'm not going to tell you now. Not until you know your love's whole story."
"My love?" Hinata was kind of caught off guard. She knew who Musuko was referring to though.
Musuko just smile back, "He's going to be one huge handful for you." He turned to look at the Hyuuga heiress, "Do you think you'll be able to still accept him afterwards?"
Hinata remained quiet, thinking over what her white haired friend had said. Then, she felt on her chest the diamond necklace, it felt bigger than before. Lifting it up to eye level, indeed, it had gotten bigger, but after looking at it longer, the bottom half started to move. Nintai had clung herself onto the bottom of the necklace as her new bed. When Hinata saw her Nintai moving about all happily along her arm, she smiled. "Yeah, I think I can handle it."
"That's good. Means we don't have to kill you." Hinata's head shot up and stared at Musuko in worry, "Kidding, just kidding." Hinata's expression became one of annoyance, as she gave a jab into Musuko's stomach, "Doh! Solar plexus."
As he said that, a small rustling of leaves was heard above their heads, probably just a squirrel running back to its home tree before night fell. Cause if it didn't, it would have problems with the predators at night.
"Well, we better find Chichi soon or-" Musuko cut himself off quickly and he started sniffing the air. He looked up where he heard the noise from before, as he looked up, he saw a figure running by quickly, too quickly to be an animal. "Crap." He quickly turned to Hinata and grabbed both her arms, "Hinata, stay here and wait for Chichi. Once he gets here, find me." With that he turned away and dashed off into the woods.
Hinata was left standing where she was, wondering what on earth was going on. Then she sniffed the air too, "Oh no."
"It's not safe to be travelling in the woods alone at night, Sakura." Sasuke warned his partner, "You might get hurt and stuck in here." He leapt over to the tree that Sakura was on.
Sakura couldn't look away from Sasuke's eyes, not because of a genjutsu, she knew that, but from the sheer fear that if she looked away. When he landed near her, she took a step back, wanting to keep her distance.
Sasuke stared right back at her with his Sharingan, "How long has it been?"
Sakura backed away, not understanding the question, "How long has what been?"
"Since you were a strong girl who stood up for herself. I believe it was the Forest of Death was it not?" Slowly, she nodded her head, "Can you remember what made you become like that. Because I sure can." He took a step forward, "It was those sky ninjas. They made you strong when they were with you, just like they did with Naruto and Hinata. They've both changed, even Gaara has."
"Gaara?" Sakura took another step back.
"Yes, Sakura, Gaara was the one standing next to me. You didn't recognize him did you?" she nervously shook her head, "That's how much he has changed. Anyone who has come in contact with them for a long enough time has been changed, that includes you." Sasuke placed his hand on his chin, "Maybe I'm taking this whole at the wrong angle. Maybe if I'm with someone who has been with them long enough, I can be changed as well. I can become stronger than before." He took another step forward, but now with a friendlier face on than before, which comforted Sakura a little bit. "So what do you say Sakura?" A smile came onto his face, "Would you like to be my girlfriend?"
"W-W-Wh-Wha-What?"
"You heard me. You, me, together." Sakura did not respond at all, "Isn't this what you've wanted?" she nodded, "Haven't you been trying to get me to notice you all this time?" she nodded. "This is a dream come true isn't it?" She nodded again, all this time moving back into the tree behind her. "Don't you want this to happen?" Sasuke was now only a few feet away from her, waiting for an answer for the kunoichi, who was now up against the tree.
"…." "Yes." Sakura smiled back at him with pity in her eyes, this made Sasuke a bit uneasy, "Yes, that is what I wanted." She took a step away from the tree and closer to Sasuke, "I wanted to be with Sasuke, the Sasuke I knew back at the academy. He was strong, smart, didn't rely on anyone for support. That's what I wanted, I wanted someone who wasn't me. I wanted someone who I wanted to be. All the time, I've been relying on others to help in times of trouble, not handling it myself, but deep in my heart I knew that it wasn't what I wanted. Then Sasuke showed up, like the knight in shining armor, the perfect scene for any girl."
"Why are you referring me in third person? I'm right here."
Sakura's smile of pity stayed on her face, "That's because… You're not the Sasuke from back then. I don't know who you are."
After hearing that, Sasuke's eyes widened and he backed away a step. Then all of a sudden, he began to smile, "Well, I didn't expect that you of all people would say that to me."
"I know this seems weird," Sakura tried to comfort him, "but it's just-ACK!" Sasuke cut her off, holding her by the neck.
"No one else seems to think that I'm not Sasuke. But for you think that, well then, I guess I should just make you mine anyways." Sasuke slammed Sakura up against the tree, raising her up so that her feet were just above the ground, "You'll be an interesting keep." He said as his free hand went for her shirt.
Trying to defend herself, Sakura threw in a punch at Sasuke, but since she was off the ground and had just a little less reach than Sasuke had, the Uchiha dodged it with ease. To make the attempt fail even more, he caught the fist, and when he saw the second fist, he caught that one too. Holding both hands, Sasuke tightened his grip until he heard the sound of the two hands cracking under the pressure. Knowing that they were weakened, he tossed them to the side and returned to going for the front of Sakura's shirt.
Grabbing hold of it, Sakura barely spoke out, "No." Sasuke tore away pieces of the shirt revealing some skin, "Please, no." He didn't pay attention to her cries as he reached down to her skirt.
"Don't worry, this will only hurt for awhile." He grabbed tightly onto the skirt and started tugging at it.
"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Sasuke looked to his left to be met with two simultaneous kicks in his side. The Uchiha was thrown off the tree as well as Sakura, who landed down on the ground in a weakened state. Sasuke stilled flew in the air with the attacker still on him. Looking at who it was, Sasuke smiled as he saw Musuko with a face full of rage. Musuko placed both of his fists onto Sasuke's left shoulder, and then shot two needles into where his fists were. Sasuke shouted out in pain as the two landed down on their feet, one holding onto their completely limp arm.
"Well, how inconvenient this is. Not only did you interrupt my fun," Sasuke took a look at his shoulder, "But you've also completely disabled my arm."
"Fun?!" Musuko shouted at the Uchiha, his fist clench tightly, "You think what you were going to do to your team mate is fun?"
"Team mate? She's no longer my team mate. She doesn't even see me as Sasuke, how she can do that I'll never know, but all I know is that she no longer cares for me. So why not just remind her that she likes me."
"Over my dead body."
Sasuke smiled, "That can be arranged if you really want that." Musuko looked into Sasuke's eyes to see the Sharingan still active.
'He's had that Sharingan active for too long. It should be gone soon.' The sky ninja began strategizing to himself, 'Until then, I should just try to disable his other arm.' And so, he got into a readied fighting position.
"So you really do want to die, huh?" Sasuke also got into his own stance. "Then let's do this."
Musuko observed his target, 'He has only one arm, so jutsus with hand signs are useless to him, and even taijutsu will be an issue for him. This should be quick.' As he finished that thought, Sasuke's curse mark began glowing, and then his entire left arm became covered by purple chakra. At first it was an aura that was just emanating from the limb, but in a few more seconds, the chakra condensed into a thin layer of chakra around his arm and hand, and then he started moving it once again. '…Oh crap.'
"Didn't see that coming did you?" Sasuke charged at Musuko head on.
When he reached Musuko, Sasuke threw in his right fist, which Musuko slightly ducked to avoid it, and then latched onto the arm as it went over him. Once the arm was in his hold, he placed his free fist on the arm and shot yet another needle into Sasuke's arm. The Uchiha quickly pulled away, before a second needle could be shot in. He felt a tingly sensation in his arm, but as he pulled out the needle, the sensation went away.
"You and your needles." Sasuke muttered as he shook out his right arm, and charged Musuko again.
The sky ninja aimed both of his gauntlets at Sasuke's legs and fired. Sasuke saw it coming, thanks to his Sharingan, and leapt over them. In the air, he did a flip with his leg following fully extended and aimed straight at Musuko. The white haired genin quickly put his arms up for a defense, but the power from the kick was much more than he had expected. Sasuke's kick sent Musuko falling backwards onto his back. When the Uchiha saw his opponent was down he responded by jumping up and performs a second flip kick and connected into Musuko's gut and making his body make an imprint in the ground beneath him.
"AAHHCCK!" coughed out the sky ninja, getting the wind knocked out of him, along with the sound of cracking bones. After the scream he just laid there, with no signs that he was going to get back up anytime soon.
Sasuke stood up from his previous blow, cracking his neck in the process. He looked down at his fallen opponent, "I'm glad that this body is actually capable of defeating you though." Sasuke then started to crack his knuckles, "But just to make sure you won't be a hassle to me in the future," cracked his other set of knuckles, "I should just finish you off right here." He raised his left fist above his head, the fist becoming more enveloped in the purple chakra. As he prepared for his descent, he stopped when he heard movement off to the side.
"Don't." Sasuke saw Sakura weakly raise herself up from the ground and stand up. "Don't you dare-" She fell down to one knee, but she got back up, Sasuke seeing purpose in her eyes, "Don't you dare touch him." She walked towards Sasuke, who just smiled at the scene in front of him.
Releasing some of the chakra from his fist, Sasuke moved to the side of Musuko, standing in between him and Musuko, "Pretty big talk for someone who can barely even stand. Just because you don't like being touched, doesn't mean I can't lay a hand on this small fry." He started turning back to Musuko to finish what he started.
"I said don't touch him!" She started running towards Sasuke, but her legs gave out beneath her, and she fell flat on her face into the ground. Sasuke merely chuckled at the pathetic attempt from his partner. With her face still on the ground, her voice sounded of one of defeat, "If you're going to touch anyone… then… then let it be me." Sasuke stopped and turned to the kunoichi, "I… I deserve it."
With an evil grin, Sasuke walked towards Sakura, "I'm glad that you finally realized your place." He grabbed the back of her shirt and lifted her up to eye level, "Don't worry, this will only hurt for a while. Heh," Sasuke chuckled, "Seems like déjà vu, huh?"
Sakura sniffled, "Yeah," she looked at Sasuke, who no longer had a smile, since he saw Sakura with one on, "It would seem so, but…"
Before Sasuke could react to it, Sakura threw in one fist square into his face. The punch caused Sasuke to drop his prize and have her land safely on her two feet. Blood was coming down his nose as well as the bridge of it, and by luck, the blood had hit his eyes, making him blind to what happened next.
Sakura, "This time, I'm actually gonna get both hits on you." She raised her other fist and sent it flying into the exact same place as the previous hit. The only difference with this one, is that it sent Sasuke flying backwards through numerous trees and even breaking some rocks, clearing a pathway in the forest.
After that powerful attack, the forest was silent, leaves were falling off the surrounding trees, Musuko was still on the ground, and Sakura was found on her knees, both ninjas were smiling. Sakura looked up at the night sky, still with some sunlight over the horizon.
"So, that's what a reason can do." After she said that, she fell onto the ground, a few feet from Musuko.
About a minute or two later, Chichi appeared, with Hinata right there with him. Surveying the area, Chichi rushed over to his brother, while Hinata ran to Sakura. Both of them looked at each other, signaling that the other was okay.
"Hinata," Chichi said, "Stay here and take care of them." He turned to the pathway made by Sakura's punch, "I'm going after whoever did this." Hinata nodded as Chichi disappeared into the pathway.
Off in the distance, up In the treetops, Gaara stood with his arms crossed, "I don't know what we're dealing with anymore." With that, he jumped off in the same direction as Chichi had.
At the crash site, where Sasuke was found, the moon had given its light to the area of the forest, showing Sasuke's upper section lying up against a giant boulder, while the rest of him was covered in rubble, dirt, and wood. His nose was no longer bleeding, but there were extra wounds and cuts on his arms and legs. But the most noticeable thing was the smile on his face, and the Sharingan in his eyes.
"Yep," Sasuke said to himself, "Definitely an interesting keep." He started chuckling.
While he was chuckling, he didn't notice that another person was arriving from the place he was punched from. Chichi stood a good thirty feet away from where Sasuke was lying, seeing fully well that the leaf genin was not done for.
"I should have guessed that it was you." Chichi said taking some more steps to make him seen in the moonlight, "I don't know how or why you did what you did, but I'm here to make sure it ends here."
From Chichi's perspective, it didn't look like Sasuke had paid any attention, since he was still chuckling.
Sasuke looked up at Chichi from where he was lying, "Chichi, I'm ashamed. I thought you would have seen the change in me at least. Since you fought my previous self at the Finals. Look at me now, I've defeated one of your brothers."
"All I see is a defeated genin who wants nothing but power."
"Oh don't worry about that." Sasuke snickered, "I've got power, I just need more… control, if I may say that."
"Power never won anything. No matter how much more powerful you become, Sasuke, you'll always end up being defeated. You'll be like those bad guys you read in books, they gain every ounce of power in the world, but are still defeated by one person, every time."
"That's true." Sasuke replied as he started standing up out of the dirt burying him, "But in the end, the villain looses because of the writer, who is wanting good to prevail. If you simply change the writer, then the story will go in the villains favor." Sasuke stood fully erect from the dirt pile, staring back at Chichi with his Sharingan, "One man's villain, is another man's hero."
Chichi's fist began to clench. He spoke back to Sasuke, slightly irritated, "You know, you sound just like someone I know back home. And believe, you're starting to tick me off with that kind of talk."
"Well," Sasuke pulled back his hair out of his face, and readjusted his headband, "I hope I continue to sound like him then. Just for you, and your little lay." The final sentence made Chichi squeeze his fists tighter even more. "That's right, get angry, maybe then people will see the kind of monster you and your brothers are." Chichi's fist then loosened, showing the nail marks in his palms.
The gray haired ninja then responded, "Words used to affect me like that. But now…" Without warning, sand was shooting around Sasuke from the boulder behind him and ensnared his arms and legs. Looking behind him, Sasuke saw Gaara with a tiny smile hiding in the brush. "Now," Chichi continued, "I let my actions do most of my talking." Chichi's body became surrounded with blue chakra, "Let's see if you can follow this." In just a second after he finished speaking, Chichi was over at Sasuke's side with his fist in the Uchiha's stomach, and the sand flying off and in different directions. The punch sent Sasuke straight back into the boulder and made an imprint much like he did with Musuko's body.
Chichi looked at the fallen foe, he was still breathing and the Sharingan still active. "I'm impressed Sasuke, you really have improved. You were knocked out last time."
Taking a few more breathes, Sasuke then responded weakly, "As soon as I get… my power. I… will be… ageless." He smiled and closed his eyes, as Chichi's own narrowed down on the leaf genin.
Quickly, Chichi moved his hands up to Sasuke's face and placing his fingers on his eyes. Opening them up, he saw the Sharingan had been deactivated, seeing the boy's normal black eyes. Afterwards, he looked over at Gaara, who had come out into sight. "You should go, others will be here soon." Gaara nodded in reply and then disappeared. As soon as he was gone, the gray haired shinobi drew a kunai, moving the point to Sasuke's throat. When it was inches away from striking a vital point, Chichi took it away, sighing, "This won't fix anything." And he brought back the kunai and placed it on his shoulder again and leaving before any surrounding shinobi had arrived to survey the destruction.
The moon was high up in the sky and Temari could just see a small beam of light out in the hallways from the tiny window on her cell door. However, why she was still awake was for a different reason. Despite the fact that she was chained sitting up, which made it the least bit comfortable for her, and the constant dripping of water off in the corner somewhere was driving her crazy, the actual reason was because she heard the sound of doors opening further down the hallway, and then a set of footsteps that sounded like they were trying to not make much noise as they came down to her door.
When the steps sounded like they were in front of her door, they stopped, and the ray of moonlight had been covered up by them. As the beam had been covered, the door opened up to have Temari see a silhouette of a man standing in the doorway. She couldn't see perfectly who it was, but she had already known who it was when he stopped at her door.
"I didn't think you guys were going to come back until tomorrow." Temari said, looking at the floor ever since he opened the door.
"They allowed me to have this last chance to get some information out of you, which I'd be happy to do." The man was obviously the interrogator from this afternoon, who was so kind to tell her that her father had died, and beat her while he was at it.
"Well then, that should explain why you were sneaking in here, and trying not to wake anyone else around." The wind mistress gave a little snicker at her own deduction, "…There is no other interrogation at all is there?"
"Heh, at least you were able to find that out. It's not often that we get cute kunoichi in this part of the prisons, not to mention one so high up in their village." He stood right before Temari and placed his hand on the side of her face, "I'm gonna make sure I enjoy this all." As his hand reached her chin, she quickly moved her mouth and took the hand in her teeth and bit him. Pulling away his hand in pain, he looked at her with a smile, he retorted with a slap across her face, "A little fight in you, I like that." He continued with his objective, but keeping his himself away from her mouth as he grabbed hold of her pants and pulled them down while still looking at her. Once done, he then grabbed hold of his own pants, smiling from ear to ear.
"You like a little fight?" Temari looked back at the leaf ninja, "I hope I can be satisfying then."
"That's right, have some fun with this too." Undoing his pants, he stopped quickly, the dripping noise in the corner, it stopped. He looked over in the pitch black corner, only to see a small glimmer of light reflecting of a large piece of metal that flew out of the shadowed area. "Shi-" He made out the small syllable as the blade ran across his body and cutting him in two halves. Blood came spurting out from the cut halves and landing everywhere, some landing on Temari as well.
When Temari looked up from the attack, she saw that her chains were cut off, and standing in front of her was Seirei with a bloodied sword and blood across his chest with spots of it on his face. As soon as she recognized the sky ninja, she stood up and embraced him from behind.
Looking over Seirei to see the dead leaf ninja, "How's that for, 'A little fight'?" she squeezed Seirei even more, "I knew you'd come, I was so sure that you-""…Seirei?" She stopped talking and felt Seirei in her embrace. He was shaking like crazy. Looking around at his face, Seirei's eyes were closed tightly and he was breathing heavily, trying to calm himself down. "Seirei? Was this… your first kill?"
Seirei responded with a shake of his head. He tried to look like he was fine by starting to talk, "I'm okay. We need to get you and your brother out of here before others come." He moved out of Temari's grasp and placed the sword back on his back, not looking towards Temari's direction the whole time. It was clear to the sand kunoichi that Seirei really wasn't fine. She didn't say anything, because she knew that nothing she could say would comfort him. This was murder, something Seirei had seen far too much of and yet still remained alive from it all. "It doesn't really matter." Seirei spoke up again, as he walked out of the cell, "It was his time."
Looking in the hallways on both sides, the sky ninja signaled Temari that it was safe to come out. Complying with his command, she followed close behind him as they ventured to the door next to them, where Kankuro was located. Opening the door with the help of Seirei's blade, the two of them found the puppeteer sitting up against the far wall, sleeping to his heart's content.
Temari let out a sigh, "When we get back home, I'm going to kill him." With help from Seirei again, they released Kankuro from his chains and picked him onto his shoulder, still fast asleep.
"Okay," Seirei headed out of the cell, "When we get far enough away from the village, you two are on your own to getting back to Suna."
"What about Gaara?" Temari asked, "We can't return without him."
Seirei responded, "One of my brothers probably knows where he is. As long as you guys wait for him before entering your village, everything should be fine." Hoisting the male sand ninja further up on his shoulder, Seirei began moving out.
As they were moving along, slowly passing by the guards, Temari had one more question to ask, "Are those two really your brothers?"
With a broken smile, "You should know by now, that they can't be." That answer reminded Temari of what she was told before by Seirei, and so she lowered her head in regret.
"I'm sorry." After that, neither one of them spoke.
It took them awhile to manage their way out of the prison, and it was even harder when the leaf shinobi found the dead body and two empty cells. However, they had managed to get by without being noticed, which itself was a miracle since in the middle of it all Kankuro began to snore. When they did get out of the building, Temari finally had it with the slumbering brother and made sure he was wide awake. Now with all three awake, they were able to travel at a faster pace, and within an hour or so, they had managed to get far enough from the village walls.
Looking up to the sky, Seirei saw the moon making its descent to behind the horizon. Seeing the two off, he gave them a friendly salute and then turned around to go back to the village. Temari quickly stopped him from doing so however.
"Wait." Seirei turned his head, but kept his body facing the village, "Come with us." Seirei smiled at the request. He did not answer her. He just turned back around and continued walking. Temari didn't know how to respond to that at first, but then she recomposed herself, "Then I'm coming with you." Again, Seirei stopped. He heard her footsteps coming up behind him. Before she got close enough, Seirei took out his sword and plunged it into the ground between Temari and himself, forming cracks to make the dividing line even more visible. The sky ninja's answers were both pretty clear to Temari; both being 'No'. However, that didn't stop her from trying again. "Please, I want to be with you. Going back without you, everything will go back to the way it was, I'll be alone."
"Oh come on, you still had me, sis."
"Shut up Kankuro! You're killing the moment!" the area became quiet once again and Temari continued, "I don't want to be alone like that again." Her head fell and she lost sight of Seirei. When she did, the black haired shinobi walked up to her and put her in an embrace. This gave her a quick shock, but remembering who it was, she became relaxed and content at the results.
"I promise," Seirei finally spoke, "You won't ever be alone again." As he finished what he said, he let go of Temari and turned back to his sword. Pulling it out, he started walking to the village, "Go home Temari." He turned slightly to reveal a warm smile to the kunoichi, and when she saw also smiled.
"Let's go Kankuro." Her brother gladly nodded, and the two disappeared towards their village.
"Finally, the night is over." Seirei said before he too disappeared, in the opposite direction.
Done! It's Finally Done! That was probably my toughest chapter. Everything else should hopefully go more smoothly. I hit so many blocks here that I thought I had enough for a tetris game. All that I hope for is that you all enjoy this chapter and also review, that will really make me feel that my hard work wasn't in vain.
And one thing that I need to say before I end. Some people, and probably most others, have most likely stopped reading this for the possible overpoweredness of the OC Sky Ninjas, well I don't blame you. They're still so much of a mystery to the readers that it totally looks like they can't be beaten. However with these past chapters I hope they've become more and more human to you guys and trust me they will become more so. Well…kinda.
As always, reviews would be appreciated, and I'm glad you read this because it means you read the whole chapter. Later, I'm gone like grandma's cookies sitting on the table unsupervised.