EDIT TO ANNOUNCE: I have turned off anonymous reviews because if you can't be arsed enough to leave an email address for me to be able to respond to your bitching, you have no right to comment on my story. Thank you, and have a nice day.
"How is it that you always come up with the worst case scenario?"
"I practice."
For Your Dream
Volume Two, Chapter Twenty-five
The Itch
The day had arrived.
Sakura frowned slightly, eyes raking over the crowds that were gathering outside the arena. Haku and Ito stood on either side of her, and aside from the hunter-nin mask, both were dressed in their full uniforms. As far as Sakura knew, the mask was tucked into the Mist-nin's top. The outfit was recognizable as that of the Missing-nin of the Mist, Haku, but with him being reportedly dead, no one seemed to be batting an eye. She'd been a little leery of letting him go out in that clothing, but the fifteen year old had just smiled and told her that it wouldn't take much for him to use henge and be someone else.
She also knew that the seal on his Bloodline Limit was getting to him. A month now, and he'd been unable to perform even the slightest of manipulation of ice or water; not even one senbon had been created. It frustrated him that he was restricted solely to the use of chakra, when he had been trained in the use of his Bloodline Limit since the time he began his unorthodox ninja training.
Shaking her head free of silly thoughts, Sakura frowned. She couldn't see anyone that she would trust to sit anywhere near Ito. Haku she didn't have any worries for-- but the redheaded trickster had made something of a few enemies in the Hyuuga clan and others over the past month. She knew damn well how poor his skills were when he fought against anyone above the level of an Academy Graduate.
Which didn't explain how he got into the Chuunin Exam, but she had her suspicions about that. Why would Haku have revealed himself in this exam when he could have continued to live without the bounty on his head? The few times she had overheard any words before being noticed, all that she had been able to make out was that Hokage-sama was involved somehow.
But that only raised the question of how Sandaime knew that they were alive, and why he would contact a former Mist-nin instead of using his own ninja. She doubted that Haku was there to go after the Hokage; otherwise he would never have placed himself or his group in the Chuunin Exam to begin with.
And where the hell was Zabuza?
There she went again, thinking about anything and everything aside from what was going to happen today. She was fighting in the Chuunin Exam. Her! My god, when did that happen? How did it happen? Sure she was book smart, but that never truly made a difference out on the field. It was pure luck that she'd defeated Ino like she had.
Inner had not been pleasant to the intruder in her mind, and had made Ino know it-- painfully-- before kicking her out. It was like her own personal demon, living in her head. Inner was the only thing that truly stood between herself and the poisoned chakra that flowed through her veins. Because of Ino's intrusion, Inner had been closer to the surface, and her fury at the breach of her mind had just about sent her out of control. She pretty much thrashed her poor friend. In the end, Sakura had managed to yank Inner back under control, leaving herself weak to the knees and panting, and Ino unconscious.
Sakura didn't feel proud of that battle. It felt like a cheap win; she hadn't done anything.
"Sakura-san," Haku's voice cut through her thoughts, "Do you not have to join the others in the arena?"
"Ack!" she squeaked, "Oh jeez, I didn't even... are you sure that you two are okay alone up here? I mean, you won't have any problems, but Ito...?"
"We'll be fine, Sakura-san," Haku patted her arm, "Go, enjoy the limelight while you can." There was an odd shadow in his eyes that caused the leaf-nin to take a step back. Haku smiled pleasantly at her and turned to go to find his seat. She continued staring after him for a long moment. What was it that she had seen...?
"Thanks everyone for coming to the Hidden Leaf Chuunin Selection Exam!" the bellow cut through the air, startling Ito out of his travel bag. He'd been digging through it looking for something to amuse himself with, but it appeared that the battles were to begin shortly. With a small frown, he scanned the arena.
"Where's Yaone and Sen?" the little doll had been sent with Yaone as a safety measure.
"We will now start the main tournament matches..."
"I am sure the Hyuuga are bringing her here," Haku smiled pleasantly.
"Between the nine participants who made it through the preliminaries."
Ito frowned, "They were supposed to bring her before the Finals began."
"Please stay and watch until the end!"
"The battles have yet to begin, so I assume that they will be fashionably late," Haku's smile was darkened by the glint in his eye. Ito shuddered. Normally such looks were reserved for 'under the mask', so that no one saw anything other than the devoted hufflepuff, but the Gryfindor was well aware of Haku's more sinister, slytherin side. One couldn't have become a missing-nin and killed so many without being at least partially dark, "They do have quite a bit at stake here."
Ito nodded slowly. The contract that he and Sakura had drawn up with the Hyuuga hadn't been complex. Most magically binding contracts followed a simple, straight forwards formula. Ito had written almost the entire thing up, but had had to rely on Sakura's abilities to analyze and understand chakra to finish it. The seal that they'd put into the contract, and based off of Haku's was hardly complete, but at least the Hyuuga Nurse hadn't been able to figure out what seal they'd put on, aside from it being a 'secondary seal'.
Ito was sure that the Nurse had been laughing silently at him, as it was unlikely that she had a seal that it could work off of, but if Haku said it would work, then it would work. It might not do what it was supposed to, but Ito trusted Haku that there would be some sort of repercussion.
Down below, the prospective chuunin began to file out of the arena, leaving Naruto and his Hyuuga opponent behind. Haku folded his hands delicately in his lap, eyes scanning the crowded arena for the rest of the Hyuuga clan, and therefore Yaone. If she was not brought here before those two attacked each other, then the contract would be considered broken and the magical backlash could cause something of a... problem. It would certainly hurt.
"Now, the first fight-- BEGIN!"
Haku didn't know what the Hyuuga said, as he was more concerned with locating Yaone, but Naruto's shout was quite audible, "Stop all the blabbering! Let's fight!"
As Naruto performed Kage Bushin no jutsu, Haku finally caught the eyes of the Hyuuga Clan's Head. Yaone sat a seat behind him, face tucked into her cloak. From her posture, he could assume that the last three days had not been pleasant for her, but as she did not appear to be missing anything, he could assume that she had been well taken care of.
His eyes returned to the Hyuuga's and he bowed his head. The contract had been met. There would be no repercussions this day.
With their business concluded, Haku returned his attention to the battle below. Still smiling that gentle little smile, he watched as the Hyuuga thrashed his friend. It didn't matter that he'd already seen the battle once by use of his Mirror Shard. He'd only seen what could be considered the highlights, as he did have other things to do than to watch a mirror shard all day long.
It would be nice to see the whole battle through.
When the battle lulled, and the Hyuuga boy began to speak of his 'destiny', Ito gaped, "Wha... why would...?"
"Did you not tell me that Voldemort marks all of his followers?" Haku didn't take his eyes from the boys below. Seeing the battle and the reactions in person was so very different from seeing them through a small shard of glass and silver. He may not have been able to see details this time around, but such a thing was hardly necessary in watching this battle of wills.
"Y... yes..."
"It is the same. The Mark and the Hyuuga Seal are used to control possibly unruly soldiers."
Ito frowned as a thought occurred to him, "Then... it's a good thing we put in that 'no permanent harm' clause, hey?"
"The seal only causes permanent harm if used to the point of destroying the mind, and therefore causing death," Haku's lips quirked and Ito felt horror swirl in his gut, "As such, the Hyuuga are perfectly capable of placing the seal on Yaone to keep the secret of their abilities from continuing on."
His mouth dry, Ito eyed Haku, "You planned this."
"In so many words? No. I would like to see how the seal works, so if they placed in on her, I can. If not, then no harm is done," he shrugged, "Besides, if we truly need to, Zabuza-san and I know how to create the Byakugan now."
"Create...?" Ito could say nothing more than the one word, before an explosion of chakra and mana yanked his attention back to the fight below, "What the hell!"
"This is..." a shiver of fear ran down Haku's spine, "...the evil chakra that defeated me!"
It looks so different now! Haku's cold fear clouded his mind, but he clung to his thoughts to drag himself out of that dark pit. The beast that had nearly killed him had been born of an inferno of red chakra, shaped as a fox's head. Now that red chakra appeared as nine giant sweeping tails of power.
Haku's hand slipped into his robe and he clutched at the mask within, fingers scoring the clay. Such terrifying abilities...!
It was only another couple of minutes, but it felt like forever, that imposing chakra baring down on the crowd as Naruto fought. He'd reined it in, but for those who had had contact with it before, it could not be hidden away while being used.
"Winner: Uzumaki Naruto!"
Haku stood up as the clapping began, releasing the mask and stretching his fingers. He'd held on so tightly that they hurt...
As the evil chakra faded, the mist-nin all but glided through the crowds towards the Hyuuga clan head. He, too, had stood and was making his way through the crowds, leaving his young daughter behind. Yaone sat stiffly, still with her head tucked behind her collar, but nearly jumped out of her skin when Haku's hand landed on her shoulder.
She looked up, and Haku had to fight with himself not to react, though his eyes still widened. There was no sign of either her natural eye color or the pupil-less violet gaze he had become accustomed to. Instead, the empty white eyes of the Hyuuga looked up at him, "Haku..."
"Yaone," he paused, glancing at the young Hyuuga in front of them, before switching into English, "Did the Hyuuga leave you with any standing orders?"
Anger turned the Granger girl's face crimson, "You... you asshole. You knew!"
"Knew what? I had assumed from looking at your eyes that the Hyuuga had adopted you and made you a member of their family," as Ito came up behind him, Haku wondered at what would happen next. Yaone becoming fully proficient in the Byakugan had not been in the plans, and it looked as though they might have lost the chance to train her to use the Sharingan as well.
"Branch Family," Yaone spat, "You knew before I even got involved with the Hyuuga what would happen."
"He says he didn't plan it," Ito's voice was flat, "Though he's certainly not disturbed by it."
Haku frowned at the two of them, "You never answered my question, Yaone. Do you have any standing orders?"
"To watch over Hyuuga Hanabi-sama when Hyuuga Hiashi-sama is not there to do so."
"I suspected as much. Ito, please stay with Yaone. Perhaps you could teach the young Heiress a few tricks," he turned and began to walk away.
Ito scowled, "Where are you going?"
It was in Japanese that Haku responded, "Hyuuga-sama and I have some business to conclude."
Neither Hiashi nor Haku had returned by the time the next match was announced, so Ito settled himself into the seat that had been the young Hyuuga's father's. She was a grumpy little girl, but no more so than some of the females he had met in his years at Hogwarts.
"And now, the next match!" came the announcer's shout, "Kankurou and Haruno Sakura! Come down!"
"...I forfeit."
Sakura had planted her hands on the railing and had been about to jump down when Kankurou's call froze her, "What?" she turned to glare at the older boy, annoyed, "You ass, you're denying me a match after I worked so hard to get here!"
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, "I just don't feel like it."
"At least your female teammate has some balls," she spat, watching the blonde enter the arena, "even if they aren't anatomically there."
"Watch it girlie," Kankurou growled, and Sakura sneered at him.
"You wanna take me on? Then get down there and fight."
"Stop your whining, bitch."
Sakura's eyebrow twitched as Inner banged her fists against her mental cage, screaming to be let out and to rip the ass to pieces, "You little--"
"Shut up."
The pink haired girl blinked and the puppeteer froze. Both of them turned to look at the redheaded youth standing at the railing.
"You're starting to annoy me," Sabaku no Gaara continued, not once looking up from the battle between his sister and the leaf ninja. Sakura opened her mouth to tell him to mind his own business, when Kankurou's hand clamped around it.
She bit his hand, and he cursed loudly, "Goddamit, what the hell! I'm just trying to keep you alive, you little psycho!"
"I can take care of myself," she snapped, "so don't touch me."
"Hey, Sakura-chan," Naruto interrupted before it could get any worse, "What's Shikamaru doing?"
She blinked, moving over to her teammate's side, completely ignoring Kankurou, "How the hell should I know?"
"You're friends with Ino, right? Doesn't she tell you anything?"
"Why would Ino tell me about her teammates?" Sakura smacked him upside the head. Well, it looked like she wouldn't get her match until the next round, but she could at least watch. Sulkily, she leaned against the railing. Though she would've liked to have fought, at least she would be fresh for the next round. An invaluable trump card.
"Winner: Temari!"
"Why did he give up? Is he an idiot? This pisses me off, I'm gonna go give him a lecture!"
Sakura let out a small yelp as Naruto threw himself over the railing, completely forgetting that she had been about to do the same only moments before, "Naruto you ass!"
"Lectures are tricky things," Shino mused from the other side of her, "If you don't want to anger the other party."
Even with the amusing scene of Naruto berating Shikamaru down below, the crowd was getting restless. Shouts and calls came from all directions, demanding the Uchiha fight. With a sigh, Sakura leaned forwards. Where is he...?
Almost as soon as she thought it, leaves began to swirl through the middle of the arena, and two forms became visible. Hatake Kakashi and Uchiha Sasuke had arrived.
"That was rather dramatic."
Sakura half-shrieked with fright at the voice that came from behind her. Whirling around and clutching at her chest, she glared up at the mist-nin standing there. After a moment, anger became confusion, "Haku...? Why are you wearing your mask? And what happened to it?"
He was indeed wearing the hunter-nin mask, several deep gouges digging through the clay across the right cheek. She couldn't see it, but having spent a month training with him, she was sure he was smiling behind that mask, "I thought a new look would be nice, as I no longer have to pretend I am a genin for Ito and Yaone."
Sakura frowned, "For... do they not know?"
The hunter-nin patted her on the shoulder with a smile, and proceeded to turn her to face back towards the arena, "They know what they know and what they do not know they do not. What matters now is this match. Won't you watch?"
"Uh... yeah, of cour-- Haku what are you doing here this is for..." she trailed off as she turned around again. The mist-nin had vanished. She frowned, "Shino-kun, where did Haku go?"
The Aburame shrugged, "He left."
Sakura's eyebrow twitched. That was completely unhelpful. Annoyed, the girl stomped away from the railing and into the arena's corridors. He was probably back with Ito. Well, she'd just have to give him a piece of her mind! And it wasn't as though like the match between the sand-guy and Sasuke-kun had started yet so she wasn't missing anything.
Once she was gone, Haku dropped down off the ceiling. This is what he had been waiting for; what their mission was truly about. What happened during this match could make or break the world that he had come from. So once he had finished with Hiashi, he had donned his mask and come to find Sakura. His memories told him that she had been in the crowd; and he wanted everything to be as close to the original as possible, despite his own changes.
Folding his arms into his sleeves, he tipped his head to Aburame, and walked away. Not towards where the spectators were supposed to be, but towards the outer wall of the arena. Yaone and Ito could figure out their own parts without his help, but there were certain events he had to ensure happened exactly as he remembered them.
If that meant killing a leaf that got too close to changing what he knew, than so be it.
Everything seemed to change so quickly. She had come across Kakashi and had been about to ask him if he had seen Haku when Sasuke's battle with Gaara had begun. She had stood there, transfixed by it, completely forgetting the mist-nin that she'd been chasing. And then something had gone wrong. Kakashi and Gai were dispelling a genjutsu of some sort and the only thing she could think of to do was to follow their example.
The Kazekage kidnapped the Hokage.
The ANBU in the arena had taken action.
The rest of Gaara's team joined him in the arena.
Sasuke ran off.
"Kakashi, look within the barrier," Gai's voice cut through her distressed thoughts and anchored her somewhat. She was a ninja, and sometimes missions went to hell. She had to stay calm, stay ready.
"Orochimaru!"
Sakura's hand went to her neck, and the shallow scars that marked where the Snake Sannin's fangs had grazed her. Orochimaru...? Why? Why is he here? It can't be for Sasuke-kun again-- he said... he said that Sasuke would come to him. But Kakashi...
Kakashi had sealed the Uchiha's mark, hadn't he? Did that mean Orochimaru couldn't control him through it now? So he could be after Sasuke-kun...!
Before she could do anything more than turn towards where he had jumped out of the arena, she caught a flash of movement out of the corner of her eye. Inner was still itching for a fight, having been denied the battle with Kankurou, and Sakura didn't know what the situation was.
She let up the restraints on her. Not completely, but enough that Inner's particular battle skills were available for her. The mark and scars on her neck twinged as she bounced backwards, producing a kunai in each hand. She needn't have worried-- Kakashi had gone over top of her as she moved backwards, eliminating the two Sound Ninja that had jumped at her.
"Sakura, stay like that for a bit... I'll even the odds a little."
Sakura shot him a glare as he leapt into the arena, quickly followed by Gai. The two jounin were thrashing the Sound-nin that they fought against, and Sakura felt useless. She would get in the way if she tried to get into that battle. She hated feeling useless.
"Sakura!"
She stopped berating herself as Kakashi's voice split the air; "It was worth teaching you genjutsu during the genin survival training. As I thought, you have a talent for genjutsu..."
Sakura's eyes narrowed. Just for genjutsu? Sure, Kakashi hadn't seen her in a month, but surely he would have been able to tell that she could do more than play with illusions.
"Nullify the genjutsu and wake up Naruto and Shikamaru. This is the first mission you've had in quite a while..."
"What kind of mission?"
"Listen carefully. Since the first time since the Wave Country Mission, an A Class mission..."
The Wave Country Mission...? She drew in a breath. Haku... She had intended to find him before this mess began. Where ever he was, Sakura could only hope he was on their side. She didn't want to have to kill a friend.
She brushed those thoughts off, "Sensei! At a situation like this... what kind of 'A' Rank mission?"
"Sasuke is in pursuit of Gaara and the others from the Sand. Sakura... you are to nullify the genjutsu on Naruto and Shikamaru, and track down Sasuke."
"For that... shouldn't I wake up Ino and Choji, then all of us..."
"Most likely shinobi from the Sand and Sound have already entered the village," Kakashi interrupted, "with more than the basic four man small team, you lose speed and it becomes harder to remain hidden... you learned that during the patrol drills at the academy, right?"
"Yeah... wait, four? Who's the other person?"
"Kuchiyose no jutsu!"
When the smoke cleared from the technique, Sakura's mouth went dry. That was the biggest damn dog she had ever seen. The massive black mutt hopped off of the back of the man he'd been summoned on, and Kakashi blinked a few times.
"I didn't intend to summon you, Sirius. But in any case, Sakura-- Sirius here will be able to track Sasuke down by his scent."
"Wait a moment, the last person is a dog?"
Sirius gave a wuffling laugh before a strange shiver seemed to over take him. After a moment, he settled and to Sakura's surprise, spoke, "Relax, kiddo. Give me a little credit here."
"You can talk?" Kakashi leaned around the dog to look him in the face, "Why haven't you ever talked to me? Pakkun talks to me."
"Because it takes a lot of ma... chakra to make my vocal cords human, without going all the way. Pakkun talks because he's weird."
"Right, right. Alright Sakura, nullify the genjutsu on Naruto and Shikamaru."
"Right!" grabbing hold of Sirius' ruff, the ninja and the nin-dog slipped passed the unconscious bodies of the spectators to get to the loudest and laziest ninja.
Naruto was easy to wake up, just dispel and poke. Shikamaru on the other hand...
Sirius gave a woof, and promptly pounced on the boy, "Oof! Get off me!"
"You were able to deflect the genjutsu too," Sakura snapped, "Why the hell were you playing possum?"
"Bah," the Nara snorted, shoving Sirius off of him, "I didn't want to be attacked. I refuse! Who cares about Sasuke?"
"So what's going on?" Naruto yawned, only to get slammed into the ground by his pink haired love, "Sa-Sakura-chan...?"
"Fast..." croaked a voice from behind, and Sakura sat up, Naruto twisted around to find Maito Gai behind them. He'd slammed the Sound Ninja that Sakura had seen coming into the wall behind them.
"Not just fast," the jounin smirked, and sent him through the wall.
"Now I'll restate your mission!" Kakashi had appeared between them and the arena, "Once you've heard it, escape through that hole. Chase after Sasuke, join up with him, and stop him. Then take him away to a safe location!"
"What happened to Sasuke?" Naruto wondered.
"I'll explain as we go," Sakura snagged the boy's orange jacket and dragged him out through the hole, Sirius a half step behind her. Shikamaru groaned.
"Why me...?"
End Chapter
Two chapters in one day. Wow. That happens... once a year. Hey, Happy Birthday "For Your Dream". Hopefully by your second birthday you're finished, so I don't have to kill myself typing up another "double release"!
Though I could have released this seven hours ago when I actually finished the thing. But I decided last night that I'd post just after midnight and just before midnight as a 'opening' and 'closing' to the day. Yay!
More skipping around and I think it might be a bit disconjointed. I decided to use the Manga as the reference for this part, unlike the rest which is based on the Anime, because it's faster to read a manga and jump over the bits that don't need to be written, than to go through an episode estimating where important stuff is needed for the fic.
We're getting closer now, to going back to Hogwarts. Volume Two is closed. Chapter Twenty-Six begins Volume Three: "Sealed, Scarred, and Broken." If you get the references, you might just figure out where a tiny piece of the plot is going.
Sorry there wasn't muchabout Yaone and the deal with the Hyuuga. That becomes important in a few chapters, once important "Naruto Plot Stuff" is finished off and we can go back to throwing Haku & Zabuza at Hogwarts and seeing how many walls they ricochet off of.
Review responses are done via email; so if you're not logged in when you write your review, don't forget to leave your email address!
EDIT TO ANNOUNCE: I have turned off anonymous reviews because if you can't be arsed enough to leave an email address for me to be able to respond to your bitching, you have no right to comment on my story. Thank you, and have a nice day.