"Ready?" Sakura whispered, hidden beneath a huge bush with Chie and Naruto behind her.
"Aye!" two voices whispered back and then the rustling sound of the plant began, proving that both Naruto and Chie had left their position.
Sakura moved forward trusting her friends and slowly made her way towards the main road that led through the Village of the Eleven Bears.
The village was one of the oldest ones that existed in the Fire Country, and due to its position so close to the Land of Snow and the fact that it was geographically in the middle of the five great shinobi lands, it was always in the centre of battle during the great shinobi wars over the years. And centuries ago, this is the place where a once mighty clan had first fallen…
Sakura put on a straw hat and wrapped herself in her black cloak to hide any evidence she was a ninja.
The plan was to blend in and not draw attention, she thought and walked calmly, her eyes always keeping everything under watch, through the main road and the crowded gates of the village.
As far as she knew, the Village of the Eleven Bears was called like that because of the special ability of the first leader of this village to talk to animals. Towards the north extended high mountains which were most of the year covered in snow, as a result the mountain bears often moved south to find food.
The leader of this village, whose name Sakura didn't know, used the bears' unleashed power against enemies during the first great shinobi war, and since then this shinobi and his ten bears had become heroes of the village.
Sakura observed with normal curiosity of a person who enters for the first time this village the strange buildings made of marble, giving it a strange glow under the midday's sun. Most of them were carved with different depictions of the great shinobi wars that had a great effect on this place. The roads that led through the white buildings were made of stone, and flags were waving from every window and every corner.
The people here had to be very patriotic, she thought looking at an old woman sitting under a huge flag with the face of a bear and ten stars around its head forming a circle on the white-blue fabric.
The colours of snow, she thought finding it strange that this village was actually considered a part of the Fire Country.
The northern wind was rather chilly. Although it was summer, which meant the snow and ice of the northern lands must have melted a long time now, the air still felt rather cold for the season.
Sakura moved through the crowd with no difficulty, avoiding touching anyone, and looked for herb shops.
Naruto and Chie would go for supplies, since their journey was still a long way.
Sakura noticed a group of shinobi soldiers standing in front of a bar, long katanas hanging from their backs. She tried not to look too suspicious as she walked past them.
She could feel the drilling stare of someone, but she just disappeared in the crowd.
Around a corner in an alley she found a pharmacy. An old man was sitting outside, smoking a pipe and staring at the sky.
Sakura took off her straw hat and slightly bowed at the old man, his eyes so wrinkled she could hardly distinguish the dark irises.
The old man glanced at Sakura giving her a grin.
"Good morning, sir!" she greeted him politely.
"Why are you hiding this strange beauty of yours, miss?" he asked her, not looking at her as he sucked pleasantly his pipe.
Sakura felt a blush run over her cheeks.
"Strange?" she repeated placing some strands behind her ear.
He looked at her.
"It's been long since I last set my eyes on pink hair! It's not a colour you see every day!" he chuckled and moved inside his shop.
Sakura followed him calmly, scanning tactfully the shop for any traps.
The old man placed his pipe on the bank and pointed at the hundred shelves covered with herbs, bottles, medicine, and other ingredients for medics. Sakura looked around to search what she wanted.
"Well… my father has dark pink hair as well." She said just to keep the conversation going. Suddenly, she felt something was not right here.
The man chuckled.
"For a moment I thought you'd say they're died!"
Sakura chuckled along.
"No, sir! They're natural! I'd like to have those herbs over there." She pointed at a low shelf at a box.
He handed it to her and grinned again.
"You are a beautiful lady and I wish you all happiness!" he told her.
Sakura smiled.
"Thank you, sir!" she handed him the money and placed the box in her backpack.
"I wish you good business!" she told him and with a bow walked away.
She could still smell the heavy scent of the old man's pipe as she left the alley and returned in the crowded market street.
She remembered one picture, the only picture her father had from his family. She never had the chance to meet them, they had all died when her father was just in her age. Most of them had different tints of pink hair as well. Her father used to tell her stories of his grandfather whom he really loved. Her great-grandfather had, according to her father, the exact same tint of pink hair as her, something that always made Sakura very proud of her strange hair colour.
On the other hand, her mother had normal dark brown hair. She used to be a very beautiful woman…
Sakura sighed feeling her heart suddenly heavy and a grip around her stomach.
Sakura looked around searching for any sign of bright blonde hair, but the majority was dark-haired. Naruto and Chie were nowhere to be seen.
They had agreed to meet in a specific spot, which was away from the popular roads of the village, but still not too deserted in order not to draw much attention on them. So, Sakura slowly made her way towards the playground in the west of the village. It was Chie's idea to meet there, as she was the only one who had been here before.
Sakura could still feel this drilling stare on her, but it'd be too suspicious if she looked around.
She halted by a souvenir shop surrounded by a fence, where two children with bright green hair were fighting with taijutsu outside the front door.
Sakura stayed and watched them, the way the one swirled touching the ground with just his palms and the other one fought him with his arms. They were moving rather fast, and they were enjoying their little innocent battle.
But Sakura could easily see which one was the most determined one to win. The little boy who was fighting with his arms mostly, calculated every single movement of his component, he was carefully spinning around himself, never losing the other from his eyes though and never making a single wrong move.
She found herself drawn from the boy's strong will and along with others who were passing by she stayed there watching them.
The other boy suddenly jumped in the air and the one Sakura had been watching mostly kneeled so quickly and did a quick hand signal which Sakura needed a long moment to identify as the Summoning technique.
Out of thin air, a small lizard appeared wearing a red collar around its neck and its foils sparkled in metallic colours under the bright sun. The lizard crawled towards the exact spot where the other boy was about to land and the summoner of the lizard made another hand signal.
"Deadly Whistle Jutsu!" the boy said and the lizard opened its mouth widely revealing its long tongue and suddenly everything was quiet. The boy watched his lizard with wide eyes waiting the result of his technique.
Sakura found herself holding her breathe, awaiting to listen to any sound the lizard would do. The entire crowd watching was holding its breath, and the lizard just stood there with its jaws open.
The other boy in the meantime landed over the lizard with great speed, crashing the stones of the road underneath him.
The lizard managed to get away in the last moment.
Sakura frowned noticing the great disappointment in the boy's eyes.
"You failed! Admit it!" the other boy shouted panting.
The lizard crawled back to its master, its yellow eyes shining dangerously.
The boy let his head fall on his collarbone.
"It didn't work again!" he muttered and the lizard moved its head to look at its master.
"It never works!" he continued and Sakura saw a pair of sparkling diamonds fall down his cheeks.
The crowd began murmuring.
"Kids!"
"That was a hell of a weak technique!"
"The other one was really strong! Look how he smashed the stone!"
"Why are you giving up, huh?" Sakura heard the loud and clear voice of Naruto from somewhere. She followed his voice and saw him only a few steps behind her standing with his hands on his hips. His cloak was simply hanging from his shoulders revealing every sign on his clothes that he was a ninja. The shurinken holsters around his both thighs, the bandages that kept his black trousers from messing with his feet, the kunais hanging in sheaths from the inside of his cloak.
Sakura wanted to punch his face for revealing himself like this in front of the entire village.
The boy with the lizard looked up at Naruto.
Naruto passed by Sakura not even glancing at her and kneeled in order to look the boy in eye level.
The boy dried his eyes quickly.
"You could win, you know!" Naruto told him with a wide grin pushing the boy slightly with his forefinger on his forehead.
The boy gasped.
"Train harder and never give up!" Naruto said and chuckled.
The boy frowned angry.
"It's easy for you to say! You look like a strong shinobi. You don't need to train hard, you must be strong already! So stop being smart!" he shot at him with tears in his eyes.
Naruto looked seriously at the boy leaning his elbows on his knees and linking his palms in front of him.
"You're wrong here! I'm training every day to become stronger and stronger. And I haven't stopped ever since I was your age. And I tell you this; that I won't stop training until the day that I'll die!" Naruto grinned again.
"You have more guts than I do, kid! You can summon a real little beast here in such a young age! The first time I could summon anything was a long time after! Keep working hard and do not let yourself down for such little losses! Through losing you get to know your limits, you get to know the faults in your techniques. Do you know what went wrong just now?"
The boy looked thoughtful for a moment.
Sakura made a step closer.
"I lack in chakra!" the boy muttered disappointed with himself.
"No! Your chakra flow was perfect. Something else was not right!" Naruto said and pointed at the lizard.
The lizard hissed, its tongue flipping in the air.
The boy looked at its lizard but shook his head not understanding.
Sakura felt that drilling stare again and tried to search her surroundings from the corner of her eyes.
"Your connection with the beast was not complete."
"It can't get better! I've already worked so long to reach this level!" the boy argued.
"It'll be easier, I promise you that! Train again and again with the beast, until you manage to share minds. Your chakra becomes one with the beast's chakra once you fully reach its being the way you reach yours!"
The boy lifted an eyebrow.
"I don't understand a thing!"
Sakura chuckled remembering that Naruto used to be a lot like this kid.
Naruto stood up and scratched his head.
"Well… how should I put this?"
"Train me! Help me perfect this technique!" the boy cried bouncing and grabbing Naruto's clothes.
The lizard hissed again.
"Ehmm! That's impossible!"
"Why? Come on!"
Naruto looked at Sakura over his shoulder like he was requesting for some kind of help.
Sakura tried to loosen up with keeping her profile down, so she came closer to Naruto and the persistent kid.
"Who are these guys, Ken?" the other boy asked with an angry frown.
The boy with the lizard smiled broadly.
"Great shinobi who'll help me with training!" Ken replied and grabbed both Naruto's and Sakura's hands.
Sakura glanced at Naruto confused.
Naruto gave her the same look back.
Great, now we draw all the attention there is, she thought noticing that many people were now staring at them.
"Look, we have a great journey ahead of us and we should-!"
"Go soon! Very soon!" Naruto completed Sakura's sentence, but Ken had already dragged them into the souvenir shop.
"Gramps! Hey, gramps!" Ken yelled, while the other boy who was obviously Ken's brother scanned Naruto and Sakura with his intense stare.
The shop was round and all over the walls of crème marble shelves were hanging with local products like dry fruits and different shapes made of marble, like animals and even small shinobi. The small white figures looked like covered with snow and the natural light that entered from the little windows reflected on the cold stone. Sakura noticed a red cat sleeping on top of one shelf.
Footsteps echoed from the far end of the shop and an old man appeared from stairs that led underground. He approached them with a stick helping him keep his balance and his bright green eyes looked first at his grandchildren and then at the two strangers.
"Good day!" he greeted them with a bow.
"Gramps! Look, these shinobi will help me train!" Ken said happily. The lizard crawled up Ken's trousers and then his sleeve sticking on his shoulder.
Sakura shivered feeling suddenly a tickle on her own shoulder from the sight.
"Ah! I thought you were tourists!" the old man said with a grin revealing fewer teeth than normal.
That's what we intended to, Sakura thought pressing her lips.
"Well, we are on vacation actually!" Naruto said grinning.
Ken, his brother and his grandfather grinned all the same smile as they looked from Sakura to Naruto and then back to Sakura.
"You have a cute girlfriend! I hope she doesn't mind you stick around to train me, huh?" Ken said giving his cute smile to Sakura.
Sakura gasped.
"No! I'm not his-!"
"Yeah, she's the cutest girl throughout the five lands!" Naruto said and an arm shot around her shoulders bringing her closer to him.
Sakura blushed unwillingly and wished she didn't hesitate to smash his face.
"Oh, lovely!" the old man muttered looking like he enjoyed the view of the two of them.
Sakura tried to control the chakra flow that was rushing through her arms in her fists.
"Yeah! She is, isn't she?" Naruto said, making Sakura burn with irritation under his grip.
Was he really looking for a fight, she wondered.
"So! When do we begin, huh?" Ken asked.
"Unfortunately we won't stay long! We're leaving right away! We're going to get married you see, in my fiancé's hometown and we're both looking veeery forward to it!"
Sakura stepped on Naruto's foot, but he only grunted silently.
Once they went out of this shop she would make sure no one would ever recognize his face again.
Fiancé… he's looking forward to his death!
"Where do you come from, madam?" the old man asked Sakura.
Sakura wondered where the hell Chie was. If she appeared who would she pretend to be, their daughter?
Sakura swallowed hardly.
"Ehm… the Land of Snow!" she said with a fake grin.
Naruto chuckled next to her.
What was holding her from punching him to death right now, she wondered as her heart was beating faster due to her struggle to keep her chakra flow under control.
"Ah! That's why you look so familiar!" the old man said and brushed Ken's hair. Ken grinned at him and stroked his lizard.
Sakura frowned.
"Familiar? What do you mean, sir?"
"It is a strange hair colour you have, child!" he commented.
What was that with everybody and her pink hair today, she wondered intensely feeling suddenly Naruto's grip loosen on her forearm.
"The blossoms that march to death as the snow falls."
"Spring drowns in the endless winter as the black crows break the silence."
The old man glanced at his grandson and chuckled.
"You remember it, Kenji?" he asked the kid.
"You even talk in your sleep of this legend, gramps!" Ken's brother said not hiding his irritation with the whole situation.
Sakura glanced at Naruto, wondering what on earth they were talking about. Naruto looked as confused as she did.
"Sometimes legends are nothing more than real stories!" the old man commented looking deep in thoughts as he closed his eyes and limped towards a small window.
Sakura and Naruto followed him with their eyes, while both Ken and his brother stayed frozen with their eyes set on Sakura.
The atmosphere suddenly felt cold and distant, and Sakura wanted to leave this place. She grabbed Naruto's hand and forced him towards the door.
"Excuse us, but we really need to go! Have a-!" Sakura began, but Ken's brother spoke.
"Are you really a descendant of the shinobi of blossoms?"
Sakura stayed there, holding Naruto's hand tight. Her grip grew tighter and tighter around his hand, almost crashing his fingers as the air was becoming too thin to breathe for an unknown reason. Sakura stared at the boy's intense green stare. It felt like he was examining her every cell on her face, like he was searching some proof that whatever he was talking about was real.
"Kai! This is nonsense! It's a legend!" Ken said.
Kai looked at him over his shoulder crossing his arms in front of him.
"Have you ever seen pink hair before?" Kai said in a harsh tone.
"N-no, but it can't be, right?" Ken said with a trembling voice.
The boy looked at his grandfather who was staring at something far away from them.
Sakura was sure something was not right with those people, and something told her to leave immediately.
"We need to go!" she muttered to Naruto and together they walked outside the shop.
"What's wrong with them?" Naruto wondered loudly and just followed Sakura away from the market street. She noticed pairs of eyes staring at them both with intense curiosity.
Sakura put on her straw hat and tried to ignore them as Naruto was complaining next to her.
"What kind of legend were they talking about?" he continued as Sakura for some reason was still holding his wrist tight as they walked hastily through alleys under the greatness of the marble buildings.
"And that old man, he was creepy saying these poems! Man, I still shiver!"
"Where the hell is that playground?" Sakura grunted annoyed searching for the sun behind the white buildings. The light reflecting on the white stone caused Sakura to see strange glimpses of light and messed her eye-sight.
"To the west I think!" Naruto said pointing to his left.
"West is there!" Sakura corrected him pointing to their back when she located the real sun through all the reflections.
Still holding tight his wrist, they were almost running trying desperately to find their meeting point.
This unwelcome feeling that something wasn't right, that someone was always watching her was starting to make Sakura too aware of herself and nervous enough to perplex her. On top of that, she felt more angry with those strange people from the souvenir shop rather than with Naruto's joke them being married.
She hadn't understood a thing of what they had said, but she knew they were talking about her. About something she had no clue of.
"They were right in one thing though, those weirdos!" Naruto said with his classic grin.
Sakura shot him a killer glance.
"Beware of what you're going to say!" Sakura warned him searching around for any sign of a playground.
"That you're a blossom!" she heard Naruto say stopping in his steps making Sakura lose her balance.
Suddenly she felt his grip around her wrist and his strength forcing her to spin around herself and face him.
Sakura frowned irritated.
In a second which happened so quickly but so slowly as well, Sakura watched how Naruto looked deep in her eyes and cupped her face in his warm palms. How he slowly leaned to come face to face with her and how her heart had begun beating so fast, she feared it'd shatter in a million pieces. How her cheeks grew warmer under his touch.
His sparkling, blue eyes, the colour of the morning sky, were casting her under some strange kind of illusion making her freeze in her steps, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to even think clearly, as Naruto touched his lips gently on hers and kissed her.
Sakura gasped feeling him move his lips slowly without intruding, and his fingers slightly tickle her scarred cheeks.
Why was she still, she wondered and fought the urge to close her eyes and fall in this strange illusion.
She pushed him away before she would fall a victim in the temptation to kiss him back. She quickly turned her back to him trying to find herself again and walked away, hoping she created a long distance between them.
There was a strange silence and Sakura felt the blush on her cheeks burn her insides.
"I-I'm sorry!" she heard Naruto say. Fear flooded her heart to face him.
What… happened?
Why did it happen, she wondered touching her lips with her fingers. They felt warm, and the touch of her own fingers on them made her cheeks burn more.
She turned around to look at him, regretting doing so.
Naruto had hid his face in his one palm, while the other was clenched in a fist.
"I'm a total idiot! Forgive me!" he said with a tone that made Sakura feel a chill down her spine. He sounded angry… with himself.
Sakura was about to call him, but he walked away from her, disappearing behind the white buildings. An intense reflection hit her eyes and she flinched looking away as a boulder of guilt crashed her heart.
_______________
"You trust them?" Kakashi growled.
"You don't?" Tsunade growled back at him with the same intensity.
Kakashi flickered glancing at Shizune and Tenzo who were standing next to the Hokage.
They both avoided his angry stare and he turned back to Tsunade.
"They are going after Madara! How the hell am I going to trust them, when they're going to fight against a shinobi not even all of us together cannot fight? You remember what happened with Pain!" Kakashi said loudly, losing his row of thinking, as the fury was building up inside of him.
None of this made sense. For some reason, Tsunade, Tenzo and Shizune were so sure that Sakura had a perfect plan to draw Uchiha Madara out of his hideout, and along with Naruto and Chie they would defeat not only Madara, but all of his followers along with Kuroi as well.
They were all nuts, he thought gritting his teeth.
"You're mad! I'm going after them!" he announced.
"No, you're not! Sai and his team are going to follow them in disguise, so that they won't know we know, as a result Madara won't know either!" Tsunade explained sitting on her desk calmly with this annoying grin of accomplishment.
Kakashi approached her with heavy steps, still not feeling like himself knowing he had two normal eyes. He had wrapped his forehead protector over it though, since the last thing he wanted to deal with now were the comments about his new eye.
"You know something you're not telling me, right?" Kakashi said in a serious tone, not minding at all about this sudden, but still not unreasonable, burst of rudeness and impatience in front of everyone.
Tsunade leaned her head on her palm balancing her elbow on the desk, surrounded by piles of papers and documents. Her honey brown eyes looked up at him.
"I have all the right to feel proud about Naruto and Sakura! They acted just like you would act in their place, or even me! But still their plan is even better. This couldn't have worked in any other way! We had to be fooled, or else Madara would know immediately and confront us with no difficulty." Tsunade stood up and her green anorak danced around her hips.
"It makes perfect sense! Sakura used everything she found out from us about Madara against him, in our favour. She knows Madara is after her, so she uses it as an alibi to abandon the village and go after him. She makes us all think that she's going to surrender herself, but still she takes Naruto and Chie along with her. She took with her in this dangerous task the people she trusts the most, the people she knows will do exactly as she says without doubting her words." Tsunade put her hands on her hips and her face sparkled with a sudden wave of excitement and pride as she looked at him.
"I'm sorry for taking your glory as her sensei, Kakashi! But I believe I was the one who taught her to act like this! She has surpassed me, just like Naruto has surpassed Jiraya!" she said with a wide smile.
Kakashi felt a strange warmth caress his insides and remembered the night when Sakura told him in this professional and serious tone of a true medic-nin about his problem with the Sharingan. Or during their mission in the Village of the Blue Tree when she thought of the plan to fight against Madara's ability to read minds, and where she used Water Techniques of great power.
Indeed, she had improved a lot as a kunoichi, but there was no possible way he could take off this burden on his shoulder and this fear that lingered in his chest knowing that there was a great possibility neither Sakura, nor Naruto and Chie would return.
They were still so young. They still hadn't tasted the true glory as ninjas, they still hadn't lived life, so why would he just sit behind, when he could take their place and give them the chance to survive. He was their sensei, he would always be. And never should the students sacrifice themselves for their senior. The job of a real shinobi sensei is to protect the young ones, the ones that hold the future in their hands.
Of course he trusted Sakura, even Naruto… but he would go after them and he would help them. And he would make sure that they would win this fight alive…
Tsunade seemed like she knew what he was thinking as her steady gaze was fixed on his, and he didn't doubt it that perhaps that was her plan as well. She was Sakura's mentor and she loved her like a daughter.
Tsunade was right, he thought looking deep in the Hokage's sparkling eyes. She taught Sakura to be such a powerful and decisive kunoichi, not he.
"Where is Sai at the moment?" he asked after a long silent moment not taking his eyes off of Tsunade's.
She smiled understanding his plan.
"They reached the waterfall by the Village of the Blue Tree yesterday. They're heading north as we speak." She said and crossed her arms on her chest.
Kakashi bowed slightly.
"Rin-san! Please forgive my rudeness for not explaining it all to you. You have all the right to know, since your daughter is in danger and you proved your loyalty to the village by helping Kakashi, Naruto and me!" Tsunade said looking at Rin who was standing quietly next to Kakashi.
She bowed slightly back at her.
"For gratitude to all you've done, I want to offer you the manager's place in the hospital of Konoha!"
Shizune and Kakashi looked at Tsunade shocked.
Tenzo smiled.
Rin glanced at each one of them to make sure about what she had heard.
Tsunade chuckled.
"Uchiha may still be alive and wandering around, but a good feeling is welling my heart! There is hope, and I personally will make sure this mess will soon come to an end!" she said turning around to face the window that was looking over the afternoon covering the Village Hidden in the Leaves.
Kakashi noticed how she sighed and her shoulders raised and fell gently again.
"I trust your abilities, Rin! If you want to return to your village, your acceptance to this job will give you automatically the title of a Leaf citizen again!" the Hokage said, her back towards them.
Kakashi looked at Rin noticing her eyes swelling slowly as tears were forming.
She looked at him and dried her eyes quickly smiling widely.
Kakashi grabbed her hand and smiled back at her, happy with her happiness and with Tsunade's sudden generosity.
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!" Rin managed to say as soon as she had calmed her tears down.
Tsunade turned around to look at Rin beaming.
"You can call me Tsunade! We're partners now!" she said and sat back down on her desk.
"But Uchiha is still alive. We shall focus on the burning matters and fight until this ends! Gather all jonins and ANBU in the meeting hall right away. I won't let Jiraya's kid take all the glory on his own!" Tsunade said glancing at Shizune and Tenzo.
"Aye!" they both said and left the Hokage's office.
When the door shut, Tsunade turned to Kakashi and Rin.
"Do not mess with the plan, Kakashi! Everything can turn upside down, and I trust you'll prevent this from happening. Meet up with Sai!"
"Aye, Hokahe-sama!" he said and felt Rin's grip tighten around his.
He glanced at her and gave her a smile under his mask.
He loved it seeing her happy and the fact that she was now under Tsunade's protection meant a lot to him. And especially to her.
She was welcomed back home…
He looked at the Hokage and bowed.
"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!"
"Thank you, Kakashi!" they exchanged glances of excitement and the common decision they both had made to protect the future of this village.
What awaited them was unpredictable, but a strong promising hope was floating in the air, like the single sunray that hesitantly made its way through the thick dark clouds after a strong and fatal storm. A hope that Tsunade radiated towards all jonins and ANBU shinobi who were in the village during the meeting, a hope that made Kakashi's heart warm in his chest as he packed his things to go and help his students along with Sai. A hope that promised a better future awaiting somewhere…
_
thanx for reading!!!
a little note: i checked the geography of the shinobi lands and well mine is "a little" different from that of Kishimoto-sensei! anyway, if you wonder where i put the Fire Country and so on, don't check the manga/anime, it's completely different! but it's not really that important! the important thing is that Kakashi is finally back and I had missed writing in his point of view, yeah!
i hope tomorrow i'll have the next chapter out, where finally the huge mystery is revealed... what could it be???
find out in the next chapter ;)
take care...!