Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Chapter 42
Eventually, Naruto and Sakura were discharged from the hospital. Kakashi had told them they had one week to rest - strictly no training - before they would meet up at the bridge as per usual. They still often returned to check up on Hinata, as did Neji and Ino.
The week seemed to pass by in a blur. Sakura barely left the house. Sometimes, Naruto would come over, be force-fed by Mebuki (he hated vegetables) and tell her that Sasuke still wasn't allowed any visitors. They discussed why Sasuke was given such a harsh sentence, but they couldn't think of a reason. It just seemed so strange.
On the final day of their week off, Tsunade sent for Sakura. They hadn't spoken since the Hokage visited her student in the hospital and that was very brief. "You sent for me, Shishou?" The pinkette asked, walking into the room without bothering to knock.
"Yes, Sakura. I wanted to talk about... Inner Sakura." She said and her student stiffened. "I need to know everything."
"I can tell you." Kokuo's voice rang throughout Tsunade's mind. Sakura almost flinched at the sound of her friend's voice. They hadn't spoken since their arguement.
It was the first time the Gobi was directly speaking to the Godaime. While the sannin found it odd, she appreciated the information she was receiving. Kokuo told her everything about Inner: their first meeting, the dreams and how the entity escaped.
"Can you not sense the chakra she stole?" Tsunade questioned.
"No. Seems as though she's masking it." The beast answered. "She would know how to stay under the radar."
The Godaime sat quietly for a second, in deep thought. "And we don't know her goal? What Inner wants?"
"It seems as though she just wants power." Sakura replied.
Tsunade sighed. "Okay, Sakura. That is all." The pinkette left, allowing the Hokage to process all the information.
Even though she was always with the Gobi, Sakura felt awkward the moment they were left alone. They had never argued before and this seemed like uncharted territory.
"Sakura-chan... I'm sorry." The beast said after a while.
"...I forgive you."
When Team Seven met up the next day, their seemed to be an unspoken rule to not talk about Sasuke. There was still an odd feeling in the air but the team tried to ignore it. It was better to ignore it as it put all of them into a somber mood.
Firstly, they trained. Kakashi continued teaching Sakura about Lightning Release. After all, it was her hardest nature release to learn since it wasn't her's nor Kokuo's affinity. He described how it should feel and attempted to teach her a new technique.
The Kyubi's host was still hard at work on strengthening his ninjutsu arsenal and the Flying Raijin Technique. He hadn't quite got it yet, but it was a hard jutsu to master. He needed to do some more research.
Strangely enough, Kakashi began teaching them both about Lightning Release. He had asked Naruto to join them after a while, and the Dobe was happy to since it seemed like he had had enough with the teleportation jutsu for one day.
Their sensei then started telling them about the Chidori, with absolutely no mention of their other teammate. "A big weakness of the Chidori is that, once you are using it, it creates a sense of tunnel vision. Since it requires you to move in a straight line, your opponent could attack you and it would be much harder for you to react." He explained.
"How did you come up with the Chidori?" Sakura asked. She often wondered how somebody created an entirely new technique. She hoped to do this one day.
"I tried adding Lightning Release to the Rasengan." The jonin replied, causing Naruto's mouth to open in shock.
"You can do that?!" He exclaimed.
"Well, it's extremely difficult." The silver-haired man added. The pinkette took his word for it. After all, Kakashi had failed it. That meant it was most likely impossible. "Anyway, let's get to it!" The jonin clapped, attempting to lighten the mood.
"Get to what?" The Dobe scratched his head. The kunoichi was also confused as to what they were getting to.
"With learning the Chidori, of course." Kakashi replied, as if his student was being silly. Sakura and Naruto looked at him as if he were crazy.
"What do you mean?" The cherry blossom asked.
"I thought that the two of you deserved a treat after everything that happened recently." A devilish glint entered the jonin's eye. "Be warned, this won't be easy for the two of you. Neither of you have an affinity for Lightning Style and the speed at which this technique is phenomenal. I couldn't use it properly without the Sharingan."
That's probably why he only taught Sasuke-kun then. Sakura now understood Kakashi's reasons.
"Alright!" Naruto cheered. "Let's do this thing!"
It will be like, we're a team who share a technique. The pinkette thought. Sasuke-kun would hate that. She added bitterly.
For the rest of their training session, Kakashi taught his two genin - that weren't in prison - the Chidori. Of course, they hadn't learnt it by the end of the session but it was a work in progress. It would take them a while to actually master the technique, especially at the speed it was required for them to move.
Sakura and Natuto sat on the ground and chatted with one another as they ate the lunches Mebuki Haruno had prepared for them. Kakashi continued to read his book as they ate, waiting for them to forget he was there so he could devour his own lunch the Haruno Woman had prepared for him.
Part of the reason he had decided to teach them the Chidori was because he felt that he had excluded them upon focusing on Sasuke so much. Another reason was because, as childish as it may have seemed, he felt slightly betrayed by his student for attempting to get a new sensei. Kakashi had trained Sasuke to the best of his ability - even helping him with his Sharingan. It just seemed like the Uchiha had no appreciation for the techniques his sensei had taught him. So, he taught Naruto and Sakura his signature move.
He did feel as though he was being petty. But, hey, it wasn't like he was perfect.
It was one of those days where Sakura thought nothing strange would happen. She would train, do some D-Rank missions, train some more and then go home.
It was getting easier to not think about Sasuke every time the remnants of Team Seven met up. At some point, as bad as it seemed, she completely forgot he was on the team - or even existed, for that matter. She did feel bad, but then she decided that she didn't want to feel bad for him so she stopped.
With nothing to do and a lot of time, the pinkette went for a stroll. Missions were done and she didn't have training with Tsunade later so she had some time on her hands. She had officially quit working at the Yamanaka Flower Shop a while ago as the Godaime said she wanted her student to begin working shifts at the hospital as an assistant soon. It was more money than the shop which was a plus. However, Ino and Hinata were sad to see her quit as it stopped the random moments they had with one another in the store.
Despite all the change around her, it felt as if things were finally slowing down.
"You." Somebody said to her left. Sakura whipped around and saw that it was Shino who had spoken. "Inside." He pointed to a restaurant and she noticed that all the other members of the Konoha Twelve - except Hinata and Sasuke - were there.
"Um... Okay." She walked inside, giving Ino a quizzical look. The blonde shrugged in response. They sat in one booth, four on the horizontal sides of the table and with Shino and Tenten sitting at the head. Everybody else seemed extremely confused as to what was going on.
"How could the eight of you," Tenten began, a fierce expression on her face as she pointed to everybody on the sides. "Go on an important mission and exclude Shino and I?"
"Weren't the two of you on a mission?" Shikamaru asked with a bored tone. He looked out the window and didn't wait for an answer.
"You did not ask me to come along." Shino said to Kiba.
"Man, you weren't even in the village!" The boisterous boy replied, exasperatedly.
"That doesn't matter." The Weapon User waved him off.
"Yes, it really does." Ino said to her with a roll of her eyes.
"Tenten-chan, is it that time of the month?" Lee was silenced with three death glares from the female ninjas at the table. He shrunk into his seat.
"We couldn't have ten people travelling with us." Chouji said, mouth filled with food.
We haven't even ordered yet... Sakura thought with a frown.
"Lee went!" Tenten shouted.
"Bushy-Brows joined last minute." Naruto informed her. "He saved Sakura-chan! We were lucky!"
"Kiba-san told me that you travelled in groups of four." Shino spoke this time. "Dividing a group of ten into two groups of five should not have been so difficult."
"None of this changes the fact that the two of you were not in the village." Neji seemed irritated now.
Sakura didn't say anything as her friends argued. She didn't really know what to say. They were arguing about going on a dangerous mission, it seemed unreal to her. So, she waved a waitress over, made a huge order and waited for the food to arrive.
"Sakura-san." Eventually, Shino called out her name. Everybody at the table went silent and looked at her. The waitress came over with a trolley, put the food down on the table and walked away with an odd look on her face - confused by the silence. Once she left, the Aburame continued. "You are uncharacteristically quiet." He finished.
She took this as a sign to add something to the conversation. It was like a test to see whether she had been listening or not - a test she would surely fail. So, naturally, she said what was on her mind. "Just be glad you didn't go."
Something seemed to click in their heads. Naruto and Ino gave her sympathetic glances. Both of them then reached out to the food, randomly saying something about it looking good and then everyone dug in, the previous conversation now forgotten.
A giant snake statue stood tall in the chamber. Orochimaru sat on a throne on top of it, a look of dissatisfaction on his face. The sannin was annoyed. First, his precious Sasuke-kun did not come to him, he was forced to take a different vessel who did not meet his standards and now, a group of ninja were here to ask for his help.
Five men stood below him, all bowing. They all wore Stone ninja uniforms, except there was a red badge on their vests. It had the black silhouette of a Mole on it. The one in the middle, the leader, stepped forward and spoke.
"Orochimaru-sama, my name is Toshio Haruka of the Mogura Men. We ask for your assistance." He said.
The snake frowned. He hadn't heard of a group like this before and he wondered how they had found one of his hideouts. "Hm... What is it you want from me?" He asked with an exagerrated sigh.
"You once tried to destroy Konoha. We intend to finish what you started." This caught his attention. "All we ask is for the men to aid us in our fight."
Orochimaru turned his body into that of a snake and slithered over to the small group of men. "Is that so?" He asked, his tongue moving around disgustingly as he spoke. "I'll give you some men... on one condition." Toshio looked at him expectantly. "Sasuke Uchiha. He is a Konoha ninja and I want you to bring him to me, alive."
"Consider it done."
"Oh, and the men I have... They don't exactly have any combat experience. It's better when the prisoners don't know how to fight."
"We can make do with them. A successful invasion takes time to plan." The Stone ninja replied, a suspicious glint in his eyes.
Orochimaru thought that was a subtle stab at him. He didn't mind though, as long as they were bringing Sasuke to him. "Excellent." He said.
This will be... interesting. He thought with a smirk.
A/N I have a question for the two people who still read this story. What do you think of pairings? Do they ruin stories? If you liked a story, but a pairing you disliked appeared, would you stop reading the story? Would you even want to know of the pairing before reading, just so you can judge if you want to read or not?
Sorry about the fillers, by the way. Just a couple of them before the final arc, and then we get started on Shippuden.
