Chapter Twelve: "Resolve of Team Seven"
Sakura: "A lady needs a break from fighting sometimes. If I bunk with you, Orochimaru, do you offer spas and vacation time? I'll tell you a funny story about Grandmother if you do~"
—On Bribing a Siscon With Secrets of Your Past Self "When negotiating, never reveal all of your cards. If the sannin ever found out about other worlds, who knew what'd he do?!"
System: You better not tell him about me! I don't like being experimented on.
Sakura: How would he even see you, huh? And like I would ever! Last thing I want is Stalker Bro to act like my old evil bosses and ruin my dates.
System: Once more, your twisted priorities astound me.
Naruto and Sasuke: Someone understands. She would be better off at home being a merchant. This way, she won't chase hot guys during work hours.
Kakashi: I don't think that'd stop her. *Sees an alternate version of Civilian Merchant Sakura attempting to bribe him with discounts to come visit her*
Jiraiya: I think I gained a new protege!
Tsunade: Get your own student!
Naruto: I'm starting to feel pressure about my main character role. Sakura's stealing all of my titles — Trouble-Maker, Energetic Hypermode Ninja, Idiot, and now my Pervert Apprentice title is being taken! Boo hoo.
Sakura: Hey. Keep two of your titles. *Crack knuckles* I'm no apprentice! I'm the KING!
Naruto: Eeek! You're smart, you're smart! *Hides behind Sasuke*
Sasuke: Don't bother me. *Accidentally trips and kisses Naruto*
Sakura who planned the moment after hearing gossip about the Academy days…: *Snaps* *Giggle* Yesss…This photo will make me millions…*Runs away to Ino's shop before pic gets destroyed*
Naruto and Sasuke: COME BACK HERE PERVERT APPRENTICE!
Meanwhile, Tsunade and Orochimaru look on with soulless eyes. Then they turn toward Jiraiya with bloodlust: You…You're the reason the youth are corrupted!
Jiraiya: *Left Konoha*
…
…
A dull pain pulsed in the back of her head and her face felt like it was caught in a vice grip while something wet dripped on her mouth. Salty. Her lips were covered in the mysterious sloppy substance. With an innate fear for her digestive system, Sakura's eyes shot open to target her rage at whatever was crushing her face.
In front of her was Naruto's face hovering over hers, squeezing her cheeks together with both palms as he cried — and she drank his tears the whole time! Disgusted, Sakura temperamentally roared as she sat up and banged Naruto's forehead with her own in the process. "Dobe! Don't put your snotty tears down my throat! ACK!"
Why was it always Naruto shoving disgusting scents/tastes in her face whenever she woke up? Last time was ramen breath, now it was big snotty tears she really didn't want to think about. Anime always made it looks so romantic when some hero cried over the heroine, but reality was a slap to the kdrama fantasy! Just thinking about her missed shows from the future made her want to cry.
"SAKURAAAA!" Naruto wailed as he ignored his swelling forehead and hugged Sakura to death. "I thought you died!"
Sasuke shook his head as he bent down next to the clueless kunoichi and analyzed her face. "You're really fine. That's good." The proud Uchiha looked away, but his fidgety brow gave him away. "This way we can complete the mission safely."
"Hey Teme! Just admit you got worried!"
"Shut up Dobe. She's a kunoichi. Death is always at our door. Why would I be worried?"
Sakura observed her bickering teammates before she remembered what happened. Orochimaru placed the cursed seal on her, left her alone to deal with the pain with full confidence she'd succeed because she was some invincible kid with good genes (apparently from her 'grandmother'), and then her other self decided to take the damage. Fantastic. Lemme grab a tequila. I need to relax. Ugh. How am I supposed to live with snooty lil Orochimaru later? I'll find a loophole somehow.
Focusing back on her teammates, she smiled at their genuine care and wished they could stay this innocent forever. "Hey guys, how long was I out?" The ultra-confident pink menace was already sure her alter ego took care of the mental damage and seal issues. She was used to it. When she was raised in the lab, Inner Sakura manifested from her need to cope with the experiments and eventually the other self became her secret strength. When it came to physical things and society, Sakura was in charge. But if anything tried to penetrate her mind, Inner Sakura was the god in that realm. If Sasuke ever tried to cross her line back when he used his bloodline, he would have been quite surprised.
Sasuke replied with an eerie calm, "One hour. You recover fast."
"Uh, yes? Anyway…" Sakura eyed the Uchiha and figured he must be butt-hurt over his loss to the sannin so she decided to let him work it out by giving him space, "I'm fine. See? No big wounds! And head's clear now."
"Yeah, but we couldn't do anything! You looked like you were in a lot of pain and it suddenly stopped. Did you use some healing scroll or something? I don't know if that was a thing, but if it's you…"
Sakura's eyes lit up at the idea of a new invention. "Heyyy, if it doesn't exist, then I can work on it! Oooh~"
"Sakura! Can we focus on the fact that you were almost killed? Please don't risk your life like for us!"
Sasuke frowned, "Naruto's right. Even if we are prepared for death, you shouldn't throw your life away so easily. We are a team."
Sakura sweated as she waved her hands in surrender under the two glowers and said, "Sorry, sorry! I won't do it again." Except under emergencies. "I promise." She flashed them a big smile and the two frowned so hard that they started to look like mini-bulldogs.
"Haa? Promise? Why do I feel like you just thought of fine print in your head?" Naruto, whose gotten wiser over her antics, accused.
"I'm sure she did. No matter what, you can't fool us. This won't happen again, Sakura." Sasuke growled. "I won't be so weak again."
Not liking how her watchdogs — erm, teammates — started to catch on to her, she quickly distracted them, "Uh, we were up against a legendary sannin with a ton of kidnapping experience I assume. Don't beat yourself up. We're still genin. On that note, shouldn't we finish this exam?"
The two glared at her longer before succumbing to her poor tactic at changing convo and sighed. Sasuke said, "Yes. When we become chuunin, we will have more opportunities to get advanced missions and strengthen ourselves. Now that we have that snake after you, we can't be careless. There are a lot of questions I have about that, but that can wait. For now."
"Ahaha." Sakura laughed nervously over the threat of interrogation. How to explain her mysterious fake grandmother to people who know her childhood better than her? She barely knew that much of the original Sakura Haruno as she didn't think it'd get this far. Shit. So she did her usual go-to life strategy and…decided to postpone it. So she focused on the current task on hand and said, "Let's see…We have to get to the tower and turn in two scrolls. So we gotta beat some ass, get another scroll and avoid getting looted at the tower. Well, good thing I have my futon!" Sakura cheered.
"Uh, Sakura. Aren't you too excited right now? We just avoided an invasion and Orochimaru basically crashed out exam! And you're concerned with our promotion?!" Naruto wanted to shake her. "You almost got kidnapped!" The blonde ninja jumped up and down with rage. If he weren't here, would his reckless teammate chase Orochimaru instead for a bounty? He wouldn't put it past his money-obsessed friend.
"Well, I can't really control what already happened, but I can control on finishing our task. It's BECAUSE we got barely managed to get taken away by some stalker sannin that I want to make sure we at least finish this damn exam! We came this far so I want to see some good come out of our efforts as a team!" Sakura huffed with Team Seven pride, but secretly added the promotion and raise to her list of reasons.
"She's right. We can think about what happened later, right now let's just get this damned exam over with." Sasuke rubbed his forehead in exasperation. Thanks to chaos of this afternoon, he couldn't even muster the energy to get excited over the chuunin exams. He was more concerned with why Orochimaru wanted Sakura to be his vessel and how to keep the trouble-making genin safe from herself. "We need to report this to the hokage as soon as possible."
"Then it's settled! We got both scrolls so…Chargeeeee!" And with that Sakura ran toward the direction of the tower. The boys ran after her with tired sighs. How the once unconscious teammate ended up leading them with endless stamina and energy was a mystery.
Naruto wondered if he could still claim his image of the most energetic trouble-making shinobi of Konoha anymore. Looking at the backs of Sakura and Sasuke, he didn't mind if he lost that title. It didn't matter — he got what he wanted right in front of him. He was still gonna be Hokage though. Good thing Sakura was lazy and just wanted money or he'd fear the aspiring merchant would be his rival. On the other hand, while he knew Sakura was strong, he didn't like how reckless she was. She just let that perverted old man put a curse on her! No, he needed to get stronger. Strong enough to protect both of his teammates. How could he become stronger than Sakura-chan?
Meanwhile, Sasuke also stared at Sakura's back as they dashed through the forest and mixed emotions piled inside him. This was the first time anybody made him feel so angry and helpless that he cared about. The memory of the psychotic snake sannin biting into Sakura's neck made his blood boil. He was still too weak. For a moment, he could see Itachi's eyes of ridicule and he gnashed his teeth together. He needed to get stronger. Sakura managed to improve in leaps and bounds in a very short time. How did she do it?
And so, the two teammates came to one conclusion: After this exam, they would train harder than before and stop Sakura from going to Orochimaru. And to do that…both of them had the feeling that Sakura had many more secrets. And that some of them may explain how the frail flower they knew turned into the crazy but strong kunoichi before them.
Sakura was going to have quite an intense study group after this day.
Twenty minutes later, the trio hurried into the tower and soon enough a pale Iruka-Sensei would be sending messages by clones in a panicked frenzy. Only Sakura was smiling away watching the shinobi run his hand through his hair, eyeing his mature looks. "Gee, who knew you'd be in the scroll, Iruka-Sensei! Good thing I didn't peek in the scroll haha. Although if I knew you were in there, I would definitely never let anyone steal you from me." She said coyly as she batted her lashes up at him. Naruto and Sasuke rolled their eyes over Sakura's transformation.
"Um, that's good? Well. Since Orochimaru was here, we need to inform the Hokage. Maybe we should have told you guys what were in the scrolls after all if this was going to be the outcome…It's no use fussing over. We'll all report to the Hokage immediately."
The three of them said unanimously, "Yes, Iruka-Sensei."
And thus, half an hour later, Konoha entered a state of emergency as Team Seven relayed their experiences. The Hokage stared in surprise as they mentioned how Orochimaru wanted to take Sakura away. The problem was that everyone was already here for the exams and the sannin's interest in Sakura didn't warrant cancelling the exams. Unless they had hard facts that the sannin planned on something big like an invasion, they could only be cautious. If Konoha were to shut down due to the infiltration of one rogue shinobi, they would be a laughing stock. So much for the strongest nation, the others would say — and that would hurt negotiations and give enemies confidence in threatening their power.
So while the Hokage was dealing with the stress, Sakura and team were sent home for the time being as the exams will continue later.
For some reason, Sakura noticed Gaara staring at her from afar when the trio walked down the streets to get dinner, but he didn't approach and eventually left. Huh. Was it a crush?
System: [How you manage to turn a shinobi tale into a corny love story in your delusional mind is a skill only you have, Host.]
Thank you.
[It wasn't a compliment.]
Whatever. Sasuke isn't going dark and brooding on me and I'm still alive, so there's good news! I guess fate can be changed, System!
[If your interference causes Sasuke to not develop the powers he needs to continue the plot, it will be your fault.]
Plot? What plot? If I stop the Akatsuki, Konoha is saved, no?
[The Akatsuki aren't the only enemies. If you stop them, they can be saved. The real battle is against the gods. Oh no. Forget it. It's not part of your mission. You won't be here to see it.]
Hey! I get to say when I leave this world, remember? So cough it up.
[No.]
Fine! Then I'll make sure that I won't follow the plot the way you want me to AND I'll make Sasuke and Naruto so freaking strong that even the Hokage will have to bow and call them Daddy!
System: [Oh gods. Stop the strange analogies! The imagery — No! I won't let myself fall to your level. I will be mature. I will —] And so the poor system had to resort to hypno-therapy to deal with it's host.
Of course, while Sakura had this inner argument, she zoned out in reality. And so, the day ended in success as one snickering kunoichi was being psycho-analyzed by two concerned genin. The longer they stayed next to her, the more they felt they had to grow up faster. Someone had to be the adult.
And Sakura's mental evaluation fell once more. Ironically, the 28 year old in the body of a teen was being judged as the 'baby sister' of the group. If Sakura knew, her last pride as a 'grown woman' would have been lost. First, she was stuck in a time period of abstinence surrounded by hot guys. And second, even the teens of this era thought they were more mature than her.
It was just another day in Sakura's life.
…
…
Meanwhile, Itachi and Kisame head toward Akatsuki HQ with many questions.
Kisame asked, "So you're not gonna tell me how she died?"
Itachi replied, "I want to check something first with the girl first."
"Then we both want to go back after reporting. Good. Since you don't feel ready to share with me that information yet, I'll also hold off until I confirm with the girl. We could be wrong about our hunches." Kisame said, but he doubted that. The girl was too much alike it was scary.
"Agreed."
And the two Akatsuki made plans to return — not knowing just how crazy their future days would become. In fact, none of the Akatsuki would be safe, although the two didn't know it yet. The day the whole Akatsuki would come face to face with the pink menace would go down in history.
Why did Itachi have a bad feeling things would become troublesome?
AUTHOR NOTE:
Heya!
Sorry for the wait! Updating crazy what I have as I try to figure out a routine again. I hope you're safe and well and eating happy.
As always, please review and I love hearing what you would do in a VR world. And yesss, crepes away. I wish had a dang reply button to reviews!
Anyway, keeping it short as I'm sleep-deprived. Loves and kisses and unicorn sketches.
May the Akatsuki enter your dreams,
WitchySkies
P.S. I wish chakra was real. Hello clones. Do my job and pay my bills? I'll write. Mwahahahaa!