AN: Note that I do not own Naruto, Naruto Shippuden, or any of the characters from either Anime. This work is a fanfiction written out of my love for the series and not in any attempt to make a profit.

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Chapter 102: Blue and Orange, twins


Sakura scowled down at the rough attempt of trying to record her surroundings. While she had plenty of scrolls with her to use, Heikō hadn't thought to bring any of the available writing implements, so they had been forced to write in the dirt with a stick they'd found. Unfortunately, even with a bird's eye view, they hadn't been able to figure out where the hell they were, relative to Konohagakure. There was someplace with a huge building of some kind off on the horizon, but they were hesitant to go there, for fear of finding themselves in one of the other nations. If they encountered foreign Shinobi and were caught as Konoha one, things would not end well for them.

Sakura regretted their choice in transformation practice now. In hind-sight, a pure white dove was not the most inconspicuous choice for a transformation, and even if they changed the color, they hadn't seen any wild doves around the area. Figuring out another species to change into would be impossible without some serious research, as well as time to perfect it. In short, their only real choice was to arrive in the guise of a civilian, which was a problem in itself. With the risk of bandits lurking along the roads, few people traveled alone or without hired escorts. Sakura cad always transforms into someone who'd look like they could handle themselves, but a careless transformation on short notice would not only be a significant drain on her Chakra, but also a big risk concerning other Shinobi.

Yet, in the end, it wasn't Sakura's and Heikō's current predicament that bothered them the most. It was the fact that they had been kidnapped at least a week ago, yet seen no signs of rescue coming for them. They knew for certain that Kakashi could track them using his summons, so if he led the chase, they were guaranteed to be found quickly. Despite that, they hadn't.

It was a worrying problem and a bad sign that had convinced them that they needed to get back to Konohagakure as fast as possible. Yet to do so, they needed to know what direction they should go in. While all Academy students had been taught to orient themselves by the cardinal directions using the sun, it only let them know which way was which, not where they were. They had intended to learn how to navigate using the stars, considering it a useful skill, but they hadn't really gotten to that part of their academic pursuits in the library, as it had ended up low on their priority list in favor of more combat favorable knowledge in preparation for the Chūnin exams.

In the end, Sakura decided that getting closer to the only sign of civilization they'd found so far, was worth the risks, as remaining in the wild, while possible, was something that would take a toll on them eventually. Besides,s it was uncomfortable to constantly sleep on guard, scavenge for food and worry about safe drinking water. Sure, they had only been on foot in the wild for less than a day, but they had foolishly ignored exploring Orochimaru's base, and therefore had nothing but the notes available in the few rooms they did explore. The kitchen or pantry had not been in any of the rooms Heikō had raided.

While moving towards the settlement, their thoughts continued to go back to the issue of no one tracking them down. Something must have happened for that to be the case, and it worries them both to no end. They tried not to think about it too much, but it was thanks to their ongoing train of thought that they suddenly had an idea. Stopping, Sakura leaped down from the tree she was standing on, having used the preferred method of travel for any Shinobi worth their salt, and bit her thumb, before performing the boar, dog, bird, monkey, and ram hand seals for the summoning technique, and then slapped her hand down on the ground while releasing some of her chakra. As a result, in an explosion of smoke, Sakura found her hand pushed upwards by the emergence of her summon, revealing a very light pink, almost white hare that seemed only slightly larger than what Sakura would consider normal. As it looked at her, Sakura saw that its eyes were an ice-blue in color. What surprised her, however, was the forehead protector it wore on its head, decorated with the Konohagakure symbol.

"Sakura Haruno?" The hare asked in a childish, female voice as it looked up at her. With a quick look around to make sure they were alone, it suddenly launched itself at her in what looked like an attempt at a hug. "Sakura, Heikō'! We were so worried! Uncle Ōnamuchi and sir Fuku expected you to visit after the Chūnin exam, and when you didn't, we tried to send someone to you, only to find ourselves unable to. We feared the worst!" The young hare explained, and Sakura couldn't help but pet the hare she had caught in the hug.

"Ah, well I'm fine, mostly. Just kind of lost, I summoned you to see if anyone I could summon could help me in finding my way back to Konoha. Um, what's your name?" Sakura asked the little hare.

"Oh, right. Sorry." The hare apologized, before letting go of Sakura and jumping out of her arms, landing on her hind legs and standing up proudly. " I am Gochi, assigned to be your personal summon unless you try and summon somebody specific." Gochi introduced herself.

"Personal summon?" Sakura asked, a little surprised, not sure about what it meant.

"Yeah, we were supposed to be introduced earlier, but… well, you'll have to explain what happened later I assume. You wanted help with finding your way back to Konoha, right? I'm sorry, but I don't know the way, and I don't know any other hares that are that big on geography." Gochi apologized. Letting out a small sigh, Sakura decided to instead inquire about the personal summon thing.

"So, about being my personal summon, what's that? I don't recall it being mentioned in the contract." Sakura pointed out.

"Oh, right. You haven't gotten the explanation yet. Well, it isn't really something tied to the contract, even if there are some advantages to it tied to the contract. In short, when a new summoner signs a contract, a summon will be chosen to be their personal summon. It's different for everyone, some summoners choose their own, others are assigned by the summons, or at random. My sister and I were chosen to be the personal summons of you sisters." Gochi explained, smiling up at Sakura.

"Oh, alright. What are the benefits of having a personal Summon?" Sakura inquired since Gochi had mentioned some advantages.

Smiling, Gochi provided an answer. "It's really simple. There's a bit of a discrepancy with how much chakra it takes to summon someone. The amount of chakra usually depends on the amount of chakra of the summon, since the summoning is meant to be temporary. The more chakra the summon has, the more it takes to overcome the natural resistance they exhibit to being summoned. It's nothing that we can really do anything about, although we can make it harder to summon us by fighting the summoner's request, delegating it to someone else. But, there are also exceptions. Sometimes, due to specific circumstances, the cost of chakra to summon someone will not be proportionate to the amount of the summon, although such exceptions are rare. There is one exception that we know how to exploit on the other hand." Gochi carefully explained.

"Personal summons." Sakura guessed.

"Kinda. It's not really the designation as a personal summon itself, but familiarity. The more often you summon me, and the more familiar we become with each other, the easier it will be for you to summon me. The same for our sisters." Gochi clarified.

"Oh, I see. That kind of makes sense." Sakura decided, nodding in understanding, before frowning.

"So, couldn't I technically keep summoning those that I need more chakra for, to drive the cost down in the future? How come you and your sister were chosen for my sister and me?" Sakura asked, feeling that it would be far more useful to be able to summon Ōnamuchi at a reduced cost.

"Actually, there are multiple reasons for this. It seems that since it is easier to relate and bond to people of similar age and skill level, it was judged that my sister and I would be your personal summons. We will grow up along-side of you, developing our skills together with you, and hopefully, by the time we come the kind of force you'd summon in a war, we'd be close enough friends and partners, that it won't take you any more chakra to summon us than it does now." Gochi explained with a shrug. "At least, that's what our uncle told us. He didn't think it'd be all that easy for you to bond with the older, hares. Besides, they don't have as much free time as my sister and me. We want to be Shinobi, not everyone else wants to be." Gochi clarified.

"A lot of thought seems to have been put into this," Sakura observed, before smiling and bowing at Gochi. " My sister and I would love to have you as our personal summons. Should I try and summon your sister as well, what's her name?" Sakura asked, flipping her dirty brain over to the opposite shoulder, allowing Heikō to take control of their body, assuming the summoning would default to Gochi's sister if she was the one to perform the summoning.

Gochi smiled as she answered. "Gochi. My sister and I are both Gochi, together we are the Gochi twins!" Gochi exclaimed, twirling around in excitement, before noticing Sakura's dumbfounded look and pouted instead. "Aww, it's not as good without Gochi here…"

"You're both named Gochi?" Heikō asked in confusion, receiving a nod from Gochi.

"Yeah, same spelling, but different meaning." Gochi clarified, informing them of the difference. "For me, it means "treat", as, for my sister, it means "feast". Our parents are weird like that, saying my name presents me as "sweet", while my sister's name is meant to represent her being the life of the party, someone who enjoys having fun," Gochi explained, which Sakura and Heikō agreed, was a weird way to view names.

"Alright then, I'll just summon your sister now then so we can introduce ourselves." Heikō decided, before repeating the same motions Sakura had gone through, although without the need to bite her thumb, as it was still bleeding slightly.

In another puff of smoke, another hare of identical size and color appeared, also wearing a forehead protector with Konohagakure's leaf symbol on it. Unlike her sister, however, this hare instead had orange eyes.

Looking up at Heikō, the hare didn't say anything before letting out an annoyed huff. "Well, you must be Heikō then. You don't look like anything special, although I guess it's a good thing you're still around." The orange-eyed Gochi told her, sounding identical to her sister, albeit rather grumpy. While Sakura took offense, Heikō smiled, thinking she'd enjoy the gruff hare's personality.

"Nice to meet you as well. And yes, I'm Heikō Haruno. It's nice to meet you Gochi." Heikō told her, which the orange-eyed Gochi acknowledged with a nod, before being glomped by the blue-eyed Gochi.

"Sister!" The more cheerful hare of the due exclaimed, giggling while the other one frowned.

"Dammit Gosh! You're totally ruining my introduction!" The orange-eyed Gochi complained, groaning as she gave up and relaxed in her sister's enthusiastic hug. Heikō giggled at the display, alongside the blue-eyed Gochi, which resulted in another disgruntled groan from the orange-eyed-hare.

"I think I am going to like these two," Heikō said out loud, while Sakura realized in horror, how the two young hares reminded her of a certain pair of blond and black-haired teammates. She dearly hoped that they wouldn't have to deal with similar arguments between the two.


AN: Didn't have an opening AN this time around. Honestly, I don't know what I would say there. As for this one, here at the end, we can discuss the chapter itself without spoilers.

So, introducing Gochi and Gochi. Their names… both the most, creative, as well as the laziest I've been with choosing OC names.

As for the personal summon thing, it makes sense, no? We see this kind of relationship in Naruto's Summoning contract between him and Gamakichi, and I felt it was a reasonable trend to continue, using the explanation used in the chapter. Makes sense, no?

Also, for your hard thinkers out there, I believe I left enough clues here for you to figure out why no one came to rescue Sakura, just as she has pondered in this chapter. Provided, you've read/seen Naruto. Sakura herself, unfortunately, does not possess meta-knowledge that would let her reach the correct conclusion as easily.