Chapter Five
One Small Change
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto in any way, shape, or form.
A/N: First I just want to say that I am so sorry about my hiatus. Life is just getting in the way, you know what I mean. I shouldn't be taking another hiatus for quite a while. Also thank you for your feedback! I'm not the best writer (obviously) so I really appreciate it when you give me advice on how to make this story better. When I can, I will definitely edit my last chapter. Anyhow, thank you so much for sticking with this story! Enjoy!
The three sweaty teens and a hunting dog made their way through the treacherous forest. Sakura nervously glanced at her teammates several times, especially Sasuke. She remembered her bold move. Sasuke acted as if nothing happened. She didn't mind that. She looked down at the ground. She was doing that a lot lately. Why am I so weak? Sakura clenched her fists tightly as tears blurred her vision. She wouldn't let the tears fall. That's it. From now on, I promise to take my training seriously. I'm not going to sit around anymore and let Sasuke and Naruto get ahead of me.
Sakura smirked from under her bangs. She wasn't Naruto by any means but when she makes a promise, especially to herself. She intends to keep it. They continued for another few hours more before taking a break. Sakura dipped her sweaty feet in the cold stream. She wanted to be alone for a little while, even if it was just thirty minutes. She heard the rustling of leaves behind her. She looked and was slightly creeped out when she saw nothing there. It must have been the wind. Right?
Sakura was an easily scared person. It started when she was six and walked into the living room while her parents while her parents were watching a horror movie. Let's just say she didn't sleep much for the next few weeks. Recently she had been begging her parents to let her watch horror movies. They always told her no because they were worried that she would get nightmares. She heard another rustling behind her. It definitely wasn't the wind this time.
She stood up and took out a kunai. "C-come out!" She commanded, mentally berating herself for her stutter. The terrain shook slightly, then everything went eerily still. "I said come out!" She exclaimed. Now slightly annoyed that whoever was present wasn't listening to her order. A small chuckle was heard while a masculine figure phased out of the bushes he was hiding in. "Hopefully you'll present more of a challenge than your sensei." The figure took off his hood and revealed his face.
Sakura gasped at his appearance, there were several thick scars lining his face and neck. He had blonde curly hair and dark brown eyes. She felt a flutter of sympathy rise in her chest. She stamped it out. I'm supposed to be a ninja! I can't feel bad for the enemy! She snapped back to reality when she realized what he had told her before he took his hood off. "Why did you kidnap my sensei?" It wasn't a question, it was a demand. He glanced at her and chuckled again, his chuckle was a low harsh sound.
"You seriously think that I'm going to tell you that? You must be stupider than you look." He unsheathed his katana, putting himself into a fighting stance. Sakura did the same. "Well, if you won't willingly tell me, I guess I'm just going to have to force it out of you!" They charged each other at the same time. Their weapons clashed causing sparks to fly. They both jumped back, assessing the others' skill.
Sakura's emerald eyes analytically judged him. With my luck he's a chunin or higher. Judging by the crossed out headband on his arm, he's a rogue ninja from Suna. I'm going to have to be careful about this one. Wait, if he's rogue, does that mean that the rest of the people we're dealing with will be rogues? Sakura snapped out of her thought stream when he charged her again, katana in hand.
She took out her kunai and ducked under his katana. She then took her kunai and stabbed him hard in the leg. Only for him to disappear and reappear in front of her uninjured and harshly kicked her across the forest. She felt herself hit a tree hard. She inhaled sharply and winced. I probably bruised some of my ribs. He walked toward her slowly then stopped. "You're an even bigger disappointment than your sensei! Don't make me laugh! You don't deserve to be a ninja! Your teammates are probably even bigger disappointments than you are!"
Sakura stood shakily and took a kunai out, gripping it tightly. "You can call me weak, you can call me a disappointment, you can even call me stupid. But the moment you bring my teammates into this is the moment you die!" And well, tell me why you took my sensei. She brought her eyes up to his and glared at him with something that she has never felt before. Hatred.
For the first time ever, Sakura Haruno felt hatred towards another person. He met her glare evenly with his own hatred filled glare. They charged at each other and clashed again, albeit: in a taijutsu battle this time. They punched and ducked. Time felt like it sped up to Sakura. With every movement, her bruised ribs would protest loudly with pain.
Sakura ignored the pain and focused on the battle. He usually depends on the right side of his body more than his left side. I have only one chance at this. Once he realizes that I know his weakness, he'll make it even harder for me to find an opening. She took her chance when he lunged forward. She moved out of the way at the last possible second and punched him with a little chakra put into her punch on his side.
He flew into a tree. Sakura stared at him, intently looking for any significant movement that could tell her his next move. He instead stood and chuckled. He met her glare once again, filling it with even more hatred than before. Then turned away. "You were a bigger challenge than I thought, Sakura Haruno. I look forward to fighting you again. But the next time we battle," He looked over his shoulder at her again. "You'll die." Then he disappeared.
Sakura collapsed on the ground, taking several deep breaths. Her ribs ached horribly. Her last thought before she entered the world of unconsciousness was, how does he know my name?
7-7-7
Pakkun sighed for what seemed like the twentieth time. Naruto and Sasuke were fighting again. He truly wished that Sakura was here. She's the mediator between Naruto and Sasuke. About twenty-five minutes ago she had said that she wanted alone time and would be back there before their thirty- minute break ended. He looked over at Naruto and Sasuke again.
Their fight seemed to have ended. Well sort of. They were sending each other heated glares while crossing their arms. Pakkun walked over to them. "Naruto, Sasuke, calm-" Pakkun straightened and sniffed the air deeply. "Pakkun what is it?" Naruto asked. Pakkun didn't answer, instead he sniffed the air just as deeply as before, confirming that what he thought he was smelling, was what he was smelling. He looked at them. "I smell blood." Naruto and Sasuke straightened immediately. "Grab your packs and follow me." Both boys did so without question.
7-7-7
After a few minutes of jumping through the trees, the boys reached their destination. What they saw wasn't pretty. Sakura laid there, sprawled on the ground with her pink hair fanning her face. They all immediately ran to her to asses her condition. "Boys, turn her over." Pakkun ordered. Once they did so, Pakkun looked her over and listened to her breathing and heartbeat.
Pakkun turned to the boys. You could tell Naruto was worried, he was showing worry in his features and he was tense for what Pakkun was going to say. It was hard to see Sasuke show worry. If you looked at him, you wouldn't guess his teammate was injured and he didn't know what was wrong with her. But if you looked into Sasuke's eyes, you could see some concern in them.
"She's going to be okay, she just has a few bruised ribs." Naruto sat beside Sakura's form and hugged her tight. "Idiot, you're going to make her worse." Sasuke told him. Naruto's eyes widened as he let go of Sakura and started crying. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you!" Sasuke and Pakkun rolled their eyes at Naruto's overdramatic attitude.
"Okay, calm down Naruto. We're going to have to stay here for the night because of Sakura's injuries. They should only take a day to heal. You both have jobs. Naruto, set up the sleeping bags and catch some dinner. Sasuke, get some firewood and light it up with one of your fireball jutsu. Both of you are going to make dinner together." Pakkun explained.
"What are you gonna do?" Naruto asked. Pakkun thought for a second and answered. "I'm going to do a perimeter check. It's likely Sakura got attacked. I'm making sure that whoever attacked her isn't present anymore. Let's get our jobs done."
7-7-7
Sakura's eyes slowly peered open. My ribs hurt. Was her first thought when she woke up. She was certain that it was past midnight because of where the moon was. She saw Naruto and Pakkun sleeping. She also saw Sasuke standing in a tree. He's most likely doing his shift. Ugh, my ribs really hurt. She sat up and pressed her hands to her ribcage area.
It was wrapped. She blushed at the thought of a boy having to wrap her ribs. I need a pain killer. She looked longingly at her bag that was at a tree about ten feet from her. I'm just gonna have to suck it up. Shakily, she stood and started to walk to her bag. Her ribs protested at every movement, telling her to stop. She stubbornly didn't stop and kept walking.
It was a few steps away. She took another step and her ribs protested once again with an extremely sharp pain. She gasped and started to fall forward. She was prepared to greet the ground. When she didn't fall, she looked up and saw Sasuke holding her. "You should be getting rest." He remarked as he let her go. "I'm just getting some painkillers." She replied. She walked over to her pack and took a painkiller out and swallowed it with the help of water.
She walked back to her sleeping bag and slid in. She turned toward Sasuke. "Thank you." She said quietly. Sasuke looked away. "Annoying." Sakura felt something warm blossom in her chest as she slipped into her own world of dreams.
7-7-7
Sakura woke up and sat up. Naruto ran over to her and gave her a big hug. She patted his back and walked over to Pakkun with Naruto and Sasuke, mentally noting how her ribs didn't hurt much anymore. "How are you feeling?" Pakkun asked. Sakura turned towards him. "Better than yesterday. I'm guessing you all want an explanation for yesterday." She replied. They all nodded.
"Long story short, a rogue ninja from Suna attacked me and we fought. That's how I got my ribs bruised. I asked him why he took Kakashi sensei and he said that he wouldn't tell me. I highly suspect that the people we're dealing with are rogue ninja. The rogue ninja I was fighting disappeared before I could get him to tell me though. Also, he knew my name even though I never told him that." She told them.
They all understood her explanation, even Naruto after having it repeated to him a few times. They all started to pack up and head out a few minutes later.
7-7-7
They had been running for a few hours now when Pakkun suddenly stopped. The rest of them stopped too. "Pakkun, what's wrong?" Sakura asked. Pakkun shut his eyes in thought then opened them. "They're hideout Is inside that mountain." Pakkun said as he gestured to the mountain in front of them. "I have a strategy I think will work. Naruto and Sasuke will be the decoys. They will attract the attention of all the guards and start killing them. During all the chaos, the important people will probably run to the chaos because they don't know about the secret entrance and leave Kakashi on his own. That's where me and Sakura will come in. While you two are fighting, me and Sakura will sneak in and free Kakashi. After freeing him, we'll come to help you defeat the remaining enemies. Understood?" Pakkun asked. They all nodded and set off to do their jobs.
7-7-7
Right now, Pakkun was leading Sakura down a long staircase. Once they got to the bottom, it was pitch black. Sakura found a button and pushed it. Torches lit up and revealed a normal looking hallway with doors attached to it. It may have looked normal, but Sakura and Pakkun could tell there was something truly sinister in these rooms.
Cautiously, they slipped inside the first room. Sakura gasped and put a hand over her mouth. Pakkun whimpered. There was a metal table in the room. A small girl was on the table, she was purple. Her once blue eyes were now dull and glassy. She looked no more than six. Those monsters! They must have experimented on her! Sakura clenched her fists tightly.
Pakkun nudged her. "We should get going." She looked at him, a tear tracing its way down her cheek. "Yeah, we should." She replied. They left the room and decided to split up so that it would go quicker. Sakura slowly ventured into another room. This room was worse than the last one. There were several people in here. All dead. Two particular people caught Sakura's eyes.
It was a mother and daughter. The mom had blonde hair. Her daughter did too. Her daughter looked like she was three or four. The mother was holding her daughter tightly. Sakura could see the faded tear marks on both of their cheeks. Tears fell down Sakura's cheeks as she shook. Why? "They didn't deserve this." She said quietly as she stopped shaking and wiped her tears away.
She walked toward the door and left the room. "Pakkun?" She called. She heard him say, "In here." She walked into the room he was in and saw Kakashi laying there. He had chakra suppressors on both his wrists, he was chained to a metal table. Pakkun had already gotten rid of the chakra suppressors and the chains. "Is he okay?" She asked. Pakkun nodded. "He's just unconscious. It looks like they were after his sharingan eye. He should wake up in a minute or two."
Sakura slapped a hand to her forehead. How could I be so stupid. Of course that's what they were after! Kakashi sat up slowly with Sakura's help. "You okay Kakashi sensei?" Sakura asked quietly. He nodded. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine." Although, I'm not so sure that Sakura's fine. "Good, we need to go and help the boys." She said. Then, they all left running to help Naruto and Sasuke.
7-7-7
Luckily, the ninja that they were fighting were wimpy chunin that were easy to kill. Easy for him and Sasuke. But they just kept coming. At this rate, they would exhaust their chakra. "Shadow clone jutsu!" Naruto yelled. A hundred Naruto's showed up and started fighting. Within five minutes they were gone. "Crap." He heard Sasuke hiss. h needed help. Suddenly, the mountain shook and three figures stepped out.
Kakashi had his sharingan revealed, and he had blown through the thick wall with his chidori. Sakura had a kunai out and Kakashi had summoned Pakkun back to his home. Sakura and Kakashi charged. Naruto and Sasuke gained confidence with the other two's arrival and they started fighting as well.
7-7-7
Sakura was fighting when she heard a familiar chuckle, "So it's you again." She said as she turned to him again. It was the rogue ninja she had fought before. "I had hoped to battle you again, I had unfinished business with you. I wanted to ask you something. What's your name and how do you know mine?"
"My name is Reo. And in regards to your name, that's something you don't need to know." He told her while unsheathing his katana and getting into a battle stance. Sakura got into a battle stance too. "Well I guess that means that I'll have to make you tell me." They charged each other. Sakura ducked under his arm and punched him. He flew a few feet and stopped.
"Actually, I'll figure out what I need to know from someone else. You need to pay for what you all have done to those innocent people!" She made a shadow clone. Her shadow clone took her place and charged him. The real Sakura hid behind a boulder, while her shadow clone was fighting him. Once her clone poofed out of existence, Sakura ran at him fast and stabbed him in the heart.
That was Sakura's first kill.
7-7-7
An hour later, they accomplished their mission by killing all of the people in the mountain. It had been like a blur for Sakura. She didn't know how many people she killed. She felt guilty. They were staying in a clearing for the night. She readily offered to take the first shift. She was sitting in a taller tree when she felt her sensei's presence sitting beside her on the tree.
"You should be getting sleep Kakashi sensei." She told him. He looked at her. He was worried about her. He had a feeling he was taking her first kill badly. "Well since you're up here Kakashi sensei, let me tell you something. When I was six years old, I saw a scene of a horror movie. I was scared for weeks. I always had nightmares about it. Well, recently I've been begging my parents to let me watch horror movies. They still would always say no. You know what I decided just now? I don't need to watch horror movies, my memories are scarier than all of them. Don't you agree?"
A/N: Well, first I wanted to say sorry for being a day late in updating. This chapter took longer than I thought it would to write. I hope you all like this chapter!