Hyuuga Neji…
Sabaku no Gaara…
Uchiha Sasuke…
Previously…
>She slowly opened her eyes again only to see…
>"Sasuke!"
"Sasuke!" Sakura gasped at him.
"Sakura…don't just sit there…" he pushed the other man away.
"Wait! What are you doing here!" she yelled out at him.
"We'll talk later, busy yourself with the other guys, I can handle this one." He didn't look at her while he spoke, keeping his eyes on the other ninja.
"Hey! He was mine first!" she pulled him back and his eyes swirled with the Sharingan. His red eyes stared back at Sakura but it didn't faze her.
"Sakura…He's too strong…don't make me lose you again…" he looked away and went back to the ninja that stood a few paces away.
'Sasuke?' she thought to herself as she slowly found herself walking away even though she didn't want to.
"Ah…someone worthy at last, but she was fun to play around with…" he smiled at him in a friendly way.
"Touch her and I'll make you pay…" he got into a fighting position.
"Ah but I would like to know your name…You may call me Zuchi…" he made a bow but his eyes never leaving Sasuke.
"I do not intend to give you mine since you will die…" he ran towards him with his Sharingan spinning furiously.
'Déjà vu…' Zuchi thought to himself.
Sasuke soon became nothing but a blur of blue and white to Zuchi and he had trouble keeping up with him. First he threw kunais and shurikens at him and a few made direct hit with him but he disappeared in a splash of water.
'Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu?' Sasuke thought to himself.
"Hmph…" Sasuke smirked and turned around just in time to see the ninja's technique coming his way. He made a few hand seals and countered Zuchi's attack.
"Katon! Ryuuka no Jutsu!" he took a deep breath and a jet of hot fire came out and blasted Zuchi's technique away. While he was off-guard, Sasuke took this chance to perform his next attack.
"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" little shoots of fire came at him but he decided to call upon a wall of water but Sasuke's attack came through. He hadn't notice that there were kunais hidden in the small jets of fire.
At least five kunais were lodged into his enemy's body. One was embedded in his right shoulder and the other one on his left arm. Two were on his chest and abdomen while the other one was rooted into his left thigh.
He coughed up blood and decided to retreat for today.
"This isn't over boy…I'll be back for you and your little angel, so you better watch out." He made a few hand seals and was gone before Sasuke could kill him.
"Damn it!"
"Sasuke! What are you doing here?" she asked him firmly.
They were now back at the hotel and Gaara, being the least injured and needed no sleep at all, had decided to stay up all night as a sentinel.
"You didn't come to our meetings so I got suspicious…"
"So!" she raised her voice.
"I went to see Hokage and I demanded to take your mission…"
"How did you know about the mission?" she questioned him.
"I guessed…so I came to fill out the last spot of your platoon…" he said coolly.
'Sasuke's gonna be a distraction to me…' she thought to herself.
"Sakura…let him be. He's already here and it would be a waste of time and resources to send him back…" Neji spoke as he leaned on a window sill.
"Alpha to Beta…everything is clear from out here…Over…" Gaara spoke on the other side of the earphones to Neji.
"Beta to Alpha…very well…keep a good eye out for intruders of the village…over…" Neji replied back.
"Alpha to Beta…understood…Over…" Gaara signed off.
It was then Chiyako decided to come into the room. She rubbed her eye from just waking up.
"Sakura-nee-chan…What's wrong?" Chiyako spoke softly.
"Ah gomen Chiyako-Chan, I didn't mean to wake you up…go back to sleep ok?" Sakura crouched in front of Chiyako and nudged her back into the bedroom.
"Who's she?" Sasuke asked.
"I found her, and it wouldn't be nice of me to just leave her with no home and family to go to." She murmured out.
"Hn…"
"Who is it?" Sakura opened the door to find Haru on the other side.
"What do you want?" she growled out.
"Good morning to you too…" he spoke sarcastically.
"…" she glared at him.
"Mizukage would like to speak with you…All four of you…not the child…" he bowed and walked away.
"Wait…what the….how did he know?" she stuttered out.
"Who was that Sakura…" Sasuke just came out from the shower.
"…A messenger…he wants all of us to see the Mizukage…" her voice was serious but not as demanding as before.
"Hn…" he leaned on the door frame with one arm. His hair was dripping with water but he was fully clothed.
"I'll go get Neji and Gaara…" she moved off.
They walked through the door, one by one. It wasn't until they were all in the room until one of them spoke.
"Mizukage-Sama…" all of them bowed to him as a sign of respect.
"Good morning, I hope you didn't find yesterday's wave too difficult…" he apologized to them.
"No…yesterday was fine…when will the next wave be expected…?" Neji asked him.
"They usually come once every two days…but it can be quite spontaneous I'm afraid…"
"I see, what are our numbers?" Neji spoke while Sasuke examined the room. He could see only one hunter-nin beside him who was wearing a mask.
"We don't have much but ever since you've came, we have lost less ninjas…"
"How are our defenses?"
"The north side is the strongest so far, the east side is slightly weakening but the south west side is crumbling…" he rubbed his forehead to ease the headache.
"Very well…we shall set up the defenses now…" Neji bowed and walked out of the room but the Mizukage stopped them.
"Wait…please take the hunter-nin with you, he will prove to be useful…" he sat back down on the chair as the said nin came forward.
"Yes Mizukage-Sama…" and bowing once more, they made their way out of the office.
"Gaara…You take the east side, Sasuke can take the west side. I will take the south side while the hunter-nin and Sakura can take the south-west side. And if they need help, Sasuke and I can come and help out. Any problems?" Neji drew a map of the main island of Mist and pointed to the places where they were appointed to. They shook their heads.
'Why do I have to be with the hunter-nin?' Sakura thought to herself.
'Why does she have to be with the hunter-nin?' Sasuke thought to himself as he leered at the masked shinobi.
"Good…we can communicate to each other with these ear phones…" Neji handed each of them one and they placed it to their ears as they stood up.
"Gaara…you are Gamma, Sasuke is Theta, Sakura and the hunter-nin will be Beta and I will be Alpha…the whole group will be Omega…Converse to each other with these terms…Move out!" and they vanished in a cloud of dust.
"Theta to Omega…West side is clear of enemies…over…" Sasuke spoke to teams Beta, Alpha and Gaama.
"Gamma to Omega…East side is clear…over…" Gaara murmured out to the others.
"Alpha to Omega…no signs of enemies here either…over…" Neji mumbled through his ear piece.
"…" no signs from Beta.
"Alpha to Beta…do you read? Over…" Neji spoke to teams Beta.
"Beta…Omega…south west side…attack…need back up…" the signal was blurred and fuzzy but both Neji and Theta rushed to helped Beta.
"Alpha going to Beta. Leaving south position. Over." Neji shouted out.
"Theta going to Beta. Departing from west position. Over." Sasuke yelled out to his ear piece.
"Understood…Gamma will remain in position. Over…"
"Suiton! Suijinheki!" Sakura yelled out as the water elemental attack assaulted her enemies.
"Suiton…Suikoudan no Jutsu." Haru called out as another water elemental attack harmed his offenders.
"Beta to Omega! Do you read? We need back up now!" Sakura shouted into her earpiece but didn't receive an answer back.
"Damn it!" she performed another series of hand seals.
"Kikyou no Jutsu!" (A/N: meaning…Morning Mist Technique…I hope that's right…) soon, they were covered up by a thick mist.
This was Haru's specialty. He skilled with his hearing and could detect anybody even without seeing where they are. He crouched low on the ground and took out a few kunais in each hand. He threw a few in front of him and he heard a cry and a thump. Bulls eye…
Meanwhile, Sakura was also crouching on the ground holding onto three kunais in one hand and three shurikens in the other. She didn't throw any of the projectile weapons in case she ends up hurting her partner. She kept her position until she saw someone in front of her other than Haru.
She threw her shurikens at him and being too close to her, he was unable to dodge the attack and fell to the ground with a groan.
"Haru…Where are you?" she whispered into her earpiece.
"I'm not too far away, whatever you want to do, just do it. I can dodge whatever you're going to throw…" he whispered back to her.
She took out an explosive note and wrapped around one of the kunais she held and threw it in front of her.
BANG!
BANG!
"No, Sakura!" Sasuke increased his speed when he heard explosion. In front of him he saw Neji running towards their direction.
"Neji! Did you hear that?" he came up to speed with him.
"Yea. We should hurry." He replied back.
As they ran, the air began to grow heavier with mist.
"Neji!" Sasuke shouted out to him.
"Just follow me. Byakugan!" his eyes were surrounded by veins in the occurrence of the Hyuuga's technique.
Sasuke decided to activate his Sharingan as well.
"My, my…this is quite a twist." Sakura's eyes widened when she heard hat voice.
"Never knew this little angel could be so capable of performing such a technique. It's proving to be quite a bother. I should dispose of you…" without hesitation he lunged forward to Sakura and hammered her to the ground. She disappeared in a 'poof' and a chunk of wood replaced her instead.
He dodged to the left when he felt something come at him. They were kunais wrapped in explosive notes and when they exploded, a powerful force flung Zuchi into the air but he landed gracefully back to the ground.
"Not good enough my dear, but you are getting very tiresome…" he smirked at her and charged at her again with a katana in hand. He slashed his katana at her but she grabbed a kunai and blocked it.
She was unaware that his clone came up from behind until it was too late. There were blood splats everywhere and his clone turned back into water.
"Haru!" she couldn't look back or else Zuchi would have an advantage over her.
"You want to look at your friend? Feel free…" he jumped away from her to allow her room to look around. His figure was partly covered by the mist but he could still be seen.At first she hesitated, but she could hear his rasping breathes.
"Haru!" she yelled out his name, he was bent over knees and hands on the floor. His mask was slashed right through and there was a deep cut on his face, from his left temple to his right cheek.
"Haru! Say something!" she held onto him to give him support but he continued to ignore her. His breathing was labored and he held onto the fabric that covered his heart.
Blood covered a majority of his face, there were cuts and grazes on his arms and legs. His mask laid on the floor broken and shattered.
"Haru!" she shook him gently but it caused him to cough up more blood.
"Sakura…run…" he took one look at her and fell on her body.
"No! HARU!" she shook him furiously to try and wake him up but he remained still. She called out his name to get him back, but he remained lifeless. She began to cry.
"Oh dear…I was aiming for you but I suppose it's one less thing to bother with…" he smiled happily at her.
She laid him on the floor and slowly turned around to face him. Her cheeks were stained with tears and her eyes furrowed at him. She stood up and clenched her fists glaring at the one named Zuchi.
"My, my…it seems that I've angered the little angel!" he laughed at her.
"You…I'll kill you!" she darted forward at him, he wasn't prepared for that and didn't see her coming. She took out her kunai and plunged at him, digging her kunai into his arm. He stepped backwards and glared at his bleeding arm while Sakura took out her shurikens and threw it at him. It lodged itself into his other arm and leg.
"I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do!" she performed some hand seals.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" two shadow clones of Sakura appeared on the left and right side of her. Each of them wielding a kunai in hand.
They dashed forward, one of them making an attempt to cut him but missed, the other came shortly after to hack their kunais into but missed at well.
He kicked one of them away and they disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"Clever, clever little girl aren't you?" he leered at her. The mist was started to weight him down as it grew thicker.
'Damn this mist…' Zuchi thought to himself and began to devise a plan to get rid of the real Sakura, kicking another clone away and disappearing in another cloud of smoke.
"Let's see….which one is the real little angel?" there were two clones left, one on his left and on the right. The last one was further away and in the center.
"I know which one is the little angel." He kept his eye on the middle one and rushed forwards to her.
She jumped back to avoid the attack but he still managed to catch up to her. He jabbed his kunai into her abdomen and she groaned, slumping forwards. The other clones vanished in a puff of smoke. The mist was lifted.
'The mist is lifting…' Sasuke thought to himself. Neji stopped running forwards.
"Neji…"
"This is Sakura's technique…" he looked around with his Byakugan searching for her.
"So?"
"There are only two ways to dispel this technique…" he continued to search for a sign of Sakura and spotted Haru instead.
"Haru!" he ran forwards to check up on the hunter-nin.
"Haru?" he followed Neji and they soon reached him.
"He's the hunter-nin…" Neji spoke as he examined Haru with his Byakugan. Sasuke gasped.
'Haku!' Sasuke stepped back.
"He's still alive but barely…Haru…can you hear me?" he spoke gently to him. He slowly opened his eyes, they seemed so dull and lifeless. He opened his mouth to murmur out a name.
"Sakura…"
Without caring for the hunter-nin, he ran off in search of Sakura.
He ran, ran into any direction, ran in search of Sakura. He saw a figure that towered over a body, he stopped.
"Zuchi…" he growled out his name and the said person turned around with a smile on his face.
"Oh! How nice it is to see you again, but it's quite unfortunate that you came too late…" he stepped away.
Sasuke watched him, as he talked and as he walked away. He had a smirk on his face, and fearing what was to come, he slowly looked down at the form that laid of the floor.
"Sakura!"
Wahh! No! Sakura-Chan!
Sniff…sniff…Why am I so mean…sniff…
Please wait…until my…next update…sniff…
I intend on putting in Gaara with Sakura…somewhere…hopefully in the next chapter…I hope…