Chapter 6:
-Beep Beep!-
Sakura groaned as she rolled to the side, awoken by the sound of her alarm and feeling no where near ready to get up. Peering through thedarkness she looked at the flashing time.
'...4:30...'
She groaned and pulled the covers back, rolling her legs off the bed and onto the warm carpet. She blinked repeatedly and yawned, stretching as she walked across her room towards the alarm.
'...I'm not ready to get up yet...if I set it back another 45 minutes, I'll have time to get shower and do my hair or look over that scroll...'
Her body still ached and with every step she was reminded of the tough workout she had had the day before.
'...But there's no way I can do both this morning.'
She turned off the alarm in half-awake haziness and set it for 5:15, then after a moment of thought, set it for 5:20. She caught herself before switching it to 5:25, knowing she had already compromised enough.
With another yawn, she turned around, heading for her bed and another 45 minutes of sleep, and with a passing glance, she saw her bag full of things. A bit of a smile worked its way across her tired face as she made her way to bed.
'I can't wait to show Naruto and Kakashi-sensei what I learned.'
She slipped back into the covers, still wondering whether she would take the 40 minutes to get ready...or use it to look over the scroll...whatever she would do, that issue would be worked out 5:20.
The wind whipped through the tree, the cold morning breeze causing the leaves to shake in the darkness. Sasuke sat alone amongst the branches, shivering slightly, seeming almost invisible among the darkness. He sighed, his back against the tree while his legs sat comfortably on a branch.
He shut his eyes and pushed out a shiver as he delved into his mind yet again, trying to figure out why exactly he was here at the meeting sight and hour and a half early instead of at the manor training. It was the same as last night, something was hindering his concentration and he couldn't figure out what it was.
It was odd, feeling fully rested again, he hadn't really taken a break from training since he had gotten out of the hospital, so without that, there wasn't anything for him to do but rest. At first he had thought that he was simply fatigued and that a good rest would bring back his ability to focus, but when his internal clock had woken him at 3:00 for his normal pre-meeting workout, he still couldn't focus.
He had stood in the section of the manor that was specified for training for nearly an hour, not doing anything but shivering in the cold, and he couldn't figure out why.
Sitting here now made him angry, knowing that he should be training and practicing so that he could kill Itachi...but whatever it was that was keeping him from focusing, kept him from getting too angry to sit there. No matter how much he thought about it, worked it, molded it, manipulated it, he could not get his ambition or anger to overpower his lack of will to practice.
So he was here, at the meeting site, and hour and a half early.
A shiver ran down his spine as another, stonger breeze shook the tree.
It was about 6:05 when Naruto came rushing into the training site, a blur of orange and gold, followed by a large trail of airborne dust. He skidded to a stop, kicking up even more dust before he attempted to catch his breath. His loud, heavy breathing showed that he had run the whole way, which didn't surprise Sasuke, who was still sitting in the tree.
"Morning Sakura...-chan..."
Naruto noticed mid-sentence that the kunoichi wasn't there, which was odd enough. He turned up towards the tree where he could faintly see Sasuke amongst the leaves, he sent him a bit of a sour expression before addressing him.
"Sasuke! Have you seen Sakura yet?"
Even while he spoke, he listened out, expecting her to jump out of a bush or something to try and surprise him. His answer was the infamous Sasuke "Hn" even though it was accompanied by the Uchiha actually jumping out of the tree and landing nearly soundlessly on the ground.
Naruto merely watched him, crossing his hands over his chest as he waited for the boy to answer him, his sour expression still turned to the young prodigy.
"Well?"
Sasuke rose from his crouching position just to cross his arms as well and lean against the base of the tree.
"No dobe I haven't."
Surprisingly enough, the name still managed to stir up Naruto's anger, though he didn't quite burst, feeling that now wasn't quite the time and settled for muttering curses to the Sharingan carrier.
It was about the time that Sakura walked into the clearing, passing the line of trees, her eyes intently focused on a scroll she was holding open, and she looked a bit frantic. Naruto raised an eyebrow as he saw her rushed walking and moved to stand in her path, waiting for her to notice him. When she was no more than three feet away, he finally gave up and greeted her first.
"Morning Sakura-chan!"
Sakura jumped back in surprise, her eyes wide as she noticed Naruto for the first time. He was smiling and bright as usual, despite the fact that he had only been up for about fifteen minutes. Sakura waited a moment for her heart to calm down, placing one end of the scroll in the opposite hand so that her left hand held the scroll alone. As soon as she was moderately calmed down, she belted Naruto in the face, sending the young nin rocketing throught the clearing.
"What was that for? Jumping out at me, I should..."
In a single bound, she crossed the long area between her and the still dazed nin, murder in her eyes, instilling fear in Naruto's.
Sasuke could only rub his forehead as he tried to block out the sounds of Naruto letting himself get a massive beating from the young girl, swearing up and down that it would never happen to him.
After a good minute or so, Sakura dusted herself off, and clapped the dust off her hands.
"I hope you learned your lesson."
She kept walking, coming closer to the tree Sasuke was at, leaving behind Naruto who looked as if he had been mauled by a wild animal, mumbling incoherently to himself. She sighed and let out a deep breath and sat down, only a few feet from Sasuke and resumed her reading of the scroll that somehow remained undamaged.
Sasuke didn't even bother to try and get a glimpse of it, knowing that if it was a useful jutsu, he could always get it with his Sharingan. He turned his head to see Naruto nursing a faulty wound, already looking as if the beating never happened at all. The young nin walked with a limp that Sasuke could tell was fake and he watched Naruto go towards Sakura, dragging his feet along the ground to give her full warning that he was coming.
"...baka..."
He whispered it to himself so low that no one heard him, but it didn't matter.
"Um...good...morning, Sakura-chan?"
Naruto posed the question somewhat seeming like a kid testing out the pool when it was getting dangerously close to winter. Sakura turned slightly so that she could see him, with a smile on her face.
"Good Morning Naruto-kun."
She turned back to the scroll, leaving Naruto feeling strangely forgiven, and he stopped the wounded act. He took a few more steps and leaned in, trying to get a glimpse of the scroll over her shoulder. When he had seen it for no more than a moment, Sakura quickly rolled it up and let out a long breath. She smiled to herself and got to her feet, nearly hitting Naruto in the head with her own on the way up.
"Glad that that's done."
Naruto donned a pouting expression when she got up and stretched, waiting for her to notice. He stood there, holding the expression for a while before she finally turned around.
"Naruto?"
He simply continued to have the pouting look, his arms crossed slightly over his chest, his head turned to the side and looking up into the sky. Just as Sakura opened her mouth to say something, he spoke up, whining.
"Sakura-chaaaaaan...I wanna see the scroll...that's the jutsu one isn't it?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow before quickly switching to defense to block the reaching hand Naruto sent her way. She turned her body slightly to the side and held out an arm to hold Naruto back, while the othre arm held the scroll as far away from him as possible.
"Naruto! Stop it."
"But Sakura..."
He continued to reach, his body pressed against hers while his hand reached around. She managed to pocket the scroll, laughing at the little game of keep away that had started.
It was all fun and games until Naruto's hand accidently reached around too far and landed straight on Sakura's teenage bosom.
The two froze instantly, hardly doing anymore than simply breathing. The shock held Naruto's hand in place before he finally got a grip on himself and he jumped back, waving his hands defensively before his face. Sakura still stood there, motionless, her eyes blank and wide, staring off behind him.
"S-Sakura-chan...I-I didn't m-mean it heh heh...funny how weird things...turned out ya know? Heh heh...I mean, I didn't want to touch your..."
Sakura's head slowly turned to Naruto, tensed and shaking. It seemed almost if she were pulling against it and it was stuck.
"...I mean...they-they're nice and all...but, you know...I didn't mean to..."
His laughter got more and more nervous as he felt a large well of chakra pour out of Sakura. He backed up slowly...still waving his hands around and apologizing profusely until it seemed like he was doing no more than stuttering.
"Na...ru...to..."
Naruto's eyes went wide as he turned and bolted, water gathering at the sides of his eyes. He had only gotten a few steps when he felt a sharp tug from behind, on the neck of his jacket. A feeling of dread washed over him. He turned in the grip to see a pupiless Sakura, staring straight through him, and it seemed as though there was fire behind her. He tried once again to plead before her, though it was far from coherent.
His eyes went wide and his pleading went into overdrive when he felt a large concentration of chakra gathered on her open right palm.
"Sakura-chan...please it was an acc..."
Kakashi heard a large smack ring through the air. The sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed over the monument where he visited daily. He recognized it as the odd sound resulting only from a woman's hand hitting a man's face, a sound that he recognized surprisingly well.
He turned his gaze idly into the air, many thoughts crossed his mind as he wondered where the sound had come from.
'Jiraiya-sensei must be at his research again...'
Even his thoughts had a lazy drawl to them.
'...but that means his next book should be out soon.'
A sinister smile crept across his face, hidden by his mask as he turned back to the mural to recommence his morning ritual.
Naruto sat on the railings to the bridge, looking into the water. Sakura stood a few feet away, looking into the same river. Sasuke still sat against the base of the same tree. All three of them were in their own thoughts, caught in an odd moment in which all speech had ceased.
All at once, something caught their attentionand each turnedgaze attention to the edge of the bridge. Only a moment afterwards, a small cloud of smoke exploded from no where, signaling the arrival than none other than Hatake Kakashi, book in hand.
"YOU'RE LATE!"
Naruto was the first to explode, screaming and pointing (yet again) at the careless jounin, who merely shrugged as if he hadn't heard anything. Sakura sighed to herself, chuckling slightly at the antics that never got old.
Kakashi pocketed the book and idly turned his visible eye on the area, all the while ignoring Naruto. After a few minutes of waiting, it became apparent that Naruto was not going to drop the subject and seemed to be putting all his energy into his screaming.
"Sakura."
It was firm, it was short, and it caught the kunoichi's attention.
"Yes?"
He turned so that he was facing her, that lazy look in his eye and stance, both of his hands in his pockets while he slouched.
"Did you look over those scrolls?"
She pushed off the railing and walked over to him, her hand going to her pouch and fumbling around for something.
"Yeah, I did, but I didn't get a chance to practice the jutsu."
"And the other ones?"
"Well, the style seemed really interesting. I never considered specializing in bombs and grenades, but it seemed like something I could get into. And the schematics for the smoke bomb weren't too far advanced, it took a while, but I managed to make one."
She withdrew from the pouch a small grey ball, not perfectly spherical, but one could tell what it was supposed to be.
Naruto's eyes grew wide as he saw it from his spot on the bridge and he finally shut up, not so much from shock as from utter confusion. Before he could manage to begin stuttering out the beginnings of an inquiery, Kakashi began to speak, this time, loud enough for all of them to hear.
"We have a mission today, D-ranked. We are to clean the Konoha Animal Park. Like yesterday, our mission does not start until later, this one starts at noon...which means..."
Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura all got a sudden determined expression on their face as they anticipated their sensei's next words. Kakashi's reaction was merely walking away from them, heading towards the line of trees that marked the edge of the clearing.
"Training time..."
The members of Team 7 all exchanged looks to each other, none of them really trying to communicate anything except their general readiness. To his credit, even Sasuke pushed himself off the tree he leaned against, his expression turned to concentration as he too listened for instructions.
"One of you has already been given a bell. This exercise is kind of like the first one we did, except completely different. You are to split up as soon as I give the signal, and in ten minutes you are all on your own. At 11 o'clock, the exercise ends, and the person with the bell is excused from today's mission."
The glances from each member to another grew steadily more untrustworthy, and though there was good distance between each member, none of them moved for fear that the bell would sound on one of them and give itself away too soon. At first, each member looked to the other two, sizing up the competition and ironing out initial plans, but it wasn't long before both Naruto and Sasuke forgot altogether that Sakura was even a part of the exercise.
"By the way, there are no limitations to what you can use. Just remember that this is a training mission, but it's also a bit of fun, so don't try and kill each other."
Kakashi retrieved his prized novel from the pocket of his vest, effortlessly flipping open to his current page as he entered the beginning of the foliage, his last word hanging in the air.
"Begin!"
With that, all three ninja disappeared from sight.
Naruto growled to himself as he landed silently on a rather large branch, slightly higher up than most normally travel. A Kage Bunshin was already standing on a similar branch five feet lower and two trees back. He searched his ninja pack for the third time, coming up bell-less.
"Oh well..."
He reached up and readjusted his forehead protector, a smile on his face.
"Sasuke's probably got it."
He had known from the beginning that he didn't have the bell, not because he saw Kakshi plant it, not because he didn't feel it get placed on him, not even because of the silence he heard when he moved from branch to branch. He knew it because it would make no sense for him to have it; Naruto had surpassed him (as much as he hated to admit it) which meant he needed the training the most.
It was with this mindset that Uchiha Sasuke traveled through the foliage, Sharingan activated with three commas, looking for none other than Uzumaki Naruto.
Sakura landed, slightly winded at the base of a tree, surrounded by bushes on all sides. Kakashi's ruling about what culd be used and what couldn't irked her to a great extent. It meant to her that she could be facing Naruto's Kyuubi chakra and/or Sasuke's Sharingan; either was a challenge that she was in no way ready to face.
Disappointed, she resolved to simply stay out of this and wait for the exercise to end, there was no sense in getting far too wounded now. She didn't like the idea, fearing that she would sink back into her previous state of prepetual weakness, but she knew that she couldn't match them even with the previous day's limitation had they fought back.
She sighed dejectedly and leaned back against a tree, she allowed herself to fall backwards a bit, letting a light "thud" emit from her back hitting the bark.
A shiver of fear ran through her spine when she heard a faint ringing for a moment before it hushed itself. Her lips began to quiver as she sent a hand into her weapons pouch, which she only now noticed was heavier than before. She felt something foreign in it that she quickly pulled out, it was solid in her hand.
She looked down to see a small box with a removable, plastic top. In it, she saw about 15 smal spheres of differing colors and sizes. She was about to open it when she felt something roundish on the bottom, and she quickly turned the box over, only to be hit with another wave of spinal chill.
There, stuck to the bottom by a piece of tape, was a silver bell.
As if things couldn't get worse, a quick flash lighted the sky above her. She looked up just in time to see the light fade out. She knew in her mind what she refused to accept...
When Naruto looked up and saw the flash, glee filled his eyes at the thought of meeting Sasuke again in battle...
When Sasuke looked up, his eyes filled with the determination to prove his own worth and test his capabilites against his rival...
When Sakura looked up, fear grasped hold of her, knowing that she would inevidably meet Naruto or Sasuke, if not both...
As Kakashi gathered the last remains of the flare launcher, he smiled to himself, feeling ridiculously devious for coming up with this game.
I feel that it's only fair to warn you now. On June 2nd, 2005, my family and I will be boarding a plane to California, from which we will fly out to the Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa. In order to make sure that some of our stuff is there when we get there, it's being shipped off on Wednesday 20th of April and Thursday the 21st. Among these things...will be my computer. I might be able to update from public comps and at friend's houses since I've started writing my whole chapters in the Edit Chapter screen, but there's no guarantee.
So I apologize, but it may be a while before another update.
On a lighter note...I should apologize as well...everything up to Kakshi's appearance I have had written for a few weeks now lol. Oh well...past is past right?
Hope you enjoyed it, I enjoyed writing it. Maybe there will be a chapter coming up sooner if I am motivated enough to stop everything and write (which has happened before)
Um...there isn't really much to respond to, since I only got 3 reviews for the last chapter, but I also got like 6 more people to add me to author alert, so I'm not upset.