Chapter 18: Temptation
Sakura walked through the main, open, sliding doors and peered at the campus map that greeted her. She put her finger on the "You are here" star and traced the path to the label "Admissions and Records" She followed a series of outdoor halls, admiring the cherry trees and koi ponds, until she came to the room. It was a small place with a reception desk in front of an entire wall made of wooden drawers; it reminded Sakura of an apothecary's work studio.
"May I help you?" A receptionist smiled up from her paperwork
"Yes," Sakura stepped forward. "I'm looking for a 'Kouji'. I have a message for him."
The receptionist stood up and confronted the wall behind her.
"Kouji… Kouji…" She muttered as she pulled open a drawer and thumbed through file folders. After a few minutes of looking, the secretary turned back to Sakura and shook her head.
"I'm sorry, miss, but there's no longer a Kouji at this school. Does he have a last name? I can ask the Dean, Satori Kikyou, about him."
Bewildered, Sakura fiddled with her fingers.
"No. Thank you." Sakura walked out of the room.
"No longer a Kouji?" But Sasuke said Akari said he was a student here. Maybe "Kouji" is a nickname…
Two giggling girls walked by, carrying large scrolls, wearing what appeared to be Sorano Fuuka uniforms: white short sleeved, untucked, button-down, collared shirts with a single breast pocket, red plaid, pleated mini-skirts and flat, braided straw sandals that laced up to the knee with white strings. A simple ensemble, but very cute. Sakura felt unsightly and ugly, especially with her half pink/half black hair. She saw the two girls give her haughty glances and smirks.
"Excuse me." Sakura called to them. "Do either of you know a Kouji?"
The two girls looked at each other.
"Which Kouji? Like, a student or, like, Koujita-sensei?" They both shuddered.
"Umm…" Sakura rubbed the back of her neck. "Akari's boyfriend?"
The two girls blinked at Sakura, blushed and squealed.
"Uwaaaah! You mean Kouji-sama!!" The girl on the right hugged her scroll.
"Of course we know him! Who wouldn't!?" The second girl giggled.
"Well, do you know where I can find him?"
"Oh…" Both girls' faces fell.
"Well, Kouji-sama left a while ago." The first girl sighed sadly.
"Yeah," said the second. "He went home right after Akari left." Both girls glared in hateful jealousy.
Sakura put an exasperated hand on her forehead. Why couldn't anything go exactly as planned?
"So where does he live?"
The girls exchanged looks
"The Hidden Cloud Village, duh!"
The girls strutted off, giggling about "Kouji-sama".
Sakura sighed and collapsed against the wall. Now they had to go to the Hidden Cloud Village? Of all the places in the world! If anyone found out they were Hidden Leaf Nin, even Missing Hidden Leaf Nin, Sakura could only imagine what kinds of deaths lay in store. What next? Rock Country!?
Sakura made her way toward the exit. What would she tell Naruto and Sasuke? Had Sasuke even found a job yet? She hoped not. They had no real reason to stay in Sorano anymore.
Might as well go home and check on Naruto, Sakura muttered humbly to herself as she passed by the front door. Suddenly she stopped, the many gears turning in her head.
That's right! Naruto!
Sakura turned slowly on her heal at glared at the directory, at the label titled "Scroll Library."
This is a school of seals and seal jutsu… They'll have information on Naruto's seal. I may never get another chance like this…
Sakura turned away from the exit and headed back into the bowels of Sorano Fuuka.
-
Naruto meandered through the bustling streets, heading home. The luscious smell of ramen made his mouth water and he silently cursed himself for being poor. His stomach growled unpleasantly; he put a hand over it and groaned.
Maybe Sakura was right, maybe something was wrong with him. Only half an hour ago he'd felt like the devil's leftovers but now, well, he didn't even feel cold anymore. For as long as Naruto could remember, he'd never been sick. He thought of the old woman's prophecy. Maybe he was suppose to lose his lunch; it was defiantly precious and irreplaceable, maybe that's why he'd felt sick.
A hooded stranger roughly shoved into Naruto as he passed through the crowded streets. Naruto fell with a yelp, blinked, gathered himself, and jumped back up.
"Hey! You stupid old man! Watch where you're going!"
The man stopped moving, turned around and faced Naruto, his large form looming over the small, blonde boy like a cat over its dinner. Through the shadow of the cloak, Naruto saw a passive, like Kakashi-sensei's, but with Shikamaru's disgruntled demeanor. The face was older too, not pruney old, old like Jiraiya old.
The man stared down at Naruto in silence.
"You want something?!" Naruto shrieked, not intimidated by the man's mass.
The man looked down at the shiny, gray stones swinging from Naruto's neck.
"That necklace…" The man muttered.
"Yeah, what about it?" Naruto scoffed indignantly. He took a small step back.
"I like it." The man grinned.
Before Naruto could react, the man pulled his hand from his cloak, snatched the gray stones and yanked them off Naruto's head with professional speed.
"Ah!" Naruto cried out as he nearly fell again. He quickly recovered in time to see the man grin evilly, wave the stolen necklace at him and dash off into the crowd.
"Hey! Come back!" Naruto called as he began after the man.
Wait a minute! You promised Sakura-chan you'd go straight home. No funny stuff.
But Hokage-sama will murder you when she finds out you got it stolen.
Hokage-sama isn't here, stupid.
But you worked hard for those rocks! People can't just steal things! You're a ninja remember! Ninjas do stealing, not get stolen from!
But you promised Sakura-chan, and a ninja never breaks his promises!
"Ehhhaaaaa!" Naruto squeezed his head as his thoughts argued with each other and blindly ran after the man.
Sorry Sakura-chan, he winced, I'll go home right after I get it back.
"DAAAAMN IIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!"
Naruto swerved around people not bothering to notice that they didn't seem to notice him. The old man was fast. He dodged seamlessly through the crowd, almost as though he had Sharingan eyes.
The cloaked figure broke away from the main crowd and headed up an obscure, dirt mountain path.
Alright! Naruto thought as the path turned into forest, I'm use to forest terrain. I'll be able to catch him now! He picked up the pace as he leapt from tree limp to tree limp.
The thief seemed to have the same ability, because he neither slowed nor tripped along the branches.
Damn it, Naruto gritted his teeth, who is this guy?
They continued into the depths of the wilderness. Naruto's breathe began to run short and he was forced to slow down. He cursed himself and looked up. The man had completely disappeared.
Shit.
Naruto ran blindly forward and spotted the man again, who was standing still at the base of a tree watching him. As soon as Naruto came into view, the thief bounded away again.
Hold on! He's waiting for me?!
It happened several more times. Naruto slowed due to fatigue and the man would wait and rocket off again. By the time the stranger reached his destination, a large rock formation, Naruto was dragging himself across the ground.
"What's wrong, kid? Tired?" The thief craned over Naruto limp form. He took off his hood to reveal dark gray hair and a pierced ear.
"Shut the hell up!" Naruto sputtered as he inched across the ground like a worm. "Why are you standing there? Dontcha know I'm gonna kick your ass!?"
The man chuckled.
"Not like that, you're not."
"Gimme back my necklace!"
The man took the stringed stones from his cloak and held it up.
"Kid, do you have any idea what this is?"
"Yeah, it's my necklace. Now gimme!" Naruto hobbled upright and snatched at it. The man easily swung the pendant out of harm's way.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you manners?"
"I don't have a mother." Naruto swung and missed again. The man enclosed the necklace in his fist and gave Naruto a stern look.
"Is that so….?" The man turned to the rock wall behind him and put his hand on it. Almost magically, a seal appeared on the rock and it swung in, revealing a well-lit cave.
"Come in." The man gestured to the chasm. Naruto boldly hobbled in, plopped down on the floor and looked around. The caves interior was covered with swords, big ones, small ones, mainly katana. A mattress lay on one side a furnace by the other.
Naruto picked up the nearest katana. It was light with a red/brown scabbard decorated with an elegant nine-tailed fox pattern in gold near the hilt.
Kyuubi?
Naruto pulled the blade out seven inches and saw the same intricate design carved into the gray metal along with the name "Kyuubi." Naruto saw his pallid reflection staring back at him through the carving and noticed for the first time that his hair had almost completely grown back to its original yellow.
"I guess you really didn't have a mother." The man shut the rock and snatched the sword away from Naruto. "Don't touch things that don't belong to you."
"Why not? You did it!" Naruto glared.
The man sat down opposite Naruto and pulled out the necklace again. He dangled it between them.
"Kid, how did you come by this? Do you have any idea how valuable it is?"
"I won it. Tsunade-obachan made a bet with me and I won. So give it back!"
The man put an exasperated hand to his forehead.
"That woman… How the hell did she ever become Hokage? Anyway, kid, since you obviously don't know the value this necklace, I'm going to keep it until you learn to protect it."
"What!? You can't do that! I know how valuable it is! It belonged to the first Hokage."
The man glowered.
"If that's all you know, then you don't know the half of it."
Naruto glared.
"And the thing is, other people do and they will try to take it, and because you're so weak they'll be able to steal it."
"Hey! I'm not weak! I'm a chuunin."
"Yet I was able to take this from you easily. You need to be able to defend yourself. This necklace is an icon for Fire Country. Do you have any idea where you are? The Raikage will slaughter you if anyone finds out you're from Fire Country, and that will start a war."
The man ran his fingers through his hair.
"I have no idea why a Konoha kid is all the way up here. I doubt even Tsunade would be dumb enough to send a child and it's not like you're Hatake Kakashi or anything."
Naruto blinked.
"'Hatake Kakashi'..? You know Kakashi-sensei?"
The man threw Naruto an odd look.
"Kakashi-sensei?"
"Hey, Old Man! Just who the hell are you, and how do you know Kakashi-sensei?!"
"You don't… know who I am?"
"And you say I'm the stupid one! If I knew who you were I wouldn't be asking!"
The man grinned and cleared his throat. Suddenly he shot his hand out in a pose that reminded Naruto all too much of Jiraiya.
"I am the Great Ronoa! The Bladed Wonder! The Amazing Zoro of Fire Country!"
The man leaned in close.
"and let me guess. You're Uzumaki Naruto."
-
Sakura slid silently down the hall toward the Library and stopped in front of the door. She grabbed the handle and tried to pull the sliding door back, but it wouldn't budge. Bracing herself, Sakura put all her strength into ripping the door off its frame. The floorboards beneath her cracked in protest of her physical power, but even that wasn't enough to open it.
There must be a seal on it…
She looked at the "Scroll Library" sign swinging feverishly above her. Beneath the white wording appeared a small subtitle: "Staff, Alumni, and Students only."
Great, Sakura sat herself on the cracked wooden floor. My one lead and it's reserved. There must be another way in.
Sakura stood up and doubled back to the directory once more. She leaned closed at the slab.
The library almost touches the outer wall of the school. The only thing that separates them is a small secluded courtyard. I'll bet the library has a window there. On the other side of the outer wall is nothing but forest. Maybe I can climb over and sneak in through the window.
Sakura exited the building, crossed over the intricate seal pattern engraved on the cement and turned to cross into the woods. The trees held a comfort for her as she crouched among their branches and leapt from tree to tree. Before she'd met Ino, Sakura'd spent a lot of time among them. Whenever the other kids had laughed at her, she'd run in the forest and cry against Konoha's large oaks. The trees never laughed at her, never called her "Big Forehead," yet they had an understanding, an unseen presence, that Sakura found very enjoyable. To this day, she still found them amazing.
"They're incredible, aren't they?" She remembered telling Tsunade after medic training as they both sat under one, watching the light filter passively between the leaves onto their faces. "When trees get hurt, they regenerate. I wish human beings could do that."
Tsunade chuckled.
"What's so funny?"
"Nothing, you just sound like my grandfather. He loved trees too."
Sakura laughed to herself and secretly wished to go back to those days. She jumped swiftly across the branches when the trees began to seem… different. She jumped to the grass-covered ground and looked up into the leaves. The trees groaned ominously. Sakura searched the branches and spotted the problem: a sealed explosive plastered against the bark. Not just one, they were everywhere. Sakura was shocked she hadn't noticed them before.
Thank you, Trees.
She continued her journey with more caution until she came to the wall, a sandstone fortress rising over 20 feet above her. Sakura formed seals and gathered chakra in her palms. Slow and cat-like, she began to scale the wall.
What the hell am I doing? She thought as she reached the top. This is so reckless. Now I'm acting like Naruto. He must be contagious.
She peered over the wall slowly and looked into the courtyard. More cherry trees accented the little park along with a small pond into a corner, but no people. Sakura looked at the back of the Library and, sure enough, a glass window lay embedded in the wooden wall.
Sakura dropped down onto the grass below and looked around. Still no one. She dashed over to the window and tried to pry it open. No luck. She unsheathed her red dagger and lodged the stainless steel in the crack. She pulled, but there was no luck there either.
Damn it.
Only one other option. Sakura grimaced as she pulled her fist back, aiming in at the frail glass. She winced at the crashing sound she knew it was going to make. She flexed all her muscles and….
"That won't work, you know."
Sakura froze. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest. Slowly, she turned to address the speaker.
An elderly woman sat nonchalantly on a bench beneath a blooming cherry blossom tree, the only blooming cherry tree in the city. If anything, she was the opposite of Tsunade. As opposed to a woman who tried to fake her age with beauty, this woman managed to portray beauty in age. Her long hair, a color difficult to determine between gray or blonde, stretched to a long ponytail at the base of her neck and fell over large red robes. The wrinkles on her face were like the seams of a striking silk gown and she sat on the bench, eying Sakura with bright gold eyes.
"Ah… You're that fortune teller!" Sakura exclaimed.
The woman smiled and stood up.
"Cherry trees only bloom in the spring…" Sakura whispered. "Just who are you?"
The woman glowed down the bridge of her nose at Sakura.
"I'm Satori Kikyou, Dean of this school. I believe you have a question for me, or you wouldn't be breaking in to my library."
Sakura clenched her fists.
"There's a seal I want to know about. Please, can you tell me about it?"
"Why should I? You're a penniless outsider who's trying to steal scrolls. I have no reason to help you."
"I wasn't trying to steal them. I just need to look at them. Please! I need to know if my friend is okay…"
Satori Kikyou fixed her golden eyes on Sakura, who looked sadly at the ground.
"What if…" Sakura muttered. "What if it's hurting him? What if the seal is eating away at him on the inside? I don't know… I need to know…" Sakura felt tears welling in her eyes.
"I need to know so I can help him!" She screamed.
Cherry blossom petal fluttered around the courtyard like feathers of a fallen bird. Kikyou chuckled slightly. Sakura wiped her eyes and looked up, bewildered.
"Then prove to me that you are worth my time." Kikyou said with commanding authority. "This school is full of stupid, rich people; the smart ones cannot afford it. Prove to me that you are smart enough to be bothered with."
She reached behind her and pulled out a thick scroll about two feet long and tossed it to Sakura.
"Come back once you've learned this and then we'll talk." She vanished into a puff of smoke.
Sakura hugged the scroll tightly to her stomach and read its label.
"Advanced Bloodline Binding Seal."
Author's Note: Firstly, I'd like to thank all the reviewers! 100 reviews! Hells yeah!!! and then everyone who reads this fic. We've made it over the 40,000 word barrier! Woohooo! btw, Sakura's tree thing isn't craziness... it's something that will come up in after a few arcs... :X I've said too much again...
Sasuke and Blushing: It's been pointed out that Sasuke is a lot more personable, almost out of character in more recent chapters... (or perhaps through the entire fic... who knows). Good. He's suppose to be acting a little moody, overly macho, and a little more sensitive around women. Why? It's about mid-May in the story right now... (I think the percise date is May 19th. If you want an idea of the the scale, they left Konoha April 15th. Yes, I have an entire calendar from now until the end of the story, detailing every event... yes, I'm obsessive.) Sasuke's turns 15 on July 23... Think about it. ;) Yay for puberty! Yes, I intend for them to grow, but it's too early in the story to tell you all that much. ;)
Next Chapter: Extracurricular activities begin! Sasuke's translucent discovery!