Grace
Standard Disclaimers and Note still apply.
Mrs. Nozomu Sohma + miako – I went back and looked over it to catch the mistakes, as well as fix a few awkward sentences, I hope ch. 10 is better now.
Jennjennr – No, your not channelling Jiraiya :p and I don't think I intend to reveal who that man/women really is until at least the very end….
Flaming Beauty – really? I thought it was only 6 days rather than 14… I actually ran out of inspiration for the next few filler chapters…. Hence the wait, and why this one happens to be a bigger time skip.
To everyone else that reviewed, thank you so very much! And you all get lollipops. Since I seemed to have an abundance of them for an unknown reason…
Warning: there shall be singing…. snickers
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December 15th, just over 14 weeks since initial arrival.
Sakura sighed, rubbing her temples tiredly as people hounded her with angry questions. Why had training stopped just the week before? Why were no preparations being made for the attack in 9 days? To top it off, Sandaime wasn't saying a bloody thing, Naruto and Anko were trying to beat each others heads in and Sasuke looked to be sleeping.
True, they had gained a lot of respect, and her mother and father warmed significantly up to Naruto, as well as the Uchiha clan. And it was true they furthered the general knowledge of how to fight in a blizzard, but right now Sakura wanted to throw it all down the drain and kill someone.
A vein appeared on her large forehead and it started to grow. These Jounins didn't seem to sense the danger like Sasuke and Naruto. However, both were having a secret bet of who she'd hit first and thus did not bother to stop her.
The vein grew bigger. And bigger… and Bigger…
"URIAAAAA!" Someone, Ebisu it looked like, went through 4 walls before his momentum stopped. There were veins growing in Sakura's knuckles as everyone became silenced by the display. She put her hands on her hips and smirked evilly at those in the room. Of the people they were training, only half were at the meeting.
"Well, since your all willing to give me some room to explain…." Sakura glared coldly at them.
"Quite simply put, we lied. Do you have a problem with that?" she sneered. Who would have thought their parents would be so... immature? She scowled.
"And to make matters better, it was only a white lie. To tell the truth, there will be an attack, but it starts today." She was met with spit and smelly breath as several people yelled obnoxiously at her. The urge to kill someone grew even greater.
"URIAAAA!" Gai joined Ebisu 2 and a half rooms away. Again, Sakura smirked evilly at them.
"Pay attention, will ya? Who ever said that in war there is only straight out battles? For Christ sakes! There will be various patrols sent by cloud to infiltrate Konohagakure and THAT is what the attack consist off…." Sakura grumbled under her breath about various ways to torture those with only half a brain.
It seemed the only people in the room that were well composed were team 7, the Hokage, Orochimaru, Kakashi and the Elder Shikamaru. Sakura could understand who the Hokage, Kakashi and Shikamaru knew, but Orochimaru was a mystery.
"Then why did you lie to us?" Hiashi of the Hyuuga clan asked.
"To motivate you." Came a drowsy reply from Sakura's left. So.. Sasuke decided to join the party. She shot him a dirty look which he ignored in favour of watching Anko try and beat Naruto is an arm wrestle, in fact… several people were watching them. Sakura sighed.
"There will be something like 15 patrols for the next 2 weeks. It's up to Hokage-sama what should be done. I won't lie to you, expect open battle Janurary, about.. oh.. 18 days from now." Sakura spoke, a few people nodded distract while watching Anko struggle with Naruto (Naruto didn't even look to be trying)
Sakura grew another vein in her forehead, with her hands on her hips she was menacing, and if the nurses caring for the poor battered heads of Gai and Ebisu were any clue, everyone knew what Sakura's posture could entail.
"Naaruuutooooo………." Came a low threatening growl from the pink haired Kunoichi. Said person twitched and ended his battle with Anko by pinning her arm in a second. Naruto turned his body to face his comrade.
"Yes, oh vibrant sweet loving, caring beautiful goddess?" Naruto's eye twitched as Sakura grew another vein. Several people covered their mouths to smother their snickers. Those 3 were always some sort or form of amusement for everyone else.
"I'd start running if I were you…" Sasuke smirked. Bad move on his part.
"Saaassuuukeee……" Sakura said in the same tone of voice, Sasuke immediately bolted followed shortly behind, Naruto too fled the scene. Sakura counted to 10, and then ran after them. The gathered jounin and family members were all chuckling.
"Kakashi, Tsume, I have a mission for you…"
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"Ow... OW! Okay, okay I surrender, ow... OW I said I surrend-"
"Not good enough! How dare you make bets behind my back... NARUTO!" said blond haired shinobi was currently tied upside down in rope, hanging from a tree. Sasuke was beside him, looking equally worse for wear as both had suffered at the wrath that their friend brought upon them.
"But... but... Sakura-chaaaan. It was harmless... we swear!"
"Naaruuutooooo.." her fist came up.
"I had nothing to do with it…" Sasuke muttered, however that was not a smart thing to say as he went rocking from Sakura's fist. His head hit the tree trunk and winced.
"did you know that after 12 hours of hanging upside down your blood would have pooled into your head and exploded?" Sakura lectured them sweetly. Sasuke and Naruto paled considerably. They had already been up here for 20 minutes and Sakura didn't seem to want to let them down.
"I think I'll leave you here to hang." Their eyes widened.
"S.. Sakura!" Sasuke called out.
"Don't you dare! This is so totally not funny!" Naruto started to frantically try and free himself.
"Think we should interfere..?" Inuzuka Tsume, mother of Inuzuka Kiba asked, looking over at her white haired partner. Kakashi was visibly trying not to laugh.
"Aa…" he snickered and the two of them jumped out of the trees and stopped in front of the trio. Sakura turned around and looked at them confusedly.
"Yes?" Tsume shifted as Kakashi couldn't contain his giggles.
"We want to you for a mission." Tsume told them. This perked their interest.
"What kind?" Sauske asked, still swinging too and fro on his tree branch.
"S-rank." Now even Naruto was paying attention. The tree of them frowned.
"Why do you need us?" Sakura asked, Eyeing the Inuzuka and Hatake individually, making her own assessment. They shifted.
"Well… it's an infiltration mission to stone…" Kakashi began only to be cut off by a loud yell from a certain ecstatic blond who had managed to free himself from his bonds. Only to be kicked into the tree again.
"So, who we spying on?" Sasuke asked, as Naruto helped him down, of course this earned the blond a glare from the Uchiha.
"Tsuchikage. And if they are planning to attack…"
"We're to either a) assassinate him, or b) cripple them somehow?" Sasuke asked. Inuzuka Tsume was surprised on how quickly these kids caught on when very little had been said about the mission parameters. Kakashi however was not, having worked with Naruto some months previous.
"Correct, we leave tomorrow."
"Matte." Sakura spoke. They paused.
"Why 5 of us?" Tsume smiled.
"Normally it would only be 4 of us going, but we'll inevitably need a healer…" Sakura frowned and narrowed her eyes. She sighed and Naruto shrugged and Sasuke started to head home.
"We'll be there…."
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Naruto hates mornings, especially when it was snowing. Snow just made everything lethargic, and heavy. He yawned and scratched the back of his head as he walked to the gates to meet up with the others. The only other person there was Tsume and her dog Kuromaru.
"Ohayo." Naruto mumbled while Tsume only inclined her head. It was damnably freezing out, and the whiteness was annoying, it covered everything. Some people had to even dig themselves out of their home. It also made walking nigh impossibly, so most genins, chuunins and a few Jounins were helping people get from place to place as part of their assignments.
"Didn't think it would be this bad out…" Tsume commented.
"Aa, this was the year for Konoha's worst snowfall, it'll be like this all over the continent. Did you back warm clothes?" Naruto asked, and Tsume nodded once again. They both lapsed into silence as Sasuke arrived, followed shortly by Sakura. Now all they had to do was wait for Kakashi.
"He probably decided that it was far better to stay inside his warm apartment."
"Don't blame him." Sasuke muttered. They all sighed. After awhile of standing there in the freezing cold, some guarding chuunin came out and handed them some hot chocolate to keep them warm. Half an hour started when Sakura started to hum. After identifying what she was humming, Naruto sang along.
"Frosty the snowman was a jolly happy soul, with a corncob pipe and a button nose and two eyes made out of coal…" Naruto couldn't keep singing it without laughing, so in-between each verse he snorted or chuckled or snickered. Sasuke smiled goofily and Tsume was reminiscing. Sakura was trying not to smile, for it ruined her humming.
"Ohayo!" they turned to see Kakashi heading towards them.
"Sorry I'm late, there was this kind old lady who needed her fish to be fed in her pond and-" Sasuke sighed; Kakashi probably was telling the truth. But noticing the way he fidgeted, he guessed not.
"let's go." Thank god for Tsume or else they'd be standing around forever. The quickest way to travel in the snow covered passes was by tree jumping. They made better time than most people by the time they arrived into the borders of River country. It too was covered in snow.
"I suggest we quit for now and find an Inn to stay at." The mission leader was actually Tsume for this mission, Kakashi as a second. Naruto's suggestion had merit.
"we'll go for another hour, just beyond this trading town into the next one, and then stop."
"We should take our forehead protectors off, there should be nothing to connect us with Konoha." Sakura inputted and the adults nodded. Everyone took their hitai-ate and pocketed them. For Kakashi, Sakura produced a crafty eye pouch which he giggled over before putting it on.
The trading town that Tsume had in mind was actually further than everyone thought. They were lucky however, for by the time they reached it, the sky unleashed its flurries and a blizzard struck. They rented two rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. Kakashi and Naruto fought over one of the beds before Naruto was brutally (but not really) kicked off of it by Sasuke.
They made the mutual decision not to go to the bath houses, even if they were open. No matter how appealing the idea of a hot warm bath was, they weren't willing to go out in the weather to get to it.
It was midnight when Naruto heard a sound. A small sound, but a sound non the less. It sounded like shuffling. As if someone was dragging someone. Using all his ninja power he stealthily crawled to the door. Peeking under the bottom into the dim hallway he listened.
There it was again! Faint, and hardly noticeable. His eyes narrowed, he noticed across the hall to the girl's room that the door opened slightly to reveal Tsume's wary eye. Naruto stuck out a finger and waved to her, she nodded and closed the door, but a second later, her finger waved back from under the doorway.
They waited. Naruto had heard the sound because of his sensitive hearing. Tsume was probably up because Kuromaru had heard the noise and alerted her. The shuffling came again, this time longer. It wasn't too far from their rooms either. The shuffling got more frequent and soon, something came into Naruto's limited line of vision. Feet. Then a long something.
Someone. Someone was dragging someone. Naruto bit his lip, and watched, waited. The person spoke softly at bare whispers. Something about someone being heavy, most likely the person they were dragging.
Soon enough they passed and were gone. Naruto got up off the floor and gently opened his door enough to stick his head out, seeing Tsume do the same. She mouthed to him.
'Not our problem.' Naruto bit his lip again and nodded. She was right, it wasn't their business, but he didn't have to like it. He however had a nagging feeling, like what just happened would be important…
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hahaha. Finally! Next chapter won't be a time skip, as this will be leading somewhere… I hope.. I think.. yeah.
I'm on spring break, so there shall be more chapters… and the end is near! -cackles-
Edit: Fixed errors, thank you for pointing them out!