Summary: She had given up on the idea of being anything more than a friend to him, concentrating more on her training than him. During the course of her training, he had begun to realize that what he felt about her was past peripheral vision. Sasuke/Sakura.
Pairings: Sasuke/Sakura
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, at all. All the characters belong to Kishimoto Masashi-sensei. The only thing in this story that is mine will be the OCs and the plot itself.
Past
Peripheral Vision
Chapter Sixteen – Shitsukentou no Jutsu
It was supposed to be a relatively easy mission. All they had to do was to get to their destination, stay and mingle with the villagers for an hour or so, meet up with the one who actually hired them for the mission, find out the rest of the mission's details and complete it within a week at most. Of course, getting teamed up with the two most argumentative Nin, at least with each other, in the entire world made things a lot more complicated. In fact, pairing them up together without anyone else to help him stay sane almost made him wonder why he had wanted to drag the ass of the one who left them for Orochimaru back to Konoha. An image of his only female student flashed in his mind, cursedly reminding him as to why he had helped out in that mission. Another sigh escaped his masked lips as he moved on, rubbing his throbbing temples to relieve him of his headache.
For possibly the umpteenth time during the mission, he had wanted to stop abruptly, turn around, grab the other two by their collars and literally drag them to their destination. Though this was a B-Rank mission and his two companions could handle themselves pretty well in a B-Rank environment, it was probably impossible for them to get along for a B-Rank mission of any kind. At least, together it seemed impossible. If it was hard enough to get them to finish a single D-Rank mission, what more something where their lives could be at stake? Soon enough, he couldn't take it any longer. He finally stopped abruptly, causing the other two to look at him weirdly, wondering why he had stopped when this was a mission of utter importance.
"Kakashi-sensei, why did you stop?" asked Naruto as he looked back at the currently short-tempered Jounin. Kakashi just smiled forcibly as he jumped onto the next tree branch. The confusion in Naruto's face told him that he couldn't get mad just yet, soon enough, but not just yet. The indifference on Sasuke's face plastered itself in his mind's eye. There was something seriously wrong with that boy. He could at least show some emotion, even curiosity! Even crazed avengers showed some amount of curiosity! "Kakashi-sensei, tell me why you stopped!" badgered Naruto as he moved a bit faster, moving in a pace that was similar to the Jounin's. Sasuke's eyes rolled in annoyance as he continued moving, muttering about how it would have been much better to make this a solo mission. "Kakashi-sensei!" droned Naruto as he continued pestering the Jounin.
"Damn it!" shouted Kakashi as he finally lost his patience on the blonde boy. Stopping once more, Kakashi picked up Naruto by the collar and began to drag him towards their destination. "Sasuke, don't you dare say anything from here to our destination," grumbled Kakashi as Naruto barely managed to make sure that he didn't slam into anything as Kakashi dragged him. The Uchiha wouldn't have agreed more. It's not like he wanted to say anything in the first place. "And you, Naruto, if you say anything, I will personally make sure you suffer from here on out," hissed Kakashi, his lone eye narrowing. Naruto only made a squeaking sound as he kept quiet, just focusing the rest of his energy on making sure he wouldn't slam into anything, at least not painfully. The vice-like grip Kakashi had on his collar seemed to be intent on holding him down.
The Same Day: Sakura and Aya
"Listen to me carefully, Sakura," spoke Aya as she began to lecture the younger female. Sakura nodded, fresh energy thrumming through her veins. "This week, you'll be learning a complex Gen Jutsu very few Jounin know. The Godaime-sama herself told me to teach it to you so you better listen up. This Jutsu is called Shitsukentou no Jutsu. As the name itself states, it's a disorientation technique. The hand seals for this Jutsu are: Hebi, Uma, Usagi, Ryuu," explained Aya, displaying the hand seals to Sakura without actually gathering chakra for it. The Chuunin nodded, performing the seals herself after Aya had shown it to her. "This Jutsu is a Dou Jutsu which numbs your opponent's sense of direction. It numbs your opponent's sense of direction in the sense that he or she cannot tell which direction the attack is coming from. If it's coming from the left, it'll be felt from the right. If it's from above, it'll be felt from below."
"Hebi, Uma, Usagi, Ryuu," murmured Sakura, the images of the hand seals floating through her mind. She wasn't performing the Jutsu which would come later during the training. The analytical part of her mind began to digest the information, a flood of data surfacing as she began to interpret the series of hand seals she had just been given. Fire-based Jutsu always had the Tora hand seal at the end of the series; summoning Jutsu always had the Inu hand seal either as the second or the third in the series and the like. "Aya-sensei, isn't this an extremely complicated Jutsu which very few people know?" asked Sakura, clarifying her understanding of the Gen Jutsu she was trying to learn. A nod came from Aya. A frown decorated the Chuunin's face as she continued analyzing the very little information she had been given about this Jutsu. "Dangerous, isn't it?" she asked as she looked back up at the Jounin.
"Yup, this is an extremely dangerous Gen Jutsu if you screw up even once," said Aya as she ran her fingers through her hair, breaking the tangled strands. Sakura began to bite her lower lip as the Jounin continued to explain the complexity of Shitsukentou no Jutsu. "If you screw up this Gen Jutsu, you could run the risk of you being permanently affected by the Gen Jutsu. You'll never be able to tell where the pain is coming from and you wouldn't know if you were affected by the Gen Jutsu. It shows no distinguishing pain or a sign to the user to show that it was cast incorrectly," continued Aya as she looked at the Chuunin sternly, "Of course you won't be able to get it correctly since you still haven't learnt it. It's performed on a relatively weak scale for a beginner but the better you get on using the Jutsu, the more cautious you have to be about it. But, since you have excellent chakra control and a perfect gauge on how much you have left, I'm pretty confident you wouldn't have such a hard time mastering this technique within a week."
Soon after Aya had spoken, Sakura began to block out all sounds, something which she had mastered even during her Genin days. Seeing that Sakura had begun to work out how to perform the Jutsu, Aya had begun to walk away and train alone. Why waste the entire week watching Sakura practice when she herself could be doing something useful, right? Reaching the river, Aya had begun to perform seals for another Katon Jutsu. Ever since Itachi had appeared, Aya had been in a complete panic. She couldn't stay too far away from the Chuunin, lest Itachi strike again. Sakura, however, had some memories of the experience. All she could remember was that Itachi had appeared; that he had talked to her and that he somewhat thanked her for keeping his brother in check. He had also wanted his brother and Sakura to remain alive until their purpose for him was completed. What that purpose was, exactly, Sakura didn't know.
"Shitsukentou no Jutsu!" shouted Sakura, her eyes widening. In front of her was a rabbit that had been in the direct line of fire of the Gen Jutsu. A few seconds after the Jutsu had been cast; Sakura stood up and walked over to the small forest animal, kneeling before it. "Hello, Usagi-chan," murmured Sakura as she peeked out to look at the furry brown thing. The rabbit thumped its foot on the forest floor, as if replying to the Chuunin. "You're funny," said Sakura with a giggle. Reaching out, she scratched the rather tame animal behind its right ear. The rabbit leaned over to the touch where it thought it came from, the left. A small triumphant grin found its way to Sakura's face. The victim might have been small but at least she had done it pretty well for her first try. Gathering some chakra, Sakura had cancelled the effects of the Jutsu. If it stayed far too long, the effects could very well become permanent. "There you go, Usagi-chan," murmured Sakura as she lifted her fingers from the rabbit's soft brown fur.
Sakura watched the rabbit bound away the minute she had released her fingers from its body. A satisfied smile found its way to her face as she began to look for something else she could use for a target for the Gen Jutsu. Aya had managed to catch that at the corner of her eye, her lips tilting into a slight smile. She was indeed inclined to using Gen Jutsu. Those who weren't inclined took a while to even affect a small animal such as a rabbit. Sakura managed to affect it on her first try. She herself took about a month and a couple of weeks to master the technique. She had always much preferred to drown herself in scrolls of Nin Jutsu and refine her family's unique Tai Jutsu, just like practically every other Nin in Konoha.
Four Days Later: Kakashi, Sasuke, and Naruto
The mission had surprisingly reached four days. The three Konoha Nin assumed it would have been a simple mission. When they had reached their destination, everyone had backed away from them, as if afraid. Then again, from the mission briefing, it was said that the hired ninjas were attacking the village every night, pillaging and destroying everything they could get their grubby hands on. Their mission was to infiltrate the hideout of the small, but powerful, yakuza that was in the rather urban village and take them down, returning everything that they stole back to the villagers. The yakuza had hired Missing Nin who were mostly B-Rank with the occasional A-Rank ninja which the Jounin would have no trouble dispatching.
"Ramen! Ramen! Ramen!" chanted Naruto as he pointed towards a nearby ramen stall. It wasn't Ichiraku but, for the blonde Chuunin, as long as the ramen tasted good, he didn't care from where it came from. The two other Konoha Nin looked at each other briefly before looking at Naruto, shaking their heads as they began to walk off. "Why not!" whined the hungry Chuunin, hurrying his pace to match that of the other two Nin, "It's not like we're going to do anything for the next couple of hours." Crossing his arms, Naruto displayed the firmness of his resolve to get ramen. When it came to food, Naruto had always been one to decide quickly. Everything else usually took more time on his part.
"We're not going to make a move for the next couple of hours but that doesn't mean we can't spend the time gathering more information," explained Kakashi, scratching the back of his head. Naruto turned his head away, refusing to do anything until he got his ramen. "Fine, fine, get your ramen," said Kakashi in defeat, shooing off the blonde boy. A bright look finally appeared in the fox boy's eyes as he dashed off, about to eat, what most people assumed, was the only thing he did. "Sasuke, you go ahead and gather information. Meet at the inn in an hour and forty-five minutes," mumbled Kakashi under his breath, his lone eye peering out at the Uchiha. With a swift nod, hardly noticeable, Sasuke began walking away, muttering under his breath about how idiotic Naruto was being again, especially after eating lunch barely twenty minutes ago.
"Ne, ne, Kakashi-sensei, where's Sasuke-teme going?" asked Naruto as he drummed his fingers impatiently on the wood, waiting for his ramen. Kakashi smiled knowingly as he let his chin rest on his palm. "Oh, oh okay," said Naruto, understanding the meaning beneath that smile. Naruto was a good ninja, although his immaturity was still very obvious. Sasuke and Sakura were maturing at their own pace but their pace was at least faster than Naruto's. Sakura and Sasuke were preparing for the Jounin Exams next year although Sakura's training was much more obvious than the Uchiha's. Kakashi had been hearing hints from Jiraiya that Naruto wouldn't be taking the Jounin Exams next year but perhaps a year or two later. Naruto still had a lot of his childishness to shed, though he was a great deal more mature now than when they were twelve, and quite a few techniques to learn before his schedule would become swamped like most Jounin's.
The Last Day: Sakura and Aya
It was already late afternoon. They'd set off back towards Konoha, towards home, the next day. When they arrived, they would have a couple of days off from their usual training regimen and then start back. But, for now, Sakura and Aya were going to have a sparring match. Unlike their other sparring matches, where the one who lost was the one who could no longer continue, the only winner could be Sakura and the only way she could win was to catch Aya in a Shitsukentou no Jutsu. Crouched into their respective fighting stance, both kunoichi held their Crescent Blades, waiting for the other to move. It was an unwritten law to either wait for the opponent to attack or attack together because usually, the first to initiate contact would lose. Suddenly, both moved, both like a blur to the untrained eye.
"Haaaahhh!" shouted Sakura as she slammed her Crescent Blade forcefully into the forest floor, her energy coursing wildly through her bloodstream. Her jade green eyes shone with a slight silver, her reflection mirrored in the metal of the giant blade. A cold shiver ran through her spine as she turned around and bent her body backwards, narrowly avoiding a long kick from the Jounin. Instinctively, the pink haired Chuunin let go of the Crescent Blade and grabbed Aya's ankle, causing the older female to lose her balance and fall with a painful thump to the forest floor. Aya's pupils dilated momentarily as she her muscles went into spasms. "Hebi, Uma, Usa---" chanted Sakura before she noticed that Aya was no longer in front of her.
"Too slow!" shouted Aya as she began descending on top of the Chuunin, her Crescent Blade poised to strike. In a flash, Sakura gathered raw chakra to her fists and slammed them dangerously on the already broken forest floor, sending hundreds of hard chunks of earth flying haphazardly around the air, giving her time to move back. Lifting the large weapon, Aya used the Crescent Blade as a pseudo-shield, the silver crescent sparing her from most of the harsh rainfall of dried earth. The Jounin's amethyst irises moved around quickly, in anticipation for Sakura's next move. Her fingers twitched in annoyance as she waited for a single sign. Sensing something from behind, Aya turned around, her skin illuminated by a bright, orangey glow. It was a 'Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu'. "Shitshitshit!" hissed Aya, moving away quickly though the sole of her left sandal was burnt slightly.
Hiding behind a tree, Aya had started to regain the breath she had lost, her heart still beating in a frenzied panic. A plan had quickly begun to formulate in Aya's mind, her amethyst eyes still searching around for any sign of the younger kunoichi. Flashes of the week that had just passed ran through her mind. Sakura had quickly learned the Gen Jutsu with what seemed to be ease, not extreme but it was ease nonetheless. There wasn't solid proof if she could perform it on a human but that was what this sparring session was for. As soon as the Jounin started breathing relatively normally, she moved behind tree to tree, the two Crescent Blades glistening on where they were jammed into the hard earth.
"Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" shouted Sakura, a large, swirling inferno of fire roaring past the leaves of the trees, burning a stray few, and spiraling towards the Jounin whose skin was coloring orange once more. Aya's lips twitched in annoyance and somewhat surprise as she moved back and to her left side, narrowly avoiding the stream of fire that brushed against the tips of her goldenrod tresses. As Sakura passed by, a couple of light-looking objects fell from her hands, an uncomforting crackling sound trailing after them. The Jounin's eyes widened as she realized what had just happened. Sakura had purposely let her rest so she could prepare this attack. The only thing Aya could do was to prepare herself for the painful impact from the explosion A few moments after the Chuunin had dropped the objects, the objects exploded. As expected, broken limbs of trees, their broken portion sharp with splinters, as well as other objects went flying, the Jounin herself falling down to the ground below.
"Nnnggg," groaned Aya, her vision hazy and blurry as she opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was Sakura's body, one of her hands outstretched as if offering to help her up. Lifting one of her arms, she let the back of her hand rest against her somewhat warm forehead, shielding her eyes from the slight brightness the uncovered sky was emitting. "Over already?" she mumbled tiredly, swinging up her right hand and accepting Sakura's hand. The Chuunin shrugged carelessly, trying not to give away anything. As soon as Aya sat up straight, Sakura bent down, a warm light wrapping around her hands as she began to heal the scratches that the Jounin had received. Aya's left side twitched. "Be careful with my left, I landed on that sight harder," commented Aya. Smiling softly to herself, Sakura had murmured 'Kai', canceling something out. Amethyst eyes widened as she saw where Sakura's hands were. They were on her right forearm. "Well well, what do you know?" said Aya with a soft grin.
Late the Next Day: Sasuke
They had actually managed to complete the mission on the fifth day. They had busted into the main office of the head of the yakuza and completed the mission. The villagers had been extremely grateful for their work. Naruto was cheerfully saying it was nothing, as always. Kakashi was also saying it wasn't much of a big deal, that it was their job to do missions such as these but not quite as cheerfully as Naruto. Sasuke had just been waiting for them in the background. As usual, a couple of girls had approached him. Their cheeks were stained a deep red because of embarrassment and they had asked for his address to be able to exchange letters and to get to know him more. He had gruffly denied them, turning his head away and leaning on his side. The two girls had left him, disappointment heavy in their system. Today, he had been waiting near the south entrance, hearing from rumors in the Godaime's office most especially, that they were arriving today.
"It was amazing! I never thought the feeling would be this exhilarating, the fact that I learned an advanced Jutsu," chattered a voice excitedly, causing one of Sasuke's ears to perk up in interest. The voice was familiar. Turning his head, his dark onyx eyes gleamed in the afternoon sunlight, darting around as if looking for someone. "Yeah, I know! I'm looking forward to these two days! My body has been hurting tiredly and I've been aching to finally take a proper bath and to just fall asleep on my bed," replied the voice, clearly talking to someone. His fingers twitched in annoyance. He wanted to approach her, drag her to a bit a way away from her companion and interrogate her on her month long experience but that wasn't him. Soon enough, his dark and sharp gaze had met hers. "Sasuke-kun, what are you doing here?" she asked, somewhat surprised, not expecting him at all.
"Is it suddenly a crime to be standing in this very spot, Sakura?" he asked coolly, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't mocking her or insulting her really. Sakura's gaze averted his for a moment before meeting his even look, a soft smile on her face as she shook her head. "I was just passing by here to get some stuff for dinner," defended Sasuke gruffly, sensing that she was still curious as to why he was there. It wasn't like him to stand at any place for no real reason. And anyway, he was going off to buy some groceries, having hardly any ingredients for onigiri back at his place and the market was close by. It was the perfect excuse. Suddenly, the female Chuunin left Aya's side and clung to his arm, dragging him elsewhere. "Wh-where are you taking me?" asked Sasuke incredulously, annoyance in his voice.
"Dinner," said Sakura simply with a grin as she began dragging him. It was through both sheer luck and the fact that he was familiar with the terrain of the place that he didn't bump or trip over anything as he was being dragged backwards. "I've just officially finished my month long training and I want to celebrate with someone," explained Sakura as she continued dragging him awkwardly. She heard Sasuke blubber 'Why me then?' indistinctly as he managed to at least turn around without getting lose from Sakura's iron grip. "Because you're the first one I've seen and I'm hungry already so I don't want to go looking around for someone else to celebrate with," she added with a flourish, still dragging him along, "And you're hungry too. It's my treat so don't worry. Let's to go one of those Korean barbeque places Chouji swears by," said Sakura with a lilting tone, "I've wanted to eat red meat lately since all I've been really eating was fish for the past month."
Where she was, Aya watched Sasuke follow Sakura meekly, as any Uchiha would. Then again, the only sign of an Uchiha being meek, regardless of who it was, was simply to follow the other. They still had a proud and strong look on their faces and their attitudes, even if they couldn't argue their way out of the mess they had just gotten into. Turning around, Aya had begun to whistle a soft and merry tune as she walked towards the Godaime's tower. She had a lot of things to report to Tsunade and the Jounin had a feeling that Tsunade would swell with extreme pride in her protégée for achieving all of that in a month.
Tsuzuku…
Okay I feel terrible not being able to update after my exams but I couldn't find any inspiration! I hope I've found it again and yeah. I also hope that this chapter will appease your anger for the time being.
With all my activities, duties as a RO GM in my friends private server (go to temari. for more information), editing manga for a scanlation group known as Storm in Heaven and playing a myriad of video games, I've realized that I can't handle updating in a definite schedule. It won't be like before that I'll try to update every other week but I will still try to do that, that much I can promise.
Anyway, I don't really think that you need much of an explanation for this chapter. The Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi mission there was just to fill in the gaps. It's really a simple and straight-forward mission that was escalated to a B-Rank mission because of the presence of the renegade ninjas.
Again, I'm really really really sorry for the delay and I'll try to update next quicker next time! And, don't worry, I'll be finishing this as well as Past Peripheral Vision: Act Two, sequel to this fanfic, which I might rename.
And now, here's what you've all been waiting for! A chapter preview to the next chapter, chapter seventeen.
Next Chapter: Chapter Seventeen – Trials and Retributions
Chapter Preview: "Ne, Kyouta-kun, aren't you still amazed by Sakura-sensei? Even though that talk was so long ago, since I met her, my decision to become a Medical Specialist like her and Onee-san has become even stronger!" said Fuuko brightly, her eyes twinkling in delight as she felt the wind blow against her cheeks softly. Her male companion gave a soft grunt as he tightened his fists into a palm, uprooting a few blades of grass as he did so. He was impressed with how far she had gone ever since she became a Genin herself four years ago. He had heard stories that she was never the strongest, nor did she have the most amount of chakra. The only things she could depend on was her immense knowledge and her perfect chakra control. "I wish I could talk to Sakura-sensei again. She seems really nice," said Fuuko wistfully, a sigh escaping her lips.