(A/N: I hope the stuff at the end –which I'm not going to mention- doesn't make anybody too terribly upset. I made the creature up, so don't base any facts on it or anything. And I know Itachi doesn't normally work with Deidara, but she was the only one I could think of off the top of my head and I was writing this out before I bothered to type it. Ummm…. I had fun with this one… lots of facts and info and stuff, hope it wasn't too much… I woulda used Anko instead of Kurenai, but I'm saving Anko for later. Mwahaha. That's all. Lemme kno wut u think!)
Standing outside Neji's house was another girl. She had long blond hair pulled back into a ponytail except one long strand. She wore mostly purple and her eyes were a vibrant blue. She smiled when she saw Sakura come out with Yukie.
"This is Ino," Sakura introduced, "She's going to come with us."
"Sakura may be good at showing people around and everything, but she wanted me to tag along. See, she realized that when it came to shopping, I have good taste, unlike her," Ino said maliciously.
"I'm only letting you come, Ino Pig-Chan, because Tsunade's going to call for me some time today and I don't want to strand Yukie in the middle of Konoha." Sakura retorted, "Let's go," she added before Ino could reply.
Sakura lead the way, with Yukie on her left and Ino next to Yukie. For most of the day, Yukie followed Sakura and Ino around as they looked around the village. Sometimes Ino would take Yukie into a store and shop a little, or just look around. Most of the time, though, Ino and Sakura would just argue and contradict one another. Yukie could tell by how they argued, they had been friends a long time and had fun competing with each other.
At around one o'clock, Sakura and Ino agreed on a place to eat and the three settled down at a table. During the meal, Sakura and Ino told Yukie about Konoha as a whole. Tsunade was the Fifth Hokage (the Godaime). Apparently the first two Hokages (Shodai and Nidaime) were great men. They established the basic rules of the village, set alliances with other villages, kept peace in the nation, and ultimately made the village one of the largest and strongest villages ever.
The Third Hokage (Sandaime) ruled for the longest time. Both Ino and Sakura had known him personally. He selected the Fourth Hokage (Yondaime) once he believed his time as Hokage was over. After only a little time as Hokage, a demon attacked the village and Yondaime lost his life to save the village. Because the Fourth had not chosen a successor, Sandaime became Hokage again.
The loss of his apprentice scarred the Third Hokage and he chose not to pick another Hokage until the village became stable again. Unfortunately, before he could choose a Godaime, Sandaime was killed by an enemy ninja, Orochimaru. Orochimaru attacked Tsunade shortly after she refused to become the Fifth. When she realized the true threat, Tsunade defeated Orochimaru and accepted the title Godaime. Now, Orochimaru's a fugitive, along with his village: Otoga (or the Hidden Sound).
Everybody had fallen into silence when a bright hawk flew overhead, letting out a screech every once in a while.
Sakura rose and said, "Well, I have to go now. Ino, make sure Yukie is back at Neji's by four. He has something planned. Well, I'll see you guys later." And she was gone.
Ino turned to Yukie, "It's time to get some real shopping done." Ino took Yukie to many stores. She got Yukie enough clothes to make her closet full. Yukie now wore an outfit Ino had bought for her. Although it didn't completely match the Hidden Leaf Village's style, it still blended with the others well. She wore a semi-dark purple top with the bottom and sleeves torn and a skirt that tied on the side of the same style. Under the skirt she wore black shorts. Slightly darker cloth was wrapped around her feet up to her knees and from her elbows to her wrist. She wore dark reddish-brown shoes and fingerless gloves of the same color.
By the end of the day, Ino and Yukie's arms were full with bags and Neji had to open the entrance and Yukie's bedroom doors for them. Both girls were laughing and having a great time when they separated. Ino left the Hyuuga grounds with a last wave.
Yukie turned to Neji, "So, I hear you have something planned," she said, looking him in the eyes.
"I figured, because of how hard you've been working, I'd-" his voice cut short, his body tensed, and he spun on his heel to look at the door. He concentrated his chakra and used his Byakugan to look through the door. Yukie's ears perked and she listened intently to the silence.
"What is that?" She asked in a whisper.
As soon as the words left her lips, the bell in the center of the Hyuuga Clan began to ring. "An attack," Neji replied before rushing out the door.
Yukie ran after him, calling, "Where are you going?"
"It's my duty to protect my village. If you want to be a ninja, it's your duty, too." Yukie felt herself swell with pride. She was a ninja now; she had to protect her village and the people living in it. At that moment, Yukie swore to herself she would do all in her power to keep her village safe; even if it meant she would have to lose her own life.
Other ninjas joined Yukie and Neji on their way to the danger. Some of them Yukie knew. There was Hinata, who Yukie met on her third day in the clan. There was also Shikamaru, Chouji, and Kiba, who Yukie met earlier that day. Ino came from her flower shop and joined them, too.
"Does anybody know what this is all about?" Ino asked the crowd of travelers.
"We're being attacked, what do you think this troublesome alarm means?" Shikamaru returned.
"Well I know that!" Ino said huffily, "I just wanted to know if anybody knew anything else!"
"Then why didn't you just say that?" Kiba asked with a small laugh, followed by an enthusiastic bark from Akamaru.
"Why do you always have to be… so… mean…?" Ino's voice faded away when she saw exactly what was attacking the village.
"…That's one huge bird…" one boy murmured under his breath.
"Way to state the obvious, Lee," a girl standing next to him said hottily.
Lee turned toward the girl, but Neji stuck an arm out to stop him, "Lee, Tenten, now isn't the time to start arguing."
A blond boy standing behind Yukie burst out, "What the hell is that thing?"
Hinata stood next to him and shyly commented, "It has a huge amount of chakra."
"It must be a demon," Tenten said to herself.
Suddenly Yukie knew, "It's the seven-tailed phoenix demon."
The blond boy went rigid, "The seven tails… no way… so the Akatsuki haven't gotten to it yet."
Sakura stood next to the blond boy, and Kakashi was next to her. Yukie wondered when they had arrived. "Be quiet, Naruto," Sakura ordered.
Kakashi leaned over to the boy Sakura called Naruto, "Itachi and Deidara went to capture the girl that had it… she killed herself just to spite them."
"What village was she from?" Naruto whispered back.
"The sound," Kakashi replied.
"Kabuto must not have been happy," Sakura said, "I thought he had only come to ask for peace with the Hokage. That's why I was called to see Tsunade. He said he chased Orochimaru out…" Sakura's voice seemed to fade away as Yukie got sucked into her own thoughts.
Everything Yukie saw was like a dream. Kakashi's words echoed in her head, "She killed herself just to spite them." Something in her head spoke to her. A voice covered by shadow came forward and told her what she didn't want to her, "Talah's dead. She took her life to keep the Akatsuki from her seven-tails demon." Yukie's friend was gone. And it was the fault of a man named Itachi. She would avenge Talah. She had to.
The seven-tailed phoenix dove for the village. Every time it opened its mouth, fire flew out. The demon lit a portion of the forest on fire and all the ninjas flew into action. Yukie wasn't much help to the ninjas. All she could do was avoid its attacks and give it a few ineffective hits. But the other ninjas were strong, and extremely skilled.
Neji and Hinata had the Gentle Fist Attacks, allowing them to attack the demon quickly and effectively. Shikamaru, Ino, and Chouji summoned water to put out the fires the demon had created. Sakura and Lee had incredibly strong Taijutsus that they combined. Naruto made hundreds of copies of himself and attacked in various ways, including concentrating his chakra into his hand to create a pure-chakra attack. Tsunade used the same technique as Sakura, only twice as strong. Tenten summoned weapons and hurled them at the demon. Kakashi used what he called Chidori. It looked like he was holding lightning, and sounded like a thousand birds chirping all at once. An old man with white hair summoned a frog almost as big as the demon and also used the same attack as Naruto. Kiba and Akamaru transformed into a huge two-headed dog and had a spinning attack they used often.
Once the demon seemed tired out, a woman named Kurenai came forward with an infant child. In a matter of moments, the demon was gone and sealed inside the child. Ninjas worked the rest of the night finding injured and dead ninjas and putting out the last fires –with help from the giant frog-.
The next day, Tsunade called all of the ninjas of the Hidden Leaf Village to the square, where she thanked everybody that fought, paid respects to the dead, personally thanked Kurenai, and proclaimed the infant with the demon a hero of the village.
She said the child risked his life every day that the demon was inside him and told them he must be respected. Throughout this speech, Naruto seemed very uncomfortable and Sakura stood beside him, comforting him.
After the speech, Yukie went back to her room in Neji's home. She lay on her bed, alone. Her head was spinning. Talah was dead… how did she know Talah? She racked her brain, but she just couldn't remember.
(Quick A/N: Wow. It was longer than I thought O.o. RnR!)
