The Three Sacred Treasures
Seichuu no Katana, Kaichou no Kagami, Chiyu no Magatama
(Sword of Loyalty, Mirror of Unity, Jewel of Healing)
Pierce of Valor, Reflection of Wisdom, Shine of Benevolence
Part One
Identity Lost
Chapter Three
Rumors of Thunder and The Keeper of Sand
"Can you really be…?" Suzuko said hesitantly, as if she were in a dream that she didn't believe. But it was real. Gaara was really standing in front of her! She wanted to run to him, to hug him like she did back in the other village, when they were still friends. But after all these years, would he really still remember her?
"Gaara…" Suzuko whispered, barely letting herself believe it were really him. It was probably one of those dreams again…The ones of back in her village, the ones that was of her youngest years. In these dreams, she'd rush to him, hug him as there usual greeting. But then, a pair of gigantic hands would yank her cruelly away, like her parents had done at their last meet.
"Gaara, can it really be you?" Suzuko whispered again, "You…You probably don't remember me…"
"Of course I remember you." Gaara said, "You are Suzuko, my friend from the Sand Village."
Suzuko sighed in relief. He remembered her. At least he remembered her.
"Don't just stand there." Gaara commented.
Suzuko smiled broadly and ran to hug him, tears welling in her eyes, "I thought I'd never see you again, Gaara. I thought, when you left the village, you were gone for good!"
"When your parents took you away that day…I thought that you didn't want to see me again."
Suzuko looked surprised at Gaara, "Gaara! I would never do that to you! Of course I wanted to see you again! We were friends, weren't we?"
"We still are." Gaara stated.
He wasn't as harsh as he was with everyone else. With Suzuko it was different. Even with the knowledge of him being the Jinchuriki of a Demon, she'd befriended him anyway. She'd defended him when everyone else said he was nothing but a heartless and soulless monster. She'd lost all of her previous friends by befriending him. And still…She stuck by him all that she could. Their first meet was when she was three, and he was four. Both could already talk and had many conversations. She even snuck him sweet treats from her home. But at their last meet, when she was six, and he seven, she'd given him a part of her favorite bracelet that she'd made herself.
"To keep us bonded no matter where we are" was what she'd told him. The bracelets would ring whenever they were nearby each other.
"How do you get them to be quiet?" Gaara asked.
Suzuko giggled, "Just tell the bracelet to be quiet."
"Be quiet." Gaara growled at the bracelet. The bracelet gave one, last, loud, rebellious ring before falling silent. Suzuko laughed at the way the bracelet acted.
"Tell me again why these things have emotion?" Gaara inquired.
"Because, these bracelets were made with my shadow. They house emotions because I thought it would be funny."
Gaara shook his head.
"I think Suzuko's back." Someone called from deeper inside the compound.
"Keen, I'm over here!" Suzuko called to them.
Keen, Dosu, and Zaku walked over to them.
"Hello." Suzuko greeted them openly, "I hope you had a great day today."
"When we're here? Everything's great!" Zaku commented.
"A friend of yours I presume." Keen commented while looking at Gaara.
"Oh, this is Gaara." Suzuko answered, "Remember, I told you about him. And you three left the back door open again?"
"Sorry. Is he the guy you knew from the Sand Village?"
"Yup."
"Suzuko," Ryuusei shouted into the compound, "You're late for practice! Kitsunata's not very happy! Come on, what's taking you?"
"Hello, Ryuusei," Keen said, walking her inside. "What brings you here today?"
"Oh, our new Jounin Kitsunata has us on a training schedule. I think it's great, but Suzuko's already late."
"She's attending to a new patient this morning." Keen commented, "Did Suzuko tell you of the boy from the Sand Village?"
"Gaara? He's here? Now?" Ryuusei said in disbelief.
Keen nodded, "Yup. By the looks of his wounds, he got beat up pretty bad by the time he got here. Suzuko has been tending tohis woundssince last night when he showed up."
Ryuusei sighed, "I suppose she'll be here all morning then."
"Nope, I'm right here!" Suzuko exclaimed, "So, let's go."
"When do I get to meet Gaara?" Ryuusei asked.
"After practice. Now come on!"
"Coming!" Ryuusei answered.
"Bye Keen; say good morning to Zaku and Dosu for us!" They both exclaimed with a wave.
"Alright." Keen waved back.
"Where have you been?" Kitsunata asked, "You're an hour late for practice! And I thought Kakashi was the one who's never on time."
"Hey, don't drag me into this." Kakashi stated.
"I'm really sorry, Kitsunata…" Suzuko said, "I had some important business this morning."
Kitsunata sighed, "It's fine. Come on, let's start practice."
"K."
"Today Kakashi and I will be demonstrating a fight between Jounin." Kitsunata said, "Ready Kakashi?"
"Of course, Kitsunata."
Kitsunata threw some kunai at Kakashi, and then flipped backwards and out of range. Kakashi dodged them easily.
"You're doing much better," Guy told Yanagi as she did simple chops with her sword.
"Thank you, Guy Sensei." Yanagi answered.
"Still can't move your left arm much?" Tsuyu asked.
"I can if I want to be in a lot of pain."
Marise was sitting some feet away, meditating.
"Why's he meditating?" Tenten asked Yanagi
"He always meditates. It's his morning training." Yanagi said, slashing at midair, "Yes! I did it! I'm almost there!"
Shina jumped upwards, throwing four senbon at some logs with paper targets on them. They landed on the logs, but only two made it to the very center of the targets. She landed, saying, "Damn. Taura can make those four…"
"Shina!" Kiba called, "We're over here!"
Shina looked up from her work, shouting, "Coming!" Shina pulled the senbon from the logs and ran towards her teammates' training area.
Nariko raised her right arm and flowers sprouted as tall as she would raise her hand.
"Stop showing off." Takara whispered to her.
Nariko laughed. The flowers burst into petals and blew into the wind.
"Honestly." Takara said.
"I see you two are getting along." Ino said
"Yeah." Nariko answered.
"We're going to be late for practice." Shikamaru said, walking up behind Ino.
"Good morning, Shikamaru." Nariko said.
"Seriously, we're going to be late." Shikamaru said.
"Oh, oops." Nariko said.
"Does no one know what time it is or something?" Shikamaru asked
The three girls exploded into laughter.
"What?" Shikamaru inquired.
Kitsunata and Kakashi slammed their kunai together. They pulled back and slashed at each other, each counteracting the other's attack.
"They know each other's move before the other even makes it!" Ryuusei said in surprise.
"They must spar quite a lot." Suzuko stated.
"Come on, Kakashi, you can do better than this!" Kitsunata said, panting
"This is strange." Naruto said, "Why can't Kakashi just beat her? She's just a little girl!"
"Speak for yourself, Naruto." Kitsunata shouted to him, throwing a kunai his way, purposely missing his ear; the kunai landed in the tree behind him.
Kakashi threw his kunai at Kitsunata, who dodged it. What she didn't expect was when Kakashi rushed her. He stuck out his hands and began to tickle her. Kitsunata began to giggle. He tickled her some more.
"This is strange." Ryuusei said, "I've never seen a Jounin tickle their opponent before."
Kitsunata suddenly shot upwards, looping her arm around Kakashi's neck in a headlock.
"Say it." Kitsunata said.
"Alright, you win." Kakashi answered.
Kitsunata let Kakashi go, "That's only the second time I beat you."
"Bravo, both of you!" Suzuko cheered.
"Thank you, Suzuko." Kakashi answered.
"Now, then, who wants to go next?" Kitsunata asked.
"Ooh, I do, I do!" Naruto shouted, raising his hand and waving it enthusiastically.
"Alright, Naruto." Kitsunata said, "Now, this time, we'll have Suzuko fight him."
Suzuko stood and walked to the opposite side of Naruto.
"Ready? Begin!"
"I'm not going to go easy on you!" Naruto stated
Suzuko simply stood there. Naruto ran at her, his fist coming first. A vortex of shadows came up in front of her. Instead of his fist colliding with Suzuko, Naruto hit nothingness and toppled inside the vortex. In the shadows under some trees off to the side is where Naruto reappeared.
"Fine, if you wanna play with the shadows!" Naruto shouted; he began his Shadow Clone Jutsu with the hand sign.
Recognizing the hand sign, Suzuko shouted, "Naruto, don't!"
Too late. Naruto burst into dust and smoke, flooding Suzuko. When Naruto reappeared, he was ten of him.
"Here I come!" The ten Narutos yelled. They ran forward, surrounding Suzuko.
Suzuko closed her eyes, trying to feel out who the real Naruto was, and which ones were not. Suzuko's concentration was broken when Kitsunata shouted out, "Stop the match!"
Suzuko and Naruto looked at her curiously.
"But why?" Naruto asked
"Do you not know what jutsu you are using?" Kitsunata said in a lecturing tone.
"The Shadow Clone Jutsu." Suzuko and Ryuusei said together, "A forbidden jutsu."
"Exactly." Kitsunata said, "Now, who can tell me exactly why this technique is forbidden? Suzuko?"
"The Shadow Clone Jutsu," Suzuko said, "Is forbidden to all those who are under Kage level for one main reason. The Shadow Clone Jutsu splits the user's chakra amongst the clones. This can be highly dangerous, especially during battle. If the user has used too much of her/his chakra, or doesn't have that much chakra to begin with, the user can be rendered useless. This will give the opponent an easy opening to attack."
"Precisely." Kitsunata agreed, "Naruto, you are not to use that jutsu while I am still your Jounin, do you understand me?"
"But –." Naruto protested
"No buts, Naruto." Kitsunata stated
"But he's been using that technique since we got out of the Academy!" Sakura protested as well, "He even used it during the Chunin Exams!"
"If he used that technique to pass any part of the Chunin Exams then he shouldn't be a Chunin at all!" Ryuusei commented, "Good at the technique or not, it's still forbidden. Lots of shinobi train hard without using forbidden techniques. They are the ones who deserve to be Chunin."
Just then a huge bell sounded throughout the village.
"What's that?" Sasuke asked
"Oh, I forgot!" Kitsunata exclaimed, "That bell means that the other villages from the Chunin Exams are leaving. Do you want to go see them off?"
"I do." Suzuko answered.
"Me too." Ryuusei said.
"Alright, then." Kitsunata said, "You two come with me. The rest of you are welcome to come along too, but you don't have to. We'll see you in a little bit."
Kitsunata, Ryuusei, and Suzuko swiftly went to the main gates of Konoha Village.
"Hey!" Ryuusei waved at a girl with dark blue, almost black, hair and purple streaks. Her eyes were a grayish purple color. She wore simply loose dark blue pants and a tight grey black tank top. Around her hands were gloves with the finger tips half way cut off for better grip. Her bangs were long and slightly spiky, while the rest of her hair was cut short.
Suzuko slowly approached a hulking, tanned boy. He was huge, complete with bulging muscles and eyes. His hair was cut really short, almost bald. He scowled at anything that moved. He wore a shirt that looked as if it were about to burst, including the fact that the sleeves seemed to have been ripped off. His pants seem to also have been long pants, but burst into shorts due to his overly muscled legs. His left arm was in a sling.
"Did I do that to you?" Suzuko asked the boy apologetically, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your arm…"
"Get out of the way!" The boy said rudely, pushing Suzuko with such a force that she fell completely over.
In a strange moment, Gaara suddenly appeared and caught Suzuko. He propped her back up, glaring at the boy.
"You got a problem with people apologizing to you?" Gaara said, glaring at him.
"I couldn't care less what this girl has to say." The boy answered, "I mean, she is just a wimpy little female."
"Good enough to beat you." Gaara retorted.
"You tryin to start somethin?" The boy turned to Gaara.
Gaara was about to start one of his signature jutsus when Suzuko stopped him, "It's alright. Come on, Gaara, let's move on."
"You're lucky your little girlfriend was here to save you." They boy stated, dragging his duck feet as he walked out of the village.
The two blushed at his comment before leaving the area together.
'He doesn't know how lucky he is…' Suzuko thought, 'Gaara surely would've demolished him if given the chance.'
"So who's your friend?" Ryuusei asked.
"Oh, Ryuusei, you haven't met him yet." Suzuko said cheerfully, "This is my friend from the other village. This is Gaara."
Ryuusei looked at him in surprise, "So you are Gaara. Suzuko talks about you a lot."
"Ryuusei!" Suzuko protested, "Anyway, who was that girl?"
"Oh, her? That was my opponent, remember? She and I are now officially allies. That was one of the main purposes of the Chunin Exams, right?"
Kitsunata stood with some of the other Jounin, laughing and joking around, when some students walked by.
"Did you hear about her?" A girl said to a boy.
"No, about who?" The boy asked
"About the deadliest Kunoichi from Kumogakure(Village Hidden Among Clouds)?"
"Where's Kumogakure?" The boy questioned.
"It belongs to the Thunder Shinobi; it's way off to the Northeast of Konoha by what the elders call the sea."
"So, what did you hear about her? Who is she?"
Kitsunata froze at the mention of Kumogakure and Thunder Shinobi.
"Well, rumor has it that she was spotted not too many villages away from this place. They say that she's probablyin the areato terrorize Konoha again, like she did five or sixyears ago. They say that she killed an entire clan and kidnapped a boy too."
'What's her name…' Kitsunata found herself thinking, 'What's her damn name?'
"What's her name?" The boy asked.
"They don't know her real name." The girl replied, "They sat that her parents didn't want her so badly that they never gave her a real name. Everyone just calls her Rai no Kenshiko(Sabre-Tooth Tiger of Thunder). Rumor has it that, if going by the pace that she can, she'll be here in less than two months."
Everyone just calls her Rai no Kenshiko.
Those were the words she said, right? Her. It was her. Kenshiko…
'Why is she coming to Konoha?' Kitsunata questioned in her mind, 'What reason would she have?'
"You know, they say she's no longer human." The girl said.
"Really?" The boy asked.
"Yeah. They say she's more like a demon, with no human emotions whatsoever."
Kitsunata roamed around the flood of students and their Sensei. She found that many of them were buzzing about Rai no Kenshiko. She even found out that many of the Jounin and Chunin from Konoha were discussing the same topic as well.
"Kitsunata Sensei," Suzuko called to her, "Shouldn't we get back to practice soon?"
"You know what, go back to the training sight and tell Kakashi to take over for today."
"But –." Suzuko protested.
Ryuusei looked concerned, "Are you feeling alright, Kitsunata Sensei?"
"Yeah," Kitsunata said, trying to stop her voice from going weak, "I'm fine…Just…Tired, I guess."
"Well rest up as much as you want." Suzuko said, "I'm sure Kakashi will be fine. I'll even stop by with Ryuusei and Yanagi to see if you're alright. We'll bring you something to help fatigue, too."
"Thanks." Kitsunata said, "I appreciate the help."
"No problem." Ryuusei and Suzuko said in unison.
Ryuusei and Suzuko left the main gates area with Gaara, looking back to see Kitsunata slowly walking towards what they assumed was her home.
"No one can really blame her." Ryuusei said, "Jounin or not, underneath she's still just a thirteen year old."
"I know…I hope she feels better." Suzuko said, "It must be tiring being a Jounin and all. Just imagine, Ryuusei, on your fifteenth birthday, Jiraiya Sensei says you'll be readyto become aJounin."
Ryuusei nodded.
"Where's Kitsunata?" Kakashi asked when Ryuusei and Suzuko arrived back at their training ground. Suzuko had long since seen Gaara off.
"She was feeling a bit tired." Ryuusei answered.
"I see." Kakashi said, "Well, we might as well get to practice."
"I'm worried about Kitsunata." Suzuko stated to Yanagi as the two walked to Kitsunata's home with Ryuusei and Gaara.
"Stop worrying." Gaara said, "If she's a Jounin, she'll be fine by tomorrow. Let's just give her the tonic and be on our way."
Suzuko smiled, "You're worried too, Gaara, how sweet."
"It's strange how Suzuko can just simply translate what Gaara says." Yanagi whispered to Ryuusei.
Ryuusei knocked on Kitsunata's door. No one answered. Ryuusei knocked again, this time more forcefully.
Inside, Kitsunata had already fallen asleep, holding onto an old album book. The picture in the very back, the most recent picture in there, was of a six year old Kitsunata and another girl. The girl was around nine or ten. This girl had golden eyes, like a hawks. But around the iris was a red brown ring, the usual color of a tiger's eye. She had golden hair with a streak of black running through her long bangs. In the picture her long, wavy hair was let down. She wore a tight dress the color of sapphires that reached to just above her knees. She already had the headband of a ninja academy graduate. No shoes were upon her delicate feet.
The two were smiling with unbound joy.
A female around the age of eighteen gracefully opened the door two the motel room. She walked in with delicately long legs. She wore a kimono made of silk, with dancing swords upon them. Her golden eyes flashed around the room momentarily before walking all the way in. Her face was fair and elegant. She was beautiful and had an exotic, spicy look in her red ringed irises.
"I have the information, Itachi." In her dainty hands she carried a thick scroll.
"Good work, my little Koji." A nineteen year old Itachi said, whisking behind her from the shadows. Reaching around her slim waist, Itachi took the scroll from "Koji". Taking time to kiss her once on the neck, which she smiled at, Itachi strode to the wall. He flipped the switch, turning on the lights. He placed the scroll on the table and began to read it.
"Where did you get this volume?" Itachi asked.
"From a library," "Koji" stated, "Courtesy of my old home village, Kumogakure. You'll find that it's very useful in leading us to the vassal of Kitsune."
Skimming over the scroll's contents, Itachi said, "If you found this in Kumogakure, maybe they have a complete volume of the Legend."
"I'll get to it right away." "Koji" answered.
"No, not tonight." Itachi said, "Tonight, you stay with me."
"Koji" smiled.
To Be Continued…
Next Time, on The Three Sacred Treasures…
Nariko –
Kitsunata continues to have periodical fatigue. Her teammates begin to worry, and Ryuusei suspects it's not from being a Jounin. When Ryuusei confronts her of this, Kitsunata gives her no answer.
The new teams begin to take in missions, where they will meet new dangers.
Shattered hearts can't be broken a second time...Can they?
Next Time, Past Memories: Album of Love and Pain