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 Four
Past Memories: Album of Love and Pain
"Is Kitsunata still out of it?" Ryuusei asked Kakashi when he finally arrived for practice.
Kakashi nodded, "Yup. She said she'll be fine soon, but she really isn't feeling up to it."
"I wonder if she'll be alright…" Suzuko said quietly.
"Finally, Kakashi!" Sakura shouted, "It sure took you a long time!"
"I had to check up on Kitsunata." Kakashi said.
"Can we please just get to practice?" Sasuke asked, "Why is it that everyone got to fight during practice except me?" Sasuke looked rather annoyed.
As they walked to the usual forest clearing for their training ground, Suzuko whispered to Sasuke, "Because Kitsunata knows you don't need practice."
Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Suzuko in question. She stared back at him, looking slightly deep in thought. Analyzing, if you will. She studied his face, looking for some small detail most would miss, even the person themselves. After a moment of staring, Suzuko suddenly broke into one of her signature, but so very cute, giggle fits.
This raised more questions inside Sasuke's head, but before he could ask what she was giggling about, they'd reached the training ground.
Shina jumped upward, throwing her four senbon at the logs with the paper targets again. This time, only three hit the logs, two hitting the center, one just simply hitting the log, and the fourth one flying off into the bushes.
"Shoot, it's like I'm getting worse or something." Shina said. Her mind kept wandering off. It wandered to somewhere, to someone. But whenever she snapped back to reality, she didn't know to whom.
"Shoot…I can't believe this is happening to me." Shina said, adjusting her headband, which was on her forehead.
Her comments were followed by an "OW!"
Shina's head shot up, to see Kiba walking out of the brush. The fourth senbon had flown straight into Kiba's right shoulder, the front part. Shina quickly went to him and pulled the senbon roughly out of his shoulder.
"Ouch!" He exclaimed, "It's fine; I'm fine!"
"Hold still." Came the reply. Shina quickly pulled his jacket off. She pushed the sleeve of his under shirt up to reveal the hole the senbon had inflicted.
At her actions, both became slightly flustered.
"I-I'm fine, really, Shina." Kiba said.
"I told you: HOLD STILL." Shina said. She pulled a small vial from her leg bag. Opening it, she poured it onto Kiba's wound.
"Damn that stings!" Kiba said.
"Stop whining, Pup." Shina retorted.
"Why did you send a senbon at me in the first place?"
"Why were you spying on me?" Shina's voice said coldly.
"Because, once again, you forgot about practice. I was late yesterday because of you. I swear, Kyoshi's going to kill me one of these days. He's always complaining about how I'm older and this and that…And how I'm supposed to be there on time."
"If it bothers you that much, then just don't come get me." Shina said icily, her tone a hurt one.
Kiba flinched at the tone she used. He'd never heard her like that before, only if they'd known each other a couple of days. Kiba softened a bit, "I didn't mean it like that."
Shina stopped applying the liquid, "Then what did you mean?" The blush on her face was gone.
"I just meant…I was…" Kiba stuttered. He didn't know what he'd meant by it. He had just been talking, right? Or was he trying to say something else?
"Just forget it." Shina said, back to her usual quiet tone. She replaced the cork onto the vial, putting it back inside her bag. She then proceeded to pull white bindings out of the same bag. She began to wrap the bloodied spot.
"Sorry…" Kiba mumbled. Shina momentarily glanced up at his comment before returning to her work.
"If you two are done with your little scene, hurry up!" Taura shouted at the two.
Shina looked away from Kiba and Taura, her cheeks burning. When Taura was gone, Akamaru entered the clearing. He was no longer the small "puppy" he was last year. He was huge! Akamaru's size was just a bit larger than a lion's!
"Hey, Akamaru!" Kiba said to his companion, "Shina, we'll get to the training grounds faster if we ride Akamaru. Come on!"
Kiba got onto Akamaru's back. Shina climbed on as well, taking care to not hurt the dog.
"He runs pretty fast, so hang onto something." Kiba said, "Oh, and duck if you see any overhanging branches."
"Oh, you're making this ride sound so fun and safe." Shina said sarcastically.
Kiba chuckled at her comment before saying, "Go ahead, Akamaru."
Kiba's words were truthful. Akamaru took off at a breakneck speed. Shina's original intentions were to hang onto Akamaru's fur, but decided that it would probably hurt. So, she began to search for something else to hang onto when Akamaru suddenly took off. Without thinking twice, Shina looped her arms around Kiba's waist.
Akamaru ran through the forest, and Shina and Kiba ducked as he ran by low branches. On one particular incident, Kiba narrowly ducked a branch, having been thinking about something else. He looked back at Shina, chuckling.
"Kiba –!" Shina pointed forward. Kiba looked in the direction she pointed.
WHACK! Kiba got a mouth full of leaves.
Kiba spat the leaves out as Shina laughed, something most people rarely heard.
"I can't believe I'm the one who woke up late." Shikamaru said.
Nariko smiled shyly.
"Why're you still shy around me? I known you since you were born! I've held you!"
"Calm down, Shikamaru." Ino laughed, "Nariko's just a shy person!"
Shikamaru sighed in defeat.
"We should probably get going, then." Nariko said quietly.
Ino and Shikamaru nodded.
"Okay, Marise, get ready again." Yanagi commanded, "I'm coming!" Yanagi was currently riding a horse. It was a pretty one, at that. Yanagi's horse's name was Nuedori(Golden Mountain Thrush); a female gold blonde horse, and silvery white mane. She wielded her sword, a lance equipped at the side.
Marise was also riding a female pure black horse named Yume(Dreams/Fantasies), holding a sword and a shield, another sword on the horse's saddle.
"Come on, Yanagi!" Marise said breathlessly, "We've gone through this a hundred times! We're going to be late again! It seems like that happens a lot lately…This isn't the Way of the Shinobi. Shinobi don't ride horses into battle! Besides, I haven't even had my morning meditation yet!"
Yanagi stopped her horse, "We've gotta train in all fields available, Marise. I have to train!"
Marise gave Yanagi a concerned look, "For what, Yanagi?" He said seriously, but quietly, "What are you preparing for?"
Yanagi looked away and fiddled with her horse's mane.
Marise's eyes opened wide in realization. He rode his horse up to her's, grabbing her hand, "Yanagi," He whispered, "You don't have to fight this alone. You have friends. You have your brother."
"I can't concern anyone else in my own affairs, Marise." Yanagi answered.
"You could get hurt if you attempt this alone!" Marise continued, "I don't want you getting hurt when you could easily avoid it!"
Yanagi's eyes were emotionless, "I can't be hurt anymore. I was dead the moment I was marked."
"Don't say stuff like that!" Marise exclaimed, "Why do you always do this? Why can't you just learn to lean on someone other than youself for once?"
"Where are they?" Tenten asked Neji, "Isn't Yanagi supposed to be your sister?"
"She wakes up before I do." Neji commented, "She takes Marise training somewhere off by the mountains."
"But, Neji," Lee said, "Don't you wake up at seven every morning? How much earlier does Yanagi wake up?"
"Much earlier." Neji answered.
Sasuke and Ryuusei blocked each others' attacks, throwing another attack at each other. Sasuke slid his leg under Ryuusei, and she fell over. She rolled to the side in time to dodge another of his attacks. She flipped backwards, throwing a barrage of shuriken at Sasuke before disappearing into the trees. Sasuke dodged the shuriken and followed Ryuusei.
"Wow, they really know how to take it to the next level!" Suzuko exclaimed enthusiastically.
Kitsunata smiled in agreement. She'd arrived a little while ago.
Sasuke and Ryuusei rolled out of the under brush, seeming to be wrestling more than anything else. Each pushed at each others' arms.
"It's hard to believe that Ryuusei is even a match for Sasuke…" Suzuko said, a peaceful smile playing on her face.
"That's a horrible thing to say about your teammate." Sakura said.
"You don't understand what I mean." Suzuko said serenely, "However good Ryuusei may be…Even though she is almost Jounin level…She can't trade experience learned here in the village for experience learned on the battle field. That's why I believe that Sasuke is stronger than Ryuusei, because he has more battle experience."
"That's some pretty deep thinking." Kitsunata said, "Most wouldn't even think of it that way."
"Give up!" Sasuke told Ryuusei.
"Not on your life, Uchiha!" Ryuusei answered.
"Heh hem." Jiraiya cleared his throat.
Everyone turned to him; their eyes shooting wide open, except Suzuko, who was used to his visits, and Sasuke and Ryuusei, who were too busy wrestling to notice.
"Jiraiya Sensei," Suzuko said, "What brings you here?"
"Well the Jounin and Hokage that don't have teams were ordered to hand out the missions." Jiraiya answered, "Some new policy the Lord Hokage came up with. Well, Kakashi and Kitsunata, here's your packet."
Jiraiya handed the thick folder over, which Kitsunata took. She opened it and flipped through a couple of pages. Kitsunata gave it a perplexed look, "You've gotta be kidding me! All these have to be done in four months? How can they expect us to even finish half?"
"Oh, now, it can't be that bad." Kakashi said with a smile.
"Not that bad?" Kitsunata argued, "Look, there are three sections in this whole folder. The first section is easy enough: We've just gotta do some chores around Konoha. But the second gets tough, and the third even tougher!"
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"How hard could it get?" Sakura stated.
"The second section is solely devoted to escorts." Kitsunata said.
"What're escorts?" Sakura asked, "What do you mean? What kind of escort?"
"It means we are supposed to escort certain people to different villages." Suzuko answered.
"Precisely," Kitsunata said, "If that isn't hard enough, just wait until the third section. We have to find an ancient scroll." Kitsunata rounded upon Jiraiya, "How the hell are we supposed to find this scroll? You didn't even give us an approximate area where they'd be! How can we finish this all in four months?"
"Fiery aren't you, little one." Jiraiya patted Kitsunata's head.
She glared at him, "I am not little!"
"Of course not." Jiraiya said, chuckling
"No, really, she's a Jounin." Kakashi stated.
"Damn it!" Ryuusei shouted.
"I forgot all about the fight!" Kitsunata stated. She turned to them. Sasuke now had Ryuusei pinned on the ground, the both still wrestling, "You two can stop now!"
Sasuke stopped and pulled off of Ryuusei. She stood, dusting off her clothes. She looked up, saying, "Jiraiya Sensei? What're you doing here?"
"That's a lovely thing to say to your Sensei, Boufuu."
"Boufuu?" Sakura questioned.
"Who's Boufuu?" Naruto asked.
"It's a name Jiraiya gave me, idiot." Ryuusei said.
"A certain someone has been cutting practice." Jiraiya said to her.
"I haven't because I don't even know what time it's supposed to be! You were supposed to tell me weeks ago!"
"Sasuke sure gave you some problems." Jiraiya commented, "I wonder why no one's nominated him yet."
"Yeah, that's what I'd like to know." Kitsunata said.
"All of you are making me feel so much better." Ryuusei said sarcastically.
"You both fought well." Suzuko said, "But, maybe, next time you two could try to stay away from the wrestling section."
"Yeah, I guess so."
Sasuke gave her a smug look.
"Wipe that look off your face, Uchiha." Ryuusei said.
"I beat you, and you know it." Sasuke answered.
"Did not!"
"Okay, enough arguing!" Kitsunata shouted, "We need to get to these missions if we want to even finish half. You could've at least given us an approximate location to the third section!" She yelled at Jiraiya.
Jiraiya put his hands up in resignation, "I'll see what I can get you."
"Come on, Naruto, how hard can it be to polish a statue?" Kitsunata called up to Naruto, who was polishing the head of a fifteen foot gold statue.
"I didn't even know that there was such a big statue in Konoha!" Naruto said, slipping on the head.
"No one told you to pick the highest part of the statue, Naruto." Sasuke stated, polishing the right arm of the statue.
"We've gotta hurry up if we want to finish, so…hurry up!" Kitsunata shouted, polishing the left arm.
"Alright!" Suzuko answered cheerfully from polishing the neck, standing on the slippery statue like it was perfectly normal.
Ryuusei watched Kitsunata carefully from polishing the stomach of the statue. Sakura and Kakashi were polishing the legs and feet.
"My arm is starting to hurt…" Sakura complained.
"Stop your whining down there!" Kitsunata said, "We're going to be doing a lot more hard stuff than this soon."
"Hey, Sakura, did you hear about the rumors some of the other Chunin are talking about?" Naruto said, "Master Iruka says that there's this wanted Jounin named Kenshiko running about."
"Hey, I heard that rumor, too!" Sakura answered, "Neji and Lee were talking about it on their way to practice today."
Kitsunata froze on the spot. She became numb.
"Kogitsune, Are you alright?" Sasuke asked her.
At that exact moment, Kitsunata lost her balance, slipping off of the statue.
"Kitsunata!" Suzuko called to her.
Sasuke dove off of the statue after Kitsunata. In desperation, he caught Kitsunata in midair. He fell down twelve feet and landed on his feet, sliding slightly, his legs aching from the force of the fall. His legs slid until he was practically crouching.
Snapping out of her daze when she fell, Kitsunata looked up at Sasuke, "What…How…"
"Are you okay?" Sasuke asked her.
"Oh my gosh, is she alright?" Suzuko, being carried down by the shadows of the statue, said.
"Tell me, Kitsunata, are you fatigued again?" Ryuusei asked, turning around on the ladder she stood upon.
"No, I'm fine. I……I'm fine really." Kitsunata answered.
"You should rest." Sasuke said sternly.
"But…"
"Kogitsune, rest." Sasuke said.
Kitsunata sighed, "Fine…"
Sasuke moved her towards a tree in a shaded spot that pointed slightly away from the statue.
Sasuke smiled at her, "Hang in there."
"I'm fine, Sasuke." Kitsunata answered, "Just make sure they get this statue finished before noon. We have on more Konoha chore until we start the escorting section."
"Okay." Sasuke said.
After Sasuke left, Kakashi came to Kitsunata, "What is it, Kitsunata?"
Tears welled into Kitsunata's eyes, "She's back…She's back, Kakashi. I don't know what to do. I…I want to see her because I miss her…a lot. But…what will her reaction to me being here be?"
"I'm sure she'll be delighted, just like Sasuke." Kakashi said.
Shina wiped her brow. It was hot outside, and they had been charged with cleaning the house of an old couple. She had currently been moving some of the furniture into corners for easy sweeping. Shina picked up a large and heavy box. Much too heavy for one person, but she didn't realize that until it was up in the air. Shina stumbled with the box, her feet dragging, about to trip…
"Let me help." Came Shino's voice.
The box slowly and carefully lifted out of Shina's arms. Shina sighed with relief when she felt something crawl over her foot. Shina looked down and screamed loudly, jumping ten feet back.
"What's the matter?" Kiba and Taura entered the room in a flash.
Shino's intentions had been good. He'd used his control over his chakra eating bugs to lift the box.
"Are those…" Taura hesitated, "Bugs?"
Shino nodded.
Shina took a deep breath and apologized, "Shino, I apologize for freaking out at your bugs. It was just…Unexpected. I hadn't known you were a Bug Tamer before."
Shino nodded, accepting the apology.
"Now that that moment of stupidity is over," Taura commented, "Can we please get back to work? We have a lot to do today!"
"Alright." They all agreed.
Kentaro and Asuma's team were currently washing the upstairs wooden floorboards of a house with wet towels. Ino, Takara, Choji, Kentaro, and Asuma were charged with the insides of the huge home. Nariko and Shikamaru were told to go outside and wash the balcony around the entire upstairs home.
Nariko started from the eastern side; Shikamaru the western side. They placed the wet towels onf the floor and ran as fast as they could, pushing the towels along the balcony. Shikamaru passed by a door nearby. Ino walked out and slipped on the floor, colliding with Shikamaru!
"Shikamaru!" Ino said, her crouched over him slightly.
"What?" He asked rebelliously, trying to hide the apparent blush from his face.
Nariko ran as fast as she could to the scene without tripping, "What happened?" She asked shyly.
"I was trying to clean this balcony when Ino collided into me." Shikamaru answered.
"I was just coming out to tell you that Kentaro said to take a break for a little while." Ino answered.
Nariko sat down and sighed in relief, " Finally…I never knew how tiring it was to clean the top floor of a house."
"We have to move these rocks?" Marise asked, looking at the rocks thoughtfully.
"Yup." Tsuyu answered, "That's what this paper says, right Guy?"
Guy nodded, "Right."
"I…guess it'll be easy enough." Tenten said.
"The question is, how?" Yanagi asked, checking her newly acquired swords. She had two tied to her left hip and one strapped to her back. It was much larger and slim; easy to handle but a great sword.
"Try breaking them into smaller pieces." Marise suggested.
"That is a great suggestion, Marise." Lee commented.
"Thanks." Marise said in a modest tone.
"Well we might as well get started." Yanagi said, "I can even practice my new skill!"
"And what's that, Yanagi?" Neji questioned.
"Well, one thing out of the Cursed Seal was good." Yanagi said, "Now that my left arm is able to move again, I can now use two swords, one in the left, and the other on the right."
Yanagi touched the hilts of her swords. Drawing them, their individual gems shined brightly. The one in Yanagi's left had large a red spinel gem on the pommel and an amber scabbard with decorative dark red straps. The other had a huge yellow Ceylon sapphire embedded in the pommel. It had a silver scabbard with decorative straps too, this time they were yellow.
"Cool new swords." Tenten commented.
"The red one is Fushichou, the Firebird. In other words, the Phoenix." Marise said knowledgably, "The yellow one is Raichou, the Thunderbird. They are twin swords, as you can tell by the same designs for not only the sword, but their scabbards as well. The only difference is that one is of thunder yellow, and the other of fire red."
Everyone stared at him in wonderment.
"I helped Yanagi pick them out." Marise said.
"Well, anyway, I need to break them in." Yanagi commented.
"Why do you have to break a sword in?" Tsuyu asked.
"Because I don't know which style to use with them to make them most effective." Yanagi stated, "If not, in battle these swords might not do anything at all."
They proceeded to breaking the rocks into smaller pieces. Yanagi swung her swords around, their blades gleaming in the sun. She pulled them together in an x like position. She slashed the nearest rock in the blink of an eye. One minute it was whole, the next it was cut into proportionate fours. The two top pieces slid off.
"That small enough or smaller?" Yanagi asked Marise.
Marise studied the pieces and said, "Maybe just a bit smaller. We want to be able to move these stones easily. The elders of the town like this route for walks, but that recent rockslide just really messes things up. The good thing is, no one was hurt."
The entire group continued with their work, going as fast as they could to save time.
Marise leaned against the rock, head tilted to the sky, eyes clouded; as if in meditation.
"Is he meditating?" Tenten asked.
Yanagi nodded, "If you want to know why he meditates so much, then just keep watching and you'll find out why."
After a few more moments, a sun colored chakra suddenly released from Marise in gold orange tendrils. The rock he leaned on suddenly cracked. Marise stood straight, and the rock broke into a million pieces.
"That was cool!" Lee shouted.
Marise snapped out of his meditating state, "What? Oh, you mean breaking the rock?"
"Yeah!"
"Alright, we're going to pick up today's escort." Kitsunata said, over her fatigue. She held that brown, slightly faded album, the one from two days ago. She held it dearly. "I've divided the escorts by importance to the escort, and then by nearest." The sun was beginning to set.
Everyone was exhausted from the work.
Naruto, lying on the floor in front of Kitsunata, said, "I can't believe we did all our village chores in one day!"
Sakura sat next to him, nodding in agreement.
Sasuke coolly leaned against a nearby building, the setting sun behind him. Suzuko sat elegantly on a pile of wood next to Sasuke. Kakashi stood next to Kitsunata going over the escort files. Ryuusei was the only one standing completely up, although she looked as if she were about to go lean on the wall with Sasuke.
Kitsunata turned around. Shielding her eyes from the sun, she said, "The sun is setting. We still have time to escort the people who need escorting nearest to the village first."
"What?" Sakura whined, "But…We already did so much today!"
"We're on a timed schedule." Kitsunata said, "We don't have time to waste!"
"But we still have like four months!" Naruto stated.
"I don't think you understand the pressings of only having four months." Kitsunata stated. She pulled out a huge pack of papers and dropped it. It fell to the floor, making a large bang. "These are all the escorts we have to do. And then there's the third section. It's just to find one little scroll. These are its papers." Kitsunata pulled out an even thicker pack of papers and dropped it next to the other, to show them the size difference. This alerted all of the Chunin to look carefully.
"But this pile?" She said, standing a foot on the second pile of papers, "It's garbage. This is only papers on the people and places the scroll might have been seen, and what the scroll might look like. But these papers? They date back over a hundred years. They were newly written, but the information is old. And see this?" Kitsunata dipped her hand back into the substantially smaller folder, "Is all the recent information about the scroll." Kitsunata pulled no papers out and pretended to drop some papers. "Now do you see why I am rushing you?" Kitsunata questioned, "And this, is only the approximate area that we'd be able to find it at. It might not even be right." Kitsunata pulled out one piece of paper. "This is a map of the entire Land of Wind, belonging to Sunagakure and the Sand/Wind Ninja and its surrounding area. We have to search it, and also not get caught by the Ninja their."
Suzuko looked away and at the sun sadly. Only Ryuusei and Sasuke noticed this.
"Can't we just ask them nicely for the scroll?" Naruto asked.
"Of course we can't, idiot." Sasuke stated, "What, do you think that we can just waltz into their head village, ask them for the scroll, and they'll give it to us!"
"Uh huh." Naruto nodded, "That'd be the nice thing to do!"
"Well guess what Naruto?" Ryuusei said, "These Ninja are not going to be nice to us. They won't give that scroll up no matter what. They'll probably execute us on the spot!"
"What's so important about this scroll anyway?" Sakura wondered.
"Didn't any of you learn anything during the Chunin exams?" Suzuko snapped suddenly, "When you are given a mission, you don't ask questions! You just carry it out. That is the Way of the Shinobi. We are tools for our village to gain the upper hand. We do as we are told without questions or hesitation. That is to be a true Shinobi. We are to pass over land as swiftly and as silently as a shadow, to be unseen by the enemy, to complete missions without failure. If you cannot carry these words in your heart, mind, and soul, you will never be a true Shinobi. You must be as cold as ice while facing down an opponent; you must be as fiery and fierce as the sun during the heat of battle and war. If you cannot balance these, you cannot be a Shinobi."
"Well put, Suzuko." Kitsunata said, picking up the papers and hastily stuffing them back into the folder. "Now do you see why we must hurry? We've got just four months to escort all of these people and find this scroll. Go home and start packing."
"Well, that should do it." Yanagi said, tying her pack up.
"Got everything, Yanagi." Neji questioned, walking into her room.
Yanagi nodded, "Yup. My swords were newly polished too. Can I take Nuedori too?"
"Yanagi," Neji said.
"I promise she won't get in the way!" Yanagi stated, "She along with Yume can help carry supplies and stuff. Or, they could carry some of the escorts."
Neji sighed, unable to say no to his little sister, "Fine. Just make sure she doesn't mess the mission up."
"Thanks Neji!"
"It took you two long enough!" Lee shouted, eager to begin the mission.
"What's with the horses?" Tenten asked.
Both Marise and Yanagi had brought Yume and Nuedori.
"They're to help the escorts or carry some of our packs." Yanagi said.
They looked to Guy and Tsuyu to see if it were alright.
The two shrugged and said in unison, "I guess it'll be alright."
Shina jumped upwards and threw her four senbon. Two landed in the targets and the other two, this time, landed on the log.
"Well, at least it's an improvement…" Shina said glumly, pulling the needles from the logs.
"You should really get some rest…" Hinata suggested shyly.
"Huh?" Shina turned to Hinata, "What do you mean?"
"I…I mean you just…just look tired that's…that's all." Hinata stated
Hinata's words were true. It had been just barely one day when they'd finished their village chores. Right after that, they'd moved on to their escorts. Here they were, camping somewhere between the middle of the forest outside of Konoha and the end of the forest. This was the first that they'd gotten a break.
Shina looked away, then back at Hinata. Hinata had already left, though. Shina sighed. She was right. She felt exhausted. But she needed to practice her senbon. Her kunai throws were excellent, and her shuriken barrages were near perfection. Just senbon. They were much lighter than kunai or shuriken, and the difference in weight was the reason she couldn't get it right, right?
Taura sat by the nearby river bank on a piece of rock that over stretched a lake near. Her feet hung in the water as she watched the stars. Taura sighed in content. The river and the lake were absolutely refreshing.
Taura closed her eyes and slowly used her chakra to manipulate the river and lake water. It rose up into the air and made it swirl into different shapes.
Nariko began to pack her things. They were given some time to pack up there things. Nariko picked up a photo in a gold and silver frame. The picture showed a woman with extremely long blonde hair and green blue eyes. Her eyes shone confidence and determination.
She smiled sadly at the picture before packing it into her pack. She packed a couple more articles of clothes before tying it shut.
Nariko walked downstairs where Ino was waiting for her.
Their father entered the room, smiling happily at them.
Nariko hugged her father, "I'll come back, I promise."
"You know we can't make promises when it comes to missions." Inoichi stated.
"But –." Nariko protested.
"Nariko, we've been through this." Inoichi leaned down to be eye level with his youngest daughter, "You can't make promises when you are going on a mission, no matter the circumstances."
Nariko looked away. Ino put an arm around her sister and led her out the door, waving good bye to her father.
"It took you long enough." Shikamaru stated when he saw Ino and Nariko. However, his face became horrified as he saw that his best friend's little sister was in tears. "Ino, what……What happened?"
"I'll explain it later," Ino answered, her arm around her little sister to give her support.
"Choji and Takara arrived a little bit ago." Shikamaru stated, "Kentaro Sensei and Asuma Sensei are getting impatient. They want to start as soon as possible."
"Alright then." Ino answered.
Sasuke walked to the door of Kitsunata's home. He rapped upon the door several times without any answer. He shrugged and unlocked the door with his key.
"Kogitsune?" Sasuke called to her, "Where are you? You're usually not the one to be later than everyone else, especially not Naruto."
No answer came, except a sob from somewhere in the house. Sasuke turned the lights on and walked deeper inside.
"Kogitsune?" Sasuke called again, this time more urgently. As he approached the bedroom, the crying sounds increased.
Sasuke pushed the door open and found Kitsunata on the floor, crying. The album she seemed to be carrying everywhere now had fallen off her desk. But another had also fallen from her desk. It had opened to a picture where Kitsunata was arguing angrily with the hawk eyed girl, caught on a picture. Kitsunata appeared to be so angry…So spiteful, unlike the way they were in the other photo.
Sasuke quickly walked over to her, "Kogitsune…Who..?"
Kitsunata flew to him and curled into his arms. She did this when they were younger and was distressed. He patted her head as usual and tried to calm her down.
Kitsunata looked up at Sasuke, the tears welling in her eyes again, "I have to tell you. I should've told you a long time ago."
Sasuke and Kitsunata walked in silence to the meeting point of their team. Small chat came up every now and then but not often. Everyone was too tired to speak. When night fell for several hours, Kitsunata and Kakashi decided to let them rest for the night. They set up camp at the edge of a small clearing near a stream for bathing. Kitsunata and Ryuusei went to find firewood while Suzuko and Sasuke went to get water. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi were to set up the campsite.
"Why?" Ryuusei suddenly asked.
Kitsunata stood straight, a large twig in her arms, "Why, what?"
"The fatigues. What's going on, Kitsunata Sensei?"
"A fatigue is a fatigue, Ryuusei."
"I mean this in no disrespectful reason, Kitsunata Sensei," Ryuusei said, her eyes locked onto Kitsunata's with a serious tone, "I do not believe these 'flash fatigues' are real fatigues. I noticed that every time this 'Rai no Kenshiko' came up, you had these fatigues. Who is she? Do you know her? How do you know her?"
Kitsunata remained silent, trying to avoid Ryuusei's eyes but found that she couldn't.
"Please tell me." Ryuusei said with concern.
"You are too perceptive for your own good." Kitsunata finally said, smirking, but a glint of sadness flashing in her eyes briefly. "Everyone is inclined to have their secrets. I would tell, but in due time, Ryuusei. I will tell you. Rest assured, it won't get in the way of our mission. Now hurry and help me get this firewood. I'm tired."
"Of course, Kitsunata Sensei."
To Be Continued…
Next Time, On The Three Sacred Treasures…
Taura –
The Chunin teams of Konoha have set out to complete their second section missions. They find that it is rather hard to cross between the borders of countries unseen. A pair of watchful eyes watches them wherever they go, tracking their every movement.
Next Time, Golden Orbs of Ringed Fire