Someone Screaming
Alternate Story – Dim Light
Ayane Selznick
The sun was high already.
He tilted up his head while his hand covered his eyes from the strong rays of sunlight. He thought that he had a nice view from where he was standing but he should have not neglected the meeting he has with the Hokage as what he heard from Naruto.
I can't watch them longer like I used to… Tch. How much trouble am I going to face with the Uchiha?
He sighed and resumed walking towards the tower.
During his walk, he saw Neji strolling at some random place near the market. He called out his name.
"Neji." He said coolly and walked towards the said person's location.
The ANBU captain nodded at him. Even though he's off-duty, the superiority between them was present. Neji wasn't even wearing his ANBU uniform. He was just wearing his casual white clothes and pants that didn't cover much of his feet.
"Meeting the Hokage again?" The Hyuuga asked as he shoved his hand inside his pocket.
"Aa. I guess it's about the arrival of the troops last night." Shikamaru replied and looked around the place.
It was rather unusual to see Neji lingering around this area… where stores of luxuries selling jewelries and such at a high price. He wondered for a while and suddenly gave Neji a mischievous smile upon recognition. Neji lifted a brow to him but a little bead of sweat trailed down his side.
"Grand ceremonial? Just give us a word and we'll come."
Neji snorted yet he wasn't able to avoid his cheeks from being rosy. He knew what Shikamaru was talking about for he was caught off guard. After a while he heard the tactician chuckled and bid him farewell.
The Hyuuga just smiled and walked off from the store…
Tsunade waited for Shikamaru to finish reading the scroll the troops gave to her. She was already briefed about the success of the mission. But she was still bothered regarding to Sakura and Naruto's suggestion in removal of the Cursed Seal. Then again, only time could save them from a growing chaos.
Shikamaru didn't take too long reading the scroll. He raised his head and looked at the Hokage's eyes as if asking her.
"What do you say? All that's left were slaves. The team didn't bother rescuing them but they heard that all of them were against their leader, which is, Orochimaru. Once we free them, we'll nurture them here and work as shinobi."
He slowly rolled the scroll and said, "I don't trust them. History tells me that they are the type of people who are unfaithful. They trust no one but themselves. They don't mind if they gave trouble from one village to another. All they think is subjugation since they are only in a small village of a small country."
He finished knotting the scroll and gently placed it on Tsunade's desk.
"That's because it was Orochimaru's way of living. He passed it down to them."
Tsunade tightened her locked hands together. Shikamaru always has the best way of convincing her in this kind of situation as a matter of fact he acted like an adviser for her.
Recalling the troop's summary for their report they mentioned something like laboratory, castle, slavery and the method of choosing another container. They also found some documents that concerned more of human anatomy with foreign and some forbidden jutsus. However, they didn't find any clues about the counter technique for Cursed Seal. Thus Jiraiya and Anko came into the picture.
"I assigned Jiraiya and Anko to look for Orochimaru's forbidden jutsus particularly the one that I'm concerned with… the Cursed Seal. Hopefully they could find the method of removing it. If not I'll rely on how it is done as well as it does." She explained while staring at the scroll.
The lazy genius shoved his hands in his pockets. What else does he want to know? Ah, the Uchiha.
"So you let Sasuke stay. Knowing that he'll be a threat in the future you made an action right ahead by simply dispatching Jiraiya-sama and Anko-sama to find a document to remove the Cursed Seal. Did you even think that you can bribe him when it comes to elimination of Akatsuki?"
This made the Hokage raised a brow.
"I was his classmate and somehow knew what his goals are. He has only two ambitions and one of which is by eliminating his brother who murdered his clan and turned an Akatsuki. If we remove the power that makes him happy so much then he'll be useless. As long as he has that power, we can put him in a team where he could fight against his brother." He ended and stared at the Hokage.
"Sakura and Naruto said the same thing. We don't know how long we're going to track them down and I don't want Naruto to lure them for Sasuke. It would be dangerous to set up traps for that organization."
Shikamaru sighed deeply. Later he closed his eyes to think and then a moment later, he opened them again.
"Naruto is the only Jinchuuriki alive. We don't have to risk him to lure them here since they'll head here with three or four members to have an assurance of completing a large scale mass destruction."
Tsunade shivered at this thought but remained calm and collected in front of the kid. Shikamaru continued.
"So to prevent that, you have to assign Uchiha Sasuke to block off his brother. Assuming that he has his brother, there would be three people left if they came in four. That means two of our ANBU team may battle against one of them. If that happens, we have to dispatch six skilled ANBU troops to face them."
He lifted his left hand only to scratch the back of his head yet he went on with his thoughts.
"Of course, that's for the frontline. Albeit the rest of the members will be attacking inside once our frontline engaged with their frontline. If that happens, civilians should be kept somewhere safe. We don't know how powerful these people are. And knowing Naruto, he might end up surrendering if he had no choice."
The Hokage softened at the possible actions that Naruto will do if some tragic war like this would happen. She knew very well that that kid loved this village so much even if most of the people hated him because of the monster inside him. The dream to become a Hokage and the way he trudged the rocky road of achievement made these people change their notion of him.
They look at him as an ideal candidate to become a Hokage.
She looked at Shikamaru as if asking if there would be a way of preventing terrible things to happen. Shikamaru let his left arm sway beside him as he said…
"I'll counter any possible ways of their attacks."
Time passes by so fast.
They were sent out this morning upon knowing the condition in Hidden Sound. The place was less threatening and hopefully more information about their late evil leader, Orochimaru. The two of them raced towards north reaching the historical stage of Valley of the End.
Only the sound of their speed could be heard upon passing by the branches, leaves and trees.
Moments later, the female companion spoke.
"Tch." She hissed but attracted her partner's attention.
The white haired legendary sannin looked to his side to acknowledge her sudden reaction.
"Orochimaru had always been the lunatic. Hungry for power as well as dreaming to have an authority over the village… I don't really think he had a document about removing… this thing." She instinctively reached at the left part of her neck where the mark of the Cursed Seal was seen.
Jiraiya looked forth and said, "We can rely on his methods and histories of how he managed to create one. His forbidden jutsus, well most of it, haven't been found in any books or scrolls. So I say it's just a new kind of forbidden jutsu."
The short haired woman narrowed her eyes as she followed the way out of the valley. Suddenly she recalled her past experiences with her lunatic Jounin Sensei. Although she has been his favorite student she knew nothing about him. She just knew that upon having the Cursed Seal in her, she had become a tool for his greedy ambitions. If only she knew what that bastard was up to, things wouldn't have happen.
He noticed her sudden silence and the serious expression that plastered all over her face.
"Don't blame yourself. You're not responsible for all this. It just happened that you were once his soldier, Anko."
Said person looked at him and nodded.
"Aa."
Naruto walked Sakura back to the hospital although the memory of watching her cry to him etched inside his head. It has been a long time since she cried. Truthfully for all those years, she had never cried. But now, just a moment ago, there she was again… crying for the bastard.
When she stopped at the entrance, she thanked him for understanding. She thanked him because she was able to release the stress. She thanked him because he's the only person who knows her best.
He watched her leave by going inside the hospital yet he felt his heart ache whenever he remembers the previous incident. He already knew about her feelings for Sasuke. He also knew that it won't fade that easily. She missed Sasuke so much that she strived for being a great kunoichi even though she doesn't really have an ambition to begin with. She wanted to become an ANBU and a Jounin and a Medical Specialist to see him.
That's how she showed her devotion for him… only for him.
But what did Sasuke does in return?
Hurt her… mostly her feelings. He never appreciated anything despite the difficulties she must face for him to acknowledge her. He knows nothing about her. He only sees her as a ghost, a low class avid member of his fan club, and a common teammate.
Can't he see the differences of those women to her? Didn't he realize all the things she did for him? Is he really a bastard for hurting her so much?
The blond Jounin clenched his fists that dangle at his sides.
He hated seeing a person hurt because of inner turmoil that caused by someone… he hated seeing Sakura-chan cries because of Sasuke-teme.
Too absorbed with all the matters inside his head, he didn't even notice the once shy little girl approached him with curious white eyes. At first she decided not to do anything to get his attention for she would simply watch him think about things that she didn't even know but the time he consumed for thinking too deeply got more curious that she decided to do something for him to notice her.
"Naruto-kun." She voiced out although resembles that of a whisper.
Yet even then, Naruto jerked slightly in his place as he nervously turned to his girlfriend standing beside him.
"Hi-Hinata-chan!" He grinned in embarrassment and added, "Sorry I spaced out."
His girlfriend tilted her head to the side and asked worriedly, "Are you okay? You're not sick are you?"
Naruto smiled sweetly at her and shook his head.
"Of course not. Why would I get sick? You've been taking care of me right?" He chuckled then later on Hinata joined him.
When they both recomposed themselves, Naruto brought down his arms and looked towards the path where he had been planning to go.
"Let's get some lunch! I promise you that it's not going to be ramen!" He grabbed her hands and dashed towards the opposite direction where the Ichiraku stood.
Hinata just smiled at him.
With such stealth skills nobody heard the white haired shinobi's return. He was staring at the tall closed doors of Konohagakure. He was clueless from everything that has happened within the span of three days. He looked forward and prepared for any news that has yet to be heard.
Walking pass the guards, he saw them smile at him while he nodded back at them.
He continued walking as he passed several benches and houses and trees everywhere. Some people will often look at him and greet him with a smile knowing that he had been exhausted yet accomplished from his mission faraway. Also he had been popular ever since his childhood days. However it's not just from his success of the mission but also the mysterious face behind his mask.
All is well for there hasn't been attacked from any rivalry countries or even terrorist groups. However the Hokage was already exhausted from reading and signing all the scrolls she lay forgotten minutes ago. She found a peaceful time to think about what's happening inside her borders.
She had dispatched Jiraiya and Anko to search in Hidden Sound, let Shikamaru think of battle plans for future war as they speak of, Sasuke's observation every now and then, missions coming from all places, meetings with the other strong Four Countries and Kakashi's return.
What's so important in waiting for his return?
She wanted to talk to him about Sasuke and his little research about the organization. The day before she dispatched him, she asked him to do some observation since his mission was relatively connected to Akatsuki. It was a high-class mission and she wasn't even surprised when he accepted the mission as solo.
But there's a high chance of having a face-off with the organization and she didn't want to risk a valuable asset, a Jounin like Kakashi, for that mission alone.
"Shizune." She called out tiredly and for just a few moments, the lady appeared.
"Hai, Hokage-sama?" Shizune asked politely.
"Any reports regarding Sasuke's indescribable behavior?"
Shizune shook her head, "He hasn't been talking ever since. But some people who visit him somehow made him talk."
Tsunade slowly nodded and glanced at the empty space beside Shizune. The loyal assistant stared apprehensively at the Hokage sitting in front of her. What could have been bothering her?
"Hokage-sama?"
Said person twitched her brow at the sudden call of her title. Knowing that her assistant knew what she's been showing, anxiety would surely come up in her head.
"I'm fine Shizune. There are just… so many things to do that I couldn't find time for myself. I can't be selfish like I was before. Well I'm holding the future of this village right?" She smiled sweetly to Shizune.
Her assistant nodded politely, smiled and said, "You'll do fine, Hokage-sama."
After a few minutes of blabbering with some other unimportant talk a wind flew past them that they both stared at the space beside the standing assistant.
"You're back." Shizune muttered to welcome the shinobi.
To be continued…
Author's Note: Who came back? Obviously you guys know who it was. Anyway, Shikamaru and Tsunade already made a plan for the village – prior to which are the actions for the war. Gladly, the cunning mind of Shikamaru always works no? Then again there's always a hint for the angst relationship between Sasuke and Sakura. When will Sasuke stop the way he acts? Can Naruto help Sakura get over with the pain she's feeling all these years? When will the battle starts? All these questions will be answered soon.
Thank you for reading and please keep in mind that the reader is always busy! So updates will be done either weekly or thrice a month. Sorry for the inconvenience.