Reflections
Chapter 7
The Awakening
…
The sound of dripping water was her first indication that she was not dead. They wouldn't have dripping water in the pure world and she knew for a fact she wasn't going to the other place. Picking her head up from her chest Sakura found she was hanging from chains with her back against a stone wall. It was cold as it touched her back giving her the thought she must be underground. All this came to her sharp mind before the pain made its way into her consciousness making her take a deep breath as she tried not to scream.
She had only been training with the Hokage for a month but one of the first things she was taught was to control her fear and think. Tsunade had said that fear was the real killer in any battle, far greater than a jutsu, and Sakura had taken that lesson to heart.
Opening her eyes she couldn't see anything but a dot or two of light coming from what she assumed was a closed door. Moving her feet she heard the sound of chains and the feeling of the floor moving as she wiggled. Testing her footing once again she found it was a small chair or stool she was standing on, with the chains pulled up tight over her head she knew that even a short drop would be painful.
'Dam Naruto this is all his fault', she thought as she remembered being thrown from the wagon as Naruto was slammed into it. The fact he didn't even send one clone, not one, to check on her was what really pissed her off.
Feeling around the chains overhead she soon learned they were slick with oil that prevented her from grabbing them. Using her chakra she tried to press her foot again the wall and push up to take some of the strain off her arms to learn the hard way that there must be a weight on the other end of the chain as it only pulled her higher as she lifted herself up.
Dropping back down to the stool after that little defeat caused a bell to ring somewhere. Holding still she waited knowing that something was going to happen and she wasn't going to like it.
"Come on let's get her, get up you lazy ass.", she heard from what she still assumed was the other side of the door.
The light was blinding at first as the door opened and in walked two shinobi, one with a lamp held high overhead and the other one with more chains in his hands.
"OK, now here is the deal, you don't fight and we don't kill you. You got that?", said the one with the lamp.
Giving them a weak smile Sakura nodded her head and waited. Moving to the far wall the lamp-carrying guard lifted up a large stone hanging from the wall causing her chains to loosen until she could lower her arms to her waist. The other guard moved to quickly undo her handcuffs and replace them with the ones in his hands.
As soon as she was free Sakura gathered chakra in her hand and slammed her palm into the forehead of the shinobi in front of her. As she heard the satisfying sound of breaking bone she started to take a step toward her next target when she found herself hanging upside down as the other guard dropped the weight he was holding.
"Dam it Carno I told you to watch her hands.", said the other guard as he kicked the one on the floor finding him dead. He was impressed she had it in her but he had been warned by the boss about her strength, too bad Carno didn't listen. At least now he didn't have to pay Carno back the money he lost in their last game of chance.
"You know that wasn't very nice,", he said to Sakura as she found she was face to face with him as she hung from the ceiling upside-down.
"Come a little closer and I will show you how nice I can be.", said Sakura getting a laugh out of the guard.
"You are just lucky the boss wants to talk to you or else I will cut you now and watch you bleed out.", said the guard right before he punched her in the head almost knocking her out again.
With a loud whistle, he called for backup and with the help of two others got her down and chained her hand and foot as they dragged her and the dead body out of her cell. Half conscious she tried to count the number of steps they took until they reached the main hall. Then getting dragged into a side room she was hung again from the ceiling, with a pull of the chains she found she had to stand on her toes or hang all her weight on her arms.
The only good thing was she didn't have to wait long before she heard, "She is in here Boss just like you told us.", the voice of the lamp guard said. He would have to die was her only thought, everybody thought she was weak, but her strength was her mind as much as her body, and after spending all these months listening to Nariko talk about missions behind enemy lines she had learned one thing, it was kill or be killed.
The squeal of the door opening was the last straw, "You have read too many spy novels, that was a little too cliché even for you guys." said Sakura looking up.
"I see you haven't changed,", said Sasuke as he stood facing her with his overly tight black pants that ended a little too short and his white shirt open to the waist showing off his well-defined abs he looked the part of a model more than a ninja.
"Thank god, Sasuke get me down from here.", said Sakura hopping again in hope.
"I thought you were smarter than that Sakura,", said Sasuke as he paced back and forth in front of her. She could see he now used a wide purplish rope as a belt and had a sword on his back in a wooden sheath. It was the strange sway to his hips as he walked that told her something had changed about her old teammate.
"What do you want Sasuke, let me down and let's go back to the village.", said Sakura still trying to find her old teammate.
"They can't give me the power I need to kill Itachi, only Orochimaru can train me, show me the way to power.", said Sasuke stopping his pacing and staring her in the eye.
"Come home Sasuke, Orochimaru only wants your body.", said Sakura, she knew from Tsunade about Orochimaru's need to change bodies every three years, if only she could get Sasuke to see what was going to happen to him.
Laughing Sasuke reached up and slapped her on the cheek hard enough to turn her head to the side leaving a red mark behind.
"That is enough out of you, I only need you to get more power, not get lectured by a weak nobody.", said Sasuke.
"Power? How does keeping me chained get you power.", said Sakura.
"Sasuke, why are you playing with the bait.", said a voice to her side, looking over she spotted that white hair genin from the Chunin exams all those months ago. It felt like a lifetime had passed but she remembered him and his cards.
"I am not playing with the bait, I just wanted to see what Naruto could possibly see in her.", said Sasuke as Kabuto wandered over and stood beside him.
"She isn't much to look at is she.", said Kabuto placing his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and putting some weight on him.
To Sakura's surprise Sasuke didn't pull away as he said, "I know, no figure, and that pink hair clashes with everything, Naruto must be blind."
As they both laughed at her Sakura stared at Sasuke with her emerald eyes getting big and round. What happen to her Sasuke was her only thought.
"Sasuke what is wrong with you?", she blurted out staring at the two men in front of her.
"Wrong! Wrong!, there is nothing wrong with my Sasuke, he just finally found himself.", said Kabuto as he kissed Sasuke on the cheek.
"Noooo!,", screamed Sakura not wanting to believe her own eyes as Sasuke just laughed at her. All her hopes and dreams of a future were destroyed in an instant, a nice house, and happy children all gone, wiped away by that one kiss.
"For bait, you sure make a lot of noise.", said Kabuto.
"Bait, bait for what you crazy bastard.", said Sakura falling into despair.
"Sakura, Sakura, I need to kill my best friend, my first love in order to gain the ultimate power. ", said Sasuke as he walked up to stand in front of her.
"When Naruto comes along blindly chasing after you I will cut his head off and awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan.", said Sasuke in all seriousness.
For some reason Sakura found this funny, so funny she started to laugh hysterically until she couldn't breathe and started to choke on her own breath.
"You have no idea what has been going on have you.", said Sakura now understanding why she was here.
"Naruto found somebody else months ago, he is even living with her. He isn't going to come after me.", said Sakura glaring at her one-time love.
Sasuke spins around and looks at Kabuto who just shrugs and said, "I heard rumors but I didn't bother to check, who would want that fool."
Sasuke moves closer and gets in Sakura's face, even hanging from the ceiling she is just eye to eye with him as he grabs her around the neck with one hand.
"You lie!", he screams in her face.
"No, I wish I was but he doesn't care for me like he used to, he does care at all!", and then thinking of the only way she could hurt Sasuke she said, "And he doesn't care about YOU!"
Screaming that last part in Sasuke's face she knew she was taking her life in her hands but didn't care, he broke her heart and now she only wanted to do the same to his.
"Bitch!", yelled Sasuke as he pushed her back with a million thoughts of Naruto running in his head. 'How could he', was his main thought.
As a totally pissed-off Sakura swung back on the chains she pulled her legs back and kicked forward as hard as she could catching Sasuke between the legs and sending him back into Kabuto with a righteous scream of female anger.
Rolling to his feet holding himself Sasuke screamed in a high-pitched voice and pulled his sword from his back and swung it blindly at Sakura. She did her best to move away from the sword, it was only the backward swing of the chains that really saved her as the tip of the sword hit the top of her forehead and moved down across her left eye cutting her from her forehead to her left check leaving her blind in her left eye.
Her screams of pain did nothing to cool Sasuke's anger as he moved closer to end her.
"Don't kill her.", yelled out Kabuto, "We can still use her, Naruto may still come after her once my spies tell him where she is."
Breathing heavy and still holding his swords Sasuke looked from one to the other before heading for the door.
"I don't care what you do with her, I never want to see her again.", said Sasuke as he limped to the door slamming it behind him.
Kabuto moved over and stopped Sakura from swinging as he looked at her eye.
"You'll live and maybe being blind in one eye will teach you a lesson.", said Kabuto as he turned to walk away. He could see she was going into shock and would send one of his people to check on her later after she had time to understand the pain.
"Put her back in her cage,", said Kabuto as he walked by the guards, "keep her alive for now", he added just in case they had other ideas.
…..
Tsunade didn't understand what had gone wrong, her spies had reported that there would only be bandits attacking the wagon caravan, not half the sound army. Report after report told her the same thing. Even when Kakashi's reported that they had a small encounter in the border village with a couple of missing Nin she still thought it was going as planned.
If it wasn't for Shikaku Nara her Jonin commander asking her to move some of the Anbu patrol routes to intersect the wagon train this would have been a disaster for three of the most important clans in the village. How could this have gone so wrong?
With Jiraiya out of the village trying to work a treaty with the Raikage she felt she had no backup to challenge the spymasters that wrote the reports. Deciding to get to the bottom of this she called for Kakashi to report to her office this morning.
Now with the sun past noon, she expected him at any moment and wasn't surprised when he walked in with his arm in s sling. She had read the doctor's reports from yesterday and he was lucky that arm was still attached.
"You called for me Hokage.", said Kakashi in that bored voice of his.
Tsunade knew it was all for show but it still angered her that he talked to her that way and pointed to a chair so she could talk to him. Waving to her assistant to close the door she looked him in the one good eye before talking.
"I was reading your report about fighting those two missing nin in that border village and I have some questions.", started Tsunade.
"You should, I didn't report that it was eight sound ninja, I think a couple of them were even Jonin level.", said Kakashi leaning back in the chair knowing that this was going to be a long afternoon.
Picking up the report she turned it around and handed it to him to review, "Isn't this your report, I know your handwriting from a mile away.", said Tsunade.
Kakashi looked at the scroll and even turned it upside down before he pulled the headband away from his eye. Using his gifted Uchiha eye he could see the Genutsu on the paper covering his report. It was good, very good and he wondered who had the skill and the daring to hide a report from the Hokage.
With a flash of chakra, he broke the Genutsu and handed the report back to his Hokage waiting for the fireworks to begin.
She scanned the report and spotted where he asked for backup after noting that Nariko somehow knew this was going to happen. Now she would have to talk to that girl and it seems Naruto as neither of them had said a word about this fight.
Laying out the scroll on her desk she folded her hands over it and looked at him for a couple of seconds before saying, "We have a problem, I had Jiraiya postpone Naruto's training for a year so you could bring Nariko up to speed on how we do things in this version of the leaf. Now I have a spymaster not spying, a genin who acts more like a Jonin than her sensei and someone is lying to me."
"That sounds like a problem", said Kakashi without humor as he waited for the other shoe to drop.
Pushing back into her chair Tsunade looked out the window as she tapped her finger on her chin. There was a spy in her village, a spy that could change field reports and maybe more. That was a real problem, one she thought she would never have to face. Turning back to Kakashi she could see he was looking around the room like he was bored but without covering his eye. The thought of what he could find flashed through her mind as she waited for him to finish.
Kakashi stood up and seemed to wander over to the window to look out as he said, "It's a beautiful day, isn't it. I think the sun is a little too hot, don't you have a seal to shade us."
Pressing her lips in a tight line Tsunade had an idea of what he really wanted and uncovered the seal matrix on the top of her desk, giving him a nod she activated the barrier seal for the office cutting off anyone from coming in and most importantly from getting out.
As soon as he felt the flare of chakra Kakashi moved almost faster than the eye could see and reached into the shadows next to the door leading out into the hall. He pulled and out came a small girl no more than fifteen dressed all in black and covered in seals that made her impossible to see with the normal eye.
She didn't make a sound as she landed in front of the Hokage as she walked around her desk.
"Tell me who you are and I will let you live.", said the Hokage as she looked down at the girl on the floor.
As the girl shook her head it was clear she wasn't going to be saying anything and Tsunade picked her up by the front of her uniform and looked her square in the eye.
"We have ways of making you talk, don't make this harder than it has to be.", said the Hokage knowing that one way or the other she was going to learn who was behind this.
The girl opened her mouth to show the Hokage she had no tongue and couldn't talk even if she wanted to. That didn't shock the old war veteran as she had seen worst.
Still holding the girl just in case she tried anything stupid Tsunade pressed her intercom and said, "Call Inoichi Yamanaka, I want him in my office now."
"Yes ma'am but he is with his daughter.", said the assistant from the other room.
"I don't care where he is, get him here NOW!", said the Hokage looking at the girl's wide eyes as she still held her off the ground.
"And you, don't even think of trying to kill yourself because I can and will heal you just so I can kill you.", said Tsunade with all the killer intent of one of the legendary Sannin.
…..
Hours later as Inoichi wiped his hands on his pants and took the drink Tsunade was handing him, he looked like a man that had seen hell and came back to tell others about it. The girl was laying on the floor not moving but still alive, she had tried more than once to kill herself but each time Tsunade made good on her word and brought her back to the living.
"She is root, I am sure of that but she had been brainwashed by someone that knows my clan's jutsu. All her memories are black and distorted as if her life is just a nightmare of images. I have only read the scrolls about this type of jutsu as it was outlawed by the Third Hokage before I was alive.", said Inoichi.
Thinking she needed to know who was behind this, no matter the cost said, "Can you break the jutsu, get to her memories, at this point I don't care what happens to her."
Inoichi looked up at the Hokage as she stood over him waiting, he thought about it for a minute before saying, "I would if I could but without more study on how the jutsu works I would more likely only get the false memories before she dies."
Knowing it would take days, even weeks to study a jutsu this complex Tsunade was about to tell him to try anyway but Kakashi from the side of the room where he had been standing this whole time said, "Call Nariko, I heard her telling Naruto that she had been visited by what she called a Yamanaka mind burner and the fox broke the jutsu every time."
"Mind burner, that name hasn't been used in my clan for 200 years.", said Inoichi knowing the stories of his clan before the forming of the five great nations. The warring clan period was a very dark time for his clan, they had done things that would be unthinkable now.
"Where is she?", asked Tsunade expecting her Jonin sensei to know where his students are at all times.
"Training with Ino, seems my daughter has decided to change her ways and focus on becoming a shinobi like Nariko.", said Inoichi
Still not able to trust even her own Anbu at this point Tsunade said, "Kakashi, go get them and bring them here, if Ino wants to see what being an old-style shinobi is like then that is what we are going to show her."
….
Training ground three was an open field with a few trees here and there but they were standing in the full sun letting the heat beat down on them as Ino stood facing Naruto.
"OK, again, Kunai to the throat.", said Nariko as she watched Ino pull out a blade and cut Naruto's throat in one smooth motion. The clone popped and they could both hear Naruto say ouch from under one of the trees.
"You are too slow and with your wrest, at that angle, you could miss the kill.", said Nariko as she looked over at Naruto who created another clone that came jogging over to its fate.
"We have been doing this for hours, can't we take a break.", said Ino
Without even knowing how it happen she found herself face up on the ground with a kunai pressed against her throat with a pair of fiery blue eyes looking down at her.
"No breaks, no rest, an enemy doesn't wait for you to be ready, you have to be ready all the time or you die.", said Nariko inches from her face before pushing away to stand up and holding her hand out to help Ino stand.
Hearing clapping from the edge of the field both girls turn to see Kakashi walking over to them.
"Nice to see the old ways being taught again.", he said remembering this happening to him when he was six years old and fresh out of the academy going to war.
Bowing Nariko gave Kakashi some respect as he wasn't reading that book of his.
"The Hokage wants you both in her office now.", said Kakashi as soon as he was standing next to them.
"Cool, what does the old lady want us to do now, did they find out where Sakura is being held.", said Naruto
Not even turning to look at his overly optimistic student Kakashi said, "I don't think were invited, there is someone Nariko needs to talk to from her old school days in the office. Someone that doesn't want to talk."
Nariko looked at Naruto as he rubbed the back of his head, she knew he didn't get the meaning under the words and it was clear Kakashi didn't want to say it outright so she said nothing as they at first walked and then reached the village run to the Hokage tower.
As soon as Nariko walked into the office she felt the seals come alive and the sun dim as the chakra in the walls flared alive. Dropping to one knee she put her head down and said, "I live to serve." She felt the dream of freedom fade away as her old world came rushing back.
Ino having never seen anyone act like this decided to follow Nariko's lead and assuming the same pose as her repeating her words, "I live to serve."
Inoichi moved to pick his daughter up but the Hokage stopped him before he could move. This was the way it used to be and if they wanted to learn what this girl knew then it would have to be this way for a little while longer.
"Look at this person and tell me what you know,", said Tsunade pointing to the girl still on the floor.
Nariko moved over to her and looked down, then kneeling by her side she turned her hands over and looked at her palms then forced open her mouth and giving a nod stood back up.
"She is root, deep black ops with a burner seal, she will not talk.", said Nariko
"I need you to make her talk Nariko, I need to know who is the traitor in the village.", said Tsunade sounding more tired as this day grew old.
"Only a mind burner can remove the jutsu.", said Nariko knowing all too well how this jutsu works.
"I thought you had broken this jutsu before.", said Tsunade.
"The fox broke it, are you asking me to ask the fox to break this jutsu as well.", said Nariko
Ino was looking at her father and even Naruto as he stood bouncing next to Kakashi by the door. The fox? Does that mean Nariko has a demon fox within her like Naruto, but she knew that there was only one fox in the world?
Closing her eyes Nariko reached into the seal and then opened her eyes once again.
"The fox said he will only show the mind-burner how it is done, he said it is beneath him to do it himself.", said Nariko
"Mind burner, who is the mind burner?", asked Ino again looking to her father for guidance but only getting him to shake his head.
Nariko looked at Ino and said, "You are the mind-burner heiress of the Yamanaka clan."
"No I can't burn anybody's mind, daddy tell them I can't do that.", said Ino reverting back to her old self.
Tsunade walked up to Ino and placed her hand on her shoulder and said, "This is for the village, for all the people you see out there that depend on us to keep them safe."
"But how? I don't know any mind-burning jutsu.", said Ino giving in to the pressure.
"Take my hand.", said Nariko holding her hand out but finding Naruto's hand in her place.
"Nariko I can't let you do this alone, the fox's power is not balanced, I have the missing piece remember.", said Naruto tapping his chest as if to remind her of the story he told her of their mothers gifting them the key to bringing the fox together.
"Wait one minute, I can't let you do this, Ino can't handle this.", said Inoichi making a move to get between them but having the Hokage herself stop him.
Ino seeing that her father thought she was too weak for this took Nariko's free hand and then reached out for Naruto's as if to make a circle children play.
"I can do this.", said Ino holding both their hands and grinning at them all the while shaking like a leaf.
"You're the mind walker, link our minds.", said Nariko waiting for Ino to start the jutsu.
Closing her eyes Ino pushed her mind out into theirs and saw flashes of fire and thunderstorms and sewers with large pipes until with a pop she found herself standing in front of two large gates that seems to reach up into the darkness.
Naruto was standing with his back pressed against one and Nariko was standing in front of the other as two foxes slowly came forward out of the shadows. She could see their many tails whipping behind them as they looked at her and then at each other.
"She isn't even worth eating.", said the fox behind Naruto as Naruto yelled at him to be quiet.
Laughing the other fox said, "She is the mind walker that tormented us but also is not, what a shame."
"You said you would teach her the jutsu, now keep your word.", said Nariko as she looked up at the fox over her head.
"You gave your word to a human?", said Naruto's fox
Naruto looked up at his fox and said, "Don't talk down at Nariko's fox you big fur ball."
"Naruto I can't hold him back much longer,", said Nariko pressing against the bars
Stepping forward Naruto found a spot between the two cages in this world without walls or boundaries. Making a series of hand signs he didn't even know he learned from his mothers he called forth the glowing ball of white chakra she had gifted him.
It formed a ball in his hands that grew and grew until he had to hold both his hands over his head as it grew some more, it was a world with no weight he felt it press down on him as his legs started to buckle and shake. It was his unstoppable willpower that held the chakra up, a willpower so strong even the foxes had to acknowledge it.
As the ball grew smoky tails of chakra reached out to both cages and each time they touched sparks of pure light would fare out and fall to only float back up again to repeat the dance.
"Nariko, I need your help, I can't hold this much longer.", cried out Naruto
Nariko ran from the front of her caged fox and finding Naruto under the ball of white chakra hugged him to her and added her will to his to hold the chakra ball steady. As she buried her face in his shoulder and pulled him close it felt like they were becoming one as memories of both their past lives flashed between them.
After an eternity the ball fully touched both cages and melted into a cloud of chakra to float between the bars. With the weight gone Naruto dropped to the ground with Nariko in his arms. He knew her now better than he knew himself, there was no longer a need for words as they just knew how the other felt.
"I understand now,", said the foxes in one voice.
"Our father was right, the world is not all evil.", with that the fox laughed and looked down at the three humans before him.
"I will teach you now but this will not be easy on you. Each time the mind burner used the jutsu on us she shared a piece of herself. This I will give to you.", said the foxes as one.
Ino numbly stepped forward until she was within the bars of the cage as one of the fox's tails floated over and for a moment touched her and then pulled away. Memories that seemed to be hers of things she did and jutsu she leaned came flooding into her mind. She knew they were not hers but they were her, she did those things, hurt those people, and felt nothing doing it. All under the watchful eye of her father.
She found herself back in the Hokage's office screaming as she was wrapped in the arms of the two protectors of the world. She knew the truth now, that her two friends held back the power of the fox, not with some fancy jutsu or special ninja tool but with willpower alone.
The memories of her other self along with fragments of both containers rose and fell to the surface of her mind as she hugged them to her. She was full of emotions but as she focused on the jutsu she needed she felt her emotions drop away like old useless clothes as her other self's training took hold.
Pulling free of the blondes she crawled over to the prone girl and with a series of hand signs Inoichi had never seen before placing her hands on the girl's forehead and said, "Release.", breaking the mind jutsu that held the girl's real self away.
Looking up Ino gave her father a blank look than the beginning of a smile as she fell over into Nariko's arms.
"It's done my Hokage,", said Nariko with the fire of the fox god glowing behind her eyes.
…..
Ino stood in front of the door with her basket and raised her hand to knock and paused for a moment with her hand up raised. It has been three days since she had seen her new sensei and only one since she woke up in her bed with her mother hovering over her.
Her father had gotten what was needed from the girl but Ino had spent two days sleeping off the effects of the Fox's Jutsu transfer. It took all day to convince her mother to let her even leave her bedroom and most of the night to get permission to leave the house in the morning.
When her father came home last night she still moved to the other side of the room but at least was able to talk to him this time. He told her she had done good, that he was proud of her but she felt nothing as his words rolled off her.
Now standing in front of this red door there was one person whose praise she did want to hear. Knocking three times she stood back and waited as she heard stumbling to the door, stepping back Ino put the basket in her arms and waited.
As the door swung open Ino found herself facing a shirtless Naruto in a pair of sleeping pants with Raman cups dancing down the sides. She knew that Nariko had to have brought these as she had asked some time ago for a men's store.
"Morning, I brought breakfast.", said a smiling Ino as she held out her basket. Looking behind Naruto she could see a pile of sheets moving as Nariko rolled over and put a pillow over her head.
'Not a morning person,' thought Ino as she pushed her way past a still half asleep Naruto and dropped her basket on the table. The click of the door closing caused her to turn and watch Naruto rubbing his eyes as he went back to the bed and fell back onto it getting a little scream out of the person under the sheets.
"Go off me, your too heavy", said Nariko she popped her head out of the covers all the while pushing Naruto over to the side.
"Morning Nariko!", yelled out a smiling Ino as she waved from the table not ten feet from the bed.
"What time is it? Wait what are you even doing here?", said Nariko as she squinted her eyes looking out the window seeing the sun wasn't even over the mountain tops yet.
"I thought you were in a coma or some mind walker thing.", said Nariko finally getting Naruto off her and into his side, Naruto had decided sleep was more important than talking to Ino and was doing his best to find it.
Sitting up Nariko pushed the mass of blonde hair out of her face and sat in a puddle of sheets and blankets. Seeing Naruto was fast asleep she crawled over his body getting out of bed. She was wearing a thin white nightshirt that ended above her belly button and a pair of bright orange panties leaving nothing to the imagination.
Walking to the table Nariko stood there with one hand on her hip as she held back some of the hair from her face. She looked like a mess and Ino had a giant smile on her face seeing her like this.
"So you don't always look perfect, good to know,", laughed Ino as she started to take things out of her basket and put them on the table. She had brought everything including plates and chopsticks not knowing what if anything they had in their little apartment.
Nariko watched as Ino set a traditional breakfast of rice and miso soup on the table soon followed by a plate of ohitashi as a side dish. Almost done Ino included a plate full of Natto, pickles, and grilled fish.
"The will help complement the rice and soup", said Ino as she moved everything in place and placed the basket on the floor waiting for Nariko to sit down.
Taking her normal seat at the table Nariko looked at the array of food, not knowing where to start she just looked at Ino and said, "Why did you do this, are you sick or dying, Oh No, did the fox put you up to this?"
"No I am healthy and the fox had nothing to do with this, please eat.", said Ino still standing there.
Nariko turned to the bed and said," Naruto, get up, free food, come on get moving."
With a grunt, Naruto crawled out of bed and seeing the amount of food on the table looked between the two women and said, "Is someone dying?"
"Oh god, you two even think alike. Sit and eat", said Ino finding a third chair over by the door and pulling it up to the table to join them.
Not questioning free food anymore they both filled their plates and started eating. Now that they had started Ino took a plate of her own and joined them. She didn't expect much talking from Naruto as food and he had a special relationship and it seemed Nariko was the same as they both seem singly focused.
Placing his empty plate of fish bones down Naruto grinned from ear to ear, "Thank you for the food", pushing back from the table he stood up showing off his abs and perfect physique, "I am going to take a shower, you two can talk girl stuff or something." With that, he went into the small bathroom and closed the door.
Ino watched him leave and then turned back to Nariko, "I don't know how you do it, with a body like that any woman would be all over Naruto in bed.", said Ino.
Looking back at the closed bathroom door Nariko said, "I don't understand, I sleep on him all the time."
Ino didn't know if she was joking or not and then remembering their talks on the wagon mission she knew she didn't get her meaning.
"I meant sex.", Ino said bluntly, knowing that both blondes could be a little slow on some subjects, Nariko was sharp when it came to being a shinobi but she was missing as much if not more social skills as Naruto.
Now that the meal was over Nariko was combing her hair with her fingers until she had it all falling over the front of her left shoulder, reaching for a knife off the table she balled the hair in her fist and cut three feet of it off and dropped it on the floor.
Shaking her head, her now shoulder-length hair fell around her and settled into place. The shocked look on Ino's face had her pause and turn her head to the side, "It grows back every night, I thought you knew."
"I... I had no idea.", said Ino having never seen a woman treat her own hair with such callousness.
Nariko thinking about what Ino had said before she dealt with her morning hair problem said, "Naruto and I have decided we don't want children until we are older."
Without thinking, Ino said, "Well of course but you can have sex without making children."
Nariko froze and even dropped the knife she still had in her hand with a loud bang as it bounced off of the plate onto the floor as she stared at Ino.
"What do you mean", said Nariko as she totally focused on Ino's next words.
"Come on you know that you can only get pregnant part of the month and there are jutsu to prevent it the other times.", said Ino again not releasing Nariko had been told her whole life she could never have children and then being told sex would make children, she had thought it was a black and white issue. Sex equals children with no grey areas, Akia sensei didn't even hint at such a thing as times of month or jutsu.
Placing her hands on the table Nariko leaned forward and said, "You will need to tell me more about this later.", pushing herself back into her chair Nariko calmed herself and added, "Now why are you really here?"
Ino looked at Nariko and taking a deep breath stood up and walked around the table so that she was facing her. Dropping down onto her knees Ino executed the traditional Dogeza by bowing and prostrating herself onto the ground until she touched her head on the floor.
"I don't know what to say but please forgive me for everything that I have done to you.", said Ino from the floor to a surprised Nariko.
"You have done nothing to me, get off the floor.", said Nariko.
"I am the source of so much of your pain, I remember hurting you so many times Nariko, Please forgive me.", said Ino as her emotions broke and she started to cry.
'I hate that fox', thought Nariko knowing he had given Ino all the memories of the mind burner from her world.
Nariko pulled Ino up to her knees and dropped down in front of her so they could look into each other eyes, "You are not the Mind Burner but I do forgive you."
Hearing the words of forgiveness she so desperately wanted to hear Ino jumped forward and hugged Nariko as she cried into her shoulder. With the two girls on the floor hugging and crying, Naruto walked out of the bathroom drying his hair with a towel.
The sight of two of the most beautiful woman in the village on his floor, one of them half naked hugging froze the boy in place as a thousand thoughts flashed in his mind.
"What did I miss", he said as he stared at them.
Ino pulled away and wiped her eyes as Nariko stood up, "I just forgave Ino is all.", she said as if that was all that needed to be said.
"Oh, OK,", said Naruto trying not to think about it too much, girl are way too complicated.
Getting to her feet Ino smiled at the two of them and getting one of Nariko's rare smiles back she looked at the two of them standing there side by side.
"Wow, you know you two look so much alike, I never noticed that before.", said Ino.
Not knowing what to say and knowing that Ino had seen into their collective past Naruto just hoped she didn't figure it all out and said, "It must be the blonde hair,", and laughing at his own joke he moved to find some clothes to put on.
"Naruto,", said Ino freezing the blonde in place, "I just wanted to say that I am sorry for all the things I did to you in the academy, it wasn't nice and I am truly sorry."
Nariko was happy Ino didn't drop to the floor again but watching her move over and hug the still wet Naruto in a hug did make her want to pull them apart. Holding herself back she let out a breath she didn't know she was holding when Ino stepped back.
"Thanks, Ino that means a lot to me.", said Naruto before picking up his clothes and walking into the bathroom to change.
"I think that is enough emotions for one morning, are you healthy enough to train?", asked Nariko getting between the bathroom door and Ino.
"Yes Sensei.", said Ino knowing that Nariko was once again turning off her emotions.
"We will meet in our normal training grounds then in two hours.", said Nariko
"Yes Sensei,", yelled out Ino giving a short bow before quickly packing everything back into her basket and leaving.
…
Near the end of the second week, Naruto was getting worried, his clones had found that Otogakure is not really a village, but a network of laboratories composed of various hideouts and bases scattered throughout what people called The Land of Sound. They found various other bases in other countries as they increased their search but one by one they were found out by sound shinobi and attacked, their memories only made finding Sakura harder.
It was for that reason he was heading to the Hokage's office to once again ask that he be allowed to take a team and search for Sakura. Walking into the Hokage's office unannounced he stood in front of the desk and yelled out.
"Granny, I need to go search for Sakura.", said Naruto in the most diplomatic voice he had, which means he yelled at his Hokage.
Tsunade threw the first thing she could find at him and bounced a bottle off his head that didn't seem to faze him as he bounced back up and banged on her desk.
"We need to send a team to find Sakura. I know she is still alive, I just know it.", said Naruto.
Giving a hand sign to one of her Anbu to close the door Tsunade activated the seal on her desk and stared at the crazy blonde in front of her.
"Where is Nariko, I know she wouldn't allow you in here if you told her.", said Tsunade.
"She is training Ino with a dozen of my clones,", said Naruto as a memory of Ino jumping on his back and stabbing him flashed into his mind.
Shaking off the feeling of Ino's body pressed against his as the feeling of the death blows never really make it into his memories he continued.
"Let me go search, I can send a hundred clones to every sound base. I am sure I can find her.", said Naruto
"Dam it brat, I have enough trouble as it is dealing with spies in my own village, Iwagakure attacking the northern mining towns and I don't need you running off and getting captured or worst.", said Tsunade.
"But Baa Chan, it's Sakura we are talking about. She is alive I know….", said Naruto before getting cut off by Tsunade standing up and yelling.
"Enough! Don't you think I know all that, I was training her to be my next apprentice. I worry about her too but the village comes before any one person.", said an emotionally drained Hokage. The report from Inoichi was still clenched in her hand.
Inoichi was working with Kakashi to find and remove any root member from the Anbu forces, they had found six so far and cleared only half to return to full duty. Members of the Yamanaka clan were working to check and double-check their own people trying to find the one that leaked the ancient scrolls from the clan archives.
The Akimichi were frantically looking for a worthy replacement as the next chan head and the Nara were making plans within plans on how to defeat an enemy within their own village. Now was not the time for an overactive blonde Jinchuurki to be testing her patients.
"Now get out of my office and go find that girlfriend of yours, I don't want a repeat of what happened last time you went missing without telling her.", said Tsunade flopping back into her chair and slapping the seal to release the door.
Naruto knew when to give up and try again, Ino had finished off all his clones so he headed back to the training ground. The Hokage was right, Nariko did get a little forceful when she went looking for him. She said it was because the seal starts to weaken but he was beginning to think it was for some other reason as she always asked if he had talked to any other girls.
Walking across the field Naruto could see the two girls sitting side by side with their heads together in a deep conversation. Not wanting to get something sharp and pointy thrown at him he yelled out.
"Nariko, Ino, are you done training for today.", said Naruto ask he started to job over to them.
"How did the talk with the Hokage go?", asked Ino with a big grin.
"She said no, hey wait a minute, how did you know that's where I went?", said Naruto.
Nariko stood up and walked over placing her hands on both his shoulders and said, "Because you smell like sake, did she hit you with a bottle again?"
Rubbing his forehead Naruto nodded but didn't say anything as he sat down next to Ino with Nariko squeezing in between them.
'It's so nice that Nariko wants to be close all the time.", thought Naruto.
"What do we do now, father said that with what is going on the Hokage isn't letting anybody leave until they have been cleared.", said Ino
"The second wave of clones should be reaching the border of sound in the next day or so from what we learned from the first group they have a much smaller search area.", said Nariko.
"Some of them didn't make it that far, I think the sound has roaming patrols looking for them now.", said Naruto with a shrug.
"I don't know how you do it, I would go crazy if I had to remember dying over and over.", said Ino.
"I don't remember those parts, it's like as soon as whatever is going to destroy them happens I don't get that memory. Like today when you jumped on my back, I felt you on me but as soon as the knife point touched me, nothing.", said Naruto.
Nariko looked between the two as they talked and she could only hear Naruto say he felt Ino's body, for some reason she didn't like that, didn't like that at all. Having little experience in dealing with such things she decided she would have to talk to her only female friend her age.
"Ino, let's go for a walk I think Naruto needs to go home and change into something that doesn't smell like a liquor cabinet.", said Nariko as she walked off pulling Ino to her feet as she went.
"I don't smell that bad.", said Naruto as he pulled his jacket to his nose to check.
…
"Nariko, slow down, what's wrong?", asked Ino once she could see that Naruto was long gone.
Spinning around Nariko threw her hands up in the air in an atypical show of emotions. Taking a few steps and then coming back she looked like she was trying to find the right words.
"Oh just say it already, what is it.", said Ino.
"It's Naruto, every time I think of him with another girl, even you, I get so...Aaaag", yelled out Nariko waving her arms in the air.
"Oh, I get it. You, Are, Jealous.", said a laughing Ino clapping her hands.
"I don't get jealous", said Nariko clearly jealous as she walked up to stare into Ino's face.
"I just don't like it when you touch him", said Nariko as Ino laughed some more and pulled her into a hug.
"Oh you don't have to worry about me, Naruto is the only guy I can even get near without wanting to kill them.", said Ino losing her point as she thought about what she just said.
"Besides, he is the most loyal man I know, he doesn't even look at me a tenth the way he looks at you.", continued Ino covering her tracks before Nariko had a chance to think about what she said.
"If you say so but he will not stop talking about Sakura, I know she is our teammate but I swear he doesn't just talk about her like she is only a teammate.", said Nariko sounding like an insecure civilian girl after her first date with her crush.
"He followed her around for years asking for dates, It's not surprising he still cares about her but it's not what you think.", said Ino remembering the long nights Sakura would complain about Naruto not looking at her that way anymore.
"Are you sure, we talk, we talk a lot and he always says the same thing. That he doesn't see her as anything more than a friend.", said Nariko.
"Well maybe it's time you did something that would guarantee he would never leave.", said Ino now bouncing on her toes with the thought of it.
"You're right. Wait what do you mean?", asked Nariko having no clue what Ino was hinting at as she grinned from ear to ear still holding Nariko lightly around the shoulders.
"Come on after seeing you two in bed last week I know, you know what I am talking about.", said Ino.
Shaking her head Nariko said, "I can't, I don't even know how to kiss. I can't do something like that.", said Nariko, she just knew that Naruto felt the same way as he never pushed her to do anything she didn't want to do. She was sure he didn't know what to do either anyway.
"Well that is something I can help you with,", said Ino now giggling like she was back at the academy talking about boys at the back of the playground with all the other girls.
"Help me with what.", asked Nariko.
"Kissing, of course, all the girls used to practice on each other back at the academy.", said Ino looking into Nariko's sky blue eyes that had doubled in size as she stared at Ino.
"You're not kidding are you, so you really, you know kissed other girls as practice.", said Nariko.
"All the time, that is until we start to get our own boyfriends.", said Ino, leaving out the part that she and Sakura never had boyfriends as they spent all their time chasing after Sasuke. The majority of Sasuke fangirls had moved on by graduation but not her and Sakura, they had been dead set on winning over the boy avenger. Now the thought of him or any guy even touching her made her want to scream.
"I don't know, you sure about this,", said Nariko having dropped all her emotional barriers and trusting that Ino knew what she was talking about.
"Just trust me, OK, now close your eyes and think of Naruto.", said Ino as she looked up at Nariko moving her arms around the other girl's neck and slowly pulling her down.
…
Sakura was pissed, more than pissed she was full of rage at what Sasuke had done to her and she was going to get revenge if it was the last thing she did. The first one to fall, victim, was Mr. Lamp Guard after he decided to run his hand up her leg when he thought she was asleep. She looked down at him and pressed her finger behind his ear sending a pulse of chakra into his brain.
He stood up and looked at her with unfocused eyes as he stumbled out of the ceil. If it wasn't for one of the other guards locking the door she would have been free that night. The next morning she heard her two new guards talking about how her old guard went crazy and jumped off one of the guard towers screaming about bugs in his head.
It didn't take long for the next victim to show his face. The medic Kabuto sent to her ceil to heal the cut on her face so she wouldn't get infected also wanted to play doctor. Once he was sure he had healed her enough so that if Kabuto came down to check he wouldn't get in trouble he then moved on to his real and more personal mission.
It seems that the sound village was ninety percent men and the woman that were at the hidden bases were on the untouchable side. Orochimaru didn't allow any weak helpless woman in his ranks and each had proven her worth in combat.
The medic not being a fool used a paralyzing jutsu on Sakura before working on removing her dress. He quickly found that the chains were in the way and checking and double checking, he was sure she couldn't move a muscle as he removed her chains. What he didn't know was Sakura had perfect control of her chakra network. Even with her arms and legs useless her chakra was free and directed by pure rage. In any fair fight, she would lose but this was far from fair.
When he pulled her forward to undo the ties on the back of her dress her head landed on his shoulder. Sending a wave of chakra into his system she overloaded his adrenaline glads sending his blood pressure into overdrive. Dropping her limp body back onto the wooden bench he grabbed his chest and started to hyperventilate. Standing he tried to run for the door but dropped to his knee and landed face first on the floor.
It took the bored guards two hours before they checked and found his dead body and Sakura still nearly lifeless form in the ceil.
Chaining her back against the wall they called Kabuto who checked the medic and found he had died of a natural heart attack from being overweight. Lucky for Sakura the bored lazy guards had waited so long that her chakra had faded from the medic's body long before Kabuto showed up.
Day after boring day passed as she hung from the wall only to be let down a couple of times a day. The new guards didn't seem to look at her more than a piece of meat they had to keep alive which was fine by her. With nothing else to do she focused her sharp mind on learning how best to use what little chakra she had. It wasn't long before she was able to send it around the room in thin chakra threads or spread out like a sheet on the floor waiting for a chance to find another victim.
With her hands tied but for a few minutes a day she had to teach herself how to do a seal-less jutsu, they weren't powerful or even very destructive but she wasn't planning on blowing down a wall only to kill a certain black-haired man. After weeks or months, she couldn't really tell, she no longer cared if she lived or died as long as she could take Sasuke with her.
So like a spider waiting for its next victim, she waited in her ceil for her one and only chance to make him pay for what he had done to her.
…
I had to re-edit this chapter way too many times and I still don't think I got the feeling right. So did they kiss or not, I wrote it both ways and deleted it so you guys tell me why or why not and I will maybe do it that way. Still totally up in the air at this point.
Feedback is the lifeblood of a writer so let me have it.