*What excuse doI have this time? Hm...Well, I don't really have one. I mean, except for the fact that I tend to delete my writing over and over again. I'm telling you, this chapter was about to take an extremely dark turn, but I decided against it...four times! So yes, love it hate it, do whatever you wish.
In His Own Right:
Chapter Sixteen:
Sakura awoke to a presence. Her green eyes shot open as she grabbed the hidden Kunai from under her pillow, the weapon and her hand dashed forward in an instant as she instinctively attacked the intruder. She found her hand being stopped mid thrust, a pale figure with teal pale eyes and long blond hair staring at her.
"What the hell forehead?", Ino yelled, her hand clasping Sakura's, preventing her attack.
Sakura shook her hand free, jumping to her feet. "You're yelling at me? I should be the one yelling at you. What are doing in my apartment?", she screamed.
"I have news, shit calm down.",
"You're in my apartment!", Sakura rebuked.
"Doesn't mean you should pull a Kunai on me.",
Sakura came closer, poking a finger into her Best friend's chest. "You're in my home! You're trespassing. How the hell did you even get in here anyway?",
Ino pointed towards the window. "If you don't want anyone coming inside you should probably have some traps set up. Helloooo, Ninja here",
Sakura drew her attention from her friend to her clock, it read 8:30 PM. It wasn't so late, but it wasn't that early either, still she had a late shift tonight and would prefer to sleep.
"Why are you here in the first place?",
Ino jumped up, almost as if she had forgotten something and now was remembering. "I have to tell you something, something that is just absolutely juicy and so fucking weird. I can't contain it!",
Sakura rose her forehead. It sounded interesting, however, Ino tended to exaggerate things beyond their focal point.
"Can it wait 'til morning?", Sakura complained.
Ino shook her head. "No Sakura, you wanna hear about this. Trust me", Ino gave a very sinister, yet glee filled smirk.
"Okay, Pig. What's up?",
She smiled. "Naruto kissed somebody.",
There was silence for a moment, her green eyes staring blankly. Why was that such a big thing? Naruto had kissed people in the past —Including Sasuke, but we don't talk about that—
"Good for him?", The pinket crossed her arms.
"No, that's not the what is the juicy part.",
"Oh?",
"Fuck no. It's who he was kissing that'll have you jumping out of your socks.", Ino brought her index finger perpendicular to the floor. "Listen…",
"Okay.", The slug sage yawned.
"...what I'm about to tell you will mind fuck you.",
"Yes…", She answered, waiting patiently though irritation flowed out with the one word.
"I saw Naruto, kissing Izumi.", Ino said it bluntly and let it roll off in a quick motion. Sakura blinked. "You what?",
"I saw Naruto, our lovely friend, kissing Izumi!",
This, this right here was news to Sakura.
"Izumi-san?", She inquired.
"Yes?",
"Sasuke's elder sister?",
"Who else Forehead?",
She looked at Ino in disbelief, there was no way! She was lying. "I don't believe you.",
See, disbelief!
"I literally just saw the two making out in the back streets.",
"Naruto would never do that… Hell, I don't even think Sasuke's sister is attracted to...people. Sasuke says she's like asexual or something.",
She paused for a moment. Naruto wasn't like that, he respected his friends, Naruto kissing Sasuke's Sister was something so foreign, something so out there. She placed her eyes on that of Ino's. They looked to gleeful as if she had found sort of wonder gem and she was about to hit it rich.
"Ino look, don't say anything, to anyone.", Sakura ordered.
"What?",
"Do not tell anyone shit!.", Sakura confirmed.
"Why not!", The blond girl questioned.
"Because one, we don't have a clue what's going on. And two, you don't go telling people's business!",
"You just don't keep something like this a secret. The hell?",
The pinket placed her hands on her hips.
"It is none of your business, you should keep it a secret.",
"That's never stopped me before!",
"You're a mess!", Sakura yelled. The girl was just asinine, an asshole too.
"Is your mouth so big that you literally have no self-control?",
In gazed at her friend appalled. "What, how could you say that forehead?",
"It's true, pig. Just look, you spread rumors like an STD.", WOW. That aside, an idea struck Sakura, one that centered around Reverse Psychological. She smiled internally. Ino
"I do that on a will.",
"You do that on Impulse, you can't keep your mouth shut.", she pressed.
"What, I definitely do! fuck you forehead.",
"Prove it.", Sakura smiled.
"How?", Ino said confidently.
"Go a month without saying anything, about this whole Naruto thing.",
"And what am I getting out of this?", Ino asked, obviously not wanting to lose both ways. It took Sakura a minute to come to an offer.
"I'll help you in your shop for a week and if you can't go for longer than a month, you'll have to help me in the hospital for a week.", that sounded good to the pinket. She brought her hand out for Ino to shake. Ino, nodded and grabbed her hand firmly. "Deal!",
Her first week as head over operation Ending Dawn had begun. Her opinion of her new assignment was minimal. It was fine and well her job, it was something she just had to do as a shinobi. Izumi's Father had been extremely delighted by the news, praising her like he normally did, even forgetting about her duty as an heiress in the process. Sasuke had remained unmoved by her 'promotion' shrugging at the mention of it.
And so, her first set of business was to help the Godaime write out a detailed explanation of Ending Dawn for the four other Kage. The task took about an hour. It just included how everything would work and how each village's forces would work together in order to eradicate the threat of Akatsuki, which would be the first steps towards peace. Yes, Izumi did, in fact believe in peace, the possibility of peace between the five great nations and, world peace. She was an optimist after all.
Information. Yes, information was the key to this. After excessive reports of Akatsuki activity in Amegakure, Izumi sat at her desk ready to send out what she believed to be an efficient team for the job.
"Izumi.", Shisui began. "Already sending people out, sheesh it's only been a day. And have all the Kage even received their terms and conditions?",
She straightened a few sheets of paper.
"No, but they have yet to leave the village, so it isn't a problem.",
She turned her eyes to her little brother. Now, to relieve him of his punishment. "Sasuke. Your actions during Danzo's betrayal were impressive, I must say.", Sasuke's eyes glow with pride while still maintaining his composure. "...so with that it's only fair that we remove this punishment of yours. It wasn't monitored that closely regardless. Anyway, you are aware of Ending Dawn and our goal. You two are the first team that I will be deploying.",
Izumi paused. Shisui and Sasuke were extremely proficient shinobi. Lethal with their skill and as precise as a calculator. If not them, then who was right for this?
"It's simple, there has been a confirmed report of heavy Akatsuki activity in Amegakure. You two are to investigate the area. It is a search and detain, all information is vital for the operation.",
"And if we cannot capture them?", Sasuke replied.
"Kill them.",
"And if we can't capture them or kill them?", Shisui asked this.
"That's not an option.", she eyed them evenly.
"Hai, I see.", Shisui replied, understanding how imperative the mission was.
"You two leave, now.", she said, reaching down to organize some of her papers. She did this for a moment before she stopped The feeling of eyes still burning into her caused this. She gazed up, to meet the charcoal black eyes of her little brother. Shisui stood holding the door open, but he stopped when he realized that Sasuke was still in front of her. He watched with equal curiosity as her.
"Something you want, to say Sasuke?", she inquired. He stared at her for a moment, his mouth twitching though his face impassive. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but decided against it, and about faced without a word.
He walked out the door leaving Shisui and Izumi to stare at each other confused. Shisui shrugged and just smiled at Izumi. "Maybe he wanted to tell you that he was proud of ya, but couldn't get it out.", The genjutsu master said this before leaving.
Izumi wasn't so sure about that. He wanted to ask her something. But what?
By next week Izumi had her hands tied. The villages had departed and were long gone. She was no longer on active duty, she remained in her little office for majority of her days, even sleeping in on one occasion. The problem was analyzing the information they had and determining what actions they would take if any. Most of the time they did nothing. Absolutely nothing. You see, a vast majority of the reports were single reports for one area, the problem with single reports is that simple that; it's only one report in the area. This would imply that the Akatsuki have moved from that area if their appearances were not frequent, and sending shinobi may be a waste. She didn't want to deploy anyone on a chance, especially if the chances were slim.
So, things were slow and very uneventful. She was usually alone and any of the free time she had was spent training alone, she had only seen her parents a handful of times, which wasn't that big of a deal. Fortunately, she had been able to spend some of her free time with Naruto. Training with him, sharing information with him, going out somewhere even just spending time, all of which seemed to be the climax of her day. He was a very sporadic individual, with a rather loving and caring personality. His best traits, he truly cared for people in the best of ways. She enjoyed being with him, a lot, more than she had first thought. Maybe it was the workload and how uneventful things were at a desk, but she liked him more the more time they spent together. And soon Izumi found herself hoping that all this conflict would end soon, making all this unnecessary.
"...and that was how I mastered sagemode. Well, basically how.", he said this with pride.
Sakura simply nodded, acknowledging her attention towards his tale of how he was able to master the Toad sage arts. Something that even his Sensei Jiraiya had not been able to do. Although, he made it clear that the only difference between a fully mastered sagemod and a semi-mastered sagemode was that semi-sagemode made the user look unattractive and downright ugly. That's what she got out of the story anyways, which was an interesting tale she couldn't lie. However there was something more on her mind. It had been two weeks since Ino's statement about Izumi and Naruto, Sakura still found it hard to believe, it just didn't seem possible. They were almost like total opposites in her opinion, nothing similar in anyway. Her eyes fell on the tall figure of the blond man silently yet contently finishing his bowl of ramen. She thought for a moment. It irked there were small pieces of things that seemed to add to the mystery. Naruto, had called a girl from Anbu beautiful, after she had supposedly been stalking him. There were multiple questions for this. Who was that girl? Could it have been Izumi? She doubted that, Sakura really did. But things just seemed weird.
But she was just as curious as Ino, and wanted to know more. First of all, Naruto was supposed to tell her everything, they were teammates and best friends. SomethIng like this shouldn't be a secret. Or is the rabbit hole deeper than it seems? And if so, how deep does the rabbit hole go?
"Long hours at the hospital?", Naruto stated suddenly.
"Huh?",
"You eyes, you look weary.", he said they between slurps of noodles.
It was true, she had been working at the hospital at extremely late hours.
"I'm really not.", she argued. Not as tired as she was earlier at least.
"We've all been pretty busy lately, or more so that we've been doing our own things. And when we do have free time, one of us goes off on a mission.", he was referring to Sasuke.
She shrugged. "Duty calls.". How would she even approach the subject? Would she just simply bring it up? If it were true it wasn't exactly any of her business. But she was just as curious as Ino.
She gazed at the boy, she would have to tread on dangerous waters to get the truth. If there was any truth at that. She made a low sigh.
"You know Naruto, you're a pretty attractive guy.",
Naruto stopped chewing, the noodles half way in his mouth hanging as he stared straight into her emerald green orbs.
"What?", he said with a full mouth.
"You're a pretty good-looking guy. It's crazy how you don't have a girlfriend, yet.",
He stared at her blankly, as he slurped the remains of his ramen.
"Well, I guess I've been a little busy. Training and all, oh and also having a redundant ass punishment. So, yeah pretty busy.", he said with a straight face, his eyes laying on his bowl.
Oh…. She smiled internally. He was lying, the subtle tapping of his finger on the table which she could associate with nervousness said that much. But could she really deduce the true reason as to why he was lying. In all honesty it could be due to something totally unrelated.
"Why are you saying this, Sakura?",
She almost laughed. "Oh, I'm just stating the obvious. I mean you could very well have a girlfriend.",
He looked down, at his bowl fiddling with his chopsticks. "Yeah, I'm sure I could.",
"Unless of course, you like those of the opposite sex.", she put a finger on her chin.
He shook his head. "No, Sakura you of all people should know that I'm not into that.",
"That's true, but then again as I do fondly recall that your first kiss was with a certain Best friend of yours.", now she was just having a little fun. Mean? Yes, yes it was!
"That was an accident, some guy bumped into me!", he began raised his hand in defense.
"There's nothing wrong with being, gay Naruto.", she sang, tauntingly.
"Let's just drop the subject.", the sunkissed haired ninja said with a sigh.
She nodded, deciding that she had said enough. Yes, his reaction was all that she needed. He was hiding something.
"Just teasing you, Naruto.", she gave him a sisterly smile.
They were quiet for a moment.
"So how has it been at the hospital?",
Naruto jumped from rooftop to rooftop. His blue eyes staring out blankly as his feet instinctively took him in the direction of his apartment. Sakura had made things a bit awkward today, he was looking forward to just talking with her. Small talk basically, how he had been doing, his training and basically what she's been up to. And that was what they were doing, until Sakura bought up the fact that he was a good looking dude and she asked why he didn't have a girlfriend. It was extremely ironic, which is why he hesitated at first, because he did have a girlfriend, it just was on the D.L per say. He shrugged it off, Sakura couldn't have possibly known about that though. Still it was weird.
His eyes shot to the left, as a figure joined him.
"Sensei.", he stated. The white haired toad sannin nodded at the boy. They ceased their movement on the top of a building.
"Funny, I was actually heading towards your apartment.", Jiraiya stated, gazing at his student.
"Oh, something you want to tell me?", The white-haired sage nodded.
"I'm going back out.",
It was expected for Jiraiya to leave, it was just what he did after all. "Why so soon?",
"You know I can't stay here too long.",
Naruto chuckled. "I'm always on the move, I mean I've been collecting information on Akatsuki for years, and now with Ending Dawn they'll need me out there more than ever…. More that that I need to fulfill something that your father intended for me to do.",
Naruto's blue eyes lit up, at the mention of his father the fourth Hokage. "I have to help you control the power of the Nine tailed fox.",
The son of the fourth Hokage froze. His mouth, open as he was just left speechless.
"I mean only if you want to come, Naruto. You don'–",
He broke from his frozen state.
"No, I want to come! Of course I do, it's just pretty sudden.", he paused. "How are you going to help me do this?",
Jiraiya smirked heavily. "Gamamaru gave me a prognostication for you.",
The great toad, Gamamaru had give Jiraiya a foretelling about him?
"I don't remember it entirely, but it has something to do with you being trained by an octopus.", he said this proudly.
"An octopus?",
"I'm one hundred and ten percent sure that he's referring to the Eight tails Jinjuriki.",
"So, he can teach me how to control the nine tails?",
Jiraiya nodded. "If what Gamamaru says is true. Then yes.",
"When are we leaving and how long?",
"As soon as you're packed, we can go. And just know that it may be longer than a month.",
Naruto cringed. "Wait, I can't leave just yet.", he couldn't just depart like Sasuke did, and not tell anyone. He had to tell Sakura, Lee, Kakashi-sensei, Shikamaru, Hinata, Neji…. Everyone that was a short list. Izumi, he had to tell Izumi, she deserved to be first, he definitely couldn't leave.
"I have to see someone before we go…",
Jiraiya rubbed his chin. "Izumi-san, huh?",
He smirked. "Yeah.",
"Don't take too long, I've already been given permission to take you with me.",
The blond haired Jounin, shook his head, noting the smile, on his father figure's face. With that, Naruto left his sensei on the rooftop behind him.
Izumi wasn't a lazy person, by no means. But even she got tired, sometime earlier she had fallen asleep. She was just a person like everyone else, it happens. With her head neatly nestled in her arms. She found herself waking to a window opening. She brought her head up, now realizing how annoying it is to have someone just enter her office through as window. She understood somewhat of what Tsunade-sama had been talking about. Her black eyes lit up as the one whose presence she had come to enjoy the most entered.
"Naruto?",
He came in and instantly wrapped his arms around the girl. She became more alert, as the weariness passed over her.
"Why're you here?", she asked.
"I'm leaving Izumi.", he said with a blunt intensity.
"Leaving? You're going on a mission?",
He shook his head. "More like, I'm going to train.",
"Train?"
He gave her a toothy grin. "Yes, with Jiraiya-senei."
She nodded. "When can I expect you to come back?",
He kept silent, a few second intervals passed by while she waited for his answer.
"I'm not sure, but don't expect me back within a month.", that wasn't good. Well, it was good that he was going out to train, however the fact that he would be gone for some time, that was the bad part.
He held her tighter, Izumi turned in her chair inclining her face with his. He would be gone for sometime and god she would miss him.
"Don't worry…",
"I… I won't.", she paused. "I'll just wonder..is all.",
"That's worrying, don't.", he smiled at her, tightening his embrace, his breath that smelled of ramen, poured into her nostrils.
"I know…I can't...",
"I'll write you constantly Izumi. Okay?", he whispered pulling himself close to her.
"Hm.", she hummed, his lips hovering over her's before she knew it he was placing a heavy kiss on her. She eased into it, allow him to place his hands on her waist, as she sat in the chair. She stood to her feet, only to be met with an aggressive tug on her lips. She responded equally, pushing onto him as they both soon place their tongues into each other's mouth. She felt herself heat up as he pressed himself closer to the girl, she could feel the pounding rhythm of his heart. They stayed like that for a long moment, just kissing and displaying their affection for eachother. Suddenly she found herself fall onto the side of her desk. A few papers fell to the floor. Naruto hovered over her as he pushed her downward, their lips still entangled. She felt her cheeks rise in heat, as she became flustered. Pleasure, that's what she was feeling right now, as the man moved from her lips to the sides of her neck, placing kisses and sucking on it. She squirmed a bit, as he did this. It was so foreign to her, a feeling that was so unorthodox. But if felt so good, so pleasurable.
She let out a breath, her body moving as if a bolt of lightning had just struck her for a short instant. "Stop...", she told him, through another soft breath. "...before we go any further. Not here, not now...some other time.",
He stopped, sending her his signature smirk. The blond got off of her as she brought herself to her feet. The two stared at each other. He stepped towards the window.
"Wait for me, alright?",
Izumi picked up a few of the fallen papers.
"Yes.", was all she answered with.
The village wasn't too bad. There was just a huge nonstop onslaught of heavy rain and smog from the factories. Other than that, it wasn't so terrible being out here. Sasuke and Shisui had found quite a sum of information regarding the Akatsuki from local officials and civilians alike. There had been at least three Akatsuki members around her in the past day. With that information, Sasuke watched as Shisui sent a crow with a small message back to the leaf village.
"It should get back home within a few days.", Shisui told him.
They were just outside the village hidden in the rain filled forest, wrapped in rain jackets. They had been here for at least five weeks, with nothing eventful. The only reason they were still here was the constant supposed activity of the Akatsuki. Whom of which should also be aware of their presence, and considering that these criminals were still here Sasuke had to conclude that they didn't care. This is why Sasuke and Shisui had to be constantly vigilant.
They walked back towards the village after a quick spar between the two. Today was nothing special, they asked around the village, did a few searches and kept to themselves. Now, all Sasuke was looking forward to was getting out of the rain and getting back to their hotel. The air was moist and foggy, most of the fog coming from the industrial smoke. It impaired their vision slightly, but thankfully they had their sharingan.
"Shisui…", Sasuke began, something had been bothering him for a certain sum of time.
His elder cousin turned towards him. "What's up?",
"There's been something that's been on my mind.", Sasuke explained.
"What is it baby-cousin?", Shisui hummed, his mind seeming to be far off in the clouds somewhere.
"I've been laying this off, And I meant to ask Izumi but I never got around to it….", he paused to see that Shisui was half listening to him. "Continue, Sasuke.",
"Is it true, that the Uchiha clan was planning to revolt?", Shisui's attention was fully grabbed at the mention of this. "Danzo told you about that, didn't he?",
Sasuke glared at Shisui. "So what he told me is true?",
"Well what did he tell you?", Shisui countered his words.
"That the Uchiha clan had plotted to revolt and that the third Hokage order Izumi to kill everyone. Including myself, my parents, everyone….even you.",
Shisui stopped moving forward as he fell quiet, his eyes closed as he brought this all together. "You can't believe everything you hear from Danzo, he twists the truth in order for it to benefit him.",
"So what's the truth, cousin. Tell me!", Sasuke ordered, his words ringing throughout the wet forest seeming to echo.
Shisui sighed. "Alright, if you want to know so badly. Let me begi–", the spiky-haired shinobi stopped mid sentence. A cool wind brushed past the two. Sasuke turned around, pushing his eyes behind him, as Shisui did the same.
Their eyes fell on the same figure, who stood stiffly on top of a tree branch. The figure was clad in the traditional black robe and red clouds. His face was covered by the black of the forest.
"So you must be the shinobi who killed Deidara-Senpai. Shisui of the Body flicker, was it?", The Akatsuki member spoke, his voice sounding childish and unprovoked, it lacked a sense of seriousness. However, despite this, the voice sent a silent tingling down his spine, almost as if there was something awfully wrong with this ninja.
Shisui withdrew his Katana and so did Sasuke.
"That blond kid, right? Yeah, he actually killed himself.", Shisui countered.
"Oh? I didn't know that Deidara didn't seem like the suicidal type. Oh well, he was pretty crazy, always rambling about art. So, I guess that could be plausible.",
"What do you want?", Sasuke yelled at the shinobi.
The shinobi didn't respond at first, that was until he jumped from the branch and landed on the forest floor in a quick jump. The ninja had an orange mask that covered his face, one hole for his eyes to see out of.
Tobi, that's who this shinobi was, the most recent of the Akatsuki. "What do I want? Well, I don't exactly want anything! However, Leader-sama said something about….", he paused at this before suddenly his voice had a transition in such a way that Sasuke almost jumped when it happened. "...your eyes.",
Both Shisui and Sasuke allowed their element to illuminate over their Katanas. Sasuke would die before he gave up his eyes.
*And we're moving fast this chapter. Why is that? Well, because I intend to make the next chapters slow and steady. Notice the Time skips? Yeah well, I was not trying to stay in one week for too long. Anyway, not much to say really, I'll save it for next time.
*Question: Madara Uchiha (Before his battle with Hashirama) Vs. Sasuke Uchiha(Adult)