Forgotten
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Naruto (Shippuden). This is a story inspired by the original made up for entertainment purposes only. - Krystal
Chapter 15: Them
The different teams from the different villages have entered the village. Their style was greatly different from Konoha. Yuki wasn't too surprised about it. After all, she did travel a lot during her time as an ANBU. The only village she did not come close to was the Sound Village. They were apparently a newer village created by Orochimaru. There was only one team at the Chuunin Exam: two males and one female ninjas. They looked older than Yuki. They were perhaps around Kenji and Kunio's age. It was a good age to enter the Chuunin: they earned some experience with missions, they were probably more rational, they knew their strengths and weaknesses as a team.
Yuki was just around downtown to observe those foreigners. She paid attention not only to the Sound shinobis, but also the others. They were indeed different from the others. Their chakras were much more developed in comparison to the other participants. There were also three ninjas that caught her eyes: the Sand team. Again, it was a team formed by one female and two males. The female looked about her age or a year older. One of the male had brown hair and looked about a year or two older than the female. The last one was about Yuki's age. He had a stone cold face. He had no eyebrows that would help him express emotions. He mostly walked around with his arms crossed.
They were now visiting the village. They did not go together as a group. The female and older male went together, while the third member disappeared.
"This village is so loud." said the oldest one.
As he said so, a kid bumped into him. Yuki took a closer look. It was Konohamaru, the Third's grandson. The shinobi grabbed him by the collar, refused to let him go despite Konohamaru's cries.
"OI! Let go of him!" yelled a loud voice.
Naruto was running towards them.
"Or what? I need to teach this kid a lesson." said the Sand shinobi mercilessly.
He tightened his grip on Konohamaru's collar. A rock, then, flew out of nowhere and hit that ninja's hand. He finally let go due to pain. Konohamaru ran towards Naruto and his friends, who, by now, have gathered at the scene. Yuki looked in the direction of where the rock came from. It was Sasuke who threw it.
"Damn it! Oi, kid, come down here and let's have a fight!" said the ninja to Sasuke.
"Kankuro, we're not here to cause trouble." said a deep voice. It was that other ninja that was with him, the one who showed no emotions on his face.
"I know the Sand is the Leaf's ally, but you must state your reason for being here." said a female voice. It was Sakura.
The Sand kunoichi smirked but gave no reply. She obviously thought that those kids were not worth her time. She did, however, glance at Sasuke. He seemed to be somewhat worthy of their attention.
"I asked you a question!" said Sakura, obviously annoyed by the fact that she was blatantly ignored.
The Sand shinobis appeared to be ready to pick a fight, even that kid who said that they weren't here to cause trouble. He was eyeing Sasuke. Yuki decided to intervene. There was really no need for a fight to take place in the middle of a busy street. There would be unwanted casualties and damages.
"They are here for the Chuunin Exam." said Yuki as she walked to the middle of the scene.
All eyes were on her. Naruto, obviously, recognized her. He was excited to see her. Konohamaru also knew her. They weren't close, but, in a sense, they were family. The rest didn't know who she was. Sakura and Sasuke never saw her without her mask. There was no reason for the Sand to know of her.
"Who are you?" said the older Sand shinobi.
"Just a passerby." Yuki replied calmly.
The female Sand shinobi whispered something to her older teammate. Yuki tried to read her lips. It had to do with the fact that they didn't sense Yuki's presence all this time. Yuki then looked to Sasuke and the younger Sand shinobi. They both had the same expression on their face. They finally came down from the tree they were standing on.
"I'm Gaara." the kid said. "What's your name?"
He was looking at Sasuke as he asked that question.
"Uchiha Sasuke." responded Sasuke confidently with a smirk on his face.
"Uchiha..." Gaara murmured.
The Uchiha clan was indeed famous. They were long feared for their immense power and abilities. Although Sasuke did not yet exhibit all his talent, there was no doubt that it was only a question of time before his abilities demonstrated themselves.
"And you are?" Gaara then asked turning towards Yuki.
"As I said, just a passer..."
Before she could finish, she heard her teammates yell out her name:
"OI! YUKI! Didn't you say we would meet soon to practice for the Chuunin Exam? How about we go now?"
Yuki sighed. She didn't have any intention to stand out before the exams started. The reason for that was because she wanted to keep her abilities a secret for as long as possible, same with her identity.
"Yuki-san, you are participating in the exams this year?" asked Konohamaru with timid voice.
He was surprised. He knew she was highly skilled and had been working as an ANBU for the past couple of years now. He knew that her skills allowed her to gain his grandfather's attention very early on. There were times where he was jealous of the attention Yuki got from the Third, but he also looked up to her. Although they never talked much, she was like a role model for him. He really couldn't understand why she would be participating in such an exam. What was the need?
Yuki nodded as an answer to his question. She also gave him sign to not ask any further.
"I didn't know you were a ninja!" said Naruto as he walked towards her.
"You never asked." she answered with a smile.
He frowned at her response, but then smiled widely.
"I can't wait to compete against you, old friend!" he said as he nudged her.
"I got my answer. I'll see you at the exams." said Gaara as he turned his back to everyone and began walking away.
His teammates did the same, but without introducing themselves. Yuki looked at their backs. She tried to focus in order to study their chakra a little bit. The two older ones had average chakra. They worked well in order to develop it, but there was nothing special about their chakras. Gaara, on the other hand, had chakra that was cold all over his body. His chakra was also immense. It kind of reminded her of Naruto's. However, Naruto had a warm envelope around his cold Nine-tail chakra.
"They are so arrogant." commented Sakura.
"They have a good reason for being so. I would not underestimate them, if I were you." Yuki said to Sakura.
"Your voice is very familiar." said Sasuke as they got closer. "We've met before, haven't we?"
Yuki shook her head and waved goodbye. She quickly walked over to her team members who were standing a few feet away.
"She does seem very familiar." Sakura repeated. "So many strong opponents for this Chuunin exam... I wonder if we will be able to get very far into the exam..."
It was around midnight when Yuki finally started walking back home. She was just coming back from talking to the Third about the incident with the Sand Village earlier today. He told her about the participation of all the Rookies this year. She was surprised that they all, especially Shikamaru, willingly joined the exam. Nonetheless, she was happy there was going to be familiar faces in the exam.
Yuki always walked with her head tilted upward. Her eyes were usually always locked on the moon, the stars, the clouds... It was no different that night. She enjoyed doing so. The moon was especially beautiful tonight. Yuki wanted to feel closer to it. She hopped on the roofs and took her walk home from there. There was usually nothing that blocked her way when walking on the rooftops, but, that night, there was someone. Gaara. She thought as she recognized the chakra before she could actually see him clearly and identify him.
His expression was as cold as always. He sensed her presence and turned his head to look at her. He was glaring. He seemed angered, but then he softened his expression. It wasn't warmer, it was just less cold. He turned away and looked at the moon.
"Well, at least, we have something in common." said Yuki as she walked closer.
"In common?" he asked as he, now, was looking at Yuki once again.
"Do you mind if I join you?" she asked him, pointing to an empty spot next to him.
He didn't answer. She took it for a yes. She sat down next to him. He moved away slightly.
"I've met you before." he then said.
"Yes, this morning." she replied.
"No, when I was kid, I've seen you in the Sand Village. You were delivering some kind of letter from the Hokage to my father."
"I might have..."
"What's an ANBU doing in a chuunin exam?" he said with an icy cold tone. "You were ordered to kill me, weren't you?"
She could sense a dark shadow rising behind her. A few grains of sand fell upon her hair. Before she could reply, that shadow struck down on her. It was a huge mass of sand shaped like a fist. It was trying to crush her, just like a hand would try to crush a mosquito. She disappeared in the sand mass that kept growing and growing. Gaara was standing now. He was grabbing onto his head. It was hurting him. He seemed to be in utter confusion about his own action. He kept on murmuring to himself why.
"She's dead..." he murmured.
"And you said I was ordered to kill you. It looks like you had the intent to kill me." said a voice from below.
Yuki had moved to the rooftop of a lower level building. What he had crushed was a snow clone. He glared at her.
"Just when I thought we..." began Yuki before she was interrupted by Gaara's scream.
"WE? No, you are just one of them! Don't..." he stopped to grab onto his head once again. It was throbbing. He was shaking from that pain.
"Gaara..." began Yuki.
"Don't call me as if we were friends. I know he asked you to get rid of me! They all try to get rid of me because they are scared of me! They want me dead!"
"I want to fight you. I wouldn't be able to if you were dead." said Yuki firmly. "But not like today. I want to fight the real Gaara."
"The real..."
"I'll see you during the Chuunin exam. Let us then have a fair battle." she continued as she could sense that he was calming down.
"Fair?"
"A battle where our minds are clear and there are no ulterior motive other than to win and move forward in the exam. A battle where that One-tail won't get involved."
"How..."
"Just a hunch... See you!"
She waved goodbye before heading to her home. She knew he was the One-tail's Jinchuuriki. When he said that she had handed a letter to his father in the Sand Village, she knew exactly who he was. From all the data she gathered about the Sand Village, the one about the Kazakage's son being a Jinchuuriki was part of it. It explained why she sensed a similarity between Gaara and Naruto. This Chuunin Exam became more and more worthy of her time.
End of Chapter 15
Thank you for reading and suppporting the story!
xoxox
Krystal