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 29: The Real Mission

She felt her back resting against something hard while the rain was pouring down her face. She woke up from the cold rain and looked to the sky. The clouds were dense and grey. The rain was heavy and chilling. Sai had rested her against a tree as he pulled out a scroll and paintbrush. He quickly sketched an umbrella and it came to life. He used to cover both himself and Yuki. She realized then that she had no idea what Sai's skills were. She assumed he was quite strong because he was part the Root ANBU task force, but she didn't know he had such unique skills. He could read it on her face that she was surprised and somewhat impressed.

"I've always been told I was quite artistic. I was taught to hone the skill and to use it to my advantage."

"Do you ever draw or paint for fun, though?"

"Fun?"

"Never mind, pretend I didn't ask. You wouldn't know what it is even if I were to explain it to you. So where are we now, by the way?"

Sai didn't mind the fact that she didn't answer his question:

"I've sent out a few mice to see what's going on a little bit further ahead. We passed by two other genins, but they were already being assisted by Sunagakure shinobis."

"Really? I'm glad to hear that."

As he mentioned, some mice came back with information about what was going on a little further. As they spilled into a scroll, they formed a written message for Sai to read and get an understanding of what's to be expected.

"It seems like Naruto was defeated." Sai told Yuki. "Sasuke is still there though. It seems like we have two options. We can either kill Sasuke now to prevent further threat or we can allow him to seek out Orochimaru so we can find out more information before killing him."

"Those are not our only two options. The only reason why Sasuke is in our bingo book is because he left the village. He hasn't joined up with Orochimaru yet. Therefore, he is not yet a threat to the village. If we can bring Sasuke back, we don't have to kill him. As to letting him lead us to Orochimaru, it is not a bad idea, but I would rather not to prevent further threat to the village."

"It might be the only reason why, but he is now in our bingo book nonetheless. You can do whatever you want, but I will carry out the assassination eventually."

Yuki didn't bother replying. She was already heading towards where Sasuke and Naruto were. She believed if she got there first, she could perhaps prevent Sasuke from being killed by Sai and prevent him from going down the wrong path. She was also worried about Naruto. As she got to the scene, like Sai had described, Naruto was defeated and was lying on the ground. He was drenched by the pouring rain. Standing up and looking down on him was Sasuke. He didn't even notice that Yuki had arrived on the scene. He was just staring at Naruto with both hatred and gratefulness. Before Yuki could even open her mouth to talk to him, Sai came out of nowhere and started attacking Sasuke. His reflexes were much better than before. It was perhaps thanks to the Sharingan, but he managed to block off Sai's first attack. He didn't try to fight any further. He knew his limit. His fight against Naruto clearly did some damage to him. Sai didn't harass him any further either.

"Did the village send you after me as well?" Sasuke asked coldly. "Do you all really think you can bring me back?"

"We are not here to bring you back. You've been branded a criminal. Your life is not of importance to us." replied Sai just as coldly.

"Come at me then!" yelled Sasuke in anger as his cursed seal slowly took over his body.

It was the first time Yuki saw his transformation. The aura of hatred surrounding him and slowly engulfing him was terrifying the watch. Her heart felt heavy. She felt like she was punched in the guts. There was no physical pain, but it felt more painful than any wound she's ever had. Sai charged at Sasuke who, despite still being tired from fighting Naruto, managed to avoid another one of his attacks. However, the second attack was one that he couldn't dodge any further. He prepared himself to get hit when Kakashi and his summoning animal arrived in time to block off Sai's tanto. Yuki, at that point, wasn't too sure how to react. She was relieved that Kakashi had come to save Sasuke. However, watching the way Sai was fighting Sasuke, he wasn't fighting with the intention to kill. Knowing that ANBUs are trained in the art assassination, it was a very odd way for Sai to confront Sasuke.

"Allow me to talk to him first before you try to kill him." said Kakashi calmly.

"I cannot do that." replied Sai as he tried to attack Sasuke once again.

Kakashi blocked him off. Sasuke took advantage of the current situation to escape. Kakashi and Sai then entered into a confrontation. They exchanged countless of blows. As they kept on fighting, Yuki followed Sasuke into the dark and deep forest. He wasn't slowing down despite being exhausted. She had no issue catching up with him. She finally managed to stop him. They were only a few feet apart.

"This is as far as you will go." Yuki told him.

"That's what you think." he said with a smirk on his face.

"I don't think you are in any condition to fight right now."

"I don't have to."

As he said those words, a huge snake went flying by Yuki's ear. She barely managed to dodge it. Sasuke then went passed her. She tried to grab onto him, but she failed. She turned around and tried to follow him once again. However, she was blocked off by a man. She didn't recognize him at first because of the darkness of the forest. As she counterattacked, she knocked off a tree allowing some light to pierce through the thick foliage. His glasses reflected the light.

"I will take Sasuke-kun place to fight you, if you don't mind..." he said.

"Kabuto." Yuki murmured.

"Oh? You know my name. I am honored that my name is known by ANBUs."

She remembered from the Chunnin exam. They had to fight each other back then, but he surrendered before she could finish the fight. Although she's not competitive in nature, she couldn't help but wonder what the true outcome of the battle would've been if they both gave it their all.

"Where are you taking Sasuke?" Yuki asked. "And why?"

"I am sure you can answer at least one of those two questions yourself."

Yuki knew at that moment that she wouldn't get any answers from him. If she wanted something, she would have to catch Sasuke herself. To do so, she had to get pass Kabuto. Ninjutsus always being her strongest skill, she used her ice spikes one to attack Kabuto. Skilled and precise, he managed to dodge the ones he could not break. At first, he seemed to be on the defensive, but as the battle progressed he became more and more aggressive. He had a thirst for blood as he got more and more into the battle. Eventually, he started decreasing the distance between them to force Yuki into hand-to-hand combat. She remembered that he was a medical ninja, meaning that he knew the human body better than anybody else. As that thought crossed her mind, she was struck on the thigh. Incredible pain ran throughout her whole entire body. That one touch made her lose her balance completely. She started falling from the branch she was standing on. She tried to focus her chakra on her feet so that she would be able to stick onto the tree's trunk. However, she was unable to direct to the flow of her chakra there. She caught a large branch in her fall with her left hand. She was barely hanging on. She looked up and saw Kabuto smirking, looking down on her.

"For an ANBU, you are not that strong."

He wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right either. Yuki was not weak, but she wasn't in her best shape at that moment. Although she did recover a bit from healing Neji an hour or two ago, she could feel that the recovery was hasten and incomplete. Her body didn't react as fast as she wanted to. Her chakra was also lessened. She swung herself, with her left arm, back onto the branch. He charged right at her, with his palm full of chakra, before she could even steady herself. She teleported herself to the ground before he could lend a hit. She had thrown a kunai with her seal to the ground a little earlier, in case she fell from the trees. It did come handy. Kabuto did not expect it. He had a hard stopping his motion as well and landed on the ground ungracefully after destroying countless of branches.

"The Flying Thunder God Technique. I've read so much about it. I am honored to have been able to witness it in person." he said, slightly impressed now. "I didn't realize there was still someone who was able to use it since the Fourth passed away."

"Reading and learning are quite useful, don't you think?" Yuki said sarcastically as she was thinking of a way to make it pass Kabuto and get to Sasuke.

He smirked at that comment. His guard was up until that point, but he then let go of his fighting stance.

"You are too late now. He met up with Orochimaru already."

Angered, Yuki charged at him blindly only to find herself being struck by a giant snake. Kabuto jumped onto the snake where he joined another figure. It was none other than Orochimaru.

"You can go back to the village and let them know that I will return some day." Orochimaru said. "That is if you live, of course."

Yuki was thrown a few meters away by the impact made against the giant snake. It was a deja-vu from the Chunnin exam. She stood up, however, ready to fight.

"I won't come back to the village empty handed." she said defiantly.

"With your dead corpse, that is." the snake-like figure said sadistically.

His giant snake tried to lend a hit on Yuki once again. Yuki had to use all her agility to avoid the whip of its body. Because it kept moving, it was really hard to avoid every single attack. Eventually, it managed to slap Yuki in the back. She went flying. The snake disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He was gone. Sasuke was truly gone now. Her body stopped responding. She just felt herself going through the air at great speed, unable to stop the motion. Her head went blank as well. All the sudden, she felt a body against hers. He took in the impact of her body going in one direction at great speed before bringing the both of them to a stop.

"The mission was a success." he whispered as he took her away from the scene and away from the Konohagakure's shinobis who were heading in their direction.

End of Chapter 29

Thank you all, once again, for reading this story!

Hope you like it so far!

Let me know what you think in the comments!

xox

Krystal