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 43: Reunited

Yuki was making her way back towards Konoha at great speed. She knew she left her markings in multiple places as she traveled towards Kumogakure previously. As she would be close enough to flash herself to wherever she had marked, she managed to save herself quite a bit of time. She was worried she would encounter the Root ANBU on the way back, but, luckily and surprisingly, no ambushes from their part. Within only a few days, she managed to get back to Konoha. She flashed herself right in front of the Hokage's office door. Normally, she would have been exhausted from constantly using the teleportation jutsu. However, the training in Kumogakure paid off. She was barely feeling the effect of using that much chakra.

She gently knocked on the door before being greeted by a surprised Shizune who immediately embraced her into her arms.

"Where have you been? Tsunade-sama and I were so worried!" Shizune told her as she brought her into the office.

"Shizune-senpai, you are strangling me." Yuki said.

She looked at Tsunade who also stood up to come and welcome her back home. As they exchanged looks, Tsunade grasped part of the situation. She knew a lot had to be explained and said before she could fully understand Yuki's disappearance for the last 2 years or so. Yuki could tell that Tsunade was anxious. She wasn't too sure why it was the case. It had to do with the recent news about the Akatsukis for sure.

"I came back upon hearing about the Akatsukis' movement." Yuki told her.

"How have you been?" Tsunade said abruptly. "We haven't seen each other in such a long time and the first thing you want to talk about is..."

"I'm fine. I can feel an urgency in the room. I had a feeling something was wrong when I was in Kumogakure so I headed back..."

"You were where?!" Shizune asked as she closed the door, shocked that Yuki had spent time in Kumogakure.

"It's a really long story." Yuki told her. "I'll explain later."

"Tell us everything now." Tsunade demanded. "Other things can wait for now. I need to know what happened."

Yuki began from when Sai attacked her before she met with Omoi and Bee. She couldn't say more than that because of the curse seal that he had place on her. All she could do was hint towards the idea that her eyes played a role in the assassination mission. She then told them all about Kumogakure and her life there. She didn't reveal any secrets she might have heard while she was in the village out of loyalty to the Fourth Raikage who trusted her so much.

"That explains the loss of communication." Tsunade said as Yuki concluded her story. "I'm glad you are safe and sound here. I'll talk to Danzo. I've been meaning to take you back and away from him. He's a snake, that man. I can never read his intentions. It really gets on my nerves."

"I'll gladly come back." Yuki told her. "I want nothing to do with the Root."

"I have plenty of reasons to take you back now. You should go rest up."

As she said those words, somebody knocked on the door before opening it. Yuki's back was facing the door, but she knew who they were right away. She would recognize their chakras anywhere.

"Gai-san!" Shizune said. "That was fast."

"You..." Gai said pointing at Yuki's back. "There's no doubt about it."

"Gai, stop being dramatic." Tsunade scolded him. "Yuki, you should go rest up."

Yuki turned around and smiled at Gai's team. They seemed to have had just returned from a mission. Yet, instead of washing up and finishing up a report, they were already in Tsunade's office. Neji glared at her. He had all the reasons to do so. Yuki tried to ignore it, but it did hurt her to see him express such anger towards her.

"Tsunade-sama, I'm assuming you are sending them off on another mission. They must be exhausted from their last mission. I think more manpower to their team wouldn't be a bad idea." Yuki said, trying to isolate business and personal feelings.

"Yuki..."

"Why don't you let her join us, Tsunade-sama." Gai said. "We haven't seen her in while. It will be good to catch up on the way."

Tsunade bit her lip and, after a long moment of silence, finally said:

"Fine. The Kazekage was kidnapped by the Akatsukis. Kakashi's team should already be in Sunagakure, assisting them. However, since we are dealing with all S-rank criminals, I believe Gai's team should be their backup."

Yuki's heart sunk. If she wasn't wrong, the night she left Kumogakure was the night Gaara was taken away by the Akatsukis. Her uneasiness that day wasn't unjustified. She knew something wasn't right in the air, despite being hundreds of miles away. As much as she was distraught by the news, she felt better at the thought that she got to partake in the mission to save Gaara. She owed him at least that much.

Gai accepted the mission and they took off immediately. Yuki waved a silent goodbye to Tsunade and Shizune. As she left the office, following the footsteps of Gai's team, Danzo passed right by her. He seemed slightly surprised to see her in the village. However, he did not hold her back or say anything. Yuki glared at him. Behind him, two of his own ANBUs, masked, were accompanying him. She could tell one of them was Sai. He turned his head to look at her. She ignored him and sped up to catch up with the rest of Gai's team.

As they rushed through the forest to head to Sunagakure, Yuki reminded Gai that once they reached the border of the Land of Rivers and the Land of Wind, she would be able to flash them all into Sunagakure. To which Gai's response was that it would drain her chakra as he very well knew of her limitations.

"You are not the only ones who have been training." Yuki replied with a smile. "It will probably exhaust me quite a bit, but nothing that can't be fixed with a little rest."

"That's what we are afraid of." Neji then said. "Knowing you, you would want to rush into action right away after meeting up with Kakashi's team."

"I know my limits well." She replied. "Besides, you also know me well enough to know that I won't allow myself to be a burden to the team."

"That's another thing that I'm afraid of. You haven't worked in a team for so long, you probably forgot the importance of a team." Neji then told her.

The rest of the team could feel the tension between the two of them as they took the lead of the group. Yuki glared at him. He then continued:

"I will never let a team member be sacrificed for the sake of anything. I won't exchange a life for another."

She frowned at that comment. It was unnecessary of him to say such things.

"I think you are mistaken. Whenever I put my life on the line, it is for a good reason. It's because I know there's a way for me to survive. I'm just not as pessimistic as some other people. I might not look like someone who would be hopeful, but I am."

It became silent again. Time created a huge distance between them. It was like the understanding that was previously there between them was now replaced by too many words that had remained unspoken for too long. Those words slowly scarred them unknowingly and those scars might not be able to heal with the little time they had now on their hand to explain things. They were also both stubborn enough to not want to say anything to each other until the other opened up about how they felt throughout this time.

As they wandered a little further into the Land of Rivers, Yuki indicated for them all to halt. Neji looked into the dense forest with his dojutsu and, indeed, there was a large mass of chakra coming towards them. Yuki closed her eyes to try and focus. She recognized that chakra. It was the Akatsuki who trespassed into Konohagakure back then alongside with Itachi.

"We are going to be delayed." She told Gai.

The fact that he was here had to mean that Itachi was also nearby. She tried to expand her chakra scanning to a larger territory. She detected not only Itachi's chakra, but also Kakashi's and the rest of his team. Seemingly, Naruto had returned to the village as well. He was part of the team. Surprisingly, she recognized Chiyo's chakra among them as well. They were about twenty kilometers away from them.

"Kakashi is also nearby." She then told Gai. "One o'clock, Neji."

He looked into it. She wasn't wrong. He nodded and described their current situation to the rest of the team. Itachi was heading over there. Meanwhile, the one who was named Kisame were heading in their direction at great speed. Just as they got to a clearing leading into the Land of Rivers, he arrived to meet them.

"This is as far as you will all go." He announced.

He looked at Yuki and Gai and grinned:

"It's nice to see familiar faces."

"We've met before?" Gai asked him.

Yuki wasn't sure if Gai was joking or not. Kisame seemed to have taken offence in that comment. He quickly charged towards them swinging his Samehada at them. As they all jumped out of the way, he then created a huge water dragon that pushed them all back except for Gai and Yuki. As they looked back, they noticed that he had created clones amidst all this and had trapped the remaining three in a water prison. Seemingly, there was no oxygen that could be leaked into those water prison. The three were still managing at holding their breath. Yuki thought of using her lightning jutsu, but she couldn't risk having the three of them being electrocuted in the process.

"I didn't want interferences in our fight." Kisame said. "I was hoping I could trap that kid as well."

"You seem to want to fight me only." Gai said. "Why don't you let them go? I can guarantee they won't interfere."

"It's not fun to fight without a prize to win though."

Gai was quick to jump into action. He knew that Yuki would have the brains to figure out how to help the three of them escape the water prison. He focused on Kisame instead, serving this as a distraction. She went ahead to fight the clone that was holding Neji captive. Using her water and wind nature to change the water clone into ice, she managed to create an opening where his arm was inserted in the water prison. With that, all she had to do was to break the ice and Neji was released.

"You should've gone for Tenten first!" He yelled at her as he was coughing from suffocation.

"Instead of yelling at me, go help her instead then." Yuki replied calmly as she headed towards Lee's water prison.

Neji glared at her and headed right away for Tenten. Simultaneously, they freed the remaining two members. Meanwhile, in the corner of eye, Yuki was keeping track of the fight between Gai and Kisame. It was speedy and the impacts between their blows were enough to create gushes of wind. It had been a while since she saw someone being able to keep up with Gai's taijutsu skills. As they were all freed and recovering from the lack of oxygen, Kisame took notice of it and sent water sharks towards them to which Yuki responded by creating a large fireball to turn the sharks into steam. As the steam cleared out, she could see through it that Gai had landed a fatal blow to Kisame who fell from high above into a crater that was formed previously during their fight. They all headed over with Neji supporting Tenten. The body that was in the crater was not of Kisame.

"I definitely have no idea who this is." Gai said.

"They managed to recreate the chakra of Kisame perfectly though. I couldn't tell that it was a transformation jutsu." Yuki said. "He is from the Sand Village. I've seen him before. He isn't someone who could do such things."

"He was merely a sacrifice for the Akatsukis' jutsu." Neji then said. "A worthless life to them."

"They were probably trying to delay us. Let me flash all of us to Kakashi's team."

"They also finished their battle." Neji said as he looked in their direction.

They all grabbed on to Yuki's shoulder as she teleported everyone right next to Kakashi who did not even jump at their appearances. Pakkun who had been guiding them to the Land of Rivers looked at Yuki and said:

"Haven't seen you in a while, kiddo."

"You haven't aged one bit, Pakkun." Yuki said with a smile as she took a deep breath.

Gai wasn't wrong earlier. Teleporting four people, on top of herself, was not easy. It drained her energy. Chiyo went to her side immediately and gave her a soldier pill.

"I didn't think I would ever see you again." She told Yuki as she ate the pill to replenish her energy. "This won't help much, but at least you won't pass out from using all this chakra."

Yuki nodded. She was never close to Chiyo, but she had the uttermost respect for her as a senior and as a talented medical ninja. Sakura smiled at her awkwardly as their last conversation wasn't quite the most pleasant one. However, Yuki wasn't one to hold grudges. Naruto grinned widely as it had been a while since they last saw each other. He was also happy to see Gai's team. He hadn't seen them since he left the village with Jiraiya almost three years ago.

"Now that everyone is here, let's brief each other about everything that's been going on. I assume you guys didn't make it to Sunagakure yet and just headed here straight." Kakashi said as he pulled down his forehead protector to cover his sharingan.

"Kakashi, you are as bright as ever!" Gai said in a cheerful tone. "Truly worthy of being my rival."

"We ran into Kisame who turned out to be a Sunagakure ninja who was transformed into him. He, however, used the same techniques as Kisame and had the same chakra as Kisame." Yuki told Kakashi.

"It was the same with us and a fake Itachi." Kakashi replied pointing to the corpse a few meters away from them. "They are probably just trying to delay us from finding Gaara."

"That's what I thought too, but I couldn't figure out why."

"He's after the tail beast in Gaara." Naruto told her as he placed his hand on his stomach, where the seal of the Kyuubi was.

Yuki clenched her fists and, while gritting her teeth, said:

"Let's get going then. We might already be too late."

Kakashi agreed:

"Enough with the greetings then."

End of Chapter 43

Thank you for reading this chapter!

Keep the reviews coming, it really helps me understand what you love (or hate) about the story

xox

Krystal