This is a work of fan fiction using characters from the Naruto, which is trademarked by Masashi Kishimoto. Everything aside from the original characters are created from the wonderful mind of Kishimoto.
Most of the following unrecognizable are original characters of mine, please bear with me I am still in the process of making the character profiles for an even better visualization.
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Also, thank you so much to you guys who take your time to read my humble fanfiction even though it had taken a very slow turn. Special to those who follow, favorite, and especially those who take extra efforts to review.
But above all, thank you for those who have been there since day one, I love you guys so much!
Thanks for reading!
Chapter 7: Bribery at it's Finest
Sakura observed every single member of the newly formed team Kakashi in silence. Ever since they have left the village, everybody was dead silent, not that she minded a silent journey, but for once she was wishing for Naruto's boisterous mouth to open and stir things up a bit. It was no secret that the addition of the the new members, specifically pertaining to Sai created a thick and almost impenetrable tension, especially between the younger male members.
However, even after all the details that have been laid out in front of her, what she did not understand is how well Misaki is taking Sai as Sasuke's replacement. Out of everyone she knew, she was absolutely sure Misaki would be at least affected by the replacement, with how close they were and how alike Sai is to Sasuke, from the way they look to their attitude.
"I something wrong Sakura?" Misaki looked at Sakura with worry etched on her face as she noticed the pink-haired kunoichi looking, or rather staring at her.
"No, it's nothing" Sakura smiled not only to ease Misaki's worry, but to clear her of any suspicion. Somehow she felt guilty thinking of how Misaki was feeling amidst the whole ordeal, but she couldn't stop wondering.
'How can she smile with the pain?' Sakura thought, almost missing the familiar necklace hanging around Misaki's neck if it hadn't glinted against the sun.
Their journey accompanied by tension continued on for quite a while, until surprisingly the first word since they left, exited Sai's mouth.
"Please don't look at me like that, I'll pound you" Sai said with a deceivingly friendly smile.
"There goes the idea of travelling in peaceful silence" Misaki sighed as her head hung low, whilst listening to the exchange of banter, mostly teasing on Sai's part and irritation on Naruto's side. However, she started taking the banter seriously when Yamato interrupted the two of them, stating that they are both in the same team of Kakashi and Naruto reacted in a way only Naruto can.
"He's not a member of team Kakashi, the other member of team Kakashi is none other than Sasuke! This guy was just chosen to cover the loss of Sasuke, I don't acknowledge him as a team member at all" Naruto declared, shocking everyone in the vicinity.
"Well, that's actually much easier for me" Sai answered, shocking everyone even more, but to Misaki, her words left a pinch in her heart, it felt like déjà vu once again, she can't remember who she heard it from, but she can clearly remember the feeling of the familiar pinch in her heart when she heard the words left Sai's lips. It's as if he was convincing himself more than anyone else.
The next set of words that left Sai's mouth almost strangled Misaki's heart to suffocation.
"He betrayed the leaf, and ran off to serve Orochimaru. I don't want to be lumped together with a cockroach along the same lines as Orochimaru" Sai explained and that drew the line for Naruto as he prepared to attack Sai. Misaki was about to stop him, but Sakura beat her to it when she raise her arms to intercept.
"Teamwork is indeed important, Sai, Naruto still doesn't know you very well, so he may have been out of line, I'm sorry" Sakura said, a look of submission and deep repentance place so perfectly on her face that Misaki had already detected something off, plus the fact that she is a student of Tsunade, put that together…
'she should be blowing a gasket right about…'
Everybody gasped in shock as Sakura punched Sai square in the face, throwing him off a few feet.
'…now' Misaki sweat dropped as she could almost see the image of both her mother and her former master in Sakura's stead.
'Note to self, be wary of Sakura's strength and temper' Misaki thought to herself as she nervously laughed at Sakura's antics.
"You don't have to forgive me" Sakura said, her face now reflecting the real turmoil lingering inside of her.
"You tricked me good with your fake smile" Sai simply said, rubbing of the blood that trickled down his chin.
"And here you don't even know anything about Sasuke, so don't you dare speak ill of him, if you insult Sasuke again, I won't hold back" Sakura ended.
"Fine, I won't say anything like that in front of you. So that is one way to use a fake smile, I'll remember it well" Sai said, in a manner that ticked Naruto even more as he was acting like it was no big deal.
"How can you grin like that after getting punched" Naruto yelled back at Sai. Things were about to go even further south when Yamato erected an impromptu prison from scratch using a technique that was supposed to be unique to the first hokage.
"Wow, awesome" Misaki mumbled in awe as she clapped her hands in appreciation, completely erasing the tension with her innocent declaration and awe of something that held a threat of imprisonment if they so much continued to head south with their banter.
"As your peacemaker, so in order to build rapport, I can toss you all in this cell for a whole day…" Yamato started, but didn't get a chance to finish when Misaki raised her hands in question.
"Those that count me, but I was just standing in the sidelines" Misaki said squatting like a child as she sulked.
"…Or we can stay at a hot spring inn for a night. You guys probably don't really know me all that well, I prefer the kind and gentle approach, but I'm not against to controlling you by fear either" Yamato ended on a darker note that freaked and scared the younger shinobi to submission almost instantly.
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"Wow, it's so amazing and expensive to, it almost feels like this rapport building thing is a bribery" Misaki said as she sunk herself in the water with a great sigh of relief.
"Shh, Yamato-taichou might here you next door" Sakura said pulling the smaller girl near her to whisper in her ear.
"But, isn't it the whole point why Yamato-tacihou brought us all here?" Misaki said and Sakura sighed at the simplicity and naivety of Misaki's mind, it's as if they were all back years ago when they were all younger.
Suddenly Naruto's voice from the other side of the hot spring was heard, stating something about his equipment, making all the girls on their side laugh, as Sakura blushed even harder than she already is.
"I still don't get the whole equipment talk" Misaki said to Sakura in confusion, who only laughed nervously back at her.
A few moments more, as the commotion subsided, Sakura finally noticed the necklace around Misaki's neck.
"Misaki, if you don't mind me asking, but that necklace, where did you get it?" Sakura asked. Misaki looked at her for a while then down to her necklace, in deep thought.
"I've had this for quite a while now, it was a gift from…from Itachi" Misaki said, smiling a sad but sincere smile as she gained confidence in her statement. At her words Sakura finally remembered where she had seen that necklace before, she once wore it all the time, like she is doing now, when they were younger, but wasn't Itachi the one who killed the whole Uchiha brethren and made Sasuke who he was today?
Misaki didn't even need any verbal indication from Sakura, but she had a damn good idea what was running inside Sakura's mind.
"I know, after all he did why still hold on to it? I honestly don't know, all I know is that my connection with him is not something I want to lose" Misaki said staring at the water, as she held the necklace tightly, as if it was the last chance of survival.
Sakura decided to let go of the conversation, she hadn't understood Misaki's actions most of the time, but all the time, Misaki had kept everybody's best interests before her own welfare.
Besides, no one is getting hurt right?
"Come to think of it, let's go out, I have to show you something" Misaki said jumping out of the hot spring, almost dropping the towel around her body.
"Misaki?" Sakura sweat dropped once again, at Misaki's childish antics.
By the time they got back to their room, Naruto, Sai and Yamato were already sitting in their respective places with Sai and Naruto on either side of the table with vacant seats beside them and Yamato at the head of the table, amongst the three male shinobi was a banquet of delicious and aesthetically pleasing food.
"Wow, that looks good!" Misaki said sitting next to Sai as Sakura sat next to Naruto.
"Whoa, Sakura-chan you look good" Naruto said referring to the yellow yukata littered with pink cherry blossoms allover.
"Thanks, it was a gift from Misaki" Sakura said slightly blushing at the compliment.
"Whoa, Misaki! It's been a while since I last saw you wearing a yukata, it still suits you!" Naruto complimented.
"I'm glad to know I'm on top of your priority list Naruto" Misaki smiled, earning a sweat drop from Naruto, who almost thank the gods that Misaki didn't inherit her mother's legendary temper or her former master's patience.
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After the hearty and nutritious meal, everybody retired to their respective rooms, with Naruto and Sai on the other room, Sakura and Misaki in theirs and Yamato alone in his.
As they prepared to turn in for the night, Sakura watched Misaki as she stared out to the night skies, staring out at the stars like she would always do when they were younger.
"Misaki, if you don't mind me asking" Sakura began, gaining Misaki's undivided attention almost immediately, as she averted her gaze from the beautiful, yet unreachable stars to her old friend. She merely moved and inch from where she stood leaning by the window, but did nod her head to give affirmation.
"How are you okay with this?" Sakura asked, although she wanted to be as smooth as possible with her question, the query did not came out as well as she intended it to. Her nerves ran cold when Misaki's face became blank, and she once again focused her attention to the starts. Sakura thought that it meant that Misaki would not be bothering to answer the question so she motioned to hit the hay, until Misaki opened her mouth.
"I guess you mean about Sai and him?" Misaki spoke, her voice so quiet it was just a few notches above a whisper. Sakura waited as Misaki took a pause, trying to collect words on how she will be able to word out her feelings.
"At first, it was a little bothering, the resemblance is quite impeccable I might say. But then the moment he opened his mouth, all hints of semblance disappeared. To me he is Sai, and that's that" Misaki explained smiling back to Sakura.
Sakura stared once again at Misaki as she returned to the world of stars.
'she avoided the topic of Sasuke again' it hadn't escaped the notice of someone as observant as Sakura that every single time Sasuke's name was mentioned or even remotely hinted at, Misaki's face, usually occupied by a smile, would immediately turn blank before resuming its usual front. But then again who can blame her, they were dealing with their loss their own respective ways, and Misaki was probably the one who took the brunt of the loss.
Misaki looked up at the night skies looking calm and collected, but no one noticed the turmoil of her rapidly beating heart.
She didn't want to think about him, she didn't want to talk about him, she has been avoiding anything related to him the whole time. But she was well aware that she couldn't hide forever, not to him, or the shadow of who he was once.
Somehow Misaki knew, that a gut wrenching confrontation involved this mission that this would be like an ice cold wakeup call to her endless longing. It seems that even though she had left her post wherein she watched Sasuke leave, hoping for her to return years ago, her heart had not abandoned the idea of his return.
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Come the following morning, Misaki woke up and got dressed before the breaking of the dawn. Last night, she went to sleep hoping that the long night's rest would quench the turmoil from within, however, she only ended up tossing and turning throughout the night and waking up extremely early with an even greater turmoil.
Misaki believed in planning, she was a strong believer that half the battle is planning, but even so no amount of planning could make her ready for this. The best thing she can now is to find serenity, or at least some sort of peace before she goes out of the frying pan and into the fire.
Misaki was sitting at by the river, her feet, shoeless, submerged in the cool water as the morning breeze hit her, providing some sort of comfort when she saw Sai prop himself on the other side of the river and took out a sketch book. Concentrating her chakra on the soles of her feet, Misaki walked over to him, shoes in hand. Misaki said nothing, but laid beside Sai, staring at the bright blue skies as he painted.
It remained a silent sanctuary for Misaki, somehow being with Sai, resemblance not withstanding seemed to take her thoughts away from him, and for quite some time, she felt peace, so much that she could already feel her eyes slowly drift shut.
"Do you enjoy being with me because I resemble him? Don't get me wrong, but as I have said earlier, I don't like being associated to him" Sai's voice may have been anything but a wakeup call, but the message felt like a piercing noise through her ears as her eyes snapped open. Taking her time to sit upright, she slowly bent her knees and propped her arms on top of it.
"Guess that's not exactly a secret isn't it" Misaki said smiling at Sai, it was small and sad, but it was real, and all Sai could think about as she stared at Misaki, trying to memorize the kind of smile she portrayed, is that how can she smile so sad yet so sincere.
"Not really no, believe it or not being with you takes my brain from thinking about him. I guess it's because I spent a lot of our time together with either Naruto, or Sakura, sometimes even both that being with them brings back a lot of memories." Misaki explained, her eyes talking in louder volumes than her voice could do.
"I know he isn't you, and I'm not doing this to replace him with you, he is who he is and you are who you are, you're Sai, if that's really your real name, I bet the Foundation assigned you that name" Misaki said, and Sai froze, a dozens of thoughts littering his mind, about the circumstances where in he could have revealed his cover.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't have known if I hadn't noticed the seal on your tongue." Misaki said pointing at the general direction of his mouth. Sai froze in his tracks, it was either she was also a member of the root, or she has extensive knowledge of seals, two unlikely answers considering her general appearance, but as he learned the hard and painful way, looks can be pretty deceiving.
"Sai, Misaki, what are you guys doing out here?" Sakura said approaching the two ninjas looking completely lax by the lake.
"Just enjoying the first rays of the sun" Misaki simply said laying back down, knowing completely that Naruto would not follow Sakura's example for quite a while, as she drowned out the exchange between Sakura and Sai about paintings, titles and how he couldn't name one because he couldn't feel anything, all the while wandering can someone who claims to be as callous as Sai create something as expressive as what he is doing right this instant.
"No wonder you can only say such callous things! It's about time for us to leave, Yamato-taichou told me to come get you,
"Is it that time already" Misaki said stretching her muscles as she stood up, whilst Naruto approached the rest of the team.
"Hmm, the drawing is nothing special" Naruto criticized Sai's handiwork with an equally unimpressed expression.
"You're right, just like your equipment" Sai said together with his fake smile, instantly turning Naruto's whole face red.
"For one, I think he's art is incredible, and two, I still don't get what your deal is with Naruto's weapons," Misaki announced coming between the two opposing parties as Naruto began to challenge Sai.
"You want to fight huh, why don't you stop it with the fake smile and tell me straight if you have a problem with me" Naruto continued, looking past Misaki to look at Sai. At that moment, Sai shut his notebook, making everyone think that he was about to say something at all.
"I've got no problem with you at all, frankly I don't even care about you" Sai said with the cheeriest smile that made the situation all the more eerie.
"There's no time to be dallying around, let's go" Misaki said, taking everybody's attention from Sai.
"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up once I've tidied" Sai said as he packed his stuff, with a little help from Sakura, and thus the discovery of the hand drawn picture book Sai drew, that belonged to his older brother.
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They were halfway along their quiet albeit awkward journey, when Yamato began to lead them far from the forest trails and deep into another part of the forest that is a little more inhabited than the road they had just taken.
"Taicho, what is the meaning of this, I think the direction we were going on was the right way" Sakura began to complain against her captain's orders when a spider had almost landed on her face.
"I think you have already heard from Tsunade-sama" Yamato said stopping in his tracks to face his team.
"Heard what?" Naruto asked, completely oblivious about the exchange.
"That the information she acquired might be a trap" Misaki intervened, sitting cross legged on one of the stray logs that must have fallen for quite some time prior to their arrival.
"Correct, we figured that maybe this is an ambush set up by the akatsuki to capture you Naruto" Yamato said, this time, looking directly at Naruto.
"No way" bowed his head in shock.
"I don't think there's a great possibility, but we can never be too careful" Yamato added.
"The akatsuki was successful in taking Shukaku from Gaara, but one thing is for certain, is that the akatsuki won't stop with Gaara" Misaki said withdrawing her sword from behind her, quickly slicing a seemingly well blended snake on the tree log she was sitting on.
"We'll proceed along a covert route as much as possible until we reach the Tenchi bridge" Yamato instructed as they went deeper in the vegetation of the forest.
After another set of wordless walkin Yamato suddenly stopped and created a house, a whole house using just his jutsu.
"We're camping out here for the night" Yamato announced on top of the built house's roof.
"I don't think you can call something like this camping out" Sakura said in awe as Misaki clapped her hands at the captain's display.
"I know pretty impressive ain't it, and generous too, first he treats us to an onsen, then he builds a house just for this sake. If this isn't bribery to be complacent, then I don't know what it is" Misaki said, whispering next to Sakura, although, she was certain that every single person in the vicinity heard her.
Misaki tried to step forwards towards their accommodations for the night when Yamato's eerie poker face placed itself in front of her, both shocking and scaring her.
"What was that?" Yamato said in a deep and calm and spooky voice that it made Misaki's skin crawl and sweat began forming bullets on her forehead.
"Hehehehe, it's nothing, it's nothing, I was just saying how you're such a magnanimous and cool captain you are. Yay, go Yamato-taichou" Misaki said with a nervous smile and a stuttering laugh.
"I thought so, well, if that's the case, let's turn in for the night, we have a long day tomorrow" Yamato said his mood turning a hundred eighty degree as he walked in to the house. Misaki released a deep sigh as she placed a hand on calm the thundering drum of her heart.
"Boy that was scary" Misaki said whilst Sakura smiled in comprehension.
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Here is it chapter seven, enjoy,
Also, do you think it's a good idea to create a Gaiden on Kakashi and Kaede's history, what really happens when the two of them are left to their own devices and what happened when Misaki left the village, message me of what you think about it.
P.S: Feel free to talk to me in the messages and I'll try to reply faster than my uploads