I Do Not Own Naruto
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Muddying the Waters
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Ebony eyes wandered over the trail of the mildly warm day at the end of spring, nearing the beginning of summer. Sakura and Naruto were playing a game of 'I spy', mostly to keep Naruto focused to some degree as he looked around, Kakashi was lazily bringing up the rear with his Icha Icha book in hand while Tazuna looked… unsettled. It wasn't that they weren't taking this mission seriously; he knew they were; it was trying to keep the dobe on point and focused that was difficult and nothing (and Sasuke meant nothing) could ever really unsettle Kakashi. Even in this time of war, Sasuke knew his mentor was on high alert despite his laid back demeanor.
And yes, they were at war; though for the most part the war had traveled to the north rather than south to where they were currently; it was still the Third Shinobi War; and Itachi and Kisame did go to the front lines from time to time which was how he knew about the war. Kakashi took many ANBU missions before he had slowed down to teach them but Sasuke knew he was still a member of the ANBU and he would still be leaving for missions from time to time.
"I spy a puddle!" Naruto shouted with glee, both he and Kakashi stopped then.
"Naruto! You're not supposed to tell me what you spy!" Sakura sighed in exasperation.
That puddle though sprung to life, a chain wrapped around Kakashi, Sakura screamed and he was leaping as Kakashi was slashed through before their eyes. He turned his head as the chain was coming at them then, Sakura gasped when a chain came flying at her, she shoved Naruto aside, he leapt into the air, a kunai slipped into his fingers as he twisted his body around, his dark eyes seeing everything even without his Sharingan as he aimed perfectly to pin the threat to a tree. Landing on the chained arms of the duo attackers he shoved his weight back as the heels of his feet slammed into both of the men's jaws as he flew past them and slid onto the ground. The men were down and he stood.
The men were up, he had shuriken in his fingers and released them all to slam into one of the men.
"Stay behind me!" Sakura shouted. He turned in horror just in time to see her draw back her fist and smash her small fist into the mask of the man coming at her, the mask shattered and she stood there as the man collapsed. Sasuke's body jerked on reaction as he twisted his body away from the attacks that came flying at him. Turning his body around in the air he pulled a kunai to throw it at the center mass of the man just as his feet hit the ground. Naruto was up, then and he had his own kunai out as the man Sakura had punched staggered to his feet. She had her kunai out and before anyone could react to their enemies getting back on their feet again Kakashi appeared and had the two men in a strangling headlock.
"Kakashi!" Sakura gasped in relief, he looked over to where Kakashi had been slain and noticed the logs.
"And where have you been!?" Naruto shouted accusingly.
"Oh me? It looked like you guys had everything in hand, good reflexes Sasuke, good spotting Naruto, and good job protecting the client Sakura. However, I expected more from you Naruto, I'd have thought you'd have helped with the fight." Kakashi was smiling behind that mask and Sasuke knew it. They had done well this time, and he could tell as he stood there looking at his mentor and the pinkette who looked near tears in her relief.
"HEY! I'll have you know Sakura knocked me off my game!" Naruto defended, he smirked and Sakura sunk to her knees then as she trembled. He walked over to her small form and helped her up while Kakashi and Naruto dealt with their attackers.
"How'd you do that punch?" he asked her as he helped her up.
"Huh? Oh! I infused my chakra into my fist and just as I hit him I released it; I didn't think that was going to work," she admitted as she got herself steady.
"That was a very advanced technique, Sakura; only one other kunoichi is known to do that and it is a very dangerous technique," Kakashi informed her.
"It is?" Sasuke questioned as he held her up.
"Yes, it was created and perfected by the Sannin Tsunade, her chakra control is something that is unmatched, as are her healing abilities. And you are saying you did that on a whim?" Kakashi asked her as he tied up their attackers.
"Yeah, it felt right," Sakura said as she finally nodded to him that she was steady on her feet. He released her and walked over to where Naruto was with Tazuna.
"That's impressive kid, never knew you had it in you," Kakashi said when she approached him and Sasuke watched as Kakashi ruffled her hair. She was smiling with her pride at her success.
"Thanks," Sakura giggled with her joy and her pride at her success. He stifled his smirk away from her because he didn't want her to know he was pleasantly proud of what she had done.
"What about me!?" Naruto demanded.
"Well, you're still a genin Naruto, and we'll work on your chakra control. But you did well Naruto,: Kakashi said and Sasuke smirked and turned his glare onto Tazuna.
"What aren't you telling us?" Kakashi demanded.
"I do not know what you're talking about…" Tazuna stammered out.
"These are the Demon Brothers of the Mist, they are in our bingo book. We were hired to protect you from bandits and robbers, not missing-nin," Kakashi said. "So I repeat, what are you not telling us?"
"It is true I hired you for protection, but not from robbers and bandits."
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"We have him again," he spoke into the radio.
"Anything of interest?" his superior asked.
"Yeah, a pink girl, her chakra is like the last one's," he answered as he sat there studying it. He was a sensory type and the Byakugan gave him an added advantage. And he remembered the chakra they had needed about nine years, almost ten years now; ago that was needed.
"Have Haku and Zabuza collect her then," his boss replied.
"Will do," he agreed as he turned off the coms and then looked back down at the group of four with the problem bridge builder. This was war, and it was being waged against the other Shinobi even if they weren't seeing it.
However, he found himself looking at the familiar silver hair of a cold blooded killer, the son of White Fang; Cold-blooded Kakashi. He knew that head of silver hair too well, for the night of that botched attack he had killed the girl and then proceeded to slaughter the troops following him so their plan worked. The man had passed out besides the girl he had killed and they had extracted their weapon against the Leaf and ran back to their base with their weapon before Kakashi had come around again.
They had wanted to kill him but Mei had said they shouldn't, let him take the body of his comrade back and have his own people despise him for killing a comrade; because the Leaf were a loyal bunch of shinobi and killing comrades was one of their ultimate taboos. Kakashi would be destroyed by his own people; or so they had thought.
They hadn't heard about Kakashi afterwards and this was the first time in ten years since Ao had even seen Kakashi.
However, this didn't matter. He was also seeing an Uchiha; one of the survivors from the Cloud's brash attack no doubt, and a small jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, and a small pinkette who seemed to have an immense amount of chakra reserves. Her chakra though… from what he was seeing, it was perfect; it was almost an exact replica of that girl's chakra from ten years ago. Ao smiled to himself.
This was the perfect chance to destroy the Leaf!
There was no way Kakashi would kill this kid, he noted the way Kakashi was praising her and ruffling her hair like she was his kid or something. Ao hoped to high Kami that she was his kid, because he wanted Kakashi to hurt when that girl was killed as their weapon in destroying the Leaf once and for all. Perhaps this one would be perfect, and Kakashi would understand the pain of the loss of his comrades and his kid. Kakashi had killed his kid in that attack, and it was only going to be fair if he killed Kakashi's little pinkette.
Ao was most eager to implement this plan and hurt the Cold-Blooded Kakashi for what he had done.
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Sakura was walking with the boys, well, she was in the trees with Sasuke keeping an eye on the road as Kakashi and Naruto watched Tazuna. She was very proud of herself for having saved Tazuna, and she was even more fascinated with this 'difficult' technique Kakashi had said she had done but had felt so effortlessly natural to her.
Controlling her chakra, releasing it when she needed to, even using it, it was all natural to her. She couldn't even explain how natural all of it felt to her, or why it felt so effortless, but it did, and it was amazing to know she was better at something than the boys. Sakura hopped into a new tree as she looked around and smiled to herself, so she was finally better at something than the boys, this made her happy and she was going to ask Kakashi for help in figuring out how to manage this new technique again. If it could be useful in battle or in a fight or as an ANBU then she wanted to use it, she wanted to be the best she could be and to live up to the Hatake name which she had adopted.
Sakura stopped on a branch as she looked around.
The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up as she looked around.
Sakura didn't know what was wrong with her but she didn't like the feeling she was being watched everytime she moved and she leapt out of the tree to land beside Sasuke on his side of the road.
"Pst," she hissed.
"Hn?" he grunted and looked to her.
"What do you see?" she whispered in his ear.
He blinked, his Sharingan coming to life as his eyes whirled around and he took in everything around them.
"Kakashi," Sasuke grabbed her wrist as he pulled her down the tree with him. They both landed on the road.
"I know, I see them," Kakashi said darkly and Naruto looked confused as he tugged on her arm.
"See what?" he demanded.
"We're being followed," Kakashi answered as he looked up from his book. "A small scouting party probably, two decent sized chakras though are in front of us and three behind us. No matter what protect Tazuna," Kakashi orded.
"Yes," Sakura nodded and she took the right side of Tazuna as Naruto took the left and Sasuke walked in front of them while Kakashi took up the rear.
Sakura couldn't shake the bad feeling filling up her gut as she moved and she pulled a kunai into her fingers as she walked, her eyes were on the tree lines.
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"So they want the pink one," he said blandly.
"Aparently her chakra's the same," a gruff voice chuckled.
"And how are we to do this?" the smaller masked man asked.
"I'll take care of the bridge builder and the group, you take the girl and take her to Ao, they have a plan," he chuckled.
Pinky's green eyes were looking right at him as if she could see him but he knew she didn't even sense him and he smiled. He was most eager for this fight, Kakashi of the Sharingan was a most worthy opponent, and he was just itching for a real fight other than the shit Gatō had him slaughtering for his pleasure.
Zabuza smiled behind his mask as he slipped into the forest and went where he was supposed to go to distract the enemy so Haku could take the girl.
Alright, this might be the last update for a bit, I have a few stories I want to finish up, and I'll be trying to update this at least once a week, but I'm apologizing before hand if I miss it. I will be back; hopefully sooner rather than later but I have other stuff to wrap up!
That's all for now folks!
Enjoy Blooming in Darkness! =)
