Chapter 16: Something Wicked

"Normal is an illusion.

What is normal for the spider

is chaos for the fly."

-Morticia Addams

Viridian green darted to and fro almost frantically. And though Sakura would have loved to claim that her diligence was due to scouting for enemies, the truth was not so noble. She was utterly fascinated with the lands outside of the village. And though the scenery could not boast to be overly enthralling, she was still taken by the newness of it.

With the rate Kakashi-sensei was allowing them missions, who knew when she would get a chance like this again.

"Naruto quit running ahead. If an enemy were lying in wait you would be dead in a heartbeat," Kakashi lazily berated, not sounding at all concerned.

"Pfft. Like I would let some lousy enemy nin hurt me! I'm an awesome shinobi, believe it!" Naruto crowed back.

"Well you're certainly to loudest one," Sasuke quietly snarled.

"What was that teme? I couldn't hear you over my awesomeness!"

Sakura was sure that the glare Naruto received was chilling, but she was too busy studying a neighboring rice field.

"Sensei?" she questioned.

"Yes, Sakura-chan?"

"Will we be staying on the road the entire time?"

"No, actually once we get a little further west we will be trekking into the wilderness. You were smart to wear thicker boots."

Sakura felt her excitement rise even more. The sights from the road were interesting, but nothing would beat the wilderness in its natural glory.

And sure enough, just over an hour later Kakashi was heralding them into the forest. Thick trees with their dark foliage that spoke of ages long ago towered ominously around them, but Sakura felt more at ease than ever.

"Alright you three, now that we are off the road, we can practice some more training exercises," Kakashi announced.

Sakura reluctantly pulled her gaze away from the old oak tree she was studying and focused on the masked man.

"Take your shuriken out. You're each going to practice throwing your weapons at targets I point out. Whoever makes the least amount of accurate hits has to take last watch tonight."

Sakura perked up a little. In the Academy they had never been allowed to practice with real shuriken. Kunai and senbon sure, but the sharp edges on shuriken made them too dangerous. She had practiced in her spare time of course, but even then it was usually with practice ones, knowing that her father would flay her alive if she were to cause any accidental damage to his property.

She withdrew a shuriken from her weapons pouch and eagerly looked to her sensei. Sasuke and Naruto mirrored her pose.

"Alright, no stopping to aim. You need to keep your movements fluid, and use your momentum to accurately hit your targets," Kakashi-sensei lectured. "Sasuke, aim at that fern. Naruto, aim at that branch on the holly tree. And Sakura, aim at that hanging leaf."

Sakura nodded, but had to force herself not to stop walking and take stance. Her eyes narrowed in on the thin oak leaf hanging precariously from the tip of its branch. It was difficult though, as each step took her closer to the target, and thus changed her trajectory.

Drawing her arm back, she aligned her hand and hips to the leaf, and let the shuriken fly. It bit threw her targeted oak leaf, instantly knocking it off the branch.

She caught the weapon before it hit the ground and let a smug smirk bloom on her lips. No late night guard duty after all…

"Good job Sasuke and Sakura. That's one point for each of you. Naruto, you need to slow down if you have any hope of hitting your targets," Kakashi said, masked nose for once not tucked in his book.

And for the next few hours Kakashi gave them target after target, keeping a running commentary on who was taking the lead points wise. Sasuke was dominating their little competition, which was not overly surprising, but it still frustrated the pink haired girl endlessly. She was only somewhat placated that her second place ranking was only slightly below his.

Naruto, on the other hand was not faring quite so well. He kept either losing focus or eating up too much space between himself and his targets. Sakura could practically feel the annoyance coupled with determination radiating off of him.

By hour four her throwing arm was beginning to cramp up. But she continued on, ignoring the pain and adjusting her stance to make sure she compensated for her throbbing muscles. Her eyes no longer took in the lush greenery that surrounded her. Instead they honed in on her targets with single- minded precision.

At hour five, Naruto's cry of pain jerked her out of concentration and caused her sailing weapon to miss its mark by more than a foot. Her annoyance with him faded when she noticed the blood dripping down his hand.

"Shuriken's Palm," Kakashi-sensei announced as studied Naruto's tanned hand.

It was a common ailment of training shinobi. Shuriken's Palm was specific jagged cut that marked almost every nin's hand from when they first learned how to used that particular weapon. If thrown improperly than the underside of one of the curled points would dig into the thrower's palm. Naruto's now scarlet hand was proof.

Sakura watched as her sensei attentively cleaned and wrapped Naruto's hand, all whilst Naruto's cheeks flushed, from either pain or what Sakura suspected was embarrassment.

Sasuke watched the entire ordeal with bored eyes, and Sakura knew it was probably killing Naruto to let his rival see him like this. Hence the subdued silence from the blonde.

"Sensei, when are we going to start practicing ninjutsu?" Naruto questioned after his hand was securely wrapped. "You showed us what elements we have affinities for, so when are you going to show us fancy jutsus?"

"Maybe when you can handle throwing a shuriken dobe," Sasuke drawled.

Naruto growled low in his throat. His blue eyes slitted as he took in their dark haired teammate lounging against a tree.

"I won't be showing any of you ninjutsu until you show more promising signs of working together. If one of you is falling behind, then I expect the other two to help him or her," Kakashi said, his eye pointedly going to Sasuke.

Sasuke's jaw clenched, but Sakura's brow furrowed. For as much as the man preached about team work, he seemed to love toting competitions between the three of them that wouldn't allow it. His round about way of saying 'help Naruto with shuriken practice' was bellied by the fact that he set them up to try and beat one another.

Sakura felt even more frustration grow within her. She had checked out a whole slew of scrolls on water ninjutsu once she learned that it was where her affinity lied. But finding ice jutsus were it a bit harder. It appeared as if most shinobi that possessed ice- wielding abilities usually reaped them from a bloodlimit, and not a simple affinity. And thus they were harder to find information on to learn as opposed to naturally have. She had been wishing for days that her sensei would have even a single ice jutsu amongst his thousand that he could teach her…

But if the only way to learn was to reel in her impatience and help her blonde teammate then she would do it with grace.

"Perhaps the three of us should split our points evenly and rock, paper, scissors for whom gets the last watch duty," Sakura said, her shoulders already slouching at the thought.

Naruto's whiskered cheeks tipped up in a grateful smile as he met her eyes, but when she shifted her gaze over to Sasuke, she saw him looking at her with disdain.

"Why would we do that?" Sasuke ground out.

Sakura's eyes grew flinty, "So we can use our remaining time helping each other become better with shuriken, and in turn Kakashi-sensei will help us learn ninjutsu."

Her tone was as pointed as it could be without outright saying- 'help Naruto= Kakashi helps us.' The implied 'you idiot' was clear enough though.

Sasuke glowered at her, but Sakura remained impassive to his hostile gaze.

"I think that's an excellent idea Sakura-chan," Kakashi happily said. "But it is going to have to wait until tomorrow. It's getting too dark to keep practicing without risking losing your weapons."

Sakura tipped her eyes up to the already secluded sky. The thin whips of light that had managed to filter in between the leaves were growing dimmer. Twilight had officially descended upon the forest, and now that Sakura took proper notice, she could feel the cool bite of it in the air. It was going to be a cold night.

As the team ventured deeper into the heart of the forest, Sakura once again felt her eyes grow sharp and gaze become focused, but this time she wasn't honing in on the various scenery due to undisguised appreciation. This time she waswatchful of whatever or whoever could be watching her back.

The forest during the day was something of indescribable beauty, but at night- at night even she had to admit it was downright creepy. Once the pitch black settled upon them, and the nocturnal animals begun their tussling prowl, Kakashi-sensei finally called their trek to a halt.

"Alright, lets set up camp for the night. Naruto… no never mind, Sasuke, go gather some firewood please. Sakura start making a pit, and Naruto, just-" he made a funny hand gesture, "just be quiet."

Naruto's face twisted into a distinctly grumpy scowl, and he sat down with an unhappy plop, while Sasuke took off a little ways into the woods. Sakura busily brushed an area down and dug the earth up slightly. She gathered small sticks on the ground to help begin the fire.

Once Sasuke returned, Kakashi quickly flashed some hand signs and sparks literally danced off his fingers and brought a small fire to life. Sakura couldn't help the envy that gnawed at her bones as she watched the little display. As interesting and 'rare' having ice affinity was it just didn't seem as cool or imposing as fire.

"I brought enough food for tonight, but tomorrow I will show you how to set up traps to catch dinner," Kakashi announced.

They ate a quick and quiet meal of rationed food, Naruto only making the occasional complaint about his ramen cups going unused. But for the most part silence descended upon team seven. Something about the darkness of night, or perhaps being out in the wild had each of them reverting to their inner thoughts for company.

And as their silence stretched, the sounds of the forest grew louder. Sakura's keen ears could hear animals rustling, trees swaying, and a plethora of other noises that she couldn't quite put a name to, but mustn't have been threatening judging by Kakashi's eased gait.

"I think its time we get some rest," Kakashi announced, handing out sleeping packs to each of them. "Sakura, you take first shift, Naruto second, and Sasuke you will finish the night."

No one dared to bring up the fact that technically Naruto was supposed to be the one taking late night guard duty. Sakura hid her surprise at Sasuke's easy acceptance.

"Hey, when are you going to be taking watch?" Naruto accused.

Kakashi sighed, and for once Sakura thought that the tiredness was not some feigned ruse, "Don't worry Naruto, I will be doing my fair share of guard duty during the night."

Sakura had a strong suspicion that their silver haired sensei wasn't planning on getting a wink of sleep that night. She had trouble reconciling the fact that Kakashi would actually trust one of them to keep the rest of them safe. He barely trusted them with garbage duty after all.

Sakura poked at the fire with a skinny stick and while the boys changed into their pajamas and climbed into their sleeping bags. Her lips tugged into a wry grin as she noticed that they left her sleeping bag in between them, not wanting to stray too close to each other.

And as time ticked by, the sound of Naruto's snoring, and Sasuke's light breaths filled the night. She could ignore the noises emitted from Naruto's sleeping mouth, but the sounds of the forest were a little more difficult to tune out. Her untrained ears seemed to pick up every single sound. And it was almost impossible to stop her head from whipping in every direction each time a bush rustled or owl hooted.

And Sakura logically knew that it wasn't truly sounds that she should be wary of. Nin were taught to be silent after all. If anything, the sounds of the wildlife should have been reassuring. But it was all so unfamiliar, that anxiety carved a home for itself between her hunched shoulder blades.

By the time Kakashi's murmured voice informed her that her watch was over, Sakura didn't know how exactly she would manage to sleep. She felt wired. But she knew that she would need her fair share of sleep for tomorrow, so she dutifully shook Naruto awake.

"Wha-" Naruto half slurred, his sleep dulled eyes blearily blinking at her.

"Its your turn to take watch," Sakura whispered, mindful of their other sleeping teammate.

Naruto groaned loudly and rolled over in his sleeping bag, back facing her.

Sakura huffed silently and shot his wrapped up form a nasty glare.

"You just get ready for bed Sakura-chan, I'll wake Naruto up," Kakashi said.

Sakura nodded, and moved behind a nearby tree to change into her pajamas. She let the darkness swallow her smirk as she heard Naruto sharp squeal at whatever Kakashi had done to properly rouse him from his dreams. She bypassed the blonde boy, watching as he rubbed at his stomach, while shooting Kakashi a venomous glare, and climbed into the sleeping bag next to Sasuke.

But once she settled in, the sounds of the night once again felt overly loud. Her eyes darted back and fourth from Naruto's quietly grumbling form, to Kakashi's sprawled out still one. Unease raced through her mind for a moment. She had never before slept so close to someone that wasn't her mother. And while she trusted her safety with her team, it still felt odd to be at her most vulnerable around them. Sleeping amongst men whose inner thoughts could be just as vile as- Sakura shook her head sharply.

They weren't like that. Like him.

And with that oddly comforting thought, her green eyes shut, and somehow sleep crept upon her, lulling her into a world of dreams.

Her hands and feet were bound to the metal chair with thick abrasive ropes. Chakra restraints. And try as she might, nothing was going to break these bounds- her limbs were already chaffed and bleeding from trying. But sitting around and doing nothing while waiting for him to come back was worse.

Green eyes frantically darted around, taking into the dank and dripping stone room for what felt like the millionth time. There was nothing to even hint at her location. No window- no special type of mineral. Nothing to indicate the time of day even.

The loud creaking of a heavy door being opened behind her caused the young girl to stiffen. Cold waves of fear washed down her spine, but she swallowed back her trepidation. Even if she was terrified, she had to be strong.

"How are you liking your accommodations so far, Sakura-chan?" a deep and heavily accented voice asked her.

Every muscle in her body tensed even more as she heard the man speak. Her head darted to the side, trying to catch a glimpse of him, but he remained free from her peripherals.

"Still not feeling chatty? I suppose that's something that I must admire about you Leaf nin- you're loyal," the voice continued. And judging by the different area it came from, the man was pacing.

"If only I knew about you from the start. Our village could use a shinobi like you. And now that you're here and have such interesting gifts, we aren't keen on letting you leave. You understand right?"

Her throat tightened. She wanted to scream at this faceless man. She wanted to yell at him about how she would escape! Her team would find her! She would return to Konoha and keep getting stronger. She would never be a traitor to her village!

A startled yell escaped from her throat as a large hand gripped her pink hair and tugged until her head was yanked backwards.

Viridian eyes met viridian eyes.

"Come on Sakura-chan, won't you tell you're dear old dad what he wants to know?"

Sakura's eyes shot open, and she wrenched herself up in her sleeping bag, chest heaving and fingers grasping for her nearby weapons.

When the fire crackled her head snapped up to notice both Sasuke and Kakashi staring at her, eyes wide.

"Ah Sakura-chan, I see you are an early riser," Kakashi stated, trying to dissipate the awkward silence.

Early riser was putting it lightly as blackness still hung around the forest. But the birds loudly chirping indicated that the sun should be making it ascent soon.

"Yeah," Sakura absently agreed, her mind staunchly trying to cling to the last remnants of her dream- and the man she saw in it. The man who was- she shook her head. It was just a dream. There was no way that the man staring in it was actually her father.

She didn't think she could handle the disappointment if he was. She already had two less than desirable parents; adding some fictional representation of a man that she only thought of in a curious sort of detachment to the mix was less than desirable. Besides, she was doing jus fine on her own.

"Why don't you try an catch some more rest," Kakashi said, his lone eye peering at her intently. "It's going to be a long and busy day today."

Sakura nodded, but as she snuggled deeper into her sleeping bag she knew that the sandman wouldn't visit her any more that night. She felt wired. Awake and ready to plot, train, or jump into action. Her foot twitched a nervous rhythm that she couldn't quite quell.

Inhaling deeply, she decided that meditation was perhaps the only thing that could calm her nerves. That and she had been putting it off for far too long.

Her breathing steadied, and furrowed brow smoothed as Sakura slowly retreated within herself. A weight lifted off of her shoulders as she noticed her thick chakra stems were glowing brighter than ever. The web that they weaved throughout her body had grown even more intricate. She was becoming stronger.

She even noticed that Kakashi's revelation about the chakra cluster surrounding her throat was true. It was larger than her core chakra. Where most of her chakra glowed with different colors, the chakra centered on her voice box was a rich vibrant red. Hot and humming, ready to be used. It was why she had always suspected she would be a fire user- her main chakra seemed to reflect the substance perfectly. Nothing like ice and its frigid stiffness.

But just as a smile was beginning to curve on her lips, Sakura felt it.

The darkness.

The pulsing black mass of every negative emotion she had felt since becoming a genin. She was still harboring it. All of the fear, disgust, hatred, and horror. All of her pain and misery was tied up in this cloud of poisonous suffering. She had done a good job of burying it. So good of job that it was hard to detect, especially since it was residing far away from her conscious mind. But it was still there- eating away at her.

Sakura huffed, completely at a loss for what to do. How did one exercise themselves of their own negativity? How should she purge this tumor of the soul?

"Time to get up lazy bones!" Naruto's loud voice shouted, immediately rousing her.

She caught Naruto's hand before he could attempt to shake her away. She was tempted to snap at him to respect her personal boundaries, but his lighthearted laughter stopped her.

Rising from her sleeping bag, Sakura grabbed her pack and disappeared behind some neighboring trees to change into her clothing. The forest was slightly cooler than the village typically was, so she donned her longer pants and a thick grey shirt. Winding her pink locks into a braid and securing her forehead protector, Sakura felt more ready for the day. But her thoughts still remained in disarray.

Breakfast was eaten quickly and then they were off again, Kakashi leading them through the winding woods. This time there was no shuriken practice though, as Kakashi announced that they were closer to their destination.

The southern forest was beautiful. The trees were thinner and wildflowers bloomed abound. Meadows filled with long grasses produced heady perfumes that tickled Sakura's nose in the best possible way. Sakura stopped her perusal though when she noticed Kakashi crouched down in front of a delicate indigo flower.

"Do you see this plant?" he asked the three of them as they crowded around. "Tiny and delicate- its one of the most deadly plants in Fire Country."

Sakura's brows inched closer to her hairline as her sensei fingered the plant with bare hands.

"It's called Beautiful Death. Not only because of its beauty, but also because of the way it kills a person. When the petals are ground into a powder and inhaled, they cause the victim to hallucinate while slowly shutting off their internal organs. Just one single petal can take down a grown man."

Sakura gazed at the little flower with interest. It was strange how even in nature such a small fragile flower could be so deadly.

"But that's not what we are looking for right?" Sasuke questioned.

"Correct. We are not scouting for poisons today, but for medicinal herbs."

Kakashi withdrew a scroll from his pouch. On it was a drawing of five different plants. "These are used in various healing elixirs and pastes. We are going to split up and gather each of them. Naruto, you take the Fenway plant," he said pointing to a large spindly plant. "Sasuke, you take Melaji plant," he said pointing to a smaller herb. "And Sakura, you take the Ildgrid flower," he announced pointing to a small yellow flower. "I will find the other two. Split up, but do not venture too far from one another. I don't want us encountering any rogue nin or wildlife."

Each of them nodded, and Sakura hitched her pack up higher on her back before accepting Kakashi's short scroll describing the plant. She decided to head west, knowing a small stream lied in wait. The plants would flourish better in softer soil.

After parting ways with her teammates, Naruto's loud voice slowly being swallowed by the distance, Sakura once again let herself enjoy the outdoors. The melancholy mood that had clung to her since the morning was slowly evaporating with the forest's embrace.

How could one stay sullen with the bright sunlight streaming through, casting an emerald light on the trees? The birds chirped their merry songs and animals rustled about their daily lives. This mission felt like a vacation.

Once she had walked a good distance west, Sakura could hear the quiet trickling of a stream. Her footsteps picked up until she reached a small clearing where the stream lay running. And all amongst these banks of it yellow ildgrid flowers sprouted.

Shrugging off her pack, Sakura bent down and reached for her kunai. She gathered a small bunch and severed them by the root, making sure not to waste the potent part. She meticulously placed her gatherings into a storage pocket in her pack. But as she remained crouched on the ground, another bright color caught her eye.

Looking up Sakura spotted a single blooming Beautiful Death. It felt as if her mind went blank as approached the deadly flower.

But as her finger stroked one of the velvet petals, clarity hit her. It was poisonous, but Kakashi hadn't mentioned it being illegal. And although he pointed it out to them in a cautionary way, Sakura couldn't help but doubt her sensei's intentions. How could she not covet it after his speech?

And as her kunai bit through the stem, Sakura finally noticed what she should have realized immediately. The forest was silent- completely still. Unnaturally so. Apart from the bubbling of the stream, no birds sung or creatures rustled. They sensed what she had not- a bigger predator was present.

She was no longer alone.

The enemy's chakra that had been so carefully hidden descended upon her immediately, its killing intent bearing down on her more forcefully than any weight or weapon could.

Sakura whirled around and brought up her kunai, shielding her face from the oncoming shuriken. Breathing heavily, her green eyes focused in on the tall form of the man in front of her.

"Quick little thing, aren't you?" he asked, cocking his head at her.

Sakura stayed silent and observed him. He wasn't wearing a forehead protector, but the intensity of his chakra established him as a nin. He had long ash grey hair, tied behind his back and black oval glasses perched over onyx eyes. Overall he looked to be more of a scholar than a shinobi. But Sakura knew better than anyone that appearances could be deceiving.

"Who knew that someone like you would be tucked away in Leaf of all places," he said with a cluck of his tongue.

Confusion may have been prominent in her mind, but she didn't allow it to show on her face.

"Quiet too… That's okay- Kita told me all about you," the man said, languorous steps bringing him nearer. Sakura tensed with every inch lost between them.

"Who are you?" she finally spat out.

"Lets just say I'm here on behalf of an interested party," the man stated, a strange smile stretching across his cracked lips.

"An interested party?"

"My master is just so fascinated in what you could turn into," he breathed, excitement racking through his body.

"Sakura," a voice yelled.

She watched as Sasuke jumped down from a tree, his body immediately shielding hers.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, its so nice of you to join us," the man stated, his grin turning into a wide smile.

"Who are you?" Sasuke snarled.

"Oh, I'm sure the two of you will get to know me very well in due time," he said.

And before Sakura could blink, the man had thrown another barrage of shuriken at them.

She ducked down, using her kunai to deflect any stray ones. Grasping the ones on the ground, Sakura rolled and let his own weapons fly back at him with deadly intent. She whipped her head around just in time to see Sasuke do the same. But what the boy hadn't noticed was a stray shuriken headed straight for his side.

"Sasuke, get down!" Sakura screamed, her chakra pulsing hotly.

She watched in semi-relief as her teammate threw himself to the ground, the shuriken sailing over him.

Hysterical laughter directed her attention back to the grey haired nin though.

"That was amazing, absolutely amazing Sakura-chan! Oh my master is going to love you!"

His laughter was abruptly cut off as Kakashi-sensei came crashing through the brush.

Kakashi took one look at the shuriken scattered around before his hands were quick in making signs. Sakura gripped her weapon at the ready as lightening made the air grow thick. She watched as the palm of Kakashi's hand glowed blue as he ran at the foreign nin.

But before he could make his mark, the bespectacled man disappeared, a substituted log in his place.

Sakura felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on its end, and whirled around, her kunai lashing out at him. The man dodged her slash, and Sakura felt thick metal sink into the flesh at her side. She looked down and saw dark crimson immediately bloom through her grey shirt. She pitched over to the side, compensating for her shaken balance.

The man lifted his bloody shuriken to briefly inspect, and adopted a smile that no sane person would ever wear. "Thanks for this," he whispered, before smoking out of existence.

A/N: Hi everyone, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Thank you so much for your feedback and comments about my trilogy idea. I definitely think thats where this is headed. Also about the romance, I agree with a lot of you. I always found it slightly strange that 12 year olds were making some serious love declarations. I understand that they are old enough to be doing other adult things like killing people in Naruto world, but romance just seemed off to me. So that will have to wait quite a while. And while I enjoy writing/reading romance, character development has always been top priority. I loathe when romance stories become more about the romance and less about the actual characters involved (I think thats why I love angst ones so much).

Anyways, let me know what you think about this chapter!

-Nyx