Previously on The longest year ever:
Sakura's still missing, and the teams aren't having too much luck in finding anything. Well, Naruto's team found something that made the Kyuubi react, but what is it?
Sai finds out where Sasuke and Yamato secretly train, and said Uchiha manages to pass the second test of the Fuuton.
And, apparently, Orochimaru dies, killed by a mysterious Sharingan wielder.
Hello my dear readers and reviewers!! I'm sorry for the delay, and i'm not gonna give a huge list of excuses, I've just been a bit busy with school and having to many ideas for further chapters that i had to organize.
anyway, I worked hard to make this chapter, and I personaly like it.
read and review, I'd like to reach 100 reviews, so please review!!
Disclaimer: Naruto belongs to Masashi Kishimoto.
Please enjoy and, as always, tell me what you'd like to see happen next!!
Wednesday, February 13th
Dull green eyes looked up from the floor when the katana holding her down started to fade, though she merely looked up in curiosity, since her will to live had faded away.
"Do you wanna get out?" a voice called to her.
In the darkness that surrounded her, she could see a figure approaching her, as the person walked closer she noticed it was a man. He wore black shinobi shoes, black pants, a fishnet shirt with a black shirt over it and black gloves. She stayed silent.
"Do you want to come out?" the man repeated and stopped right in front of the white snake scales cage.
She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came, she would be ready to die without caring, but did she want to be freed? Not knowing what to say, she spoke the first thing that came to her mind.
"I'm useless."
"No you're not." The man spoke, his voice soft.
"And ugly."
"No you're not. You're pretty." He spoke again, his voice calm and soft.
"And annoying." Her voice was blank. The man shifted lightly.
"Everyone has defaults, it's only human." He spoke in such a soft and gentle manner, that she lost her words. For the past weeks all she would hear were cruel words, and now so much gentleness was starting to overwhelm her.
"So, do you wanna come out? It's your choice." She lowered her head and spoke in a mere whisper.
"Orochimaru." The man shifted again, and then bent down so he was squatting.
She looked up and took in his face. He looked around 20/21 and had peachy soft-looking skin, onyx eyes with a light tint of purple and messy raven black hair, in some spikes in the back of his head, and with his bangs hiding the right side of his face. There was something familiar, but she couldn't place it.
"He's gone for good, I made sure of that personally!" he smiled gently. "So? Wanna come out?" something faint lit up inside of her and she weakly crawled closer to him. He tilted his head lightly.
She looked up at him, her dull green eyes staring at his onyx ones.
With another smile he held his hand towards her, and she extended her hand to his. As she did so the scales cage started fading away, and the moment her hand touched his, her world started to spin and being filled with light and warmth.
Chapter 15 – The future and her senpai
a few weeks earlier, Monday, January 21th, already night
During the whole trip back to the village he was only half aware of his female team mates complains, mainly Ino's, but he just didn't process them, he could only feel the vibration of the Kyuubi's growls and what his inner demon told him to do, which at the moment was 'Get the snake to Tsunade'. And so he did.
As he reached the village, he left Hinata and Ino behind and went to the Hokage's office, not even bothering to answer anybody's questions, he just ran as fast as he could, and once he reached the tower, he barged in.
Once he reached the office he slowed down and entered calmly.
"Tsunade-baa-chan." He spoke with a calm that didn't belong to him, which startled and surprised the sannin.
"Naruto?" she inquired with a somehow sad look. "So the last team's back..." she trailed off.
The blond held his arm up, showing the snake curled around his arm to her.
"The Kyuubi told me to give it to you." Tsunade got up and walked closer to him.
"A snake?" he nodded. Tsunade narrowed her eyes, if it involved the Kyuubi, she had to be suspicious. "Did he say anything else?" Naruto nodded curtly.
The Kyuubi was quiet now, but soft growls still vibrated in his cells.
"He said the snake's back." Tsunade paled.
"Oh my…" she muttered under her breath and leaned against her desk.
"Oi kid, tell her he has a new body." The Kyuubi spoke, his voice imposing, menacing, pissed??
"Baa-chan, the Kyuubi's said he has a new body." Although he said this, Naruto was completely unaware of the topic at hand.
"Oh my…" the Hokage seemed to be at loss for words, and her skin was becoming paler and paler, she was starting to look like a ghost.
"Tsunade-baa-chan… are you-" Tsunade cut him off.
"Does he know who his body is?" Tsunade asked shakily, her tone fearful of the answer.
"It's her apprentice." The Kyuubi growled, his eyes narrowed and his aura dangerous. Naruto gulped.
"It's… Sakura-chan." He whispered, to which Tsunade nearly fainted, her face showed shock, pain and agony.
"Oh my…" was all the Hokage could say at the moment.
In the future, Wednesday, February 13th
Dull green eyes slowly fluttered open to face a dark sky filled with shining stars and a thin moon in first quarter.
She weakly sat up, her body feeling sore and tired. How many days had gone by since Orochimaru had taken over? She had no idea.
"You're awake." The same male, soft and gentle voice from before. She looked to where the voice came from to see the man from before sitting against a tree and looking up at the sky.
She looked around herself to see a lake, the moon and stars reflecting in it. She simply kept staring, admiring its beauty, of which she had been deprived for so long.
"How are you feeling?" she kept looking at the lake and tilted her head.
"Sore." Her voice was devoid of any kind of emotion. She looked to her left to see the man with a guilty look.
"Sorry 'bout that, I tried not to hurt you too much, but the bastard just wouldn't die without a fight." She nodded curtly and looked back at the water.
A serene silence fell between them, and she tried to remember something, anything. But nothing would come, just void things, faces and names, but no connections. She remembered a lot of things, but nothing about herself, not even her own name.
She lifted her hands in front of her face and simply looked at them, something told her she knew how to do something, but she had no idea what. The black dragon mark in her right arm caught her attention, what was it?
And this man, who saved her, who was he? She had no images of his face before now.
"Anou." She turned to the man, her face still blank. "Are you someone I know?" he tilted his head lightly, his hair falling to the side and revealing some of his hidden face. A smile adorned his features.
"No, I'm not someone you know." She nodded.
"Do you know who I am?" his smile slightly faded.
"You don't know?" she shook her head. She remembered waking up in darkness, Orochimaru, his words, being trapped inside a cage, but nothing else.
"Can I do something?" he raised a brow and tilted his head further. "Like jutsus."
"Oh." He mumbled and smiled again. "You can." He crawled closer to her. "When I fought the bastard he used your skills." She nodded.
"Is it something useful?" he nodded and took her left hand.
"It is." She tilted her head. "You can heal." She nodded and he lifted her hand up with a grin. "You can also break pretty much everything." He released her hand and sat down.
She looked back at the lake, his words sinking in. So she wasn't useless.
"I… can heal…" she whispered to herself. "But I don't remember how." The man turned to her.
"Close your eyes and just let it come to you." He had another gentle smile. She nodded curtly and did as he told, she closed her eyes and let her mind wander.
After a while she opened her eyes and looked at her hands, they were glowing green.
"See, told ya it'd come!" he grinned. "You should heal yourself, so you don't feel sore anymore. Probably." She nodded and let her hands room over her body, healing and soothing.
A serene silence fell once again, and this time she let herself observe her saviour. Could she trust him? For the moment, she decided she could, since he had saved her.
"Ne, you don't remember your name?" she looked at him to see him leaning back on his hands and looking at the sky.
"No." he turned to her with a grin.
"Can I name you then?" she stayed silent for a while, until she hesitantly nodded. He moved and sat in front of her cross legged.
He looked her up and down, and then leaned his cheek on his right hand, his elbow resting on his knee.
"Etou… let's see…" he mumbled to himself.
As he thought she looked at the clothes she was wearing, black shinobi shoes, black pants, a white haori and a purple rope with a bow over her waist, holding the haori in place. Orochimaru's standard outfit, she couldn't say it was that bad, but the purple rope ruined everything.
"I know!!" she jumped a little with the man's sudden outburst, as she looked at him, he had a grin. "Your name'll be Hayuki!!" he exclaimed, not as loudly.
"Hayuki?" he nodded vigorously, his grin not leaving his face.
"Hai!!" he exclaimed. "'Ha' from 'hana', because your hair's pretty and has the colour of a flower!!" he seemed proud of himself. "And 'yuki' because you're pretty like the snow!!" she tilted her head.
"Hayuki." She whispered, and a small smile appeared on her face.
"You like it??" she looked at his face and gave a nod, to which he cheered.
"How should I call you?" he tilted his head, a small smile still there.
"Senpai!"
"Senpai?" he nodded.
"Okay."
Weeks earlier, Tuesday morning, January 22nd
There was no better way of saying it, the truth was, Tsunade was pissed. And maybe panicking a little, but mostly pissed. Royally pissed. Everyone in the Hokage's office knew it.
"What were you thinking?" her scream could be heard throughout the whole building. "Didn't you think that you should have told me? We sure as hell wouldn't fucking be in this catastrophic situation." She continued. The 2 adults gulped, Tsunade was scary, and even scarier when she was pissed, and even worse when she was pissed and panicking.
The person she was talking to remained silent, waiting for her to continue, while the other 2 teens kept silent.
"Do you know the gravity of the situation?" she spoke, her tone still loud, and pissed, but not a scream. She sighed and sat down, containing the urge to break something and then drown herself in sake.
"Tsunade-sama." Kakashi spoke carefully. "Could you tell us exactly what's going on?" he, Yamato and the 2 silent teens had arrived a while after the person she had been yelling at had.
The woman shifted in her chair and looked at the copy ninja, and then at everyone else, except for Naruto, the others didn't know anything about the situation. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves, and then spoke.
"As you all know, all the teams are back." Kakashi nodded.
"If I am correctly informed, Hokage-sama, none found anything." Yamato spoke carefully, he did not want to anger the Hokage further.
"Naruto's team did." She took another deep breath.
"Actually, the Kyuubi did Tsunade-baa-chan." Naruto spoke calmly, composed.
"Yes, the Kyuubi did." She mumbled.
"If I may ask, what did they found?" Tsunade shifted her eyes to look at Sai, the one who had spoken.
"It seems…" she shot a glare at the other teen and then continued. "That Orochimaru is alive and has taken over a new body." All eyes turned to Sasuke, who, since he had entered the office, had not spoken a single word.
"It's Sakura-chan." Naruto whispered.
"How can you be sure?" Kakashi asked, his voice void.
"The Kyuubi told me." Silence fell, and everyone in the room was looking/glaring at the same person, Uchiha Sasuke.
"Now tell me, why did you not tell me he was still alive??" Tsunade hissed dangerously sweetly. He kept silent, his face blank. "Answer me damn it." she yelled.
"It did not seem important at the time." He spoke for the first time.
"Didn't seem important…" Naruto whispered, his head lowered, his fists clenched and shaking at his side.
"Hit him kid." The Kyuubi growled. "He doesn't even fucking cares about her. Hit him, and hit him hard." He continued.
"Didn't seem important." He lifted his head, and for the first time in weeks, he stared right into Sasuke's eyes. "Didn't seem important." His whole body was trembling. "HOW CAN THAT BASTARD NOT FUCKING BE IMPORTANT??" he yelled. And everyone was shocked to see Naruto in perfect control of his body, but his eyes being the Kyuubi's. "He fucking got Sakura-chan, how can it not be important." He walked closer to Sasuke, and as he spoke, his voice was deeper, more dangerous… the Kyuubi's.
"If anything happens to her." He grabbed Sasuke's collar. "I'll make sure you won't see the sun again." He growled menacingly and shoved Sasuke back.
"I'll never forgive you if she ends up hurt." His eyes returned to clear blue, and everyone around him was somehow surprised, Naruto was beginning to return to his usual self.
"I don't care about your forgiveness Naruto." Sasuke spoke, straightening himself, poker face staring blankly at everyone.
"What should we do Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi spoke, stopping the confrontation before it became too serious.
"We find him."
Back to the future, Wednesday, February 13th
"You should sleep." She looked to her left to see him getting up. "I'll keep up guard." She watched him as he walked closer to the lake and then bent down.
There was something about him, it was familiar, but at the same time completely unknown. He was handsome, nice and gentle, his aura was warm and friendly, and was caring. But there was something else, something that was there in a really subtle way, only perceptible if one looked deeper into his aura, something imposing, eerie and dangerous, in that subtle layer of his aura, she could feel power, great and menacing power.
She looked at the sky one last time and then lay down and closed her eyes, sleep seemed really inviting.
A few days later, still in the future, Monday, February 18th
They had been travelling fora few days now, and so far so good, but there was something he was longing to see, she was pretty, but he wanted to see her smile, a wholehearted smile.
He knew very well who she was, but if he told her, it would only confuse her, she had to remember by herself.
He openly admitted it, he was a criminal, but still… he liked to help once in a while, and getting the world free of Orochimaru was something anyone wouldn't oppose, the bastard should have died years ago, but now he was gone for sure, he made sure of that.
They were reaching a village, and, with the money he had recovered from the bastard, he was gonna let her buy new clothes, walking around with clothes from sound wasn't good, and the purple rope just ruined the outfit.
"Hayuki-chan." He called, and she looked back at him over her shoulder.
"Hai senpai?" he kinda liked her calling him senpai, just like he had ca- he cut his thoughts and focussed on the present.
"While I find us a place to stay, you can go and buy some new clothes!" she nodded and caught the small bag of money he threw her way. He was disappointed for not getting a smile from her.
As he watched her walk in front of him he pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. Here he was, actually showing his face to someone, and he couldn't even get said someone to smile. It was frustrating.
"What would get her to smile?" he raked his brain for something, but nothing came. He knew who she was, she was popular, but he didn't know anything personal. Really frustrating.
"Come on, there's gotta be something." Lost in his thought, he didn't even notice he had stopped, and that the pink haired girl was standing in front of him, looking curious and confused.
"Senpai, is something wrong?" he snapped from his thoughts and grinned sheepishly, crossing his arms behind his head.
"Nope, everything's fine. Just get yourself some cool clothes 'kay?" she tilted her head and gave a small smile while nodding.
"Not good enough, I want a big, wholehearted, happy smile." He resumed walking, still looking at her, his mind trying to find something.
When they reached the village half an hour later he gave up on trying to think of something for the day. Thinking was too tiring and was giving him a head ache.
"Let's meet at the central square in 2 hours." She nodded and each went their way.
Back to the past, Friday, February 1st
He walked home at a calm pace, his face blank, and his mind in inner confront.
"You should have told them."
"Will you shut up." It was enervating to have an inner that never stayed quiet and was always against you.
"Make me."
"Don't push it."
"You should have told them the same day you s-"
"He would've hurt her."
"That's not an excuse, if you had told them, maybe she would be here right now."
"Instead of annoying the crap outta me, can you think of something productive?"
"You'll have to say the truth someday, you know that if you wanna go with them you'll have to tell them."
"You're not helping, I know what I have to do damn it, just shut the fucking up already."It was seriously enervating, not only his inner-
"Ryuusuke."
…wouldn't shut up, but he was always blabbering and annoying him.
"If I tell someone, then will you shut up?"
"Maybe." Sasuke grunted, his inner was a moron.
"I'm you moron, so you're actually insulting yourself." Enervating.
"Fine, I should tell them that I already knew Orochimaru had taken over, that I saw him in the Nara forest, that I couldn't attack him 'cause I didn't wanna hurt her and that it's all my fault. Happy now?"
"You still have to tell someone." Ryuusuke insisted.
"I just told you, so shut up and leave me alone."
Ryussuke glared at him and kept blabbering, but he simply ignored and kept walking home, he had finally managed to control the wind element, and he could just improvise when it came to fighting with it.
Ever since the meeting in her office, Tsunade had been giving him new assignments, like take dogs for a walk, clean the river, clean gardens, things he used to do as a genin. That was good.
For the past weeks, several ANBU teams had been sent to search Sakura, and each of them had come back empty handed. He needed to do something, he just couldn't leave her out there, being controlled by the bastard he had sealed himself, sealed so well that he didn't even remember he was still there.
He grunted again. He should have killed the bastard definitively, send him to hell for good, but he hadn't, and now it was the pink haired girl that was paying the consequences. He hated himself right now.
A voice deep down told him that he could just go search for her anytime, but he knew that if he did that, he couldn't come back again.
Life sucked right now.
The future, Monday, February 18th
He waited for the pink haired to girl to come, he had found an inn where they would be staying, and was now sitting in the edge of the fountain in the central square of the village. It still hadn't been 2 hours, so she wasn't late, he was just early.
He waited patiently, eager to see the clothes she would buy, he was sure she would buy something nice. It wasn't that he liked her, they weren't even friends. But he liked her, she made him feel human, not just some killing machine or a hired assassin, which is basically what shinobi are.
He could hear the girls that walked past him giggle and he could feel their eyes on him, after all he was a shinobi, he had to have keen senses, but they didn't call his attention, he actually didn't care about women. Not that he disliked them, he just never paid romantic or sexual attention to them, he just didn't. He talked to them, they were nice to talk to, but nothing else. Ever since his 'senpai', as he so keenly called the man, died, he had just closed himself up, but with this girl, she irradiated the same serene aura that his senpai did when they were alone and not on missions.
"Senpai." He smiled to himself, she was early too.
He looked down from the sky to look in front of him, and what he saw made him want to keep the image forever. In front of him stood the pink haired female wearing a baby blue kimono that reached her knees. The kimono had a baby blue obi, and both had white and silver leaves and cherry blossoms patterns, as if dancing in the wind. She wore matching baby blue ballerinas. Her hair was let down, reaching her shoulder blades, and on the right side of her face she had a mesh of pink hair tied in a baby blue ribbon. The kimono sleeves covered her arms and hands, and she was carrying a couple of bags with, he presumed, clothes, shoes and maybe some accessories.
"How do I look senpai?" his smile widened to a grin and he got up.
"You couldn't look better!!" he told her and put a strand of hair that was half covering her left eye behind her ear.
"Really?" he nodded and lightly poked her nose.
"You look beautiful Hayuki-chan!!" he was ssssoooooo pleased with himself, because the moment he finished his sentence, her eyes shone and sparkled and a wholehearted and happy smile adorned her face. And just like he knew she would, she looked even more beautiful when she smiled.
He grinned once again and took her bags, he may be a criminal, but he felt he could be himself near her, he felt he didn't have to act all controlled and composed, just himself.
The girls that had been ogling him were now glaring at the pink haired girl, that was oblivious to them. And he didn't care, right now, he wanted to help the girl, and at the same time, she, without even knowing it, was helping him.
"Let's go Hayuki-chan!!" she nodded, the happy smile remaining on her face as they walked side by side down the street towards the inn.
The past, Saturday, February 2nd [7 months and almost 3 weeks since Sasuke was judged
Maybe in the past he would have never said it, not even thought about it, but he was glad he had siblings, because you see, it was a big help, a really big help so the council wouldn't nag him to death.
It was true, having siblings was helpful, because that way, they could do all the paper work, and he could go wherever he wanted to take care of his business without having the council nagging him. Having siblings was definitively helpful.
He entered the gates of Konoha and was greeted by the guards, which he politely greeted back.
Kankuro and Temari had stayed in Suna, because he had said so, taking care of the paper work and the council, while he was meeting the Hokage regarding a certain close friend of his.
He walked through the empty streets, because it was still 5:30 a.m., and calmly made his way to the Hokage tower.
As he got there, he made his way to the office, knowing that Tsunade was expecting him.
"C'mon Tsunade-baa-chan." He heard whining inside the office and instantly knew it was Naruto. He knocked twice and entered.
"Oh, Kazekage-sama." The Hokage greeted, he gave a curt nod.
"Tsunade-sama." He greeted back and then glanced around the office, to then raise a brow.
In the office stood Naruto, Yamato, Kakashi, Sai and Sasuke. Team reunion?
"I believe we have something to discuss." He spoke briefly.
"Yes, yes." Tsunade turned to Naruto. "I'll tell you one last time Naruto, I am not sending everyone out, if he's out there, we have to keep our defences up." Naruto opened his mouth to speak, but shut it when Tsunade glared.
"Now, let's discuss what we're going to do." She looked around the office. "I believe you had something to tell me Uchiha." Gaara looked at the raven haired teen, who was standing against a wall, his face blank.
"Just like the Kyuubi can feel him, I can feel him too." He spoke briefly and in a void tone.
"Now that is interesting." He mused as he watched the Uchiha.
So?? how was it??
please tell me what you think!! I like knowing what you guys (and girls obviously) think about what I write!!
also, can anyone guess who the person who saved the pink haired girl is?? it's someone unexpected!!
I'll try to update quickly, and i still have to make a new chapter for my other fic, be my guest to read it!! (It's completly diferent from this one)
Oh... oh... i have something to ask everyone - 'Is this story getting better than when it started??'
well, hope everyone enjoyed!! as always, please review!!
Love you all, Kaori-chan!!