Chapter Seven:
The Western Lands, Ninja Style!
Where the land of the Munchkins had been sunny, bright and cheerfully if not surreally colored, the western land of the Winkies was gloomy and dark. The bleak landscape was populated mainly by large craggy rocks and spooky looking barren trees, which the ninja were using for cover as they made their way through enemy territory. Sakura had been searching her memories for this part of the story, although the plan was to sneak up on the witch in true shinobi fashion before she could react to their presence. Thus far their mission seemed to be going successfully. No swarms of stinging insects or flocks of crows came to attack, which was good because the kunoichi wasn't sure how well Sasuke and Naruto, being the flesh and blood humans that they were, would fare against such foes.
She bit her lower lip as she ducked behind a boulder, awaiting the signal to move forward. Early on she had shamed Shikamaru into taking the lead, with Pakkun to help him. By unspoken accordance, the two role-playing ninja were placed in the middle of their line formation, an area that was theoretically the safest. Sakura brought up the rear; but this time is was her choice to do so. Logic dictated that the two ninja who were themselves should be placed in the two most dangerous spots: the forward and rear positions. She couldn't trust the unambitious shadow manipulator to take the rear, out of fear that he might fall behind and stay behind.
A flash of light caught her eye; it was the signal. Her speed was a far cry from some of the other members of her class, but she could still move quickly for short distances. To the naked eye, she would appear to be nothing more than a dark pink and red blur as she streaked from her hiding place to the next one forward. Sakura caught her breath as she fit her small body into the shadow of the tree. Moving this way was painstakingly slow, but in doing so she hoped to avoid any unnecessary confrontations.
"Well, well, well. Look at the little insects crawling around the castle. I shall have to have a word with the Winkies. Security is clearly lacking."
Heart now firmly beating in her throat, Sakura's body gave an involuntary convulsion. That voice. She knew that voice. Calm and collected, without a hint of malice, and yet it sent a chill of pure terror running straight up her spine.
"You four may as well stop hiding. We have you surrounded, you know."
Same voice, different location. She knew he was fast, but was he really that fast? Like a mouse that knew it had been spotted by a predator, Sakura was afraid to move. Maybe he was bluffing… maybe he didn't really know they were there. She heard a rustling noice above her but remained perfectly still. A single silver-colored feather, impossibly large, came wafting out of the sky to settle on her shoulder.
"Come on, Sakura;" the voice came from directly above her this time. "I don't really like confrontations. Why don't you save us all some trouble and surrender."
Almost of its own accord, her head slowly began to bend back so she could see up the tree. The chill of fear stopped climbing her spine and settled firmly in her stomach. It was him. The older boy gave her a half smile that came dangerously close to being a smirk. As he peered down at her, a hand rose up and gave her a little wave, a seemingly benign gesture that did absolutely nothing to allay her fears. After all, from the very beginning he had seemed so nice, so harmless. He had helped the younger ninjas out during the first and second portions of the chunin exam, all with that self-depreciating smile; setting them all at ease by admitting that he failed the exam so many times. Physically he was taller than any in Sakura's class, but his body was hardly what one would call intimidating. He even wore glasses.
Eyes widening, Sakura's body suddenly came to life. She sprang from beneath the tree, dashing to the rock where Naruto should be. She skidded to a sudden stop and stared. There, on the top of the large grey rock. He was there too. The figure stood, a hand coming up to push his glasses further up his nose. He smiled at her. But the very gesture was a lie. It had all been a lie, all of it, right from the very beginning. He wasn't harmless, or kind; that had been a deception, as carefully crafted as the genjutsu world she now traveled in. Kabuto was a Sound ninja spy, in league with Orochimaru himself. Master Kakashi had told them all after the preliminaries to the third portion of the chunin exam.
A rustle behind her; Sakura whirled to find him there. Silver hair bound back in a ponytail was now joined with a pair of silvery-grey wings that came arching out of his shoulder blades.
"Honestly now, you didn't really think rookies like yourselves could just sneak into the castle, did you?"
There was a blur of motion by her side. The kunoichi stiffened, only to feel immediate relief when the dark blur turned out to be Sasuke.
He is so cool! her inner fan-girl squealed. Another orange blur solidified into Naruto, dragging a reluctant Shikamaru with him.
"Cute," the Kabuto on the boulder stated dryly.
The four younger ninjas stood back to back in a loose circle, a circle suddenly bristling with sharp, pointy weapons as each brought kunai and shuriken to bear. More and more winged Kabutos were alighting in the area around them, each looking exactly like the other. And sadly enough, Sakura thought, each looking almost angelic with their large silvery-grey wings. The 'original' Kabuto, the one that had been above her in the tree, came down with one flap of his silver wings.
He stood with his head cocked ever-so-slightly to one side, catching the light with his glasses to hide his eyes. "Well?" he asked, looking straight at her. Suddenly Sakura felt the crushing burden of leadership. Before, she had always willingly gone along with the others, especially Sasuke. Even if she had misgivings, she would follow along. The one previous time that both of her teammates had been incapacitated had been a terribly frightening and stressful time for her. To make matters worse, during that situation she had ended up needing rescued not once, but twice. Sakura could feel her courage flagging.
No. They need me. I can't be afraid. The flying monkeys weren't that dangerous in the story… at least not to Dorothy. She gave a worried glance to the not-so-tin Sasuke to her right.
"Heh. These guys don't look so tough; right, Naruto?" the Uchiha smirked.
"Yeah! If he wants clones, I'll show him how it's done!"
"W…wait a minute, you two." Sakura hoped that for once her teammates would comply and not just rush off. She clasped her hands together and focused her chakra, forcing it out into the surrounding genjutsu world. The winged Kabutos all shimmered, the false Leaf ninja was also a false character; and the girl breathed out a tremendous sigh of relief.
"Sakura," She could feel Naruto fidget beside her. "Can we fight them now?"
"You moron, there's nothing there to fight." Shikamaru answered for her.
"You mean they're all clones?"
"No, I mean they are genjutsu like the rest of this world."
"Huh?"
"What a drag; just never mind. Well, 'Dorothy'? What now?"
Sakura gathered her courage. This was just another part of the story. It was time to pull up her big girl pants and deal with it. She addressed the silver-winged Kabuto whom she thought of as the leader, although they all looked identical. "You're playing the role of the winged monkeys," she said, more for her benefit than for his. "So what are your intentions?"
Heh." The older boy gave her a disarming smile and a careless shrug. "I'm to escort you all to the gracious company of the Wicked Witch of the West."
Narrowing her eyes in thought, Sakura frowned at him. "All of us? Unharmed?"
Middle finger extended to push his wayward glasses back into position, while the smile widened fractionally. "All of you, unharmed."
The strawberry-haired girl shifted her weight slightly as she considered her options. In the story, both the tin woodsman and the scarecrow were destroyed by the winged monkeys, only to be repaired later by the Winkies after Dorothy defeated the Wicked Witch. If this was an exam of some sort, then Kabuto's words made sense. While young shinobi could expect a reasonable amount of danger in their tests, it was only logical to assume that their teachers wouldn't deliberately threaten their lives. At least, not without a signed waiver of responsibility.
"How can I trust you?" Sakura asked the Sound ninja spy.
He gave her a patronizing look. "Obviously, you can't. But, since you seem so eager to see my master, it only makes sense to come along with me. After all, your attempt at sneaking in has clearly failed."
"Grr. I'll show you failed!"
Sakura quickly grabbed Naruto's arm before he could make good on his threat. She shot him a 'knock-it-off' look before returning her gaze to the enemy.
The glasses got another push. "I can see why they say that you are the smart one," he said in a tone that had just the barest hint of insincerity. "Shall we?" He extended both a wing and an arm in the direction of the craggy keep that the younger shinobi had been covertly approaching.
Sakura bit her lower lip while stealing a quick glance at Sasuke. No help there. "Just… one more question. Whom, exactly, do you serve?"
If nothing else, Kabuto was a patient soul. "The Wicked Witch of the West," he answered calmly.
Right. Sakura knew that. And witches were girls; everyone knew that. Boys were given the 'wizard' classification. So it should be safe. Right?
"Let's go."
The lead Kabuto gave her a smile that seemed a little more genuine than the last. Several of the others took flight, while a few remained on the ground as escorts.
"What a drag. I hope you know what you're doing." Shikamaru muttered as their little group began to follow Kabuto's lead. Sakura worried at her lower lip. Kabuto's presence, however illusory the ninja himself was, had been an unexpected twist. Still, as she mentally ran through the younger kunoichi she knew, Ino was the only one who could reasonable pull off the role of the witch. Hinata Hyuga was just too shy and timid to perform the required duties. Ten-Ten… well, Sakura didn't know much about the older girl except that she was a weapons oriented fighter. It just didn't seem likely that students of Gai would be involved in a test run by his so-called 'eternal rival', Kakashi. There was the proctor of the second part of the chunin exam; she was definitely nutty enough for the job, but that would give away the jutsu as being a test and Sakura was pretty sure that she wasn't supposed to know.
So it had to be Ino, right? Unless the witch was another illusion character like Kabuto and Konahamaru. As they mounted a small hill and the dingy, grey castle came into view, Sakura could only hope that her theory was correct.