Chapter Nine
The One Behind the Curtain
Even without the use of the sharingon, Sasuke Uchiha was a skilled and dangerous fighter, Sakura concluded, while gingerly touching a very sore arm. It would probably bruise. She sighed, her mind momentarily distracted by calculating the odds of an injury caused in a fairy tale world appearing on her body in the real world. It certainly felt real enough. The sound of giggling in the background brought her back to the present. It could only be trouble, and sure enough Naruto was gloating over a hog-tied and gagged Sasuke.
"Naruto, cut that out!" Sakura growled, causing the orange-clad boy to flinch and walk away. "Sorry, Sasuke," she said again for the umpteenth time. The glare leveled at her was unforgiving, and a part of Sakura's heart cringed and grew still. "It's for your own good," she continued lamely. "You'll feel better once this jutsu is broken." He turned away from her, as much as the ropes would allow, and closed his eyes, as if he couldn't stand the sight of her.
"Are you guys about ready?" one of Orochimaru's winged minions inquired. The question wasn't unexpected, and the tone was benign, but Sakura still felt her hackles rise up.
"We'll let you know," she snapped tersely. The older ninja just gave a vague smile and shrugged. The pink-haired girl turned her back to him testily. In the end, it had been Kabuto who had finally subdued Sasuke. The 'tin man' had been very angry at the interference in his goal to become stronger; he had stated bluntly that he had no intention of traveling with any of them anymore and that he was returning to the forest. When Sakura's desperate pleas had fallen on deaf ears and it had become obvious that he intended to leave them, she had become desperate. In her mind, they all had to get to the Emerald City; it was a lesson about teamwork and comrades that Master Kakashi had drilled into them on the very first day he had been assigned as their teacher. And so, failing to convince him with her words, Sakura resorted to physical force to 'persuade' the Uchiha's cooperation.
Unfortunately, she and Shikamaru had been pretty much tapped out, chakra-wise. He couldn't perform his shadow possession jutsu for more than a second or two, and she, well, she was just no match for the genius of the rookie class. Naruto, bottomless pit of energy that he was, created yet more solid form doppelgangers. But, being the knuckle-head that he was, his opponent quickly defeated all of them.
That was when Kabuto finally interfered. True to form, he hadn't given any indication at all that he was interested in moving the proceedings forward. The whole time he had just leaned against a wall and watched as the younger ninjas tried to subdue Sasuke. Then, without any warning at all, the Uchiha had been dragged underground just as he had defeated the last Naruto-clone. A second later and his tied and gagged body reemerged, followed by the silver-haired Sound spy. The Kabuto leaning against the wall had poofed away; it had been a clone all along.
Although a part of her had been glad that Sasuke's desertion had been stopped, the majority of her was angry at the circumstances. She didn't want the help of an agent of Sound; not now, and not ever. And although she knew it was a part of the story, the idea of allowing the winged right hand man of Orochimaru to fly them all to the Emerald City aggravated her. Trusting and relying on an enemy wasn't a sound strategy at all; something Shikamaru had already reminded her of.
She eyed the prone body of Sasuke. It wouldn't take him long to free himself of the bonds; they simply couldn't afford to try and walk to their destination.
"Kabuto… we're ready."
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Sakura swallowed hard as the scenery blurred beneath her. She resisted the urge to grab onto the neck of the glasses wearing shinobi whose large silver-grey wings were carrying them both through the air. Does he have to fly so high? Ugh, this is bad, she thought as her stomach did flip-flops.
"Higher! Faster!" Naruto urged his bearer. The tow-headed chunin was grinning from ear to ear, completely unafraid of the height or speed at which they were traveling. Shikamaru had a dazed look on his face as he got a closer than normal look at the clouds. Sasuke was the only one whose face she couldn't see. The Kabuto carrying her had assured her that all of them would reach the Emerald City unharmed. Not having much of a choice, Sakura and the others agreed to be carried bridal style through the air.
Sasuke is never going to forgive me for this. The thought of her beloved teammate giving her the cold shoulder for the rest of her life was bad enough; but then Sakura had discovered belatedly that she was afraid of flying. The flock of Kabutos was flying fast and high and Sakura's knuckles were turning white as she clenched her hands into fists in order to keep from clinging to her bearer. A kunoichi had to have some dignity, after all.
The ground blurred by and Sakura forced herself to think about the dynamics of the jutsu they were trapped in to distract herself from the fact that it was a long way down. There was no way her physical body was moving through the dense forest surrounding Konoha, she determined. Her actual body was probably standing dazed in the clearing. But then, how had she run into Naruto and the others? Genjutsu, the art of illusion, was a powerful and mysterious thing. After pondering without an answer presenting itself, Sakura filed away the questions she had for later. Her sensei, after telling her that she had a talent for genjutsu, had been decidedly lax about teaching her how to use it. The solo girl of Cell Seven decided it was beyond time for that to change.
"There it is."
Sakura blinked at the sound of Kabuto's voice. Sure enough, the Emerald City in all its green glory loomed ahead. It was another set taken straight from the movie; in the book, the inhabitants had all worn green-tinted glasses to make the city seem special. From the sky, Sakura could see the semi-familiar green spires jutting up into the air, looking almost crystalline in the light. The flock of winged Kabutos wasted no time in delivering their passengers to the massive front gate. Executing bows that were perfectly polite, and yet somehow gave the sense of being mocking in nature, the Sound ninjas took to the air and quickly left the area. It was tempting to free Sasuke at this point, but Sakura resisted the urge. Now that they were here, the last thing she wanted to do was chase after a pissed off and retreating Uchiha.
After declaring herself the gatekeeper as being 'the slayer of the Wicked Witch of the West,' the group was given easy access to the green-hued city. And despite being told that "no one saw the Great and Powerful Hokage", Sakura made that happen too. Not by crying, as did Dorothy in the movie, but by letting her inner warrior rage. She might not have been the strongest shinobi by a long shot, but Sakura had no problem 'persuading' the non-ninja city official to comply with their desire to see the Hokage.
And so it was that Team Seven, along with Pakkun and Shikamaru, found themselves in the revered one's chamber. It was at that point that Sasuke was finally released, but only after Sakura had solicited a strict promise from him, on the honor of his clan, that he would stay and meet the Hokage. A large dais was the focal point of the elongated room. Green smoke began undulating up from the ground at their entrance; a large, fierce looking face was projected on it.
"Who dares disturb the Great and Powerful Hokage?" a voice boomed, the low tone reverberating through the young ninja's bodies.
"Cool!" Naruto declared. "I've got to learn that jutsu!"
"Dunce. It's just poorly done genjutsu. No big deal."
"What a drag. Does everyone have to be so loud?"
"Silence!" roared the green cast face, using such volume and vehemence that Naruto ended up on his butt. "Why have you come?"
"Sakura made us come," the blond boy blurted. "Uh… Sakura?"
The kunoichi was no longer in the group; she was investigating the curtains to the side of the room.
"Hey! Stop that!" demanded the smoke face. Sakura smirked. They should have picked a different story. Anyone who had ever read the book or seen the movie would know this little secret. The room shook as the large face grew even larger. "Stop it I say. I am the Great and Powerful Hokage!"
"Oh yeah? Well take this!" With that, Sakura pulled back the heavy green velvet curtain, to revel… nothing but a green stone block wall. "What?" More desperate pulls followed, but there was no man behind the curtain. She whirled to face her friends.
"Sakura, I know the decorating is ugly, but isn't this the guy we came to see?" Sasuke gestured towards the disembodied head.
"But its genjutsu."
"Obviously."
She shook her head so hard that pink strands of hair whipped across her cheeks. "No, the whole thing is…"
"What is it that you want?" the Hokage intoned. "Speak, and then be gone."
"Oh, me first! I want to be the greatest scare ninja ever!"
Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. What had gone wrong? Was it because she had changed the story by killing the witch first? Think, Sakura, think! This is genjutsu; stop thinking of it in terms of a story. She closed her eyes, shutting out the green-hued room and Naruto's enthusiastic voice. Genjutsu is an illusion. In order for it to work properly, to react to what we were doing, the person directing it almost has to be close by… but where? She gathered the small remains of her chakra, hoping against hope that it would be enough. The weak pulse she managed to send out was laughable, but it did the trick. All of her teammates remained solid, except for…
"Pakkun! You're not the real Pakkun, are you? That's why you aren't talking!"
The boys' attention went from the giant floating head to the small pug-mix sitting at their feet. The dog wagged his tail; there was a poof of dispelled chakra and Master Kakashi was crouched there.
"K… Kakashi-sensei? What are you doing here?"
Naruto gasped. Even Sasuke looked surprised. Only Shikamaru looked bored. The masked jounin gave Sakura a smile that crinkled up his one visible eye. Then he turned to the green 'Hokage' head. "Well? I told you she had a talent for genjutsu."
"True." The voice was no longer loud and booming. It was no longer male. Before Sakura could place where she might have heard it before, it spoke again. "Fairy Tale Jutsu – Release!" The green room around them swirled and then disappeared. Sakura blinked as her bleary eyes adjusted to reality. She was lying prone in a clearing, her dazed teammates around her. Slowly she sat up.
"Welcome back," Pakkun, the real one, greeted. Looming above her was both her teacher, Kakashi, and the leader of Cell Eight, teacher of Hinata, Kiba and Shino.
Naruto was the first to his feet. "Hey… what's going on?" He snapped a finger at Kakashi. "You said there would be free ramen. You lied, Kakashi-sensei!"
"Man, what a drag. Asuma owes me… big time." Shikamaru dusted himself off and wandered away, giving a backwards wave of his hand to Sakura's hastily spoken 'thank you'.
Sasuke remained sitting on the ground, his face inscrutable. Sakura slowly got to her feet, eying the other jounin. She had only seen the woman before on a few occasions, like during the pre-lims to the chunin exams. The most striking thing about her besides her thick, wavy hair was her eyes: concentric circles of red. The genin shook her head. Kurei – Kurenai. It was so obvious now. She should have picked up on it before.
"Hey, hey, I know you! You're Hinata's sensei, aren't you?"
Kakashi gave his fellow jounin elite an apologetic look. "Naruto, this is Master Kurenai. She leads Cell Eight."
"So just what is going on here?" Sasuke queried from the ground.
"It was a little test, Sasuke, for Sakura." The silver-haired, masked jounin turned his attention to his colleague. "Well?"
"She definitely has a talent. With some hard work and training, it might develop into something."
"Wait a minute," Sakura interrupted. "I wasn't able to break your jutsu at all. I couldn't tell that Master Kakashi was masquerading as Pakkun… With all due respect, how could I have passed?"
Kurenai gave her a gentle smile. "With the exception of Shikamaru, you were the only one who saw my genjutsu for what it really was. Not only that, but you were able to manipulate it enough to conjure your own illusion: the bucket of ice water. I see some potential in you. If you are willing to work hard to see it develop, I'd be willing to train you."
Sakura glanced uncertainly at her own sensei.
"It's alright, Sakura. Kurenai is a genjutsu expert. You'll get far better training from her than you would from me. Don't get the wrong idea, though. You are still a member of Team Seven. That means this training will be on your own time and in addition to the conditioning and missions that you do with us."
"And I only accept one hundred percent from my students," Kurenai said firmly. "If you aren't going to give it your all, don't waste my time."
They stood there, the jounin elite, a level of rank and skill that Sakura knew she would probably never rise to. But still, with this extra training, maybe she could at least become a chunin; catch up to the boys, be an equal. That was all she really wanted.
"Wait a minute. If this whole thing was just about Sakura, how come Naruto and I were involved?"
"Because you are a team, Sasuke. What affects one of you, affects you all. Sakura never lost sight of that, not even in the middle of the test. If she had, you would still be doing yoga in an illusory clearing somewhere." A slow blush colored Sasuke's cheeks. "A ninja's confidence in their abilities is very important. Sakura, you did very well."
"Well, that's that then." The poofy-haired jounin's hands suddenly held a familiar orange-covered book. "Alright, Naruto, let's go get that ramen. You too, Sasuke…"
"Free ramen!? You mean it? Woo-hoo!" Naruto did a leap for joy while Sasuke rose from the ground and slowly trailed after the other two, pausing to give Sakura a contemplative look before leaving her and Kurenai behind.
"We'll start your training tomorrow morning," the older woman said, "at the crack of dawn."
"Um, sure." Sakura hesitated, staring for a moment after her departing comrades. "Um, Kurenai-sensei? Do you think I could learn how to do the 'Fairy Tale Jutsu' too?"
The jounin raised a brow at her. "Well, it takes a lot of chakra to cast, and a lot of concentration to control. Other jutsus are far more effective in actual combat; but I suppose, with hard work and practice, you could master this one as well."
Sakura nodded, her eyes and focus solely on the retreating backs of her teammates. Kurenai shook her head and shimmered away, leaving the young teen alone with her thoughts. Not noticing the jounin's departure, Sakura smiled and blushed a little at the same time. Becoming a stronger ninja was all fine and well, but she had other goals in life too. The Fairy Tale jutsu could prove useful, very useful. After all, 'the Wonderful Wizard of Oz' was a children's book and she had long since moved on to other novels. And with their vulnerability to this jutsu and their midnight and sunshine colored hair, Sakura couldn't imagine a better pair to play Rhett and Ashley.
All right! Mission goal: first kiss!, her inner personality declared. With a smile, Sakura broke into a trot. She had to catch up to her team.
Fin
A/N: My humble thanks for those of you who took the time to read this rather different story. So long for now!