Disclaimer: I… I… I do not own Naruto!!!! (runs away with precious diamond-like tears flowing from my eyes)
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Recap:
Wait… that's an Uchiha fan birthmark and only close descendants of the main branch acquire those… Hitomi is not from the main branch… but Ko-chan has it… Something's fishy here… Sasuke swam through his thoughts.
"Ouch! Uncle Sasuke, you scrub too hard!" Kokishin pouted.
"Oh!" He was zapped back to reality. He noticed the redness of Kokishin's back due to his hard scrubbing. "Sorry."
And because of that discovery, Sasuke's suspicion furthers even more…
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Chapter 9: Familiar Figure
-At the Akatsuki hideout-
"Leader, we've been informed that the container of the nine-tailed demon is already dead." Itachi said.
"Oh, is that so…" The leader turned his back on them and started to frown. "Then the only way to get that Bijuu is through Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Edo Tensei (Summoning Technique: Impure World Resurrection). Prepare the sacrifice."
"Right away." And he was gone.
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After four years…
"The 3rd Phase of the Chuunin Exam begins!" The MC announced. "For the first fight: Uzumaki Kokishin and Minoru Yori, please come down now." Well, this is the first time we'll be holding the Chuunin Exams at wintertime… We usually hold it at springtime…
"Go, Ko-chan! You can do it!" Sakura winked at her. Everybody else of the former Team Gai, Rookie 9, Team 10, and Team 7 cheered for her. Sasuke just sat there and cheered for her in his mind.
Being an Uchiha and Uzumaki and acquiring the Sharingan by age four, I'm sure that she'll be able to beat that boy down in less than 3 minutes. Tsunade smirked.
Meanwhile…
"Hey, little girl, are you sure you're not backing out?" The thirteen-year-old boy bullied.
"Even if I'm just eight, I know that I'll be able to beat you." Yes, she's still eight. She's a child prodigy.
"Ooohh… I'm so scared…" He was sarcastic.
"Well, I don't even need my Sharingan to beat you." She smirked.
"Why you little brat!" He lost his temper.
"Fight!" The MC said.
Yori attacked Kokishin, but she just dodged it easily. She, then, grabbed the boy's arm and gripped it tightly, threatening him that she would break it if he didn't give up on the fight.
"No… I won't give up…" He persisted with his teeth clenched because of extreme pain.
"Are you sure?" She smirked.
"Are you mocking me?! Of course I won't!!" He yelled.
Suddenly, there was a loud cracking sound and then an ear-piercing scream. Some closed their eyes, while the others flinched. Some girls even cried.
Kokishin broke the boy's arm greatly with some blood gushing out of the flesh. He now lay curled on the ground because of the excruciating pain.
A stretcher was there immediately and Yori was rushed to the hospital. Kokishin was announced winner.
She jumped back to the bleachers. Everybody was shut up as she went to her seat. They felt an eerie aura as she passed by them.
Sakura snapped back to her senses and walked up to Kokishin.
"Ko-chan! Why did you do that?!" Sakura yelled.
She was just quiet with her bangs covering her eyes, and after a few seconds, she looked up unto Sakura.
"Aunt Sakura, wasn't I supposed to be in the first fight? Why haven't they called my name yet?" She asked innocently as if nothing has happened.
"What…? But you just won your first fight. You even broke your opponents arm!" She was confused.
"Hm? Really? But I don't remember anything!" She was confused as well.
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Sasuke eyed a certain ninja just three bleachers away from them. He's wearing a black fit sleeveless turtleneck top, black cargo pants, shades, a mask like Kakashi's, and a black bandana covering his hair. He seems suspicious.
He turned to Sasuke and smirked at him. Wait! Only one man is gutsy enough to smirk at the raven-haired ANBU captain!
"Hey, you!" Sasuke called.
The mysterious man smirked again and ran away.
"Come back here!" He chased after the black-clothed guy.
They ran and ran until they reached the outskirts of Konoha. Suddenly, there was a loud 'thump' sound. The mysterious man bumped against an electric pole because he wasn't looking on his way.
His shades cracked and fell off revealing two cerulean eyes as he turned to look at Sasuke.
"Th-Those eyes…" Sasuke stuttered. Only two people have that kind of eyes…
"Naruto… Is that you?" He hoped for the impossible.
"Teme…" He smirked and then jumped over the Konoha wall.
"Wait!" He also jumped over it, but he was already gone. "Naruto…"
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"Hinata, have you seen Sasuke?" Sakura asked.
"Um… no… I-I haven't…" She said in her usual frightened voice.
"Oh, I see… I wonder where he is…"
Then, Sasuke appeared from the entrance of the grandstand. He started walking towards the group, and then sat on the bleacher slightly away from them. He seemed more quiet than usual.
"Hm? Sasuke, where have you been?" Sakura asked him.
"…" He remained quiet.
"Sasuke??"
"…"
"Hey, Sasuke!"
"…"
"What's wrong--"
"Naruto…"
"N-Naruto?"
"I thought I saw him, so I followed him… He even called me 'teme,' the term Naruto uses to label me." He said, still deep in thought.
"You must be kidding! Don't you dare kid me with that kind of joke! It's not funny! Naruto already died four years ago!" She raised her voice a little louder than she intended it to be. Everybody was staring at her with sadness on their face.
"Daddy's… dead…?" Kokishin interrupted, shocked by what she heard.
"Ko-chan, honey--" Sakura tried to explain.
"All this time, I didn't believe the kids bullying me about my dad being dead! All this time, you made me believe that my dad just went away to a far-away land! And now you say that all this time, he's dead!" Kokishin's eyes welled up with tears. She, then, ran away from them.
"Ko-chan!" Sakura called.
"I'll go follow her." Sasuke said, and then he left.
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It's noontime and there sat on the bench near the fountain a raven-haired girl. The leaves of the giant oak tree blocked the sun's rays towards the girl, but some escaped the blockage. The ice-cream on the girl's hand started to melt as she stared on it.
Daddy… She thought as she gazed upon the sunlight passing through the openings of the oak tree, remembering the sun-kissed hair of her father.
"Ko-chan…" She heard someone called her from behind and turned to the source of the voice.
"Uncle Sasuke…"
Sasuke, then, sat beside her and started to look at her straight in the eyes.
This feeling… I feel it again… but why…? Why do I feel this whenever I'm with her…? Sasuke thought.
Kokishin started to feel awkward because of the serious look of the other raven-hair to her.
"Um… U-Uncle Sasuke… I-Is something wrong?" She stammered.
"Oh, ah, sorry…" He altered his gaze from the girl to the ground.
Silence slowly swallowed up the two raven-haired ninjas.
"So, my dad's dead, right?" She bravely said, breaking the silence.
"Hn." He was lost in thought.
"You know, Daddy always takes me to this place. He always buys me tomato-flavored ice-cream—my favorite!" She said in a Naruto-like grin.
"T-Tomato?" Sasuke suspiciously gazed at the girl.
"Yes! I love tomatoes! I remember Daddy always putting tomatoes to whatever I eat because they're my favorite!"
What…? Naruto doesn't like tomatoes and so does Hitomi… Only I like tomatoes… Something really is fishy here… He thought.
"Is something wrong?" Kokishin was now confused at Sasuke's actions.
"Nothing…" He, once again, stared at the ground.
Sasuke gazed at Kokishin at the corner of his eyes and noticed that she's licking her inner cheeks, creating a moving lump on her outer cheeks.
"M-My mannerism…" He stuttered.
"Oh, yeah, it's my mannerism… Daddy always scolds at me whenever he sees me doing it. Hehe…" She said.
That's pretty weird… she's almost a younger version of me, except that she's a female… Oh well, fate can be twisted sometimes… He sighed.
Suddenly, a ninja appeared in front of them. He bowed at the sight of Sasuke.
"Uzumaki Kokishin, please return, you'll be up for the next match."
"Okay." She replied with a smile.
The ninja blushed at the smile, and disappeared into a smoke after bowing once again to Sasuke.
"So, I'll meet you again late, okay?" Kokishin said as she stood up.
"Yeah…" He replied.
"Bye!" She disappeared into a smoke as well.
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"Where is Uchiha? He's supposed to be here because he's the ANBU captain." Tsunade asked the ninja behind her.
"I'm here." Sasuke said as he went to his seat beside Tsunade.
"Where have you been?" Tsunade asked.
Suddenly, there was a gentle wind that passed Tsunade's wind, whispering to Tsunade her name.
"Huh!" Tsunade tensed up.
"Hn?"
"Oh, nothing, I just thought that Naruto was calling me…"
"So, you could feel it, too."
"Feel what?"
"A while ago, I chased a ninja in black. He showed some habits of Naruto. He even called me 'teme.'" Sasuke indifferently said.
"But he being alive is pretty impossible, except…" Tsunade paused.
"Except what?" Sasuke gazed at the Hokage for an answer.
"Except if they use that kinjutsu…" Tsunade looked serious.
"What's about this kinjutsu?"
"Hm… it's a jutsu that Orochimaru used at his fight with Sandaime-san to resurrect the first two Hokages and make them obey his commands. It is the Kuchiyose no Jutsu: Edo Tensei."
"So, you mean Naruto is under another's control?"
"Exactly."
"But why would he come here?"
"That's something to find out."
TBC
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A/N: Well, there it is—the ninth chapter! Haha, I hope you're still reading my fanfic even though it goes longer than I expected it to be. Sigh… I want to finish it already! Anyway, what is Naruto planning on his return to Konoha? As what Tsunade said, 'That's something to find out' so please continue reading! Hehe, and… the usual R&R! Please review if you can, but I'm not forcing you, okay? Ja ne!