Author's notes:
First of all, I would like to apologize before my readers for taking so long with writing this chapter of this story of mine; to tell the truth, I was somewhat out of inspiration lately. But don't worry, I am not giving up on writing fanfiction, and I will eventually update and (hopefully) eventually complete all my fanfictional stories that are currently "in progress".
And as always, before starting this chapter of this story of mine, I would like to thank all those wonderful people who reviewed the previous chapter of this story of mine, namely: Flowerperson, Chippie, Sakura's Bloody Lullabye, Kotone111, sveta89 and Coeur Casse. Domo arigato gozaimasu, thank you very much!
Flowerperson, I was very sorry to hear that you had a bad day, but at least I am glad that the previous chapter of this story of mine made you feel happier. (Though I guess it wasn't such a happy chapter, all in all; while I try to lighten this story of mine with cute and semi-humorous moments, all in all this story of mine is more serious then humorous.)
And thanks for forgiving me, Sakura's Bloody Lullabye! ; I am glad that you also like Elfen Lied, which happens to be my favorite anime at the moment. And by the way, if you like Elfen Lied (and particularly if you like Nana), you may also wish to check out my "Bubblegum Crisis 2033: The Story of Number 7" fanfictional story; it may be a little confusing if you haven't seen any of Bubblegum Crisis animated series, but I believe that you may be able to enjoy this story of mine nevertheless, and eventually you will get an idea of who or what Boomers are, what GENOM is all about, and who are those Knight Sabers who were mentioned in the summary.
And now without further ado, let's get to…
Chapter SixSome Wounds Heal, Others Fester…
The door opened, and Tsunade entered the waiting room, where almost entire teams Baki and Kakashi were gathered. She looked tired, not only for due to her constant worrying over the last several days, but also due to powerful techniques she has just had to perform.
"So, how are they? Did you make them alright, Tsunade-baachan?"
It was Naruto who asked the question that was on the mind of everyone in the room, whether they let it show or not.
"Yes, their lives are not in danger," Tsunade replied, for once ignoring Naruto's tendency to call her "Tsunade-baachan", "I expect that both Kakashi and Sakura will wake up tomorrow; if they do, the hospital staff will call you and tell you that you can visit them, but until then – no visitors, they need to rest. And in a couple of days, I expect that both Kakashi and Sakura will completely recover."
Tsunade didn't mention that Sakura and Kakashi's speedy recovery was made possible only because she perfected her bone-mending technique several months ago in order to heal Rock Lee. Without her medical expertise, or that of some other medic-nin of her level, both Sakura and Kakashi would have been paralyzed for life; she didn't recognize the technique that sound-nin used on them, but whatever technique it was, its effects were truly devastating. Tsunade shuddered to think that practitioners of this technique were still at large.
"Hm, perhaps I should arrange for ANBU to change that?.."
"Anyway, why did you drag somebody like Sakura there? The real battle isn't a place for the rookie ninja like her."
Tsunade's thoughts trailed off as she looked at the speaker, one Uchiha Sasuke, with some surprise. But before she could find what to say, a comment came from a different source.
"Because she is a valuable member of Team Baki," the sand-nin's sensei's single shot a cold glance at Sasuke, "Of course, she had to face an opponent of Jonin rank… But then again, if I remember correctly, a certain Konoha's "experienced" ninja fared much worse against an opponent of Genin rank, so you can safely say that Sakura did much better then some others."
For a several seconds, an uneasy silence hang in the room, before it was disturbed by a barely audible sound of door opened and closed – unnoticed by everybody, Gaara of the Desert has left.
Temari and Kankuro exchanged worried looks. While Baki meant his words for Sasuke, it was clear that Gaara has taken them personally, and he was already keenly aware of how easily the sound-nin's sensei disabled him. All of this taken together was going to ensure that Gaara won't be in his best mood for a few hours at least, and he wasn't an easy person to deal with when he was in his "best" mood. And when Gaara was in bad mood, it usually meant that some people were going to die… Temari and Kankuro could only hope that it won't affect Sunagakure's relations with Konoha too badly.
Sasuke didn't linger too long after Gaara left, and one by one, the other Genin also said their goodbyes and departed, until Tsunade and Baki were the only ones left.
"You were a little too harsh," Tsunade commented, looking at the one-eyed sand-nin, "But I can't say he didn't deserve it."
"Ano sa, ano sa… Honto arigato, Temari-neechan."
"Huh?"
Surprised, the blond kunoichi turned around to see a very nervous left-nin who followed her from the hospital. She still remembered him from the last Chunin exam, and later – from his fight with Gaara, but she never imagined that he had this side as well. In fact, Temari was forced to admit that the blonde leaf-nin looked rather cute when he was shy and nervous.
"You see, you really… Helped me in that fight." Naruto continued meanwhile, taking Temari's surprise as the need for him to elaborate on the subject, "If not for you…" Naruto trailed off, he really didn't like to think of how close he came to the death in his latest fight with sound-nin, "A-anyway, thank you!"
"Oh, it's nothing!" Temari replied with a grin, "It was just a mission, you know, to get your sorry asses outta that trap."
"Na-nani?!" For once, Naruto didn't know whether to be angry, disappointed, or… What? "And… Nothing else?"
"It depends…" Temari's grin took a sly touch, "On what else you want it to be."
Catching Naruto's puzzled expression, Temari let out a short laugh before turning away.
"Oyasumi, Naruto-chan."
"Naruto-c-chan?!" Naruto exclaimed, but Temari was already walking down the street towards the apartment Tsunade gave to Team Baki.
As usual, the evening found him on the rooftops, fully awake. It was a rare occasion that Gaara of the Desert could allow himself to fall asleep without fearing that Shukaku will take control over him once and for all, and today was definitely a bad day for that.
He could feel rage slowly building up within him, a rage he could not control… But which he could direct where it rightly belong. Innocent passer-bys were not the ones to be blamed for hit defeat, and neither was the sound-nin, who simply did what he had to do to win the fight. The mistake was his and his alone, and it wasn't the first time he made it… And he decided that there would be no third time. He will no longer feel overconfident about his abilities, and neither will he doubt them and try to prove it to be different. Like a certain ninja who lately was on Garaa's mind much more often then he would have liked, he would simply do his best… And may God have mercy on his enemies, because he will have none.
From the window of his mansion, immense and empty, Uchiha Sasuke watched the dark clouds gathering overhead, his thoughts involuntary returning to his last mission.
"You know? They say that the only surviving Uchiha was the weakest of their clan." The girl from the Sound had said, but…
"She wasn't underestimating me. She was making me underestimate her. And I completely fell for it. Despite the appearances, she was both smarter and stronger then she appeared to be. Perhaps I was wrong… Perhaps, there are things I can learn from the Sound."
No matter how much Sasuke liked to think otherwise, there were obviously ninja much stronger then he was… But perhaps it was in his power to change it.
"Whatever it takes, I will become more powerful." Sasuke swore aloud, and a distant sound of thunder was his only reply. A storm was approaching.
They stood together at one of the cliffs that were overlooking Konoha, paying little attention to a quickly-approaching storm. As a rule, ninja weren't afraid of getting wet.
"Thank you for taking care of her." Tsunade was the first to break silence, which lasted for a few minutes.
"It was my pleasure." Her companion replied, looking at her with his single eye. "In fact, she reminds me of someone I heard of quite a lot in my time. You might consider personally training her; the results may even exceed your expectations, I believe."
"I think I will," Tsunade replied with a small smile, but it quickly disappeared to make place for a saddened expression.
The silence hang in the air for a few minutes, interrupted only by the distant sounds of thunder, until Tsunade finally gathered enough courage to ask the question the dreaded to ask.
"What about… Him?"
For a few seconds Baki said nothing, instead turning away from Tsunade and looking into the distance. Then…
"Your suspicious were correct: everything your kunoichi managed to learn was a misinformation to lead your ninja into a trap. And obviously, sound-nin were smart enough not to bait the trap with a real bait… I am sorry."
Both Tsunade and Baki were well aware of the implications of this: Orochimaru had no reasons to keep one of the few enemies who could match his power alive if he was in position to change that.
The silver-haired girl stood in front of a lonely grave, seemingly paying no attention to the heavy rain that fell around her.
Jiraiya was a powerful ninja, and she was honoured that she has fought, and defeated him. It may not have been an honest combat, but after all, "honest" combats were for samurai, not ninja. Ninja staked their honour on their ability to complete their missions, whatever it would take, and that was what she has done.
She felt, rather then heard, another ninja approaching her from behind. He was very good, but in this place her senses went beyond sight and hearing.
"I regret to report that I have failed."
"I know. I have already received detailed report about your fight with Sharingan no Kakashi and his team, as well as Sand Siblings. You made the right decision; your students have a part to play in what is coming, and while Sharingan no Kakashi's death would have been convenient, he will make no difference, in the end. There is one thing we haven't taken into account, however, and it can potentially disrupt our plans. Therefore, this problem has to be… Eliminated." The silver-haired girl sharply turned around, her eyes, two dark pools, meeting the older ninja's. "I want your students to kill Sand Siblings."
Preview of the next chapter:
Another Chunin Exam? It will be a perfect opportunity for me to show what I am really capable of. Sand Siblings. Our newest enemies from the Sound. And… Who are these three? A new Genin team from Iwagakure? It doesn't matter to me. Coming next, "Meet Your Enemies, Old and New! Chunin Exam in Land of Earth!" Attacking rock-nin in their own domain wasn't the brightest thing you could have done.