Chapter 4: Getting to know each other
"How much longer will it take to get to the forest Sakura?" Ino whined, turning her head as she continued to jump.
"Is she like this all the time?" Temari asked in an annoyed tone also turning her head to Sakura. Sakura looked at Temari then at Ino then straight ahead before answering the questions that she was asked.
"Ino has not been on as many missions as I have, though she is a great ninja as I am. But she is not the type to travel long distances." Sakura said as she turned to Temari who was on her left giving her a serious look.
"Ino, we will be in the next town in 10 minutes ok, but in the mean time why don't we talk about ourselves." turning to Ino then Temari.
"Ok." Both Temari and Ino said.
9 minutes later
"Oh my god, you actually encountered Akatsuki members again? What was it like? When did this happen?" Temari said as they landed on the ground and started walking to the village with Ino and Sakura with an astonished expression on her face from what Sakura had just said.
"It happened three years ago when Sai was still in our team, before we got Sasuke back; we went on a mission which was to go to the village hidden in the mist. But on the way back we crossed roads with two Akatsuki members, Naruto ran into one and his hat came off when they landed on the ground. Of cause Sai and I went to help Naruto to get up but he got up by himself and asked...No...Yelled at the man for being in his way, but the Akatsuki guy that Naruto ran into cut him off when he started yelling and cursing Naruto for running into him. I had to look twice, he looked like a girl." Sakura explained before stopping at the entrance of the forest, where the Kurohasu member was last seen.
"Okay... we're here, now what do you guys think we should do?" Sakura said as she turned to face her friends, she was opened for any ideas. She believed that to be a great leader you have to listen to other people's ideas. Ino and Temari both started thinking of what they're going to do, Temari was leaning on the tree and Ino was lying on the ground.
"How about we lure them out of hiding and then ask them to join their gang?" Ino said while looking at the clouds. 'No wonder Shikamaru likes doing this, it helps to think clearly'
"And how are we meant to lure them out? Shout out that we have a demon vessel with us when we don't? That is a great plan Ino!" Temari said in an annoyed tone while looking at the blonde lying on the ground
"Ino that wouldn't be such a good idea ok, Temari do you have any ideas" (sweat drop) Sakura said in a worried tonerubbing the back of her head while looking at the two girls. Temari went back to thinking.
"Why don't we just walk through the forest and try to sense any chakra as we walk through?" Temari pushed herself off the tree then walking to Sakura who was in deep thought, 'that could work better then shouting out that we have a vessel with us when we don't. So if we go with Temari's idea we shouldn't get lost'
Inner Sakura: "Who cares if we get lost, we can blame it on Temari if we do"
Sakura then looked back at Temari then up at the sky, she took a breath before talking.
"We'll walk through the forest and see if we can find any leads on Kurohasu. But if we don't find anything on them, then we'll go back to town and think about what we'll do next, ok"
"I'm fine with that, how about you Ino? Or do you still want to be screeching at the top of your lungs?" Temari snickered to Ino who was spinning a kunai on her pointer, Ino stopped what she was doing causing the kunai flung off her pointer finger which just missed Temari's head by 3 cm. Temari looked from Ino then the kunai, then back at Ino; before Temari could do anything Sakura stepped in between the two before their group became a ninja or possibly two short.
"Can we find the Kurohasu first then you kill each other?"
"Well I'm ready how about you Temari? Or are you just going to look between me and that kunai for the rest of the day?" Ino snickered then stuck her tongue out.
"I'm ready, but how about before we do let's give Blondie a haircut" Temari smiled evilly, pulling out Ino's kunai she took a step towards the young ninja, who ran straight into the forest screaming her head off.
"DON'T TOUCH MY BEAUTIFUL HAIR, IT JUST GREW BACK TO THE LENGTH I LIKE, YOU'LL NEVER CATCH ME TEMARI. NEVER!" the other two laughed their heads off as they chased after her through the forest.
3 hours later
"Come on Ino, we're meant to be finding Kurohasu not you" Sakura laughed as she and Temari walked through the forest till they saw a purple coloured figure near a river.
"Ino" Sakura and Temari both said as they ran to Ino, once they got to Ino they saw that she was holding something. Sakura ran up to Ino once she got to her she saw a body in her arms, she didn't move till Ino started talking.
"I found her in the water, I tried to do CPR but it didn't work. Can you do something Sakura?" Ino said as she moved so Sakura could see the person better. Sakura then saw that she had cuts and gashes all over her; she moved forward with a green lighted hand and started to heal the woman.
"Will she be ok Sakura?" Temari walked up to Ino and Sakura looking over the body hoping that she will be ok. Sakura then turned around with a small smile on her face which made Ino and Temari relax a bit. They moved to sit under a tree with the woman lying on one of the bed rolls, after a while Sakura went to cheek on the woman to see if she is ok but once she got there the lady was sitting up with a worried face.
"I see that you're up, how you feeling you had a rough time. You're lucky that my friend found you just in time" Sakura said with a smile as she walked up to the woman, who looked up to the ninja with a surprise face.
"What's your name young one and who are your friends? Yes I can see you, you're behind that tree and the other one is on that branch above you" The woman said with a soft voice like how a grandmother would talk to her grandchild, though there was still some force behind it. Ino and Temari came out of their hiding place and walked over where Sakura was standing, both wearing a sheepish grin.
"What are your names? Are you ninja?" the woman asked as Ino walked closer to the woman.
"That's Ino; she's the one that saved you. That's Temari and she's from the sand village Suna, Ino and I are both from the leaf village Konoha." Sakura said answering the lady's question while looking over the wounds to make sure they healing well.
"Thank you so much Ino for saving my life." The lady rubbed her back. "You should never trust the Akatsuki's leader or even the organisation it's self, but there are such times when you need them. By the way my name is Esmeralda, leader of Kurohasu, now tell me your name." Esmeralda said. The three young ninja's had shocked faces, this lady was the leader of Kurohasu and she was working with the Akatsuki.
"Oh... I'm Sakura. Why were you working with the Akatsuki...and can we join Kurohasu please, everyone in our village thinks that we're weak when we're not, especially me since I was trained by the fifth Hokage." Sakura tried to hide that she was nervous but failed terribly; Esmeleldra was shocked from what she heard from Sakura. 'This girl was trained by Tsunade and everyone thinks that she's weak, if the rumours are true she'll come handy as a medi-nin but also a great missing-nin. Why is it, the ones who have hidden powers are always called weak? The other two I need more info on, if they really want to join Kurohasu then they need to give me more info, even though they saved my life.'thought Esmeleldra, she then looked up at the three kunoichi who had pleading faces, 'They remind me of my three girls, especially Sakura'
"Ok but you need to give me information about your life. Now about me working with the Akatsuki well...you do know that we go after demon vessels?" all three kunoichi nodded.
"Well, Oruchimaru used to be in Akatsuki. Since he left he has been causing trouble to Kurohasu, we try to eliminate him but he always gets away. Akatsuki want to kill him because he knows too much about Akatsuki's secrets and we because he has tried to eliminate us. So the Akatsuki leader and I decided to gang up on him. My top ninja were killed, and none of my other ninja were quite skilled enough to go on a mission involving Akatsuki so I had to go. One problem though, once we finished the mission we turned on each other. All I remember is Pein and his two ninjas attacking me and me trying to defend myself. I remember them pushing me off the bridge and I fell in the water, I must have hit my head on something because I blacked out. I then wake up to you three. So you want to join Kurohasu? Follow me; I could use your help." Esmeralda got up and helped the young kunoichi pack up camp, and then they headed for the kurohasu hideout.