Hi everyone! Sorry it's taken me such a long time to update this. But on the plus side, chapter 3 is finally out, hopefully the next chapter won't take me nearly as long to write up and post.
Without further ado,
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of its characters in any way, shape, or form.
Chapter 3: Spar
"You know you could have cost us Miyuki's trust, right?" It was not just Kakashi, but Shizune reprimanding Naruto for his idiocy immediately after arriving at their sleeping quarters -needless to say, it was pure restraint on their behalf (and the fact that neither of them were Tsunade) that Naruto had not been beaten halfway back to Konoha already.
Naruto huffed indignantly. "Come on, you can't tell me she didn't deserve that." his hands were crossed across his chest in a defensive manner as he accepted the backlash he had honestly expected.
"Of course it was deserved, although you should have known better than to act upon it to begin with. She was clearly baiting you, Naruto-kun. She was riling you up to show you your weakness, and to be able to take advantage of it." Shizune frowned. At least now, if formalities failed for some reason, Miyuki could just as easily say it was because Tsunade's shinobi attacked her, and it would wash her hands clean over the matter. And that was something that Naruto had to hold over his head if it ever came down to it.
"Okay, I fucked up, I got it." Naruto scowled. "What do we do now?"
"Make sure you don't make the same mistake a second time." Sasuke replied, rolling his eyes slightly.
"We'll worry about fixing it; you just need to not screw up." Kakashi sighed. "For now, let's wait it out and make sure she's not upset."
And so it had been, and for over an hour the four of them simply lounged around their hotel suite, if only to kill time. It wasn't until Kakashi approached Sasuke, who had been laying down on his bed, that Sasuke knew that Kakashi had thought of something, and curiously he stared at his sensei.
"What if we send you to talk to her?"
Sasuke blinked, not understanding his statement for a long time. Him? Just him? "Why?" he frowned distastefully. Kakashi of all people knew Sasuke was not the most social of people. Could he be diplomatic if need be? Certainly. But this wasn't about diplomacy; this was about coaxing her to be in her good graces again. And he didn't do well with kissing somebody's ass (Kakashi, as his teacher for several years, could attest to such a thing).
"Clearly, Miyuki is around your age. "Needless to say, she might fall for your... err... charm." Kakashi suggested -not that he knew exactly what Sasuke's so-called "Charm" was, because he had only ever known Sasuke as the brooding teenager that he was, but regardless, women of all ages seemed to flock to him whenever he was around. "It may help to ease whatever tensions Naruto must have created and might help us further reveal more about her." Kakashi explained.
Sasuke raised his eyebrow in question. "I don't particularly believe someone of her stature would fall for simple flattery, Kakashi."
"Probably not. But a dumb attempt is better than no attempt at this point." Kakashi relented with a sigh. "I'd have Naruto go but he's bound to simply fall for her games again. Plus he lacks a certain finesse and charm you seem to possess with the ladies."
Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood from his bed. "Fine, I'll go." Begrudgingly, he would comply to his former sensei's request, if only because it irked him greatly that she seemed to know much about them and they knew absolutely nothing about her. Sasuke excused himself then, and exited the hotel room before Naruto even realized he was gone -surely Naruto would complain that Sasuke was chosen over him, and the Uchiha had not the patience to deal with his blonde counterpart right now.
He had walked in the direction that he had recalled they had come from, and even though the villagers seemed curious about him, none were malicious or scared in the slightest, some greeting him with smiles and others with blatant hello's and bows of respect. Clearly, they had no reason to fear him, and he had a feeling it was because they blindly trusted Miyuki to not let anyone in the village who would mean any harm to them.
He had found his way easily enough, and as he had made his way to her office, he had found her secretary still there, doing away with a stack of paperwork. She had sensed the nin before seeing him, so as he had approached her there had already been a smile on her face. "Uchiha Sasuke-san, right?"
Sasuke nodded wordlessly.
"What can I do for you?" she asked, kind enough, the smile still plastered on her face.
"I was hoping to have a word with the Otokage." he motioned towards her office, just meters away from him.
"Of course." Sayaka seemed to chuckle. "She actually just stepped out for a quick break. You can find her on the roof, or you can wait for her here, if you'd like."
"Arigatou." Sasuke nodded; deciding he didn't particularly care to wait, he had instead made his way to the stairs which Sayaka had directed him to, and proceeded to make his way to the roof.
She had sensed the young Uchiha approaching her long before he had began to climb up the stairs to the rooftop. In fact, she had seen him walk into the building, and had been following his chakra signature with some sort of tense foreboding. For Sasuke to be here, she knew it could only be for one reason only -it sure as hell wasn't to talk to Sayaka.
When he had finally emerged from the door, Miyuki had not bothered to turn to greet him, even if she knew he was there, and he knew she knew he was there. "If you've come here to apologize on your teammate's behalf, it really wasn't necessary, Uchiha-san. I am willing to admit I pushed him to have that reaction if only for my own amusement."
Well, at least she was being honest, Sasuke couldn't help but think with an internal snort. "Even if that were to be the case, my sensei would still have forced me to come nonetheless." Sasuke was glad (not that he would admit it) that it seemed Miyuki could care less for the formalities. She was right to the point, and it greatly relieved Sasuke -Kami knew he was the worst at kissing somebody's ass.
"I suppose he would have." Miyuki let out a small chuckle, sensing as Sasuke approached her casually. He appeared alongside her after a few short strides, his hands shoved into his pockets carelessly, a bored, irritated expression on his face. "So what actually brings you here, if you don't mind divulging your sensei's secret agenda?"
"You tell me, Miyuki-sama." As he spoke, he turned around and allowed his body to lean against the metal railing behind him, facing the direct opposite direction of the Otokage, although inwardly curious about Miyuki and her appearance.
"Well considering he sent you and not Kato-san or himself, I'd say he wanted an attractive male to try and coax information out of me, and he thought himself too old for me -either that or he was simply too lazy to do it himself. How spot on am I, Uchiha-san?"
Sasuke could have sighed -and by the mere "Tch" he let out in irritation, Miyuki knew she was spot on. Why was the Otokage able to read them like an open book? As if she was already five steps ahead of them? Knowing about them, their flaws, their weaknesses -how to push their buttons, not to mention. "You know too much." he addressed her with the irritation he had been hiding so efficiently up until now.
But Miyuki could only chuckle at this. "I make it my business to know those who enter my village, Uchiha-san. Plus, last I recall, you have your own history etched into these walls. I only have to look around the corner to find out about you." she glanced his way as she spoke this, not that this had allowed the Uchiha a glimpse of her features.
"That's not a past I'm willing to discuss." his tone clipped in icily.
"Nor am I asking you to." Miyuki responded calmly. "I have no interest in your past -but I do find it intriguing that you wish to know about mine without divulging your own. It does seem a little hypocritical, does it not?"
Sasuke shifted awkwardly (she had a point, not that this meant he was willing to bend in the slightest), but Miyuki could only stifle a laugh. "At the end of the day, Uchiha-san, I want you guys to be able to trust my word. Whatever it is you want to know, I will reveal to you, so long as it helps you trust me." she finally settled on, even if she had the logical argument.
Sasuke took this statement with stride. Miyuki had just given him the power in asking what he wanted -but he had to be careful with this. "Are you of Otogakure descent?" Because if she were, it was possible that he had come across her before while he was staying here with Orochimaru, and that would certainly narrow it down.
"Iee." she stated calmly.
"Then why do all this for a village constructed off of the lies of Orochimaru?" Sasuke questioned with confused eyes.
"Because these people needed my help, Uchiha-san." Miyuki sighed. "And out of good faith, I could not turn my back on them, knowing I could do something about it." As she said this, she motioned towards the city before her, forcing Sasuke to turn around and face the same direction. "When I came here the city was impoverished -as I'm sure you last recall. People were afraid to walk the streets; bandits and Orochimaru's ex-militia were at every corner... It was a dangerous place -I'm sure you don't need to be told: you've experienced this personally."
Sasuke's heart clenched uncomfortably, not that he would allow Miyuki to see his pain. He knew exactly what she was talking about: why she knew about Sakura he didn't know, but he would not bring attention to it. "Hn." he moved on impassively.
"During my travels, I spent some time here in Oto -and I met some wonderful people who saved my life." Miyuki recalled the fond memories with Suki, Sera, and Suzuki. "And I'm doing this for them -to secure their future as they did mine, because during my time here I realized that it is simply in my nature to save and protect those who love me."
Sasuke's insides stirred with feelings of uncertainty. Even though he could not see her, he could feel and hear the concern and sincerity in her words. "This place has a way of making you realize what is truly important to you." Sasuke admitted reluctantly.
He had spent the better part of his adolescence here -and seeing everything that Orochimaru had done... the lives he tainted, all for the bettering of Sasuke's Sharingan and his Curse Mark...
He had thought he'd be okay with it at first -that it'd all be worth it, because he'd come out with the ability to defeat his brother -and initially he had been. But the more time he spent there, the more miserable he had grown -it especially didn't help, the few interactions he had had with Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi along the way, to help manifest his anxiety.
Their comradery -their love for one another, whether platonic, or Naruto's as always over-bearing affection towards Sakura that had never been just friendly. The way that Sakura looked at Naruto and Kakashi with such compassion and care -a way she used to look at him before.
Without going to Oto, perhaps he would have always been blind to what it was he truly craved in this world.
Acceptance.
Someone who knew him and loved him, and didn't expect anything from him except for love in return.
But that was all done with, he guessed.
The one person that had always been the pillar of love and acceptance had died in this very same hell-hole he was in right now.
"Ahh... I guess it does." Miyuki's voice brought him out of his inner thoughts. "Anyway, it's getting pretty late, Uchiha-san. You should return to your room for the night."
Sasuke blinked. "Hn." He sighed, shoving his hands into his pockets once more.
"Don't get lost on your way back to the hotel, Uchiha-san. You'll find Otogakure has changed drastically since your last stay in these lands." With this comment she finally glanced his way for the briefest of seconds, some sort of mirth playing in the jaded eyes he could just barely make out through her outfit; they had nearly left him breathless right then and there, but he had recovered quickly, if only because she had finally turned, indicated by a swish of her robes. "I will see you tomorrow, Uchiha-san. Good night."
Sasuke had not returned to the hotel room until nightfall; Naruto and Shizune had already excused themselves for the night, but Kakashi had been waiting patiently for his former student which a typical perverse book in his hand under the light of a small lamp beside him.
"I'm back." Sasuke had initially grunted out, closing the door behind him.
Kakashi did not respond immediately, but after a few seconds, as if marking the page he had left off on, he closed his book shut and placed it on the coffee table beside him "Well?" he stared at his student expectantly.
"Well for starters, she assured me she holds no animosity or resentment towards Naruto nor us for what she did; she takes full responsibility for it. She seems... nice." he shrugged as he spoke, his hands shoved into his pockets. For a lack of better words, "nice" was all he could come up with. "She seemed genuine and honest; too honest, if anything. She's trying to guarantee us she means no harm... and its working, in my opinion." He could pinpoint no lies as she spoke (he was really good at detecting deception from his time with Orochimaru, but if she was, then she was a damned good one).
"Well you aren't fooled easily, Sasuke. Are you sure about her?" If Sasuke was certain, than he would give Miyuki the benefit of the doubt as well, until she made him believe otherwise, and he would also report to Tsunade the same.
But at this Sasuke seemed to pause, as if he wasn't at all certain of his conclusion. "No... I'm not."
And although Kakashi looked at him in a perplexed fashion as if asking him to elaborate, Sasuke refused to, and simply turned around. "I'm going to sleep. Good night." And even if Kakashi wanted to stop him and make him elaborate, he knew better than to hold back Sasuke once he began to brood. As such, he relented, sighed, and picked up his book of erotica once more.
Was he sure?
Of course not.
But how could he be?
The jaded eyes he had seen -whether she had willed him to see them or it had simply been an accident, had so strongly reminded him of Sakura that he was glad Miyuki had disappeared right then and there, for it had taken him several minutes to even move from his spot atop the roof. And he was most definitely all too painfully aware of the fact that a lot of what she had said reminded him too much of Sakura, enough so that he had opened up minutely without even wanting to -without even knowing he was! He had been caught off by them earlier that day during their lunch, but at that moment, their effects had been diminished by the gravity of Naruto's blunder; but now without that to hold him back, he realized just how similar her eyes were to that of Sakura's.
So how could he honestly and unbiasedly say that she could be trusted, if he felt he could not even trust his own heart to make a sound opinion?
And even more than that, it infuriated him to even be feeling so mixed up over a woman he had met just earlier that day!
He couldn't help but cough in irritation.
He hated Oto.
It had been a quiet enough morning; it was still far too early for anyone to be up unless they had to be, after all.
But of course this did not mean that Sakura wasn't already busy, doing away with stacks of paperwork in her office, enjoying the peaceful quiet she often shared with Itachi as he helped her with her paperwork -a usual routine that Sakura had suckered him into over the years. He would diligently come each morning with two cups of coffee, hand her one, and they would get right to work on whatever it was scheduled for that day.
"How are you fairing, Sakura?" it had been a damn near hour of silence -except for the brief exchange of good mornings, before Itachi had finally spoken casually, not even bothering to look up from his stack of paperwork as he addressed her.
"I'm almost done with my half of the paperwork." Sakura brushed Itachi aside with a wave of her hand, her other hand pausing momentarily to bring her cup of coffee to her lips.
"I'm not talking about your work, Sakura."
This had caused Sakura to momentarily look up, her eyebrows furled. "What do you mean-"
"You were conversing with Sasuke late last night."
Sakura could have groaned -but of course he had been watching. He always was, that bastard. "Yes, what of it?"
"Are you okay?" he reiterated his statement to clarify more concisely in a manner that he knew she knew, but was simply avoiding with feigned ignorance.
The question had hung in the air awkwardly -as if Sakura didn't know how to respond, and genuinely feared the answer. "I don't have time for this, Itachi. I'm to meet them for breakfast in an hour and I need to finish-"
She was deflecting again, a trait he knew to simply be her defense mechanism. But the fact that she didn't even answer him said all it needed to -she was not okay. Clearly her meeting with her team, and of Sasuke in particular, was affecting her, despite her incredible job at hiding it. "Sakura-"
But with another irritated sigh, she put down her pen and turned to face him fully. "You know what a better question would be, Itachi? If you're okay." she finally addressed, her eyebrows raised and her lips forming into a small frown.
If he wanted to interrogate her, then so be it -she would do the same.
But at her question, Itachi briskly stood rigidly straight, a scowl mirroring Sakura's own on his features. "Sakura." he warned her with apprehension. She knew better than to meddle in his affairs, after several years of knowing him.
But at his response, she simply leaned back on her leather chair, crossing her arms defiantly. "No -while we're on this topic we're going to sort things out." she spoke with a clipped tone, her eyes narrowed. "And I know I don't need to remind you that you can't lie to me; not after all the time we spent together, isolated in that god forsaken cabin of yours."
Because quite frankly, if he had cared enough to have taken care of her with so much caution, with such a gentle touch, then this man, regardless of how he seemed outwardly, and regardless of his history and past actions, had a heart. She knew as much; hell, she had seen has much, had felt as much, and she was but a mere comrade to him. So for Itachi to tell her that he had murdered the entirety of his clan to "test his capabilities"? Sakura knew now that Itachi was hardly the type, so what he had told her -and effectively Sasuke, was a load of crap on a stick.
No, there had been another motive, not that Sakura could possibly know what it was, nor could she ever get Itachi to tell her.
And truth be told, if he wanted to kill Sasuke, he would have. And if he wanted Sasuke to have obtained the Mangekyou before killing him, then he would have forced Sasuke to obtain it by now. "You don't have to be truthful to me, Itachi, but at least be honest with yourself."
Her statement struck a tender chord in him, although he did not show it.
"Sakura, I will not discuss this with you."
"Then I expect you to mind your own business too." she scowled once more. "Do not ask of me what you are not willing to give."
Itachi parted his lips to argue against this, but consequently closed them once more with an irritated frown. "I ask because you are visibly shaken, Sakura."
Sakura flinched -was he catching on to her imperceptible tell-tale signs? Or was he simply bluffing? Or, perhaps, even worse, was she actually very noticeably shaken? "Itachi, I really don't have the time-"
"I am only here to help, Sakura." he finally relented with a sigh, his irritation and displeasure melting away instantly, and for the briefest of seconds Sakura could see the near invisible signs of exhaustion and weariness from Itachi. "I am here for you to make use of me; if you do not wish to, that is fine-"
"Stop trying to guilt trip me." Sakura frowned once more. "You always do this; you think by guilt tripping me you'll get me to open up?"
"Those are not my intentions and you know it, Sakura." He sighed once more -Kami he swore she was always itching for a fight. He lifted his hand and gently poked Sakura on the forehead with his two fingers, causing a pout to appear on her features but the overall anger to melt away. "If you do not wish to tell me, that is fine." he finally concluded, "but then I expect you to hold yourself professionally."
Sakura scowled. "When do I not?"
Itachi responded merely with a presumptuous look, as if that in itself held volumes of explanation.
"I don't like your attitude." She huffed indignantly, and as such she stood haughtily. "If you will excuse me, I have to meet up with Kakashi and Shizune for their tour of the hospitals." And then, as if for added emphasis, "In about an hour, once you are done with the paperwork, have Kagami and Akira escort Sasuke and Naruto to the training fields."
Itachi frowned. "This is what I meant by acting professionally, Sakura." he stated with warning.
"Oh, I am." Sakura glared. "And last I recall, "I am here for you to make use of me" does not have a unless-Sasuke-is-involved clause."
Their eyes met, one with cool controlled restraint and the other with a daring fire. But of course -Sakura was simply daring him to go against her, to give her more of a reason to interrogate Itachi about his real motivations for the Uchiha Massacre because clearly it was getting in the way of his job.
"Very well then, as you wish, Lady Miyuki." But he would not let Sakura have it her way.
Pleased, Sakura smiled and stretched her arms. "I will see you in an hour, then."
"Zugoi." It was all Shizune could say, quite frankly.
She had been surprised and confused when Konan had showed up at their door bright and early the next day with a request from Miyuki -to take a more narrowed and focused tour of their hospital for Shizune to give her input in for areas of improvement.
-A request she more than gladly accepted, because truth be told, she had wanted to do the same thing anyway.
Due to Naruto obviously still snoring his life away, Kakashi and Shizune had branched off from the younger generation, leaving Sasuke to more or less lounge around until Naruto woke up.
"Lady Miyuki has also offered a small sparring session with your student, Hatake-san." Konan informed him respectfully. "If he wishes to so thoroughly make an impression, then she will allow him the honor of being sorely defeated." she smiled with an expression that showed of her confidence -taunting the Konoha nin.
"Naruto will be pleased to hear that." Sasuke snorted.
"Hai, Lady Miyuki assumed as much." Konan agreed with a nod. "But it will have to wait until Kato-san and Hatake-san are done with their tour of the hospital."
"That's fine -Naruto won't wake up for another hour at least." Shizune stated with a roll of her eyes -Kami how did that boy sleep so much?
"Excellent." Konan seemed pleased. "If you two would follow me then, I will escort you to the hospital."
And that is how it had been, and how Shizune had thoroughly been given insight on the state of their hospitals, and perhaps most importantly, the research and caliber of the medics in the hospital. Nearing the end of their tour, Miyuki had appeared before them, clad in her usual ensemble. "Good morning Hatake-san, Kato-san." Miyuki greeted with a small smile. "How has your tour of the hospital been so far?"
And so Shizune began to speak, describing in elaborate detail how surprised she was with the advancements, and also a few key points that she saw room for improvement. And after everything had all been said and done, Miyuki thanked them graciously for complying to her small request, although neither of them felt like it had been too arduous a task. After all, it simply gave them more information to hand down to Tsunade in the long run.
"My spar with Uzumaki-san should be soon, if you would care to come see it, or perhaps you would like to return to your rooms to rest?"
"Iie, we'll gladly come see the spar." Kakahi spoke with a small, feigned smile, indicated by the crinkle in his lone visible eye.
-Of course, Sakura hadn't truly expected anything less, and as such, the four of them made their way outside of the hospital and towards the training grounds. "Akira-kun and Kagami should have already escorted your teammates to the training ground." she simply informed them. "Afterwards we can all have lunch outside."
"Naruto if you don't shut up-" Sasuke threatened for the fifth time in the past half hour, an irritated grimace on his features, "then I will make it so that you won't even get the opportunity to spar with her."
"Oh please Sasuke-teme, as if you could beat me." Naruto scoffed. "I'd like to see you try." he taunted with mirth filled eyes.
In response though, Sasuke merely rolled his eyes and turned away from the loud blonde, as if refusing to acknowledge his presence. They had arrived at the training grounds a little over fifteen minutes ago, the kunoichi known as Kagami stating that Naruto would have time to warm up before Miyuki arrived with the rest of his team.
And through it all, Naruto simply kept rambling on and on about how he was extremely eager to defeat her in battle, ever the confident loud-mouth.
And although Kagami reacted not to Naruto's incessant babble, it was clear to Sasuke that Akira, clearly not as seasoned, took Naruto's banter to heart. "As if you could ever defeat Lady Miyuki! You'll see." he scoffed, clearly haughty. "I'll be the one to laugh when Lady Miyuki effortlessly defeats you."
"That's a lot of talk from a little shrimp." Naruto snickered. "Hiding behind the cloak of your master because you can't do anything by yourself?" Naruto taunted.
But in response, the blue-haired boy simply flushed red in anger. "Please, I could defeat you any d-"
"That's enough, Akira."
The female shinobi beside him had spoken up suddenly, and it had made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. With a bitter pout, he relented, truthfully quite terrified of the female shinobi, and as such he succumbed to sulking in silence alongside Kagami and Sasuke, Naruto throwing a few kunai at a random tree, up until Miyuki, Konan, Kakashi, and Shizune finally made their appearance in the training ground.
"Yo!" Kakashi greeted casually, his hands stuffed in his pockets, as he and the group of shinobi approached the large tree in which Sasuke, Kagami, and Akira current stood beneath. Glancing around, he noticed Naruto all warmed up and ready for his spar, staring at Miyuki heatedly -if he had expected her to come prepared for a spar, he was clearly disappointed to find her in the same boring cloak with the some boring hat.
"Lady Miyuki." Both Kagami and Akira bowed as they greeted their Kage. "I have brought the two Konoha shinobi here as you requested."
"Hai, arigatou Kagami." Miyuki merely nodded in thanks, before she turned to face Naruto, who was staring at her from several meters away with a serious expression on his features. "Looks to me like you're ready, then." Miyuki stated, pleased.
"Hai." Naruto merely stated, not talking nearly as much smack as he had been thirty seconds ago. No -now he had taken a more serious, thoughtful expression. Because even though he talked so much, he knew that for Miyuki to be a Kage, she had to have some serious tricks up her sleeves, and being so haughty before even knowing her techniques would probably be his downfall.
-That's something Kakashi would tell him, anyway.
"Very well. You all may stand here to the side if you wish, although I do have one request." Miyuki stated seriously, this time turning to face Sasuke and Kakashi. "Since this is not your fight, I ask that you respectfully keep your Sharingan eyes deactivated for the duration of our spar."
A reasonable enough request, although truth be told, Sakura had asked this mostly because Itachi was before them with a henge in place -a henge both of them would be able to discern easily if they so much as glanced his way.
With a nod, both Kakashi and Sasuke relented, and watched on as Kagami approached her Kage and took off her robe, folded it in her arms, and then proceeded to remove the hat from her head, leaving the Otokage in a simple black and grey ensemble, a weapons holstered to her back. Miyuki approached the battleground, where Naruto stood at the ready, and eyed him up and down. "Let's let this battle begin then, nee?"
"Your Otokage seems very dearly loved." The fight had yet to begin, as Naruto and Miyuki simply eyed each other up and down, the tension before the battle, it seemed, and Sasuke had used this opportunity to strike up a conversation with Kagami -of course, only to further learn about Miyuki.
"Hai; She has engraved her position in the hearts of the people." Kagami stated in affirmation.
"That's not something easily done, given the condition Orochimaru must have left this place in. They weren't openly mistrusting of her?" Sasuke questioned. Truth be told, he hadn't been able to get anything out of Miyuki the prior night. He'd have to stick to coaxing information out of her closest shinobi if he wanted anything.
"They were." she stated bluntly. "But Ojou-sama has a way of never losing hope. She has an unwavering strength and determination to succeed that far exceeds anyone I have ever met." To a certain extent, this wasn't far from the truth for Itachi, not that he would ever admit this in front of her.
Sasuke didn't respond to this, viewing the fight between the Otokage and his teammate. Truth be told, that night he had seen so much of Sakura in her, it wouldn't even have seemed absurd to him. But this... the kunoichi before him, was nothing like the Sakura he remembered.
Sakura's face, usually lit with happiness even during training sessions, was nothing like Miyuki's, her composure put together, analytical and serious, so collected it could even be compared to his own. Her stance was all wrong to the taijutsu master he knew in Sakura; Miyuki's posture instead indicating some sort of long-ranged techniques, of which he knew he would never have seen Sakura do.
And what was with the bow and arrow strapped to her back? Of all the weapons ninja usually use, that had to definitely be the most uncommon. Archery had practically become a dead art of bukijutsu, unheard of since the warring kingdom era. Her bow was intricate, not a typical wooden bow, but rather a steel one, sturdy (perhaps quite heavy, which would mean she had really good physical strength), and because of the shape and sharpness, it seemed to him that it had multiple uses. It could be used as not only an archer's bow, but it seemed a double sided sword as well (another art of bukijutsu not commonly seen).
"That's an interesting choice of weapon." Sasuke stated. "Custom made, perhaps?" Truth be told, he had never seen anything like it.
"Hai. Lady Miyuki's skill set relies heavily on surprising her enemies and overwhelming them subsequently. Furthermore, as Otokage, she has heavily reformed her fighting style and techniques to be advantageous in a group setting. Consequently, she is strongest amongst her shinobi." Akira stated, quite honored to talk about his Lady Miyuki.
"And why is her skill set like that?" It had been Kakashi to pipe in and ask this question.
"Because of her need to purge Orochimaru's influence and rid bandits from the nation." Kagami stated casually.
"During those early years, Lady Miyuki went around with a handful of shinobi to help her, I among them." Akira felt nearly proud to state this, recalling the days of travel with his Kage. Fighting alongside her had been a thrill in itself, Miyuki standing proudly amongst her peers. "Her long range, as I'm sure you've noticed, stemmed from the belief that she should stay a distance away from her enemies, in order to see the battlefield fully and protect a handful of her shinobi at a time while simultaneously attacking as well."
Sasuke nodded, understanding the thought process as his eyes once again shifted towards the Otokage. So if this were to be the case, would she not be at a disadvantage on a one on one battle?
"But don't think so lowly of My lady." Akira seemingly answered the question he had been thinking. "Perhaps the only thing worse than Lady Miyuki in a group battle would be that of her outnumbered." To this day, he could still recall how she had single-handedly beat him and fourteen other shinobi in protecting a single bell.
And just as Akira stated this, suddenly Naruto erupted into what seemed like one hundred identical clones of himself, an act which usually had a visible effect on his opponents, but seemed to not even make Miyuki blink.
Instead, she calmly began to remove her bow from her back, her hands already reaching for several arrows as the Naruto clones attacked.
She was quick, quicker than Sasuke would have ever imagined an archer being, as she shot five arrows in one swift release. They all hit clones and embedded themselves on the surrounding trees, but before she could fire anything else the Naruto clones were on her, and she swiftly dodged every blow, attacking a few with her bow. Yet, she seemed uninterested in harming them, seeing as they were not the real Naruto, and as such did her best to not destroy them completely, making her way to the other side of the battle field where Naruto had remained unmoving.
With a swift kick, one which Naruto could not block, he was sent flying towards a tree, although just as the contact had been made, he also disappeared.
He could hear Naruto's voice, this time all the way on the other side of the clearing. "You'll have to try harder than that, Otokage, if you want to attack me."
It was very typical of Naruto to hide himself within his clones and attack, an attempt that usually wouldn't work because the opponent would see the switch with any other person who wasn't Naruto. Yet, with the proportion of shadow clones that Naruto could make, usually the opponent was too busy defending themselves to notice. Yet, don't ask Sasuke why, but he had expected more from the Otokage.
Yet, she was seemingly unfazed, instead using the distance she had gained to once more fire out five more shots of arrows, these as well eliminating shadow clones and landing on different trees on the other side of the battlefield.
"I'm sure there are more efficient ways to destroy them, Otokage." Naruto snickered.
"Who said I wanted to destroy them?" It was the first word he had heard from Miyuki since their spar had begun, and the sudden statement made Naruto pause. What did she-
Suddenly he sensed movement not his own behind him, an identical clone of Miyuki behind him. Before he had time to respond suddenly she was attacking, taijutsu so strong he was nearly taken aback. 'It's like fighting Lee!' He was struck, not a particularly strong hit but enough for him to cringe in pain, to both his stomach and two spots in between his arms and chest. Before anything else could be done to Naruto's being though, two shadow clones jumped on Miyuki, drawing away her attention from the real Naruto. It disappeared quickly though, vanishing in a puff of smoke.
Although in pain, Naruto couldn't help but snicker. "Is that all you've got, Otokage?"
She didn't respond, staring at Naruto, some sort of amusement flickering through her eyes. "You're very cocky, Uzumaki Naruto-kun."
He was about to respond, but suddenly there was movement once more, although they came from a source unexpected. He had no time to think as suddenly his shadow clones turned on him, an act he hadn't expected and as such he couldn't stop himself from getting hit by at least three clones. "What the-"
Akira couldn't help but laugh at the sight of Naruto battling with his own shadow clones. "He truly is a dunce."
Sasuke glanced at Akira and then back at the battlefield. Why were they-
"The arrows." Kagami stated, reading his mind.
Sasuke raised an eyebrow, having thought them unimportant, but upon taking in their location, he realized they had formed a perfect box around the battle field. "Did she-"
"Hai." Akira grinned. "She casts a jutsu on them prior to battle. When activated, they form a powerful genjutsu around the area."
One which, although not directly affecting Naruto, had been aimed towards his clones. An ingenious technique, one which would have only worked on Naruto. Clearly, she knew his abilities going into this fight.
"She assumed that Naruto had hidden himself within his clones, and as such baited him into speaking, knowing he would reveal his location, giving her the pristine opportunity to attack." Akira seemed so smug, relishing in the fact that the well-known Konoha nin was getting his ass handed to him by his most precious Lady Miyuki.
"Hn" True to Akira's words, Naruto was definitely prone to doing such a thing. And with this thought, Sasuke shifted his attention back on the battle field. 'So what will you do now, Naruto?'
Naruto seemed irritated, growling under his breath. "I don't know what you did to them, but they won't listen to me. They're of no more use to me." But even as he did the handsigns to dispel them, as he attempted to push chakra into his hands, he found he couldn't. "...What?" His eyebrows furled in confusion, but suddenly realization hit him. "You hit my chakra pathways." With a mere clone, she had been able to stop him from molding anymore chakra, and he didn't even know for how long.
Miyuki quirked a smile, although she didn't respond to him directly. "So what will you do now, Naruto?"
Truthfully speaking, Naruto only had two options, although he may not have been aware of them. He either had to destroy his own clones and wait out the time until he could fully use his chakra once more, or he had to dispel the genjutsu, which he probably couldn't tell was coming from the ten or so arrows surrounding the clearing.
"Naruto. Stop before you experience a crushing defeat." Sasuke called out to him, a comment that infuriated him.
"If I can't even beat her how would I be worthy of being Hokage?!" his spew of anger made his fists curl up into a tight ball.
"I mean, I would want to surrender too, seeing Lady Miyuki's sheer strength." Akira nodded in agreement at Sasuke. "He should surrender."
Sasuke glanced at him, a smirk plastered in his face. "This wasn't meant for him to give up."
Akira's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion as he returned his gaze back onto the battlefield, and suddenly Naruto was thrashing around, destroying all of his clones with taijutsu.
"You were renewing his morale." It was Kagami's quiet comment that made Akira realize it, Sasuke's smirk still intact and amusement playing in his eyes.
"That dobe would never give up without first realizing his dream."
Akira grumbled, a small smile on his face at having taken for granted Naruto's fire, but nevertheless, he was content in knowing that he had fallen for Miyuki's trap nonetheless.
It had taken nearly twenty excruciating minutes of Naruto defeating his own clones -Miyuki casually leaning on a tree without so much as a care in the world (which only seemed to further aggravate Naruto, and push him to much greater lengths)
But of course, after fighting off one hundred or so of his clones, he was physically exhausted, and not to mention that his chakra was still not disposable to him -how was she able to hit his chakra pathways with such precision, without any sort of dojutsu? As far as he knew, the Byakugan was the only technique able to do so.
"So what will you do now?" She finally pushed herself off the tree her bow once more strapped to her back -for now, it seemed, she would be done using bukijutsu. "You have no chakra to use, and no matter how many times you try to attack me, you will lose." she proclaimed. Truth be told, it was fact. What made Naruto such a viable threat in battle was not his taijutsu, and most definitely not genjutsu, or his quick thinking on his feet. No, it was his copious amounts of chakra and his powerful ninjutsu on top of that. And with that sealed off, he was hardly anything that Sakura couldn't handle.
"If you think that's all I have in me, you're in for a surprise, Miyuki." his aggression towards her had long since thrown the formality out of the window, and now he was simply thinking of ways to once more (as if he had ever had it to begin with) gain the upper hand in their battle. "I will not rest without at least showing you my strength." And as he spoke, he finally charged with a kunai in his hand, not that it seemed to startle Miyuki in the slightest.
She had remained still, her body posture languid and uncaring, up until Naruto was mere feet from him, and it was then that she once more took out her archer's bow with such intense speed, Sasuke could not have been too certain she had done it to begin with, save for the blades that had engaged Naruto. She had disengaged him successfully, and seeing as he had no other option due to their close proximity, he began to engage her in taijutsu once more.
"You underestimating me will be your downfall." he mentioned as they fought, a small grin on his features. But before Sakura had any time to question this, suddenly she sensed movement above her -two clones, both with rasengans in their respective hands. Her eyes widened in alarm, having not expected his chakra to be accessible to him already (although perhaps this had more to do with the Kyuubi within him more than him).
Her eyes once more darted to Naruto, who was about to retreat, but with quick thinking she tripped him, and using the bowstring, she pulled him to her.
If she would be hit by the rasengan, then so would he. Alarmed, he began to struggle from the restraint at his neck, but seeing as he could not get away from her on time to have a successful attack, he ordered the rasengans on his clones' hands to dissipate, and almost as soon as they did, Miyuki yanked the real Naruto away, a well placed kick on his abdomen sending him flying, and using the blades protruding from her bow to rid the two clones about to pounce on her.
Naruto frowned in irritation -now that he no longer had the element of surprise, landing anything on her would be tricky. It seemed despite the long range her bow was sure to allude, the fact that it doubled as a two sided sword perhaps negated that assumption, and it only further upset him in knowing she seemed extremely adept at wielding it too.
But Kami, if he could only land one blow on her, he knew she would be down for the count.
"You almost alarmed me there," she chuckled lowly. She had been surprised, yes, but she had faced techniques and attacks far quicker and deadlier than Naruto's own at this point in time. So long as she could see him setting up for his rasengan, she would be able to negate his attack time and time again.
-Which Naruto knew he could do, if he so chose to use his Rasen-shuriken, or even his wind release shuriken, to made it a throwing projectile. But to do so he would need to enter Sage Mode: and despite this being a battle, it would escalate the fight into proportions he knew it should not go -and he had a feeling Sasuke and Kakashi would stop him immediately if he did so anyway.
And regardless, who's to say it would even work? If he escalated his fighting, the only guarantee was that she would too...
And could either of them handle that without getting carried away?
Iie... he would just have to play this out as best he could.
Their spar had continued for well over half an hour longer, until Miyuki had finally decided to call it quits; Naruto had yet to land anything of substance on her, and she was beginning to bore. More importantly, it was lunch time, and she knew he must be hungry.
But sitting down on the ground, utterly defeated, did not do much to calm Naruto's irritation or anger over the matter. 'Kuso... I wanted to show off my strengths and all I did was make a fool out of myself... Kakashi-sensei was right...' Even as he thought this, he noticed the figure of Miyuki approaching him.
"That was a well fought battle, Uzumaki Naruto-kun." they were a playful smile on her face, although Naruto couldn't quite tell if it was harmless or haughty due to his own displeasure over the situation. Irregardless, it pissed him off and made him look down at the ground in irritation. "Come, let's get some food, nee?" And as she spoke she reached out her hand for him to grab.
Indignantly, Naruto sighed and finally looked up to face the clear victor in battle as he began reaching out his hand to grab onto her own.
But for the slightest of seconds, the sun above them formed a perfect halo at Miyuki's head, and it had left Naruto breathless. His heart skipped a beat, his eyes wide, as he stared up at the kunoichi before him. "...S-Sakura?" He was left breathless for several seconds.
Her hand faltered, her eyes widening for a fraction of a second but recomposing herself very quickly, before Naruto could tell that his words had affected her. "Excuse me?"
Almost immediately after hearing her words, Naruto snapped out of his thoughts, flinching, as he refused her hand and got up abruptly. "Nothing. Never mind." He walked away, making his way towards Sasuke and Miyuki's two shinobi, leaving Sakura there, in an alarming state of nervous-ness. She knew it was dangerous to expose her face, especially in front of the likes of Team 7, but it had been out of her hands.
"So, blondie..." Akira began, smug as ever, "What was that about you kicking Miyuki-sama's ass?"
Naruto had been unusually quiet during their lunch -all of them had expected it to be because of his crushing defeat, but only Miyuki had a sliver of understanding of his true reasons. Accordingly, she had also been left stiff and awkward, although she hid it superbly.
Naruto had not responded immediately, as they had expected, but instead, Miyuki spoke up. "Now, now Akira-kun. That was but a spar. I'm sure thing would be different were we both trying our best." she eyed Naruto for the briefest of seconds, but as soon as their eyes met, he looked away uncomfortably, and it made Sakura that much more aware of the fact that somehow, he had caught on to the fact that she looked identical to the Sakura Haruno they once knew -hell, she was that very same person, but none of them had been able to make that connection up until now. "In another note," Miyuki spoke up once more, averting her gaze to that of Kakashi's, "I hope it's not too rude of me to ask when you will be leaving. The Hokage did not exactly give me a time frame to your stay, and quite frankly, I cannot afford to procrastinate on my duties for very much longer."
"Iie, that is perfectly understandable, Otokage-san." Kakashi nodded respectfully. "Arigatou, for your hospitality up until now, and dealing with the idiotic antics of my team." he forced out a hesitant laugh. "If it isn't too much to ask for, tomorrow morning would be an ideal time for us to leave."
"Hai, that works for me." Although she didn't show it, Sakura was entirely pleased with this -Kami knew she was better off keeping Konoha nin outside of her borders and far, far away from her. "Please tell Hokage that the next time, I would love to meet her personally. There is much we should discuss." Clearly, Miyuki wasn't just stating this for a reason. She knew that, until both of them met, that Tsunade would still have her doubts about Oto, and these were doubts she wanted to eliminate as soon as possible if only to maintain the safety of her village.
"Of course." Kakashi stated with a nod. "Perhaps writing her a letter and sending it with us would be the best course of action." Kakashi suggested.
Miyuki merely nodded in affirmation. "Hai, of course."
Conversation from there on ran smoothly, although the main conversationalists within the group had not been Miyuki and Naruto, but rather Akira, Konan, Sasuke, Kakashi, and Shizune, Naruto still awkward and broody. Once lunch had ended, Miyuki had excused herself once more so she could finish off the paperwork she never got around to finishing.
Kagami had thusly left with her Kage, and had left Akira and Konan to cater to the demands of the Konoha nin, although it seemed that all Naruto wanted to do was go back to his room to rest -accordingly, he had left out of his own volition, whereas Sasuke, Shizune, and Kakashi had opted to instead roam the village and take it its sights -and perhaps do a little souvenir shopping.
Sakura had scampered off -Itachi and Konan knew it, but if only to put up face, she had used the excuse of her paperwork. As such she had teleported away, although she was not surprised to see Itachi, no longer henge'd, appear beside her a few seconds later.
There was much he wanted to say to the kunoichi, expressing his displeasure at grouping him with his brother being one of them, but there was something else he wanted to know with a sense of urgency.
They had exchanged a few words at the end of their battle, and whatever it had been, it had startled Sakura and scared her off -he knew it, and Sakura knew he knew. "What happened?" His voice had ripped through the tense silenced enveloping Sakura and reverberated in the confines of her office space. She did not respond immediately, and as such he had been left to stare at her back, waiting for her to acknowledge him. But when she did not, Itachi parted his lips once more. "Sakura."
His commanding voice forced her to turn around and face him, and with uncontrolled, nervous eyes, she finally stared up at him. "He said my name, Itachi... He called me Sakura."
He had recognized her, even if just for the briefest of moments, and had dismissed his thoughts seconds later, but he had recognized her nonetheless.
End of Chapter
So we're already beginning to see traces of Sasu x Saku early on, although the build up will be really slow because their interactions will be few and far in between. But fear not -once the plot has developed in the direction I want it to go, it'll be filled with all that good stuff :)
I know it's taken me such a long time to update, and I truly apologize for that, but at least I did give you guys a fair warning in advance. Updates will be few and far in between, seeing as I do want to maintain updates with the (S) version and the (I) version the same and I do have other stories I'm focusing on.
Next on my agenda will be more Sakura's New Past Revisions and hopefully another installment to The List, although I make no promises.
Any and all feedback is much appreciated, and as always, sorry if the fight scenes were not up to your standards x)