Why So Catty?
Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I do not own the Naruto Series.
The blonde Hokage gazed at Sakura sadly. " I don't think you should be my apprentice anymore."
The outraged Kunoichi spoke, " Why! I've improved!"
Tsunade sighed, " I'm afraid you haven't Sakura, and after your last mission I don't think I can risk it anymore."
Sakura's voice deepened, " I can and will prove I am good enough. Just give me one more chance."
" All right Sakura-chan, one more chance." Tsunade concluded. They entered their training spot and got in their stances.
Tsunade tried to hit her apprentice but failed as her apprentice increased speed. Tsunade's eyes could not keep up with the agile girl. 'She could probably challenge Lee.' Tsunade thought, ' when did she get this fast?' She hadn't had anytime to find the answer when a foot came clattering down, barely missing Tsunade. She got in close combat with Sakura and the teenager's expression suddenly became serious. Tsunade could feel the harsh kicks and punches she was receiving but noticed there was no chakra inserted into them. So she wasn't taking this as seriously as she thought? She would teach her. Tsunade packed her fist full of chakra and began to strike at Sakura.
Sakura quickly bent backwards onto her hands then grabbed Tsunade's hand with her ankles, flipping the Hokage and crashing her down to the ground. This gave Sakura an offensive position as she sat on top of the woman. Sakura laughed delightfully and filled her fist with chakra. She punched right through the chest of Tsunade, filling a huge gap in the ground below. Tsunade poofed to reveal a log with a burning whole through it.
Sakura pulled her arm out of the deep hole in the ground and noticed the cracks created from her punch stretching around the whole training ground.
" Ha! Just as I thought. So all this time you've been watching me train and not actually training with me. That's kind of lying don't you think Hokage-sama?" Sakura purred, " Too bad I knew this all a long." Sakura poofed to reveal a boulder. The real Sakura was behind the real Tsunade in a tree. Sakura's already chakra filled fist struck Tsunade in the back, making the Hokage fall out of the tree and grind into the ground.
The Hokage forced herself to get back up. She gasped, " You are stronger Sakura-chan. I'll take you as my apprentice again. Lets call it a day."
" But I was just started having fun!" Sakura complained. Tsunade felt a tingle go down her spine. She turned around and felt the huge amount of warm chakra surrounding the lime-eyed kunoichi. The teenager had red hair and slitted pupils. Tsunade's eyes widened and by the blink of an eye the teenager was behind her yet again, punching her into a tree.
" Sakura! That is enough!" Sakura stalled and her hair lightened. Her expression changed to one of apology.
" I'm so sorry Hokage-sama. It won't happen again!"
" It better not." Tsunade said gravely. ' I'm going to have to speak with Kakashi.' With that the Hokage left.
XxxX
Sakura sat by the Konoha River, swirling her finger in the water. Her reflection stared back at her in shame. What could have provoked her to actually hurt Tsunade-sama? Her thoughts were halted by sounds of voices. She turned around alertly and relaxed as she saw it was Shikamaru and Choji. The two boys turned to see the green eyes staring at them.
" Haruno-san. What are you doing here?" Shikamaru asked, not really interested.
Sakura showed just about as much interest as she shrugged, " I dunno. I just felt like relaxing a little." Sakura, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji usually hung out but things seemed to be distant with her and everyone since the last mission she had.
" Forehead? Relaxing?" Ino made her appearance and leaned against a tree. Her expression was one of forced coolness.
"Ino," Sakura said softly. Ino took this gentleness as an okay-sign. She ran up to Sakura and hugged her. Sakura was shocked that the blonde girl had done this. She hadn't been hugged by Ino since academy days. Her expression softened as she felt hot dampness on her shoulder. " Ino, I'm okay now. I'm better than okay actually."
Ino nodded and Choji watched with sympathy as Shikamaru muttered, "Troublesome."
" How did you survive?" Ino asked abruptly. This caught Choji and Shikamaru's attention because they were curious too.
Sakura laughed softly and put her finger to her lips, " It's a secret." To imagine that Sakura knew how to bring back the dead, even she was amazing to the three shinobi and her cool reply absolutely tortured them. The three, even Shikamaru, tried to pry an answer from the pink ninja unsuccessfully and they all laughed again like "old times".
They're joyful reunion was interrupted by a scent Sakura picked up. The hairs on her neck prickled once again and she jumped to a tree branch randomly. The three other friends gave Sakura a weird look then Kiba and Arakimaru walked in. Arakimaru was a big wolfish dog now and he smelled something he didn't like. He barked wildly as Kiba tried to quiet him down embarrassingly. The dog's teeth bared at the tree above and all four ninja looked up. Sakura jumped down fearlessly in front of the once-friendly dog. Arakimaru growled viciously, all of his fur standing on end. " Aki, what's gotten into you?" Kiba said confusedly. Sakura stood tall above the dog and her body swayed gracefully to one side as she leaned on her hip.
" Aki Aki. Why are you being so mean? You know me." Sakura hissed at the dog. Her nails grew impressively sharp and the dog whimpered, backing away. No one else noticed Sakura's rapid nail growth but Kiba. Kiba's brown-eyes widened and he stared at Sakura's coolly composed expression. Sakura smiled widely and pet the dog a few times on the head, "Now that's a good boy." Kiba marveled at Sakura's fast taming but quickly grew out of it by her question, " So Kiba-san, what brings you here?"
" I got a mission to catch a bunch of fish for Rakishou, the owner of the sushi bar. Apparently he had a break in not too long ago. Who could eat that much fish I don't know." Kiba complained.
Sakura's guilt came flooding back to her, " I'll help you."
The rest of the gang complied to help as well and they quickly snatched fish from the river and by nightfall, thanks to Sakura's amazing fishing, they were able to deliver the variety of fish to Rakishou.
XxxX
Naruto sighed. He hadn't seen Sakura all day and frankly, he was afraid to see her. After that rejection his ego was completely deflated. ' I guess she really doesn't like me.' He thought. She probably feels sorry for me now, how embarrassing! Naruto buried his head into his pillow. ' At least I got to learn a lot today from Kakashi-san…" he remembered their rapid learning technique with all his clones learning the same time he did and his own ability to find out what his ninja specialty was—wind. ' I wonder what Sakura's ninja specialty is' Naruto mentally slapped himself, ' Gah! Stop thinking about her…' Of course Naruto didn't want to avoid Sakura but at the same time he didn't know how he'd react to her. She was like being allergic to ramen. She was so good but if he sees her again he was afraid his heart would swell up and tear apart over and over again. ' Now Naruto, it isn't that bad. Stop being so melodramatic. Be a man for goodness sakes!' Naruto agreed with himself but he couldn't stop thinking about her. The blonde teenage boy wondered if he was sick. Some sort of sickness that made him think of beautiful Sakura all the time.
XxxX
Sakura walked into the Hokage's office, expecting to train again today only to see a man in an ANBU mask and Kakashi. " Oh I'm sorry I should've knocked." Sakura shrugged and almost left but Tsunade called out to her.
" We found Orachimaru's hide out." Sakura froze. " I thought you wanted to be included in this mission." Sakura straightened up and stood by the ANBU man.
" I would be honored to take this mission." She said respectfully.
"Good." Tsunade smiled. Just then the door burst open to reveal a heavily breathing Naruto.
"Is it Sasuke!" He asked bluntly. The Hokage nodded dumbly. He punched the air with his fist joyfully then his eye caught a rosy kunoichi and he froze, his face heating up. In desperation he pulled his shirt over his head stupidly.
Sakura's cheeks colored a little and she laughed. Tsunade interrupted the strange scene.
" This is an A-rank mission that might be raised to S-rank if it requires. Mission is retrieve-Sasuke. I want you to leave by noon. That is all." Every ninja left the room except Sakura. The Hokage looked up to see lime eyes staring at her. " Can I help you?"
Sakura furrowed her brow, " Hokage I would like to apologize. I promise I won't disappoint you again." With that she left.
" Is she talking about the training or her last mission?" Shizune asked Tsunade.
" I believe it was her last mission." Tsunade smiled, " But I'm not going to worry about her anymore. I have full confidence in her. She is strong."
XxxX
It was noon and Sakura arrived in her favorite black outfit she had recently made. She wore all except her cat mask, which she hid in her pack. The ANBU was already there and Naruto was too, carefully avoiding Sakura's gaze. Kakashi was of course late as he arrived at 12:01.
" My my what a punctual group, " Kakashi laughed shallowly, " And I thought I'd be on time this time."
"Lets go." The ANBU spoke for the first time. The three other ninja nodded and they sprinted. " We're off to the Hidden Mist. The Sound and Mist are believed to be allied."
Sakura noticed how young the ANBU's voice sounded and she guessed he was around her age, fifteen or sixteen. " What's you're name?" Sakura asked curiously.
The ANBU turned his head, " That's unimportant." The disappointed kunoichi shook her head. The ANBU sighed, " If you must know, you can call me Sai." The ANBU leapt further and took off his mask, " I hate this stupid thing."
Sakura admired his attractive features. His hair was a medium length black and his features were so familiar that he unnervingly looked like Sasuke. Sakura shook her head, ' no it couldn't be.' She looked to her right to see Naruto glancing at Sai as well, noticing the familiarities. He then caught her glance and looked away. Sakura frowned. He must hate her for rejecting his kiss. She might as well have slapped him in the face. Sakura was above all afraid of belonging to somebody. She had her own free spirit and she didn't want to feel imprisoned by anyone. ' That's it. That's why I didn't kiss him.'
Before Sakura knew it, it was nighttime and they had set up camp in the dark forest. Sakura jumped to a branch in a high tree and set her blanket there. This would do nicely.
XxxX
Morning dawned unpleasantly with an attack. It was an attack from an especially unpleasant man. Sakura heard the ruckus beneath her as she saw all three ninja fighting Kabuto. ' Him again?" she thought annoyed. Her irritation was soon replaced with passionate anger when she remembered just who her murderer was. 'He killed me.' She thought. "He killed me."
Naruto, Kakashi, and Sai all battled the tricky Kabuto swiftly. Kakashi could tell this really was Kabuto with his Sharingan but why Kabuto would confront them personally confused him. His question was soon answered, as if Kabuto had read his thoughts.
" The scroll I found was useless. I disappointed Orachimaru-sama. Do you know how traumatizing that can be?" He fought violently forming seals and blocking his attackers.
" Do you honestly think we'd carry around a sacred scroll with us?" Sai asked while fighting.
"I needed to vent. What better way than killing some Konoha ninja?" Kabuto laughed maliciously. Naruto cursed.
Kakashi glared at Orachimaru's servant. " This only means we're closer to base and he's protecting it."
Sakura watched the scene angrily.
"Waiting for me cherry blossom? I thought I destroyed you." A familiar voice breathed behind her. " I don't have a huge cliff this time but I know of quicker ways to kill little girls."
Sakura appeared behind Kabuto, holding his own kunai to his throat. " Actually I was waiting for the real you. Distracting the others with an ally replicating you. That's clever even to distract the Sharingan. Tell me, why do you have such fascination in trying to kill me?" Sakura hissed.
Kabuto grinned evilly, " I like to see pretty little girls like you cry and beg for mercy." Sakura roughly held the kunai closer to his throat, making him bleed a little.
" The real reason." Sakura stated furiously.
" To tell the truth it was a personal favor of the Uchiha kid." Kabuto laughed and poofed into a twig. The real Kabuto held Sakura tightly from behind with a kunai against her neck. He swiftly sliced her head off only to be shocked by it poofing into a branch. He turned around too slowly to meet the terrible gaze of slitted pupils and crimson hair, holding a kunai that slashed through his neck, killing Kabuto.
"Two can play at that game."
Kakashi, Sai, and Naruto were surprised when Kabuto suddenly backed off nervously, obviously sensing disaster somewhere and he disappeared into the forest.
" I smell blood." Sai said turning around. Kakashi and Naruto followed suit to see a pink-haired kunoichi holding the head of a familiar Kabuto.
XxxX
Kakashi turned and saw the head of Kabuto. Fresh blood dripped from the bottom of the head. He flinched as he rarely did. His stomach churned a burning potion and venom reached his eyes. He furiously glared at Sakura for being so stupid. The kunoichi noticed this and she stared at Kakashi confusedly. Both Naruto and Sai joined Sakura.
"Kakashi?" Sakura asked quietly. " Are you okay?"
" We're wasting time. The base should be close." Kakashi replied.
The ninja complied and followed Kakashi silently. They each took a branch surrounding a small dark building. They waited tensely, Naruto almost ran in but Sakura pulled him back. He really looked at Sakura for the first time in days. Her face was serious, her brow furrowed in concentration and her eyes were distant as if listening to something. " He's here!" she hissed and pushed Naruto out of the way of a kunai flying at him. Naruto was about to ask whom but was stopped by the appearance of none other than Sasuke.
" Baka Kabuto. Showing him self too early. Guess I'll have to deal with you idiots then." He said coolly. The dark eyes darted looking straight at Naruto, " Dead last." His eyes turned red and black circles swam in the crimson pools.
Naruto yelled angrily and jumped down to face Sasuke, a ball of chakra already formed in his hand. Sasuke easily dodged Naruto's fast attack. His now swifter moves made Naruto no comparison in speed. Naruto multiplied and attacked Sasuke again; the two fighting like it was the end of the world.
Sai, Kakashi, and Sakura watched carefully for other enemies. They knew it would be a bad idea to jump in the middle of Naruto and Sasuke's fight. Sakura watched the fight instead and gasped when Sasuke pulled out a sword, using it skillfully. She noticed Naruto avoiding Sasuke's gaze, giving him a disadvantage. Naruto gave a couple of strong strikes to Sasuke. Naruto carelessly looked at the dark orbs and suddenly his body fell limp and his eyes spaced off. Sasuke did not fight Naruto but stood there staring into his eyes. Sakura couldn't have guessed what was happening until Naruto became paler and Sasuke sneered saying something but she only recognized the word "fox." Naruto fainted and Sasuke readied his sword to strike Naruto and Sakura's stomach bubbled. She jumped out of the tree; about to strike at Sasuke but her other teammate stopped her. Sakura glared at Sai, " Let me get him"
"You mean let you kill him. That would go against our mission don't you think?" Sai said.
" I wasn't going to kill him," Sakura hissed. " Just teach him a lesson." Sakura leaped back and into Kakashi. Kakashi's eye was emotionless and he looked at Sakura.
" Don't use too much chakra. The Hokage doesn't want you turning like that again, especially in this area." He warned. Sakura heard him and controlled her powerful surge. She then went around fast to attack Sasuke. He moved swiftly as well but Sakura was faster. She sped and rammed her fist into him, making him fly into a nearby tree. He brought out his sword and ran to Sakura, ready to strike. She stopped the sword and held the blade, flipping Sasuke and readying herself to pound him to the ground like she did to Tsunade. Sasuke somersaulted into a fighting stance. He was breathing heavily. Good. Sakura rushed at Sasuke and he was about to dodge but she came back behind him and elbowed him in the back. Blood spurted from his mouth and she could've sworn he growled. Sakura flipped over Sasuke and locked her hands to his. His eyes were dark again but his mark had already spread throughout his body. Sakura held his hands strongly and moved her lips close to his right ear.
" I don't want to kill you. I want to bring you back." Sakura whispered softly.
" Why not? I want to kill you." His deep voice rumbled menacingly. Sakura's mind screamed angrily. Sakura furiously bent Sasuke's hands back, cracking his wrists. This seemed to not affect Sasuke as he backlashed Sakura. Sakura flew to the ground and wiped the blood off her cheek. She grinned. She crouched on hands and feet, and then pounced at Sasuke. For a moment she thought she was going to get him but then his whole body erupted in what seemed to be a full body chidori. Kakashi's eyes widened as he watched the scene and he leaped down, holding Sakura back. Sakura wanted to attack again, her eyes never leaving Sasuke's. A new, cold voice made itself known and before she could recognize it she was somewhere else.
Her body was smaller and as she squeaked her voice was too. She saw a twelve-year old looking at Sasuke's back and she felt tears roll down her cheeks. Why was she crying? She yelled at Sasuke to not go and it was then that she remembered this familiar scene. This was the night Sasuke left Konoha. The smaller Sasuke turned slowly, and as he turned his face and body matured and his cloths changed. He held out his sword. Sakura tried to leave but her feet wouldn't move. Sasuke flew behind her and she could feel the cold tip of the sword piercing her back. " I've got to hate everything," he said. The ebony haired ninja plunged the sword into Sakura. Sakura screamed in pain. She felt herself falling and she noticed she was flying quickly to the ground of the valley of the end. The one that had let her go was Sasuke instead of Kabuto.
Sasuke stared at Sakura as she fell. Reaching into her painful memories he did not expect this. He saw the kunoichi fall to her death and a lump formed in his throat. Who had done this to her? For the first time since the chunnin exam he trembled. He placed himself at the bottom and stared at Sakura. His gaze hardened and he kicked her. Suddenly he was immobile. He could not move nor get out of his own trick. His eyes widened and big yellow eyes stared back at him. The yellow eyes faded into lime ones and red hair shone, teeth pointed and the older Sakura stared at him. 'How can she do this! How did my own technique backfire!'
Sakura hissed at him, "That's enough." Quickly things faded away and he was back in the real world.
Sakura got a look at her surroundings and saw Kakashi, Sai, and Naruto all unconscious. She glanced at Sasuke who was still looking at her then at the person the earlier voice erupted from. Orochimaru. Orochimaru was feeding healing chakra to Sasuke's limp wrists.
Sasuke remembered where he was and he took out a kunai, his wrist seemingly healed and he placed it against an unsuspecting Sakura.
" Sasuke, you don't want to kill them, after all the Akatsuki are their enemy as well as ours. It'd be best." Orochimaru hissed wickedly.
Sasuke glared at Sakura, " we'll finish this later, and you will tell me everything." With that they left and the building somehow disappeared.
'PSH! Tell him everything! Who did he think he was!' Sakura absolutely had no special feelings for Sasuke even though deep down she still cared for him. Why else would she go through all this trouble with Naruto? "Naruto!" Sakura suddenly remembered and she rushed to her teammates, healing them all.
"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto said weakly.
" What'd he do to you?" Sakura asked, ignoring his question.
" He talked to the fox demon and suppressed its chakra." Naruto stated simply. "Where is Sasuke?" He asked again.
" They're gone." Sakura said. Naruto frowned and hit the ground. He suddenly seemed energized again as he sat up and his eyes reached Sakura's cheek with the scratch on it.
" Sakura-chan! Are you all right!" Sakura forgot about healing herself and laughed softly. Naruto cupped his hand to her wound right before Sakura did. She had already begun the healing process.
Naruto felt her hand on top of his and the soothing chakra following with it. He stared into the familiar green eyes and his stomach churned. Sakura's cheeks tinted a little and Naruto felt the warmth on her face and blushed as well, quickly swiping his hand back. He turned his head away right before he caught Sakura's frown.
"Lets go find a safe place to rest for tonight," A voice interrupted. Sai and Kakashi were awake and it was Sai who had spoken. " It's been a long day."
The three ninja nodded and they leapt to a safer place by a stream. By then it was night. Naruto yawned loudly and quickly fell asleep. Kakashi followed suit and Sai tucked himself in. Although Sakura should've felt tired she was actually very energized. She felt the breeze rush through her hair and a chill went throughout her body. Maybe it was a good time for a walk. She could see through the dark anyway.
She walked further down by the stream and stared at her reflection once again. This time her reflection smiled at her. Sakura lifted her hand and touched her soft cheek gently. She was so distracted that she didn't even notice the dark figure behind her.
"I've come to finish this." A bitter voice spoke behind her. She twirled around and her arms were held firmly, bringing her face to face with Sasuke. She concentrated hard and recognized this person as the real Sasuke by his chakra flow and his familiar "Sasuke scent". What was he doing risking himself to see her? "I don't know how you got those powers or how you came back to life but why didn't you kill me?" Sasuke continued, "I know you could have."
" I told you," Sakura said," I want to bring you back."
" You know I'm not coming back," Sasuke intruded sharply," You do." Sakura turned her head, " Look at me!" Sasuke snapped. Sakura looked into Sasuke's dark eyes unwillingly, " You need to hear this."
"Why do you care what I need to hear? Since when did you care?" Sakura bit back.
Sasuke ignored her comment, " My goal in life is to kill my brother. I can't kill him with out Orochimaru's power."
" He's just going to use you as a container!" Sakura argued.
"I know that…I don't care," Sasuke said emotionlessly, " if I want to kill him I have to hate everything. What's worth living after hating so much? I feel nothing anymore but hate…"His eyes looked off but his hands were still firmly placed on Sakura's arms. "It would have been better if you had died."
Sakura's eyes narrowed and she gritted her teeth together, " Why do you want to kill me so badly!"
"Because if you had died I would be angry." Sasuke looked back into Sakura's confused eyes, "It's you're fault! You're ruining my plans!" Sakura was about to bite back but she didn't get a chance as Sasuke's lips locked onto hers. Sakura panicked and turned her head, breathing deeply. Sasuke was breathing deeply as well.
"Sasuke, you have one other goal don't you? To revive the Uchiha clan! You can't do that as a container." Sakura replied lamely, trying to ignore what just happened. His eyebrows creased angrily.
"I haven't forgotten about that." He said, " Sakura you know I'm not coming back. It's too late. Soon I'll kill my brother and Orochimaru will take my body. You're the only one I can trust to…" Sasuke trailed off for a little bit, " if you really want to help me, meet me here next week and revive the Uchiha Clan."
It took a moment for Sakura to understand what he was getting at and as she understood her throat dried. " I can bring you back now!" Sakura tried to knock him out but during the conversation roots had grown and held Sakura firmly to the ground.
" I need to return." Sasuke said, "Same day and time next week." With that he left in a blur.
AN: Okay all done for this chapter! It's gonna take me longer to post upcoming chapters because finals are coming up vomits. Yeah I hope you enjoyed it. I know it's kinda melodramatic…oh well, deal with it.
It will be more Naruto concentrated next chapter. I'm kind of unsatisfied with this chapter so I might change it later but this is the best I can do right now.