Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Author's Note: I wrote this while listening to Rei Fu's 'Life is Like a Boat'
Actually, I write fast because I write everything in my mind at that moment listening to music.
I can actually think of all the scenarios that I might make with my story and pre-empt things before they happen.
That way it is much more easier for me to write...
Enoughof my incessant babbles and on to the story...
Chapter 9: Waking Up toDream
Sakura was the earliest to awake or so she thought as she went outside of her small tent. The sun was already up and the birds' early morning chirping coul be heard. She found Kakashi was asleep near the camp fire which probably burned out late last night. Sasuke was probably still asleep coz there was no sign of him and his small tent was still there. 'I wonder if he snores…' Her mind suddenly beamed with curiosity as to where that dastardly new team mate of hers was at. She couldn't find him anywhere in their small camp, so she decided to take a little stroll around the forest hoping she might bump into that annoying bastard; not that she wanted to anyway. She just wanted to 'expose' his 'true' nature. She loathed the black haired shinobi since the first time they met. She sees him as a thief stealing away Naruto's place in their team. Actually she pleaded the Hokage to take him off their team, that time after Kakashi introduced him, or rather, he introduced himself.
Flashback—
"Tsunade-shishou! Please take that bastard off my team!" she yelled at the Hokage who still wasn't paying attention to her despite the increasing volume of her voice…
"Sakura, I have enough trouble as it is with all these papers, and you're here whining won't make it any less irritating..." her voice low which scared Sakura, it was not normal for Tsunade to lower her voice like that except if she was totally pissed.
"If you have a problem with that take it up to those old men in the council who do nothing but whine all day much like you…" still putting all her attention on the papers on the table which where truth be told she didn't quite understand.
"But—"she was cut off as Tsunade radiated a set amount killer intent that would make any ordinary shinobi wet their pants. Sakura was already used to this, but she knew better than to push this, lest Tsunade does something that will land her in the hospital bed for weeks.
"I understand…" was the only thing she could say as she left her office.
End Flashback—
'If Tsunade-shishou wasn't so scary…' she cut off her thoughts as she heard voices in a conversation. She hid herself behind a tree and peeked to see their team mate talking to a shadow below a huge tree. She couldn't make out the figure where she was standing but she could see Kujo. She could hear their voices as they spoke as she hid her charka so she wouldn't be found. 'Thank shishou for teaching me to hide my chakra' She leaned in even more closely so she could heat.
"I see…" said Kujo as Sakura saw him cup his chin. "Rokubi wa ore no mono dattebayo( The Rokubi is mine)" she heard Kujo say that made Sakura tremble a little. There was only one person she knew that used 'dattebayo' at the end of his sentences. Due to her shock she didn't notice the twig which she stepped on as she moved. At this Sakura leaned on more on the tree hoping they didn't hear it. After a few minutes, she decided to make a run for it only to stop when she felt her world getting heavy as darkness was overcoming her sight. The upper half of her body slowly fell forward while the lower part still leaned on the tree. As her head slowly fell forward a hand could be seen going 'through' her head. The fingers somehow 'melded' with her flesh. The hand seems to be coming from the tree. Slowly a head was coming out with the hand.
"Gomenasai Sakura-chan, but I can't let you leave…" he whispered to the unconscious Sakura of which his right hand was in her head. "Nou Gomu… (Memory Eraser)" he whispered as he slowly took his hand, which was no glowing with charka, out from her head "…knowing what you heard" he continued as he completely went out of the tree and laid her down.
"You still care for them?" the shadow which moved closer to him asked.
"Of course, Zetsu-san" he said as a smile graced his features.
"Are you sure we can trust Kabuto?"
"Yes, by now he has already released the Rokubi. Tell Hidan and Kakuzu that the Rokubi is mine, don't let them interfere" he stated as his face turned serious.
"Got it"
As Zetsu was slowly dissolving into the ground, he said "Tell ouja(King) that I will keep my promise"
Zetsu stopped and looked at him "Your nindo, eh?"
He just nodded as Zetsu slowly disappeared into the ground.
At the camp…
Kakashi was slowly coming to…
"Ugh, damn my body feels cold" he shivered as he eyed his surroundings. 'Heh, guess might have fallen asleep'
He was about to stand up when he heard a rustle in the bushes. He reached for his kunai as the figure slowly came into view.
"Sakura?" he said as he breathed a sigh of relief
"Kakashi? You're awake?" eyeing her former teacher.
"You're up early. Where've you been?" he inquired as sat back on the log which is also where he fell asleep.
"For the life of me, I don't remember…" confused as she clutched her head" and why does my head feel like it has just been ran over by a bull (I was supposed to type 'car' but I didn't see any in the manga and anime series)"
"Well in any case, you should wake up Sasuke" pointing at Sasuke's tent "And where is Kujo?"
"Yo!" Kujo said as he appeared in front of Kakashi with a poof waving a peace sign smiling.
'Hey! That's my line! And my style!' Kakashi thought but didn't voice out his frustration that Kujo was imitating him.
"Hn, how childish… only an idiot would do a thing like that. What if you know Shunshin, doesn't mean you can flaunt it like—"Sakura cut herself when she saw a tear forming in Kakashi's visible eye.
"Eh? Kakashi? Why are you crying?" she asked in confusion.
'I didn't know you thought like that Sakura' he thought as he wiped away the forming tear.
"Betsuni, Sakura (It's nothing, Sakura)" he lied.
"What's with all the noise?" they turned to look at Sasuke who was already preparing his pack and had finished unsetting his tent.
"Maa, looks like Sasuke is already waiting for us…" Kakashi said his eyes in the shape of a 'u'.
After a few minutes team Kakashi was already set for their journey…
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Somewhere in the Land of the Tea…
She ran as fast as her feet could guide her. She knew that if she stayed any longer in that godforsaken place she might die a miserable death. In her haste she traversed deep into the woods not knowing where she was going. As she ran her clothes were becoming more and more tattered as cuts and bruises were forming in on every part of her body because of the branches of the trees intertwined making it difficult to run through. And yet she ran and ran not minding the sharp points on some of the tree's branches as they slashed through her skin. If it weren't for the demon inside her she would already dead. It was even a surprise that she could still run having been deprived of food and water. She didn't even notice that her hitai-ate was already gone. Yet she ran and ran….
At last she came upon a road. It was a dirt road one on which carriages and merchants normally went through. It started raining. She raised her face facing the sky as she felt the rain. It's been a while since she felt the rain on her body. She swallowed some of the rain drops hoping it would quench her thirst. Then she fell on her knees. It was then that she felt that everything that she has went through was slowly seeping through her skin. Her body became even number as she eyed her hands and tears were streaming down her face. She felt her body weaken to a great extent as she welcomed the sleep that she was deprived of for so long hoping that a kind merchant or trader might find her and give her shelter.
An hour later…
"Oi! What are you doing!" a man shouted at the man manning the horses of their small supply carriage who stopped the horses causing some of their packages to slip through the roof they have created to shield against the rain.
"There's someone on the road!" the man shouted back at him.
"What? In this rain?" confusion in his voice as he dropped off to see what it was.
As he neared the body he could see that it was still breathing.
"He's alive!" he ran towards the body to see that it was a beautiful green haired woman.
"It's a girl…" he whispered as he slowly untangled the hair in front of her face.
"Idate! What is it?"
"It's a girl!" he replied as he carried her over to their carriage.
"We should just leave her! She might be demon!" he warned him.
"Are you insane? There's no one this beautiful a demon! And besides, are we just going to leave her in the rain?" he retorted, angry at his partner.
"Didn't say I didn't warn you!" he said as he shifted himself back to the horses "Hiya!"
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A week later…
"Gai-san, when the hell is this new team gonna arrive?" Ino asked the green-clad jounin who was now having another 'battle' with Lee.
"Well, Tsunade-sama didn't really say when, but I guess it would take three days more for them to arrive…but, judging by the conditions of the weather…" he pointed at the growing mass of dark clouds "…traveling by boat would take a while, I'd say five days more…" he finished in his nice guy pose with his teeth sparkling.
'Does he ever get tired with that?' Ino thought as she sweatdropped; "Then we have been waiting for a week doing nothing and listening to the two of you and getting bored out of our wits and you don't know when exactly they will arrive?" Ino was already losing her patience. It was bad enough being stuck with a dog that does nothing but lick her, but being with two geji-mayu (thick brows), who do nothing but annoy her with their stupid and embarrassing antics, made it worse. She wouldn't be surprised to see several Oto nin drop dead in seeing the two of them.
"Now, now Yamanaka-san…" Gai was now sweating buckets feeling Ino's killer intent focused on him. Lee was still posing and Kiba was busy eating that Gai felt that no one could help him right now. 'So this is how the flames of my youth gets snuffed out? NO!' he brokedown mentally.
"Rooof!" all of them stopped and readied in a fighting stance hearing Akamaru's bark.
They dropped their guard a little seeing their visitor.
"Yo! I guess I have to say 'the sound of the leaves'" at this they all dropped their guard.
Afew seconds later all of Kakashi's team was now out.
"Aren't you a bit early Kakashi?" Gai asked his rival.
"Well, we thought to save you guys the trouble of waiting and hurried as fast as we can" he said smiling.
"CAN IT BE THAT THE FIRES OF YOUTH HAVE REKINDLED IN MY RIVAL?" Gai said as tears streamed down his face.
"Hm? Did you say something?" Kakashi asked not paying attention to Gai who dropped to the floor anime style.
"Sakura!" Ino yelled at her best friend motioning her to come.
As Sakura was close to her she whispered "Who's that hot stuff?" pointing to Kujo.
At this Sakura glared at her, "What? I'm just trying to lighten the mood"
"Looks like you have a new member, Uchiha" Kiba said to Sasuke who ignored his tone.
"He looks strong…" Lee said eyeing the said person.
It was then that Kujo left Kakashi and Gai's conversation and approached the other Leaf nins. He stopped as he heard Akamaru bark and grind his teeth at him.
"What is it Akamaru? He smell's like a snake?" patting his dog while glaring at Kujo.
Sasuke who heard what Kiba said also turned to Kujo. He didn't say it but he found that the new member of his team was really suspicious. After he heard that he might have come from 'Ne', he couldn't feel but be suspicious of him. After all he already knew the objective of the 'Ne' while he was still with Orochimaru. And the fact that he smelled like snakes increased his suspicions even more.
Sakura and Ino were also staring at him.
'I knew that there was something fishy about him'
'Snakes? That's kinda gross'
"What a rude mutt… You might have mistaken me for him—"tilting his head in Sasuke's direction"—since he's the one who live with snakes in the first place" he smirked.
Sasuke payed no attention to him and turned his attention to Gai and Kakashi who were now moving towards them.
"Ok, listen up. According to the Hokage's orders I'll be leading this operation" the one-eyed jounin said.
"Gai's team has recovered information that Orochimaru's lair is in this area" he said earning him different reactions. A scowl from Sasuke, a look of disgust on Sakura, excitement on Kiba and Lee, a scared look on Ino and a… smile on Kujo? Nevertheless he shrugged it off.
"We are to locate the exact position of his hideout, and draw a detailed map of possible ambush areas and traps. Kujo, you were put on this team for the purpose of making that map, correct?" looking at the chuunin.
"That is right Hatake-san" he said handing each of them a scroll, with a point in the middle, and a pen he pulled out from his sleeves magically earning him different looks. "I've analyzed the map you gave me earlier Maito-san" getting a small map with scribbled writings out of nowhere again.
"Though it is somewhat…unrealiable…" pointing to a part of the map which was labeled 'gigantic tree of youth' with the drawing of some sort of mushroom "…this will be our point reference. You shall detail all the things you see once we separate into our teams. Each team will go into different directions coming from this point, got that?" seeing them nodding he continued "Hatake-san will be the one to go into team details "
"Ok, now we'll separate into two man teams"
After a few minutes, the team assignments were now given.
Team 1: Lee + Sakura
"Lee, stop it!" Sakura squeaked as Lee was running around chasing her, blowing kisses everywhere she went.
"Sakura-chan, I'll protect you with my life!" Lee shouted his love while running after Sakura.
Team 2: Ino + Sasuke
"Um…" Sasuke was blushing as Ino was literally hanging in his left hand. It was not that he liked Ino but that he could feel her rubbing her breasts on his arm.
"We're gonna have a lot of fun!Ne, Sasuke-kun?" she growled his name sexily rubbing her breasts on him.
"Uh, ye-yeah…"
Team 3: Kujo + Kiba (+Akamaru)
"Grrrr" Akamaru growled in disagreement.
"Hey, why do I have to get stuck with this bastard?" Kiba growled at Kakashi.
"Hey, it's not like I want to be in a team with dog-breath here and his bitch" Kujo mocked.
"Bastard! What did you say? Akamaru is a boy!" Kiba growled back.
Team 4: Kakashi + Gai
"Kakashi! I will show you the fire of youth burns brightly within me! Prepare yourself, the one who describes the area the best wins!" pointing a finger at Kakashi, challenging him.
"Looks like we already know who'll win...with that kind of drawing…" his thoughts drifting to the map Gai made.
"MY MAP WAS PERFECT! IT WAS FILLED WITH THE GLORY OF YOUTH! YOU'RE HIP AND COOL WAYS CAN'T MATCH UP TO THAT!"
"Hn? You say something?" at this Gai cried his heart out.
'What a troublesome bunch, guess I have to reassign them…'
After a few minutes of reassigning each team…
He decided to put people with persons they hadn't have something against.
Team 1: Kakashi + Sasuke
"We'll, looks like it's the two of us again…" Kakashi said to his former student, former, because they were now equal and no longer teacher and student.
"Hn" Sasuke said with a smirk,
Team 2: Gai + Lee
"YOSH, LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
"GAI-SENSEI!"
"LEE!"
Team 3: Sakura + Kiba (Akamaru)
"Makes you see who their favorites are, huh, Sakura?" Kiba stated looking at the two teams.
"I'm afraid Sasuke is turning into Kakashi" she said with a sigh, forgetting to put the '-kun' after Sasuke.
Team 4 Kujo + Ino
Ino was about to put her hands around his arms like with Sasuke, but he stopped her by grabbing her wrist.
"Touch me and die…" he said while giving her a dose of killer intent.
Ino quickly went a distance from him with fear in her eyes.
"Well then, why don't we set out?"
The teams were now ready for their mission.
'The Rokubi will be mine…'
TBC
What do you think, ne? Review pls.
Ano, am gonna make explainations on jutsu that I will create...here's one:
Nou Gomu (Memory Eraser)-permanent genjutsu; erases a persons memory of something permanently. Consumes a whole lot of chakra since it's dealing with memories.