Naruto: Chronicles of a Seer

Chapter 1: The assignment.

The morning was the usual fair for Neji Hyuuga. He woke up to the sound of the mouse-like voice of his cousin Hinata. He met with her, her younger sister Hanabi, and his Uncle Hiashi for breakfast. He did some sparring with his uncle, and now he was resting and drinking tea that Hinata prepared for them.

He thumbed a spot on his shoulder as he sat, buried in his thoughts. It had been two years since an arrow from one of the Sound four had pierced that spot. Another arrow came lower in his stomach. He thought he was going to die that day. But fortunately, he was picked up by medical ninjas. His condition was critical, but he survived.

Since then he had trained hard with the aid of his family. He had passed the Chunnin exam on his second try almost one-and-a-half years ago. And, just recently, he had finally passed his Jounin exam, making him the first one to pass out of the Konoha 12. This feat had some cause for celebration. Rock Lee, TenTen, and Gai took him out to eat at a nice restaurant. Sakura and the others even got him some new equipment as a congratulations present. He honestly didn't feel all of this to be necessary though. The one thing that satisfied him was that he knew that he had gotten stronger.

He decided against taking students until a little later in his life. He still felt that there was a lot of growing that he would need to do before training others. TenTen and Lee told him that he could have taken them now if he wanted. They said that he would make a good teacher, and that he was just belittling himself. Still, he wanted to feel sure of what he was doing.

He looked back over to see the clock. Aparrently, he was to meet with Tsunade so that she could discuss a mission that he would take with his original team. Gai had said that this mission would be a very important and dangerous one. He also said that Tsunade had chosen them especially for it. This made him very curious. He was more than able to do the more dangerous rank A missions. Once he became a jounin, he was given 2 in a row. He was able to complete them with good timing. His other teammates praised his skill. He really was the pride of the Hyuuga Clan.

It was close to time now. He may as well try to make it there early. He stood up and bowed to his uncle to bid him goodbye. Then, he left the compound and disappeared in smoke. He would make it there in good time.

-

"TenTen! It's good to see you!"

Rock Lee gave a wave as he approached the office door. Tenten turned around in turn and grinned, waving back.

"Lee! Gai's already speaking with Tsunade-Sama. Where's Neji?"

"I'm right here."

Both of them turned around to see him walking towards them. They both nodded their heads towards their comrade. Neji gave a nod as well. The three of them walked into the office.

Tsunade and Gai looked up as they came in. The three of them stood next to their former Sensei.

"Good, you three are early. That means we can start now."

She handed Gai a photograph. He in turn handed it to the other three. Neji was the last to look at it. He didn't think much of it at first. It was a Konoichi with long black hair that, even with it put up, went down past her abdomen. She wore a red top with fishnet on the shoulders. The top ended by her hips and then trailed off lower to one side. Her Kapris were a similar color. She also wore black Sandals, the same kind as the blue one that he wore. Her eyes were quite striking. They were an endless deep green.

Upon closer inspection he noted that her village symbol was that of the Sound. So, they were after one of Orochimaru's Shinobi. She seemed very cold from her picture. Her face seemed to be like that of stiff painted glass.

Tsunade began after they had all had a good look at the photograph, "This was taken very recently by ANBU who were looking for Orochimaru. Her name is Ikue Saiyuri. She is one of Orochimaru's closest aids. From the information that they picked up from other Sound-Nin, they even say that she's a Seer."

"A Seer?" Tenten looked at Tsunade with the eyes of a skeptic, "You mean she can see into the future and stuff?"

"This can't be proven for sure,' The Hokage replied, "however, what we do know, is that she has been the coordinator of several of their more organized missions. She is also said to know all of Orochimaru's secrets."

"If she is one of the ninja that are closest to Orochimaru, then that means that she must posess superior abilities then," Neji remarked.

"Indeed, she is supposedly able to avoid almost any attack. This is credited to her 'second sight.' However she does have one significant weakness."

"A weakness?" Rock Lee repeated to himself, "What sort of weakness would that be?"

Tsunade looked to him, "She cannot take as much damage as other shinobi of her level. She also very damaged by illness. Which is why she has been forced to stay in a small town near the east Border of the Fire country."

"So our mission is to Capture her while she is still weak," Neji folded his arms, "It seems like a very shallow move to me."

"Saiyuri is always escorted by other Sound-Nin," Gai replied to his remark, "Orochimaru is very protective of her it seems. All of them apparently think that she can see beyond what even those with the Byakugan or the Sharningan can."

"Now is the best time to make any move to capture her." Tsunade stated standing up, "She won't be able to leave the town for a few days. You will need to get there as soon as possible, get through her guard, and take her in for questioning. Hopefully she will be able to give us Valuable information into Orochimaru's schemes."

"Right!" Gai Turned around and put an energetic fist in the air. "Neji! Tenten! Lee! Lets go!"

Rock Lee was right behind him, Tenten shrugged and continued forward. Neji just moved shaking his head. They would go their separate ways to prepare their equipment and supplies, then they would meet later at the gate to start their mission.

-

She lapsed into another fit of coughing as she reached for a glass of water. The glass of water seemingly met the challenge and slowly floated into her hands. She downed half of it in a single gulp before setting it back down again.

Her situation wasn't the best. Saiyuri was in a bed at an inn. The other sound Ninja that were guarding her were dispersed throughout the area to create a perimeter. So far she didn't feel that there was very much going on. Orochimaru had sent Sasuke to bring her back as soon as possible. Fortunately, she had just gotten done with a mission. These sound-nin were under her lead. Some of them were being trained by her.

She knew that Sasuke was pleased deep inside that he would get to collect her in such a miserable condition. She was no merciful trainer, especially not to sasuke. She was very hard on him in order to get him to grow to his own expectations, not to hers. She also had to take into consideration what Orochimaru would want out of his future vessel.

She didn't like Sasuke at all. He was rude, obnoxious, overconfident, and arrogant. They had sparred several times over the years. She had to work a long time to break him out of underestimating his opponents. Now Sasuke had edged closer to Orochimaru's level. She wouldn't be surprised if he unintentionally surpassed Orochimaru before her master had a chance to transfer to his body.

However, dealing with her current situation, Orochimaru wouldn't have trusted her retrieval to anyone else save Kabuto. And Kabuto was busy at the moment spying on Akatsuki. Sasuke would probably get here without much trouble, and then lead the rest of them back to the Sound. There, she'd probably get some proper rest and treatment, and she'd be able to make a report to her master.

She lay back on her bed then something sounded within her. Someone had mentioned her afar off. She concentrated farther. She could hear voices. It was the Voice of the Gondaime Hokage speaking to some Leaf-nin.

"So our mission is to capture her while she is still weak. It seems like a very shallow move to me."

"Saiyuri is always escorted by other sound-nin. Orochimaru is very protective of her it seems. All of them apparently think that she can see beyond what those with even the Byakugan or the Sharningan can."

"Now is the best time to make any move to capture her. She won't be able to leave the town for a few days. You will need to get there as soon as possible, get through her guard, and take her in for questioning. Hopefully she will be able to give us Valuable information into Orochimaru's schemes."

"Right! Neji! Tenten! Lee! Lets go!"

She regretted the fact that she wasn't able to intercept the ANBU that were watching her. Her group only managed to take out a few of them before they left. Now the shinobi of Konoha were headed this way to capture her. No doubt they wanted information about Orochimaru.

Maybe…

She focused harder. Who were these that they sent after her? Why did the Hokage pick this particular group to capture her above anyone else?

Their leader was Maito Gai. He was an older Jounin, one of the two in the group. He seemed to be expert in the furious fist. He was also able to break six gates quite efficiently. Another interesting factor was his experience with fighting against an opponent such as that of the Copy Ninja Hatake Kakashi. He was able to fight against a Sharningan effectively. This would be a challenge to Sasuke should they come at the same time that he does.

Then there was Rock lee: A unique ninja among others. He had no ability in Genjutsu or Ninjutsu whatsoever. Sasuke had mentioned him once or twice. He was an incredibly fast taijutsu specialist. He was more than able to pull of the secondary and primary lotuses. Those were dangerous attacks. He was also there when Kimimaru died. His apparent ace-in-the-hole is his natural effinity with the Suiken or Drunken Fist Style. This would make him unpredictable in his movements. However, that was for a normal person. Her second sight could see such attacks coming. However that coupled with his speed would be challenging.

The konoichi of the team was Tenten: a weapons specialist. She carried scrolls with weapons sealed within them. She seemed to have developed an effinity with bombs over the years to. And she was very good at spotting and disarming traps. Other than that, she had some stereotypical ninjitsu and genjutsu techniques. Her abilities were also alittle more towards taijutsu and weapon arts. Her ability with traps was her best asset. She wouldn't be too difficult to defeat.

Then there was Neji Hyuuga: the second jounin. He recently became a jounin. But apparently he was very skilled for his age. He had the legendary power of the Byakugan. This would be the real force to be reckoned with. He was adept at hitting the tenketsu points of the body. And his Jyuukenhou Hakke Ryonkou Younshou (eight trigrams: 64 strikes) would be extremely difficult to defeat. The gentle fist style would be especially damaging to her. And should her tenketsu be cut off, then her attacks would be rendered useless.

Something about his past sang to her. She delved further into the past of the hyuuga. She found out, that even though he was probably the strongest of the clan, that he was still a part of the branch house. He still bared the curse mark. He was still the bird in the cage.

A bird in the cage….

…just like her…

-End of Chapter 1