Author's Note: Yup, early :3 I don't want to upload it tomorrow XD
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!
Chapter Two Unwanted Memories
WITH A LOUD YAWN, the pink-haired kunoichi of Konohagakure met the new day with a smile plastered on her face. After a few basic stretches and wiping the tiredness from her eyes, she prepared herself for border patrol with Hinata Hyuuga and Inuzuka Kiba. Thinking of her current team, her mind wandered to the old Team Seven. Uchiha Sasuke seemed to always be out of her reach, just at her fingertips. And Uzumaki Naruto? He was so powerful now, leagues ahead of her. She shuddered, remembering Naruto's new Rasen-shuriken technique. That Akatsuki… Kakuzu, was it? His body was torn to shreds, with no hope of repair. And where am I amongst those two? I never seem to be strong enough, no matter how much I train, or who I train with.
She stared at herself in the mirror, glancing over the little changes that had occurred over the years. Frowning, something out of place caught her eye. Was that… "It can't be…" She turned around, eyeliner in hand and ready to stab a certain deceased redhead in the eyes. To her relief, only her yellow walls stared back at her.
Why on earth am I thinking of that puppet freak Sasori? I definitely need more sleep when I imagine of him instead of Sasuke. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a little voice noted she dropped the honorific she usually used for Sasuke. It was drowned out by memories of her first serious encounter with a real Akatsuki. Her fight with Chiyo, Sasori's grandmother, against Akasuna no Sasori was so long ago, which did nothing to explain why was he coming back to haunt her now. She vividly remembered the sudden widening of his brown eyes, full with the emotion of shock, the sudden jerking that caused his soft, luscious looking red hair to - What the hell am I thinking? Sakura hissed to herself. She glanced up at her mirror again. Her hand immediately flew up to her cheek, as if she was trying to cover the pink tinge that had washed over her cheeks, but the tinge only darkened in hue.
Sakura gripped the edge of her dresser tightly, slightly in anger at herself, slightly at something else. Okay, she'd admit it, Sasori was attractive. Was. She was absolutely sure he was dead. Thinking back on the peculiar way in which he died, her sureness began to falter. She hadn't dealt the fatal blow. She couldn't be sure he was dead. She had no idea how Sasori functioned, no way to make sure he truly was dead. Sasori's death was the work of Chiyo, with Sasori's first two puppets - that of his mother and father. And what was with the strange black markings on the floor when Chiyo stabbed Sasori's heart in about six different points? Chiyo said it would refrain him from movement, yet wasn't he able to move his head? Sasori was Chiyo's grandson…
"Oh, no, no, no, Sakura, don't you dare think that Chiyo faked Sasori's death to save him. Do not think that!" she muttered to herself. Flustered, she matted down her stray pink hairs, and bolted out of her apartment, not wanting to face that demented mirror of hers. It was playing tricks on her, she knew, that evil thing! All she wanted was to go on her mission to get the puppet off of her mind. She stopped at the entrance to the large Hyuuga compound, near the heart of Konoha, nearly running into Kiba and his best mate and dog, Akamaru. Sakura frowned, "Where's Hinata?"
"She's feeling a bit sick, so we're going on our border patrol tomorrow. They've called for the Hyuuga medic to go and check on her. She looked really awful. I hope she'll be alright…" Sakura smiled. Kiba was such a fool. How could he not see that he liked Hinata? Suddenly, he brightened up. "Hey, want to go to the Yamanaka flower shop with me? So you can help me haggle with Ino about the prices?" he joked. Sakura nodded, and two made their way to Ino's family's store. The two of them – three including Akamaru – entered the shop and found Ino half asleep at the cash register.
"Oi, Ino-pig, we could have robbed you and you would have had no idea," Sakura laughed, poking her best friend. Ino groaned something unintelligible and swatted Sakura's hand away, slowly opening her blue eyes.
"What are you two doing here?" she snapped, straightening out her outfit and hair.
"Hinata's sick. I want to get her some flowers, but I just have no idea what to choose. How about a rose? People always get them in those cheesy TV shows," said Kiba, kneeling to inspect the flowers. Ino laughed, walking around the counter.
"Yes, silly, but you don't give a sick person flowers unless you're professing your undying love to them… while he or she is sick. Here, take these." She handed Kiba a pretty bouquet of flowers. "I made that myself," she added proudly.
"So how much will this be…?"
"Two hundred forty ryo," Ino replied.
"Ouch, you charge a high price!"
Ino sighed, glancing at Sakura, who, she noticed, seemed to be off in her own little world, "Fine, I'll cut it to two hundred ryo."
"I was joking, Yamanaka. I don't want to skimp out on getting something for Hinata. Here you go." Kiba fished for money in his pocket, and set it on the counter. Feeling a little guilty, Ino gave him a vase to put the flowers in. When Kiba questioned her, she simply said, "Gift to a friend. Is there something wrong with that?" Kiba had flashed her a heart-warming grin and replied, "I didn't know I had such good-looking friends. See ya!" Ino sighed, twirling a strand of loose blonde hair around her fingers.
"He's such a cutie, isn't he, Billboard-Brow?" she smiled to herself. After a few minutes of silence, the blonde girl realized she was left unheard. Ino tried to glare at her best friend, but couldn't help but smile, seeing that Sakura was in a blissful looking trance. "Oi, Billboard-Brow, Kiba's mine!" she exclaimed, jabbing Sakura in the side.
"Huh?" she asked, clearing her head. "What about Kiba?"
"Never mind about that, I was just saying that in hopes to get a reply from you. Dreaming about Kiba, huh? Do I sense Sakura is a little envious of Hinata?" Sakura frowned, as if Ino began speaking in a foreign language.
"What on earth are you talking about?"
"Weren't you daydreaming about Kiba-kun?"
"No… what makes you think that?"
"Well, you were only in a trance, dummy."
"Oh. I wasn't thinking about him."
"Oh reaaaallly?"
"Yeah! It was someone else - " Sakura's green eyes widened a fraction before a sigh of defeat escaped her lips. It was a minor slip up, but it was too late to cover it up. Judging from the devious look in Ino's expression, Sakura would not be hearing the end of it.
"So you were thinking about 'someone,' huh? Who is it? And if you say Sasuke, I'm going to punch you in the face myself!" Ino huffed playfully. Sakura didn't respond in the way she had hoped, but, instead, she blushed a little.
"No, Ino-pig, I was not daydreaming about Sasuke. Don't worry about it. How about we go out for lunch? What do you say?" Sakura asked, hoping Ino would just drop the subject.
"I'll only go with you if you tell me who you were thinking of. It's a definitely a guy. Is he cute?" Sakura glanced at Ino. The medic-nin sighed, running her hand through her pink hair. She wanted to tell someone, but, how could she explain it? First, she was the only one alive who had seen Sasori's real body. Well, at least of those in Konoha. And the moment she mentioned that Sasori was good-looking, Ino would bug her to no end to learn just how good-looking Sasori was. But she desperately wanted to tell someone.
"Okay, fine." Sakura hesitantly gave in, making Ino frown and raise an eyebrow.
"The Sakura I know and love doesn't give in so easily… who are you?"
Sakura chuckled, "It's me, no worries. This… is just stressing me out a bit and I want to talk to someone about it. But please promise me you won't bug me to tell you how hot this guy is, alright?" Ino squealed upon hearing 'hot' and instantly grabbed both of Sakura's hands energetically.
"Who is it, who is it?"
"Ino, this is not about a crush! This is serious! This could potentially be life threatening!" Sakura yelled the last part a little too loudly, as some of the villagers within hearing range paused their actions. Dropping into a whisper, she said, "Okay, you know that Akatsuki Chiyo-baasama and I fought?" Ino eagerly nodded. "His name was Akasuna no Sasori. And I got to see his real face."
Ino squealed again. "And is he hot?"
Sakura failed to meet Ino's gaze as she continued, "Well, yeah, his face is beautiful… really beautiful, but his body… please, the moment you see his body – I mean, if you had seen his body – you'd scream and run."
"So, what's the problem? Dreaming about dead guys is a little strange, but I'll deal for now."
"Well," Sakura whispered, "that's what's troubling me. I thought I saw Sasori in my mirror this morning, even though he wasn't even there. And I found myself blushing upon the thought of him. I'm getting those weird feelings that he's alive and he's ready to completely obliterate Konoha."
"You'd better tell the Fifth Hokage, then," Ino replied, her face suddenly serious with concern.
"Do you know how crazy I sound? Seeing a dead man in my mirror? There are no such things as ghosts, Ino!" Her frantic reply was met with little sympathy.
"You either risk Konoha's safety or keep it to yourself. What can I do?" Sakura sighed, knowing Ino was right. Neither of them could really do anything. It wasn't like Tsunade could just increase the defenses by tenfold just because of an illusion with such high demand of ninja for missions.
Running her hand through her hair again, she decided, "I'll keep it to myself. If I still feel this way by tomorrow, I'll tell Tsunade-sama, and she can take care of it. Maybe I'm just not getting enough sleep. Maybe I should get a new mattress."
Ino smiled again, before adding, "That sounds good with me. Oh, by the way, I lied about the lunch. I've got to cover the shop until my parents get back. Sorry, Forehead." Sakura smiled, and called, "Bye!" before stepping out into the town again. She chuckled, seeing that Naruto was already at Ichiraku Ramen shop. She hesitated, deciding whether to step into the shop or not. Sighing, she turned right to her own apartment, away from Naruto. She just needed a little time alone, for now. If only she could be on that mission right now, her thoughts wouldn't be able to eat away at her. Chiyo-baasama… You would never pretend to kill Sasori, would you, even if you knew he was such a threat?
IF SAKURA HAD KNOWN then just how real her fears were, she just might have dropped dead. The said Akatsuki that had come to haunt her at the oddest of times was currently pacing around in the mountainous area near Iwagakure no Sato, Rock Country. Since his return, he had received his old obnoxious partner, Deidara, who had been gone for two hours already. "Damned blonde…" Sasori had no idea what was so important that he had to go during a mission. Deidara, as a natural daredevil, had no fears about strolling into the village he was named a traitor to, where he was wanted for deception amongst other things; he usually did these types of things on his own time, hardly ever on missions. Sasori had a nagging feeling that he had lost respect since his death.
Nonetheless, Sasori gave Deidara an hour, which was quite generous of the puppet. The pyromaniac's little adventure was making Sasori's patience run more than just short, and the puppet master was tempted to leave, but, to his dismay and embarrassment, he had doubts that he could accomplish this mission without Deidara's help. Thirty more minutes, Deidara. There's too much risk to be roaming around your old home village much longer.
The pyromaniac strolled around his old home town, his own patience wearing thin. It had been two hours now, and he was simply fed up between knowing Sasori would explode on him later – Deidara grinned, thinking of what a nice, beautiful explosion of fire and wood that would be – and trying to find the apartment he was looking for – his old apartment.
It had been, what, three or four years since he left this wretched place? And it had already changed so much? He was positive his apartment wasn't abandoned, because he distinctly remembered giving a lost child his home, since she was evicted from her old one. Did she leave his apartment, once she found out about why he no longer needed the apartment? "One more try, hmm," he muttered to himself. "Jackpot." He was right; the young girl she had given his apartment to three years ago hadn't moved a thing – not even his clothes. He was sure she still leaved here, though. The smell that naturally was her still lingered in the air, and it was fresh.
Grinning to himself, he scribbled a note and placed it on her –once his – bed. Tsk, tsk. I would've never guessed a girl lived here in this mess. He used a clay bird to hold his note down and continued his way through his old home, snacking on a fruit left on her kitchen table. Chuckling, curiosity won over as he went through her clothes, most of which was in a big heap on a chair. Seems like something she'd wear. He snatched one of her underwear, a smug grin on his face, retrieved one of his old scrolls, which was his one of his original objectives of going into the town he despised, and strolled out the door calmly – just in time, in fact. He lifted the hood of his casual wear as he walked down the stairs as a black-haired teenage girl walked up groceries in tow. Deidara dared to meet eye contact. He didn't recognize the mid-length black hair that flowed behind her in two neat ponytails or the gold eyes that pierced right back at him with suspicion. He had no recollection of just what eye colors the kid he had met years ago had, so there was no way to be sure. He swiped yet another piece of fruit from her grocery bag, causing her to stop and glare at the back of his retreating head. …Jerk, she thought.
She did not have much time to gawk at his rudeness as her door eerily opened on its own. The girl, Sora, frowned, remembering that she had purposely left her windows shut and her fan off. The blood drained from her face when she assumed one of the worst. Oh, no, that jerk did not just break in, did he? Dropping everything in her hands, she ran back down the staircase, quickly leaping to the roof of the apartment building from the outside. After searching for awhile, she realized, to her dismay, that he was no longer in the district. He was probably out of Iwa by now, Iwa still being a relatively small village.
Walking back in to her room, she found a scrap of paper on her bed, held down by an innocent looking sparrow sculpture. She picked up the note, reading, "Yo. I just needed to grab some old stuff. Cute underwear." She spun around to face her messy dresser and glared at nothing in particular, seeing as he had left another scrap of paper in her underwear drawer. This note contained no kanji, just a hastily drawn smiley face. She picked up the original note, and continued, "'P.S… the bird explodes ' Ack!" She jumped upon the detonation of the clay sculpture on her bed, leaving her blanket and flames. Oh, she couldn't wait to get her hands around this jerk's throat.
"YOU'RE LATE."
"WAY TO state the obvious, hmm," Deidara retorted to his calm partner, Akasuna no Sasori. Sasori's almost always unchanging doll face made him a difficult read, but Deidara had experience. Underneath the calm, picturesque face, Sasori was seething in anger both from having to wait in slight anxiety and from Deidara's brash remark.
"Let's go," the puppet hissed. One of the few things Deidara learned he appreciated about his puppet-partner was that Sasori did not ask questions. If Sasori was not interested, Sasori simply didn't bother with it. Even if Deidara was holding a piece of underwear in his hands.
Complying without complaint (and also knowing his sparrow bomb was not unheard), the two criminals took fled through the mountains, seeking the cover of the forest at Iwa's edge, but not soon enough. Kunai flew at them with no warning, no telltale ringing of metal. "Damn!" growled Deidara, ignoring the gnawing pain at his side as his hands molded clay birds. In just moments he sent them flying and exploding, careful to keep Sasori out of the list of casualties. Deidara always wanted to know what would happen if he lit a match on Sasori, but now was not the ideal time to find out.
"Deidara, you idiot!" snapped Sasori, clearly annoyed to be breaking out his puppets so soon. It was too close for Sasori's combat style. They needed a getaway, and quick. Deidara set about trying to form their transportation while working on the offensive side of things as Sasori dealt with the defense as best as the limited space could. Sasori's expression hardened when he felt four more chakra signatures incoming at a fast pace. They were going to be trapped if Deidara didn't hurry. As much as Sasori wanted to yell at the whelp to quicken his work, he restrained himself, knowing it would be of no help and a waste of breath. Sasori's death had not gone without consequence. Surely, he was alive and was still functioning, but there had been devastating changes to his body. Now, he actually needed to breathe. He had yet to know if he would experience pain as well. Inside, he hoped he wouldn't find out now, not exactly wanting to know what it was like to turn into splinters.
"It's all over for you, Deidara," teased a light female voice. Deidara's eyes flashed to its owner, who was two arm lengths away. Why wouldn't his bird form properly? "It's genjutsu, silly. I know you stink at it. So I worked on it!"
Deidara's eyes widened furthermore when a chuunin collided to his side, quickly detaining him. "Deidara!" Sasori yelled out of habit before he, too, was detained, much to his surprise. Was he that out of practice?
The woman who cast the genjutsu leaned closely to Deidara's face, her breath tickling his skin. "We've got a lot in store for you, Deidara. You've always been a daredevil, but you just ran out of luck, huh?"
"Shut it, Kurotsuchi," Deidara gritted through clenched teeth. Kurotsuchi snorted before knocking the lights out.
A CONTENT SIGH WAS achieved by the mouthwatering smell of freshly made ramen noodles. Today, Umino Iruka was treating the one and only Uzumaki Naruto to a bowl of the seafood ramen special. Of course, a bowl had been the intention, but by the time Iruka had finished his first bowl of pork ramen at the Ichiraku shop, Naruto was already finishing his fourth bowl of the seafood ramen special.
"So, Naruto, how's training with Kakashi-sensei and Yamato-sensei?" Iruka asked just as a fifth steaming bowl of ramen was placed in front of Naruto, as ordered. The aid blonde ninja grinned happily, beads of sweat from training still present.
"Hehe, it was awesome! I cut an entire forest all by myself, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, the ramen disappearing into his mouth at an alarming rate. Iruka smiled at his ex-student. Sure, Naruto was a giant headache as the class clown five or so years ago, but now Iruka was starting to miss Naruto dearly.
Chuckling, Iruka replied, "Alright, Naruto. You'd better train hard tomorrow, you hear? Konoha's children depend on it!"
"Yup, yup, you got it, dattebayo! Good night, Iruka-sensei!" Naruto hollered, waving a farewell as he ran to his apartment for some rest.
"Yeah, good night," Iruka said, mostly to himself as he watched Naruto's orange clothed back retreat.
"Um, sir? Here's the bill. Please, please do come back again," smiled the shop owner, leaving Iruka with a bill far too large for a chuunin' salary.
"NARUTO!"
PINK STREAKS PAINTED ITSELF across the morning's gray skies in the Village Hidden in the Stones. The morning was quite unpleasant, as fourteen-year-old "Ootowari" Sora woke up in her apartment. Her body ached from yesterday morning's duel with her teammate, Ootowari Toyotomi, whose family name she had taken on simply for registration purposes. After having displayed almost all the jutsu she knew during the third exam of the Chuunin exams in her fight against Rock Lee from the ever prosperous Konohagakure no Sato, instead of achieving the Chuunin title, she was placed on the "Chuunin Waiting list" upon the orders of the Tsuchikage. No one from the Tsuchikage's Board of Advisors wanted to promote Sora.
Though she despised almost everyone from Iwa, especially its Board of Advisors, she really couldn't blame them for not trusting her. After all, she was not born from Iwa, or had any previous affiliation with Iwa, not to mention that she had come with a strange hair color and a stranger chakra elemental affiliation for Iwa. She was naturally a redhead, uncommon in Iwa, but one day through Iwa's training academy and she had dyed her hair black. So that left Sora on the Chuunin Waiting List – a list no other shinobi village had – at least, yet. Those who received the abominable fate of being on the Chuunin Waiting List would become a Chuunin when there was a mass shortage of them or they had proven worthy through military achievements. It was an awful concept, as those on the list secretly wished death upon his higher ranked colleagues. However, Iwa chuunin simply did not die.
But instead of Sora's chakra type being a gift to the Tsuchikage, her abilities were mostly entertainment to the Iwa leader. Not just hers – he used Toyotomi's for entertainment, too. The Tsuchikage received much enjoyment through watching his grandnephew, Toyotomi, and Sora fight. Even though two had fought numerous times, the Tsuchikage never got bored of watching the two "play ninja," as the Tsuchikage had put it. He claimed it was to "assess the future of Iwagakure" but Sora felt it served the purpose of keeping the old man awake.
Yesterday's fight had been far more brutal that usual. Both Sora and Toyotomi had always restrained from using powerful techniques that the Tsuchikage was dying to see; neither one wanted to fully reveal their abilities yet. Toyotomi and their sensei, a jounin named Mikaiyo, along with countless other shinobi were constantly keeping tabs on her, just waiting for her to show traitorous colors. She didn't understand why they thought she was a spy – after all, when she had arrived in Iwa in the dead of the winter, she was but a child and had hardly left the village since. Perhaps it's because you won't tell them where you came from, a quiet voice from the back of her mind suggested. Well, that much was true. She refused to tell anyone where she hailed from, why she had left.
Regardless, she and her aching body fully and clearly understood that Toyotomi had gotten stronger. The only explanation she could derive from his sudden display of power was that the Tsuchikage was going to choose his heir soon. Sora had always firmly believed that Toyotomi would be the one, the given. He's made from a different bolt of cloth from the rest of them, she smiled inwardly to herself before stopping when she realized she was doing so. I really have to stop doing that.
Her side groaned in protest as she reached towards the end of her bed for her quilt, only to remember that she threw it out yesterday. What was she to do with a quilt with a giant singed hole in it? "Damn… that SOB has one heck of a kick," she muttered, an annoyance still lingering from her intruder yesterday.
Stretching her aching body, she rose in time with the sun. Oh, darn it… solo border patrol today. To say Sora was always doing solo border patrol wasn't entirely true, she had to admit. Mikaiyo, Toyotomi, and her last teammate, Watanabe Kaino, went on border patrol with her, but they had a tendency to isolate themselves from her. Well, it was mostly just Toyotomi who did that, seeing as they were always partnered off together.
It was not that Mikaiyo favored Kaino over Toyotomi and Sora – in fact, Sora suspected that Mikaiyo would take Sora or Toyotomi any day over Kaino. Her excessive protection earned her bonuses from the Watanabe family, the second most prosperous family in Iwa behind the Ootowari Family. Kaino was the sole heir to the Watanabe Family Enterprises, and therefore Mikaiyo always had to babysit him for the heir's safety. So, when the cell split for efficiency, Mikaiyo always paired off with Kaino, which left Toyotomi with Sora. Since the last Chuunin Exams, Toyotomi had accepted that Sora was a better shinobi than most Iwa girls - Sora's heart swelled at hearing this - but Toyotomi still liked to keep a good distance ahead of her. Part of her wished to believe he was afraid of her. Sora smiled at herself at the thought.
Having eaten, cleaned up, and dressed, Sora closed her borrowed apartment's door and jumped on the rooftops to the village's gates. As usual, Toyotomi was stretching as he waited. Kaino was always late, and Mikaiyo always had to escort him. The two usually were late by half an hour or so, which left Sora half an hour of awkward silence with Toyotomi. At the beginning, she always had hoped in her mind for Mikaiyo and Kaino to hurry, but she realized not too long ago she stopped doing that - and that sometimes she felt as though Mikaiyo came too early. Today would be no different. "Ohayo, Toyotomi-san," Sora greeted with one of the fakest smiles she had ever mustered.
"Morning," he muttered as per usual.
"Now, Toyotomi-kun, it's alright to hold conversation with those incredibly out of style," corrected the always strutting Kaino. Mikaiyo strode beside him. Her hardened expression and quick arrival to the designated meeting spots should have indicated that something serious was to occur today, but it passed Sora by.
"Sora, do something about that hair of yours. At the length, it'll do nothing but whip you in your own face. And your despicable outfit. It is indecent in the warrior code," berated Mikaiyo. Toyotomi snorted, though did not put his own two cents, glancing at Sora's ensemble. Sora had mid-length hair tied into two pigtails that had the tendency to get in the way from its continually swaying back and forth. And, to Mikaiyo's disgust, she wore shorts that by all means could be longer. It seemed of the fashion when she had come here, so she had followed in suit, not bothering to squander her funds on new outfits to match changing trends. Toyotomi silently noted in his head that he rather liked the shortness of her shorts. "Let's move out."
It always started this way; Sora would greet Toyotomi, he would return the favor with boredom, Mikaiyo and Kaino would arrive, Mikaiyo would complain about her attire, and they would leave. For the first few minutes, Sora would be able to keep up with the other three, but as soon as Mikaiyo and Kaino branched off, Toyotomi would accelerate to what seemed like tenfold.
Sora smiled. As of recent, he'd leave signs of where he went so she could follow. She never once questioned him, but today, she would. Her smile quickly faded away as she pulled to a sudden halt. There were two kunai slashes on two different trees going in different directions; the one going to the right was the path they normally took; the path going straight had an extremely fresh slash. Hesitantly, she continued straight, worry spreading across her face. If we continue in this direction, in a minute we'll hit the Kusa border. But there were still fresh kunai slash marks on this path, so she followed them for a half hour or so with no sign of him. "What are you thinking, Toyotomi?"
She halted again. What if Toyotomi had distracted her with a clone in an attempt to separate them? "What a SOB," she muttered, having no shame for her foul language. Just as she was about to turn around and retreat, a trickle of a chakra signature caught her attention. She smirked. Toyotomi was done for trying to trick her.
BEADS OF SWEAT GLISTENED on the large forehead of the Konoha kunoichi. She had been on border patrol with Kiba and Ino, seeing as Hinata was still ill. Sakura left her boy-chasing best friend to pair off, favoring solo patrolling in Fire Country's northwest border, covering the border of the Hidden Grass Village, Kusagakure no Sato, and the Hidden Rain Village, Amegakure no Sato. Both countries were generally quiet neighbors, posing no threat. Little did Konoha and Sakura know, the current world's two most powerful shinobi sat in the highest tower of Ame.
Continuing her patrol, she found little to entertain and satisfy her boredom. She was slightly annoyed that a shinobi of her caliber was stuck with border patrol while Naruto was off, probably having a grand time with Jiraiya and Kakashi. The awful feeling that had risen from the depths of her mind yesterday was coming back stronger than ever. The mission she would have loved to have done yesterday did little to appease her anxiety. The bad feeling was only intensifying.
She was at the thinnest part of Kusa that separated the hostile territories of Iwa from Konoha, considered to be the most dangerous part of the Northwestern section, and therefore was frequented by two patrol groups instead of just one. Iwa shinobi were known to have incredible stamina and diligence, so the distance in this part of Kusa could easily be covered by Iwa shinobi in the space of one hour at most. Iwa's elite most definitely could cover it well under half an hour.
Suddenly, a kunai spun through the foliage in front of her, from the direction of Kusa. Had she trespassed? Quickly, she ran east, hoping to find Ino and Kiba, but more weapons were thrown at her from the east and now south. Which left her one option; go north, where she would definitely be trespassing into Kusa territory. "Ow!" she hissed; a shuriken had nicked her shoulder. Leaking out her chakra, she searched for her predators with no success, causing her to frown. Was she being forced to head north…? She didn't have time to think it through sensibly as much as she would have liked to, as even a greater number of projectiles were heading her way with lethal accuracy. Pumping chakra into her legs, she bolted northwest, into Kusa territory
Alright, she thought to herself, quickly forming a sign to create a clone. I'll throw them off with a doppelganger, use the replacement jutsu, loop back to Konoha, and report. She veered slightly to the left, intending to loop back through Bird Country territory. Glancing to her left, she nearly lost her footing. She had caught a glimpse of one of her chasers - an older woman with short brown hair, a malicious glare, and a brown jounin vest. Iwa… Oh shit, I'm screwed. Sakura was still only a chuunin; she didn't stand against a jounin, never mind one from Iwa!
Focusing chakra into her ears, she caught pieces of conversation. "… Kaino, be careful… I'll be right there… just need to get this one into Iwa… get the other two…" Sakura nearly froze. What was Iwa up to, and why didn't Kusa stop them? Sakura didn't know what lay ahead of her in Iwa, but she prayed that only one of their other teammates (so she assumed) would find her if any. She was in a world of trouble, anyhow; she had no idea which way was Bird Country.
SORA SMILED TO HERSELF; her trap was well laid out, well hidden, and covered a large area. Toyotomi would never maneuver around this; the trap was so large he wouldn't see it. She chuckled, wondering how he could even get out of this mother trap. Not even two minutes after the trap's completion, the trap caught its fly. Sora laughed again. Was that Toyotomi she heard, screaming like a girl?
TOYOTOMI STOPPED IN HIS tracks, hand already flying to his kunai. He had heard a girl's scream, but, having never heard Mikaiyo's or Sora's scream, did not know who it belonged to. Rushing to the scene, he soon felt the chakra signature of Sora and a stranger, Mikaiyo's coming up fast. The young Ootowari frowned. Sora wasn't fighting the stranger. "Shit, Sora, what the hell are you trying to do?" hissed Toyotomi, throwing projectiles in Mikaiyo's direction. As expected, it only slowed Mikaiyo by a half-step; maybe, Toyotomi hoped, that was all Sora needed to get her senses back.
MIKAIYO PAUSED, HEARING A girl's scream not a minute after chasing the Konoha girl into Iwa. Toyotomi has always been impressive, Mikaiyo inwardly smirked. For a moment, she was going back to deal with the other two Konoha nin, but decided against it. The mission required one Konoha hostage, so she ought to make sure the target was safely in Konohagakure before gathering the bonuses.
Just after mere seconds of tree-hopping, projectiles came her way. She deflected each with ease; their owner was what baffled her. "What are you up to, Toyotomi?" She knew full well Toyotomi was not the kind who would be vulnerable to commit such silly mistakes - it was the kind of thing Sora would do. "And if -" Could Sora have taken out the Konoha nin? By herself? Or was that Sora's scream? She felt two chakra signatures up ahead, aside from Toyotomi's, but it was only now did she realize there was no fighting occurring. Did another Konoha nin sneak by and kill Sora?
Mikaiyo snorted, seeing as she didn't believe that was impossible. Rumor was that Sora showed hidden strength during the Chuunin Exams, in which Mikaiyo did not bother to see. Kaino was forbidden entry because of his role in Iwa's upper class society, Sora's failure or success she had no interest in, and Mikaiyo knew Toyotomi would definitely become a Chuunin, in which, her assumption had been correct. Still, even after hearing congratulations about Sora from fellow impressed jounin, Mikaiyo found difficulty in believing Sora was useful or strong. Having tutored several Ootowari, three of them being prodigies, who could blame her for having doubts? But now that there was cracks in her belief, maybe Sora was capable enough.
On the topic of her students, Toyotomi appeared in front of the jounin. Though her face appeared impassive, Toyotomi knew she was watching him through suspicious eyes. "That was my bad, yeah," said Toyotomi, still blocking Mikaiyo's way. "Forgot to check the chakra sigs 'fore I chucked those shuriken."
"Yes, because the third Ootowari prodigy I've ever taught would be that foolish. Where is Sora? And the Konoha nin?" snapped Mikaiyo.
"Konoha nin?" Mikaiyo glared at Toyotomi. She knew he loved challenges, but he had always been the "mission before all else" kind of guy. He's up to something. But what does he have to hide?
"I chased a pink-haired Konoha nin into Iwa. Now, move it."
"Oh? That must be the other chakra signature's owner up there. Seems as though Sora's got it covered, believe it or not. Let's get the teammates."
"Since when did you trust Sora?" Mikaiyo inquired. Toyotomi shrugged.
"Seems like the situation is fine up there."
"Does she know about the mission?"
"Didn't you tell her?"
"Get out the way, Ootowari. Get back to Kaino." Mikaiyo sped past the chuunin, and Toyotomi shrugged again. Sora's business was Sora's business. He'd already stalled for Sora; that would just have to do. If she ran into trouble, he was sure his connections could get her out of it. At least, he hoped.
DRAWING A KUNAI AND rushing towards her victim, Sora leapt down onto the struggling object wrapped in a net. "How does it feel, Toyo -" She stopped mid-sentence, gripping her kunai tighter and closer to her victim's throat. It had short pink hair, a red tank, and a pink medic apron. "Who… who are you, and why the hell are you here?" Sora snapped, glancing had the kunoichi's hitai-ate. Konoha…? Toyotomi, what were you doing? Are Mikaiyo and Kaino in on this, too? Konoha's so far away, this can't be just a coincidence…
Coughing, the victim, Sakura, replied, "It was your shitbag teammates that chased me here."
"Chased you? We would have to be in Kusa to do that."
"And they were. Your Jounin at least." Sora pulled back. She assumed that this was a regular border patrol, but was it more than that? How could Mikaiyo neglect to tell her, if this was true?
"How can I know if you're lying or not?"
"How about my lack of teammates? Konoha only has solo infiltrations for ANBU black ops. I'm a chuunin. My identification tag is in my medkit if you need to check."
"Get it out for me. And no funny business." Sora loosened some knots in the net, and Sakura pulled out the said item. She really is only a Chuunin. She doesn't feel that powerful, either. Sora sighed. Toyotomi and Mikaiyo would both escort Sakura to the Iwa prison hold, which Sora, too, would've done, but a nagging feeling poked at her stomach, telling her that perhaps there was foul play on Mikaiyo's part. Sighing, she finally came up with an ultimatum. "Fine, you can go. But be quick and quiet about it." With the excretion of a little chakra, the ropes were aflame, and Sakura was free, much to her surprise. The medic-nin stood up, then froze. "I said, hurry up!"
"Um…" Now it was Sora's turn to freeze. Another border patrol pair was standing behind Sakura.
"Well, well, what do we have here, hmmm, Sora-chan?" teased the male of the pair.
"A traitor is what we have here," said another deeper, colder voice. Sora paled, knowing exactly who said it, and who was behind her: Mikaiyo.
Author's Note: Please review!