Hm. So. Yeah. Hi! I'm backish. New chappy, be excited. Its not an exciting chapter, but hey, not every chapter can be all fun filled and chakra infused knees to the face.
Sorry.
Anyway. On we go!
Disclaimer: Naruto ish not mine. Fucking lawyers.
It was going to take four to five days for Sakura to get to Sound. She decided to continue though the first night, only stopping to refill her canteen. The second night, however, she actually found a small town to stop in. Feeling tired from her journey she decided it might be a good idea to find an inn and get a room. A bed would be nice.
She pulled her ANBU mask off and slipped it into her pack before hopping down from the trees. She landed on the road about a mile from the town and knew it would be best to walk the rest of the way. She wasn't even going to try and hide the fact that she was a ninja. It would keep most of the perverts who were not ninja, away from her, and her pink hair would keep those who were, away from her. So she was pretty safe either way. However, she was going to keep her ANBU mask tightly under wraps. If nearby villages thought a Konoha ANBU was snooping around, it would spell trouble.
Sakura finally reached the town and walked into the nearest inn. It was small. One floor. More like a house than an inn. Bed and breakfast perhaps. She didn't care. The smaller the better. Less people to deal with.
She walked up to the desk to be greeted by an elderly lady.
"Good evening young miss. How might I help you?" She questioned with a smile.
Sakura couldn't help it, she let a small smile cross her own features. "A room, if you please?" She stated.
The Elderly lady nodded quickly, pulling out a key and taking the money Sakura had laid on the counter top. Room four. Shouldn't be too hard to find. And it wasn't. She moved down the hall that the woman had pointed too and found it, four rooms down. Who would have known?
She was tired and quickly unlocked the door. Sliding inside, she did a quick once over to make sure there were no traps, let alone people, stashed in the room. After finding it relatively safe, she let the door close, locking it behind her. She sat her pack down on the bathroom sink and pulled her hair down, letting her pink tresses fall around her shoulders. It was sticky and string from the humid weather. The tall corner shower was looking pretty darn good at the moment.
Closing the bathroom door, she proceeded to strip off her clothing and turn on the water. She tested it every few seconds, waiting for it to get to the right temperature. Finally it was hot and she stepped into the steaming shower. She quickly washed her hair with the provided shampoo, massaging her fingers though her scalp. Closing her eyes, she tilted her head back so she wouldn't have to lift her arms up to reach the very top of her head. Lazy? Sure. But she was team mates withTHE laziest shinobi in Konoha. She was bound to pick up a few bad habits.
She rinsed her hair and leaned back against the wall, keeping her body under the falling water. She let he thoughts wander back to her team. Her real team. Team 7 had never been a real team. There had been her teacher, Kakashi. And two strong team members. Naruto and Sasuke. Then there had been her. A weak kunoichi. That wasn't a team. She had hardly been able to do anything. Not to mention the fact that none of them had ever opted to help her train. Sure they had group trainings. But when had Kakashi ever taken her aside for one on one training like he had Sasuke, then Naruto after they had returned from the failed mission to rescue Sasuke the last time?
He hadn't.
Her real team consisted of Nara Shikamaru, Hyuga Neji , and Inuzuka Kiba.
Her jonin team.
Her ANBU team.
Her friends.
Yeah. She considered them her friends over Naruto and Kakashi. They had helped her in her training. They had helped her train for her jonin exam and her ANBU exam. And they had been there when she had passed. They had pleaded with the Hokage that they not be sent on any missions, so that they could be there for her.
Kakashi had been sent on a mission. One he wasn't required to accept. One he had requested himself.
Naruto had been training with Jiraiya. In Konoha. Not ten blocks away. But hadn't had "time" to stop by the building in which the exams were being held.
For her jonin exam, she hadn't been too worried. It was on exam. But when nether had shown up for her ANBU exam. Especially Kakashi. Well. That was a different story. So she had gone to Tsunade and asked if she could, in any possible way, choose her own team.
She let her mind slip back to the time.
The Hokage had smiled at her, informing her, that if she could come up with suitable candidates, then she would consider it. Sakura had been thrilled. She already had them picked out.
That's when she realized that she would be potentially be messing up other teams.
Shikamaru was on a team with Shino, Ino, andAnko.
Neji was on a team with Hinata, Lee and Kakashi.
Kiba was on a team with, Shizune, Choji, and Kurenai.
And she was on a team with, Ibiki, Naruto, and Tenten.
She took a few days to think it though, then decided to go talk to the four people whose teams she'd be messing around with. None of them showed worry about being moved to her team or the people who would replace them.
"I think we'd make a rather good team." Shikamaru had stated.
"I'd rather you be my medic nin then Hinata anyway. Not that she's a bad one, not at all. You just have so much more experience." Neji had said. It had made her blush.
"Akamaru completely approves! " Kiba had put in, with much enthusiasm, after his large, white, ninja dog barked several times.
Talking to them had relieved a lot of the worry from her shoulders, and she almost skipped to Tsunade's office. Quickly she checked the other side of the door for other chakra presences. Finding none she slammed into the room. Her sensei looked up from her paper work with a glare until she saw the pink headed girl bound into the room.
"I assume you are here about your team proposal?" She questioned.
Sakura nodded. "Hai." She said.
Tsunade nodded at the girl. "I'm listening." She said, leaning back in her chair, abandoning her paper work.
Sakura took a deep breath. That's when the door opened, reveling Shikamaru, Neji and Kiba. Shikamaru threw up his hand in a slight wave.
"Hey." He said, receiving a smile from Sakura.
Neji shut the door as he started speaking. "Kiba saw you heading up here. Thought we'd follow you and give our two cents." He stated.
Sakura nodded. It would help, she thought to herself, as she turned back to Tsunade, who had an eyebrow raised. She almost blushed.
"I want Shikamaru, Neji, and Kiba." She said. Her face was straight and serious.
Tsunade sat and watched her for a few minutes and Sakura knew that she was thinking it over in her head. Finally, she gave a soft sigh.
"And where would your current team mates go?" She questioned.
"Naruto would go to Neji's team. He knows Kakashi's style and Hinata would be thrilled to have him on her team." She stared. Her shishou nodded in approval. One down.
"Ibiki will replace Shikamaru. He has excellent leadership skills, and works with Anko on a daily basis already." Again, her shishou nodded. Two down.
" Tenten will replace Kiba. She is still working on her medical training and it would be prefect to set her with Shizune so that she can learn. Also, I know that Kurenai would have endless questions for her about her art in weapons." Another nod. Done.
"You have thought this out well, Sakura." Tsunade stated, receiving a nod from the girl. She let her eyes travel to the three young men standing slightly behind Sakura. "And what do you three have to say about this?"
Shikamaru stepped forward. "She is a highly skilled medic. We would be honored to be on a team with her. Not to mention, Neji and I both have excellent leadership skills, passing them on to her would be a possibility, with the ability to step in when necessary should something go wrong during the….training." he said.
Tsunade nodded before turning to Neji. "What about you."
"I completely agree with Shikamaru. We've always trained with her before. We helped her train for the jonin and the ANBU exams. So we're all well acquainted with her abilities, as she is ours." The Hyuga prodigy stated.
Tsunade sighed. They were giving excellent arguments. "Kiba?" She asked, without even turning to the dog loving ninja.
Kiba grinned. "Sakura is the only one, besides yourself and my family of course, who is able to heal Akamaru when he is injured. Not to mention, I've been dying to work on my chakra control." He wasn't lying, that Tsunade could tell.
The Hokage leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath. It was several, several seconds before she decided to give them her decision. It felt like eternity to them.
"Very well."
Shikamaru smirked. Neji bowed. Kiba, along with Akamaru, barked with joy.
Sakura raced around the table to give her sensei a hug. "Thank you so much!" She exclaimed.
That's how they became a team. Those were the ones she spent almost every waking hour with. And Kakashi thought she spent all her time alone. Not at all. On the contrary. They were always together, either training, going on missions, or just getting to know each other better.
They were Tsunade's best team. They were the team she called upon when Gaara sent word for assistance. They were the team she sent out as reps to other countries. They were the team she gave the hardest missions to.
Sakura had lost count on how many S-class and A rank missions they had completed. Not all were without fault, nor did they always come back unharmed. Sakura had been close to death numerous times. Not to mention Kiba. He was quite like Naruto, rushing in at the worse times.
Shikamaru, always trying to protect his group, had been close enough once that Sakura actually thought she was going to lose him. And she had, twice. But her determination had gotten her though and she had been able to restart his heart.
Neji was the most skilled at getting harmed. But he was their disabler. He was the one who rendered their target useless, what with his nifty Byakugan and being able to block chakra points. He's the one that scared her. He had to deal with them at their best. At the start. If they got though him, they'd have to go through Shikamaru. But to go though Neji meant taking him down. Unconscious down.
Freezing water shocked Sakura out of her thoughts and she quickly lunged forward to shut off the water. She shivered in the cold while she pulled back the curtain and grabbed a body length towel. Wrapping it around her body, she opened the bathroom door, picking up a smaller towel to wrap around her head. She used her hands and rubbed her hair as dry as she could before dropping it on the floor. Heading to the bed she stopped by her bag and slipped on underwear before sitting down on the soft mattress.
It was early, sure. But tomorrow would be like today. She wouldn't stop until she hit sound. And only then would she stop when she was captured.
Sighing, she slipped under the clovers and pulled the extra pillow beside her for comfort.
Two days and she'd be at sound.
Two days, she'd probably end up getting the crap out of her.
Two days and she'd see him.
Two days just wasn't long enough.
Kay. Yeah yeah I know. I said fighting. Well I lied. I figured I needed to splain Kakashi's thought from the last chapter. Bout Shika, Neji and Kiba. I was GONNA put the fight scene. But meh. :D SO! Hope you enjoyed. R&R. :D