A.N: Tada~ The next chapter has arrived! I hope you guys will enjoy this chapter; the infamous Inner Sakura finally makes an appearance! They Mission to the Land of Waves is still going to be in the next few chapters; if I don't finish it in the next chapter. Then we have the chunin exams, and then that's basically the rest of this story! So it's getting close to the ends, folks! Please review!
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Tough
Chapter Eleven
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An old grey haired man walks in with a large beard and dark eyes; he's wearing a sleeveless v-neck shirt with an obi, pants and a pair of sandals; a white towel is around his neck, and he has a pointed hat on his head, hiding his semi-spiky hair. He leans against the wall and sends the team a nasty smile while taking a gulp of his whiskey; his cheeks are slightly pink from being intoxicated.
"Heh, these little pests are supposed to guard me? What a joke!" The guy insults, glaring down at the team with his square glasses slipping off his nose, "What are they? Ten!" He chuckles, taking another swing of his drink, "It doesn't matter." He points his finger at Sakura, "You better be able to walk more than a few miles, girly! We are walking far! Wouldn't want your pretty, fake hair get ruined, would we?"
"Fake hair?" Sakura asks, tilting her head to the wide with an innocent smile on her face, "If you are talking about my pink hair, sir, it is my real hair color. No need to get personal here, right?" Naruto laughs nervously and puts his arm around Sakura's shoulder, wanting to hold her back if she tries to jump on the client; Sasuke merely shakes his head and glares at the client.
"I highly doubt that, Pinky, you probably want to get one of the guys attention." The guy snickers, finishing the rest of his bottle and sighing. "I guess you brats will have to do though, so remember, my life is in your arms! You better protect me with your lives!" Kakashi raises his eyebrow and watches the older client with suspicion. They are going on a C-rank mission, why should they worry about anything too dangerous? "My name is Tazuna, I am the great bridge builder!"
"Pleased to do so, Tazuna-san." Sakura says sweetly - her voice filled with false emotion - "We are going to leave the village soon, okay? Kakashi-sensei, you better not be late; Naruto, don't pack up too much ramen; Sasuke, tell your mother about the mission; as for myself, I am going to go home, pack, and tell Kenji-chan about the mission." She looks up at Tazuna, "Kakashi-sensei will be with you in the village, so if you need any help ask him. Other than that, I'll meet you four in front of the gates, in two hours. Bye." Sakura forms a few hand signs before disappearing in a whirl of cherry blossoms, leaving everyone else in the room stun.
"Kakashi?" The Third Hokage calls, his eyebrow raised, and a small smirk on his face, "Is she becoming the new leader or something? None of you spoke up to stop her orders."
"Oh, Saku-chan has a natural talent for leading, old man." Naruto answers, smiling brightly, "Plus, we don't want to get on her bad side; she is quite scary with a kunai knife." Naruto shivers whispering, "Especially during training..."
"I'm leaving with the dope," Sasuke announces, dragging Naruto out the door and leaving the elders alone.
"I guess I better not be late," Kakashi sighs out, shaking his head. He isn't exactly afraid of what they can do to him; oh no, he was afraid of what they'll do - no she will do - to his book if he comes even one second late. "Let's go then, Tazuna-san, I am going to have to go pack some." Tazuna nods and walks out of the room with Kakashi. As soon as they shut the door, the Third Hokage chuckles, blowing out another puff of smoke.
"Hokage-sama, are you sure they will be okay?" Iruka asks worryingly with a frown on his face, "I agree with you; about them being great ninjas' and having good teamwork together, but on a C-rank mission?" The Third Hokage puts his hand up, silencing the academy teacher.
"I know why you are worried, but I'm sure everything will be okay. If anything goes bad they have Kakashi, right?" The Third says smiling. I just hope this bad feeling isn't anything too serious.
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Sakura quietly enters her house and walks upstairs, grabbing her khaki color bag, and opening her dresser. She pulls out a few pairs of training outfits, panties, and bras; she then walks into the bathroom and puts in all of her hygienic supplies she needs. She sets the bag down on her bed and starts to put in her weapons in her weapon pouch and front pocket of her bag, in case she runs out.
After making sure she had everything packed, she walks downstairs and enters into the kitchen, smiling gently at Kenji, who is sitting in the dining room chair and reading the latest book she brought home.
"Kenji-chan, I'm leaving the village for a mission today." Sakura tells him, sitting down in the chair across of him and resting her head on the table, tired. "Have you found anything at all?"
"Leaving for a mission, huh?" He questions quietly, glancing up at her and frowning. He doesn't know if he wants her to leave for a while. No one else knows about her dreams that injure her real body, "I'm guessing it's your first C-rank mission?" Sakura nods, tilting her head more for him to answer the last question, "I haven't found anything else really, except the thing inside of you can really take over your body, but we already knew that." He sighs, "The thing inside of you is a side-effect to some mark. Not all of the marks leave an actually mark on the real body though."
"So, are you saying the 'Inner Sakura' stamped on the demon's head is the mark?" She asks softly, rubbing her forehead, "Who would put it inside of me though? And why?" He shrugs lightly.
"Saku-chan, did your mom abandon you, or die?" Kenji asks suddenly, making Sakura jump out of her seat.
"S-She abandoned me and dad when I was like two years old," Sakura answers, raising her eyebrow, "Why? What does that have anything to do with me?"
"The mark, if your mother had you a lot as a baby, she could have left with the person who marked you."
"So... my mother did this to me?" Sakura asks quietly, "And the thing can take me over anytime she wants if I lose my will to keep her back?"
"Most likely," Kenji replies, looking back down at the book he was reading, "Have a safe trip, and be careful. Don't forget to pack some food and water."
"Hai," Sakura replies standing up and walking over to the cabinet and dropping in some snacks and bottles of water into her bag, "I'm going to have to leave now; I'm going to tell Hinata and the others about the mission before leaving to the gate." Kenji nods.
"Bye Saku-chan; be careful."
"Bye," Sakura whispers, putting her bag on her shoulder and walking out of the house, heading towards the training grounds to find the other teams.
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"I'm sorry for interrupting this practice, Asuma-sensei," Sakura bows, rubbing the back of her head, "I just have to announce to the males of this team about my departure." Asuma smiles kindly down at her and nods, yelling for the team to take a break. "Thank you!" Sakura thanks, running over to Shikamaru and jumping into his arms, laughing when he almost fell to the ground - and surprisingly caught her - "Shika-kun, I'm going on a mission out of the village, I just thought I should tell you and Chouji." She tells them, jumping off of him and pulling Chouji into a hug, "I don't know when I'll be back, but I thought I should tell you guys bye, and I hope to see you soon."
"C-rank mission already?" Shikamaru asks, looking up at the sky and sighing, "What a drag, Naruto isn't going to let this down." Sakura smiles, nodding in agreement.
"Have fun, Sakura. Tell the others I said good luck." Chouji says, pulling out a bag of chips from his weapon pouch and eating them, "Don't forget to tell Hinata. She'll freak out if you don't tell her."
"Tsk, so the forehead freak is leaving the village already?" Ino asks, putting her nose high up in the air, "How silly, you'll be the first to die out of any of us."
"Ino," Sakura says calmly, sending her an evil smirk, "If I remember correctly, every battle we had since the day you broke my nose, I won; quite easily if I may add." Ino growls lowly under her breath and turns on her heel, slapping Sakura in the face with her pony tail. "Sore loser." Sakura mumbles, giving the boys one last goodbye hug and leaving the training area, looking for Hinata's team.
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"Hinata, my team is leaving on a C-rank mission to the Land of Waves. We don't know when we'll be back though." Sakura admits, scratching her cheek gently, "I know you might be worried, but we'll try to be as safe as we can, okay?" Hinata nods, sending her friend a small, sad smile.
"Of course you guys will; if any of us can do the mission, it'll be you." Hinata says, pulling Sakura into a tight hug, "Saku-chan, are you not telling us something?"
"Hinata," Kiba warns, pulling Sakura into one of his hugs and placing a kiss on her forehead, flashing his fangs in the biggest smile ever, "You better be safe, Princess, Hinata will go on a killing streak if you aren't." Sakura smiles and nods, giggling.
"Be safe, Sakura. I hope your team will be safe, too." Shino says, patting her head lightly.
"I will, thanks for the concern everyone; we will be as safe as possible." Sakura promises, waving, "I'll see you all next time, bye." Sakura exits the training ground and runs towards the front gate, not wanting to be late.
X X X
"We made it just on time!" Kakashi mumbles, relaxing and sending Sakura a cheeky grin under his mask, "Since we are all here - and one time! - I think we should start walking now. It'll take awhile to get there, and we don't know how far Tazuna can walk without taking a break. Let's go."
"Yes! This is so cool! Teme! Isn't the forest amazing? I can't wait to be able to explore!" Naruto shouts as soon as he takes one step out of the village and grinning, "I'm out of the village, I'm out of the village!" He chants, ignoring the insults Tazuna throws at him. He will not let the old man get to him; he doesn't want to upset Sakura.
"Shut up, Dope." Sasuke grumbles out, stealing glances at Sakura every once in a while, trying to see if there is any suspicions movements.
"Calm down, guys. It's just out of the village. The only thing different is that it's more dangerous." Sakura mumbles out, crossing her arms over her chest and staring up at the sky, watching the clouds roll by, "Let's hurry up."
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After a few hours of walking, the team passes a puddle on the side of the road, making Sakura curiously glance at it and reach inside of her pouch, pulling out a kunai knife and speeding up, falling in step with the client. Kakashi, who also notices the puddle, glances up at Sakura slightly impressed. She obviously noticed it while the other two didn't. He was about to say something to her when two Mist Ninja's jump out of the puddle and tear Kakashi in two, making Tazuna faint, Naruto scream, and Sasuke glare. Let the games begin, shall we, outer? Inner chuckles out, forming handsigns and knocking Sakura out. I am going to take over your body know, love; thanks for taking such good care of it, I have some enemies to kill now though!
Suddenly, Sakura opens her eyes; instead of her normal emerald-green eyes, they are dark red; her normal pink hair is changed into long, black wavy hair with red streaks. She smiles nastily at the two mist ninja's cracking her neck. The aura around her changes drastically; instead of her normal, friendly aura, it is a killing aura with a tint of mystery.
"Let's begin, shall we, boys?" Inner chuckles, pulling out her kunai knife and throwing it at the first one's face, scratching his cheek. She rushes towards him and picks up the kunai knife, licking the blood. "Whose first?"
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And that's the end of this lovely chapter! I finally got more information about Inner Sakura out there! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and sorry for the cliff hanger at the end, but I thought it'll be the best place to stop without going over 4,000 words. For each chapter, I write about 2,000+ words, so I like to keep to that. Anyways, please review! And I hope you enjoyed!
I would like to thank the following for reviewing: Dina Sana, MiyatheEarthninja, Splitheart1120, Guest, Angelpanda-chan, .X, and Lovely Athena!
Kimi-the-Writer