AN: I don't own Naruto
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Chapter 4 – New Arrangements…
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"Sakura-chan! Where the heck are you?" Sai called out as he, Hinata, and Neji searched for their sister.
"Where could she be?" Hinata asked, but found herself only talking to Neji. "Where's Sai?" Neji merely shrugged as he activated his byakugan.
"There you are." Sai said as he looked up in the treetops. Sakura was just sitting on one of the branches alone until Sai came up and sat next to her. "Why did you run away like a girl?"
"I didn't run like a-"
"Just answer me." Sai said.
"That bastard is just unbelievable."
"You shouldn't just judge others without knowing how they became like that. You know, walk around in his shoes for a while. But you're right…He's a bastard."
Deactivating her byakugan, Hinata told Neji where she spotted the two; they were heading that way until two people stood in their way.
"What do you want?" Neji asked.
"Oi." Kakashi said as he found Sakura and Sai in the tree. "You alright now?"
"Uh, yeah." Sakura said as she and Sai jumped down. "Sorry bout that." she said, a little embarrassed.
"No…..I should be the sorry one." Kakashi said, as he took out a jagged dagger from his side pouch.
"W-what are you doing with that?" Sakura stuttered seeing the emotionless face, Kakashi had put on suddenly.
"Sakura, move!" Sai said as he pushed Sakura to the side when Kakashi attempted to slash through her.
"But…Why are you-" Sakura began, but stopped in mid sentence when Kabuto jumped down from a nearby tree. The area around them turned dark.
"You bastard!" Sai said as he summoned some ink beasts.
"Hinata-chan! Ne-" Sakura yelled out, but Kabuto cut her off.
"We're in a genjutsu. Anyone outside of our group can't see nor hear us." Kabuto said with a smirk.
"I'm sorry." Kakashi said as he charged toward the two with Kabuto.
"I'll say this again. What do you want now?" Neji asked. From what Hinata could tell, Neji seemed to actually be sort of relaxed. She was surprised at her cousin's calmness toward Naruto and Sasuke, when only moments before, their friendship was thrown aside.
"Come on teme." Naruto said as he nudged Sasuke with his elbow. When he got no reaction from the Uchiha, Naruto just 'hmphed' and spoke for the both of them. "Neji….After everything that happened, after everything we faced through together…..HOW THE HELL CAN YOU JUST WALK AWAY FROM THAT!"
"What?" Neji asked in slight confusion. "Isn't he and Sasuke the ones who-"
"What the dobe really meant was that…we believe you." Sasuke said.
"Yeah. What he said." Naruto said.
Neji looked at Hinata, and she smiled at him. He then looked back toward his two friends and nodded. His way of saying he believed their words. Hinata couldn't help but feel a surge of happiness in her.
"Hey Hinata-chan." Naruto said, causing the younger Hyuuga to blush madly.
"Y-yes?" Hinata asked.
"Where's Sakura-chan and Sai?"
"Oh right!" Hinata said, surprised she forgot about her step siblings. "Byakugan!"
Hinata gave a very confused expression. "What's wrong?" Neji asked.
"I-I can't find them anywhere."
"What?...I'll check." Neji said as he looked around with his bloodline. Neji scowled when he saw that Hinata was right.
"They are gone…." Neji muttered.
"Take this!" Sai yelled as his ink beast engulfed Kabuto with its ink. Kabuto soon found the ink to be like a sticky rubber.
"Shit." Kabuto muttered when he found he couldn't move his body. Sakura came in with a right fist concentrated with a hell lot of charka. As she was close enough to strike, Kakashi grabbed her chakra infused fist and threw her to the side harshly. Sai's beast caught her in mid flight and brought her next to him.
"Thanks." She said as she looked ahead of her.
"I could have handled the situation Kakashi." Kabuto said as he easily got out of his ink trap.
"Well sorry for trying to save your ass." Kakashi said as he redirected his sharingan toward the royals.
"Why do you two still think you can win? Don't you understand we might be doing a favor for you?" Kabuto said.
"Favor!" Sakura said. Kabuto nodded and then put on a serious face.
"Even if you peasants do somehow defeat my lord, and Neji or Hinata takes the throne, what do you think will happen to you?"
"We know we aren't royal by blood, but we will stand by their side and protect them at all cost." Sai said reassuringly. Sakura agreed.
Kabuto seemed to be completely amused with Sai's statement. "You two are truly naïve." Both Sai and Sakura gritted their teeth. Kakashi just had a blank look on his face as he listened to their conversation. "The most you two could be to them are servants. There's no way for a woman or a street peasant to become guards. Or even knights for that matter. It's under law. Something you and I can agree upon."
"Neji-kun can-" but Sakura was cut off when Kabuto shook his head at her.
With a smirk he said, "You are pretty selfish aren't you?"
"…."
"Just because he's king, doesn't mean he would take any favors. What kind of king would that be? Changing the laws that were made from great kings of the past, just to make one woman happy? The people won't follow a king such as that. At least Orochimaru gives his people what they want. Power." Kabuto said seeing the light in Sakura's face become dim.
"Don't listen to him Sakura-chan." Sai said as he shook her by the shoulders, but she looked unconvinced.
"He's…Right." She muttered.
"Sakura-chan…"
"See she gets it, why can't you?" Kabuto asked.
Sai gritted his teeth. "Sakura-chan don't listen to him!" He said as he summoned another ink beast." "We have to get out of here." He thought.
"Kakashi let's feed them to the buzzards." Kabuto said as he raced forward with his sword. Kakashi raced forward seconds after.
"Sakura!" Sai said as he and his ink beasts charged forward. Sakura seemed to snap out of it as she gripped her sword. She charged forward and went head to head with Kabuto with new found determination. Kakashi took Sai by surpise and sliced through his scroll, causing both his summoning to disappear.
Strike after parry, Kabuto still conversed with the pink haired girl. "I thought you really understood what I told you." He said as he dodged a swing to his left.
"Shut up. Even if what you said is true. I want to live at least long enough, to see my brother and sister on the throne again. I want for the kingdom to have a new order!" Sakura said. Sai smirked while fighting Kakashi, seeing that his sister had come back to reality.
Kakashi took out a scroll and bit the tip of his thumb. He wiped his cut onto the scroll and forced it onto the floor. Various symbols surrounded his hand as the ground started to rumble slightly. Sai, Sakura, and Kabuto alike were confused at what he was doing. Then out of nowhere, a random assortment of canines grabbed onto Sai, leaving him immobile.
"Sai!" Sakura yelled as she raced toward her brother, but was stopped when Kakashi appeared from behind her. He grabbed and held both of her rams behind her back. With his strength overpowering hers, she found that she couldn't move either. "Shit!" She thought, seeing her current situation. Kabuto smirked as he pointed his blade toward Sakura.
"You're going first, Kakashi hold he tight." Kabuto said as he charged forward.
Sakura began to panic. She used all the power she had to get away, but with Kakashi's hold on her, it seemed impossible. As Kabuto approached her, everything came into slow motion in her eyes. She could hear Sai's desperate words as he was forced to witness his sister's death. She watched as Kabuto got closer and closer to her, his blade gleaming with her still dripping blood. She wondered how death would feel, and saw her whole life in flashes. Right before Kabuto's sword plunged into her body she felt a cool rush of charka around her.
"Die!" Kabuto said as he stabbed through Sakura.
"Sakura-chan!" Sai yelled. In that same instant, Sakura's body puffed with smoke and turned into a log.
"Replacement jutsu!" Kabuto said in surprise.
"Chidori!" Kakashi yelled out as he shot his hand through Kabuto's chest.
"Where could they be?" Naruto asked as he looked around a couple of trees.
"Sharingan." Sasuke muttered. He looked around carefully as he and the others walked forward. After a couple of minutes of walking, Sasuke pointed far into a clearing. "There a huge concentration of charka around those trees." He said as he took out his sword.
The dogs that held Sai disappeared, but the look on his face didn't. "What the fuck!"
Kakashi retracted his hand out of Kabuto's body. Kabuto fell onto the floor lifelessly.
"I always hated that gay bastard." Kakashi said boringly, as he shook the blood off his hand. He then turned to Sai. "What's wrong with you? You should cut it out before your face stays like that."
"Where's Saku-" But Sai was cut off when he saw his sister jump down from a nearby tree. "Sakura, how did?…When did you learn the replacement jutsu?"
"I don't know how to do it. Kakashi-san did it for me." She said with a smiling face.
"What?...I thought you were on his side." Sai said pointing at Kabuto's dead form.
"First off, I'm never on anybody's side. Second, we made a deal didn't we? Third, that's not Kabuto, it's one of Orochimaru's rats." Kakashi said as he reached over and pulled of the flesh mask off an unknown guard. "I found out when I noticed he never used any medical jutsus to attack or heal."
"So where is the real one?" Sakura asked.
"Here." Kakashi said as he threw a small dagger straight at a tree behind them. To Sai and Sakura's surprise, the tree caught it.
"How disappointing Kakashi." Kabuto said as he did some hand signs and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. The area around them seemed to light up again as the afternoon sun rested near the mountains.
"The genjutsu's gone." Sakura muttered.
"Sakura-chan, Sai-kun!" Hinata yelled as she and the others ran towards her.
"What happened!" Neji said, indicating the various injuries on the three, along with the blood soaked body on the floor near them.
"Uh…."Sakura began.
"That assassin came, and Kakashi helped take care of him." Sai said simply.
"Right." Kakashi said.
"Yeah, there we go." Sakura said with a smile, but them it disappeared when she saw Sasuke, and Naruto.
"I'm glad you guys are ok." Naruto said with a smile. Finding that Neji made up with the two, Sakura relaxed a little.
"Me too." She said smiling back.
"Let's go back home." Sasuke said as he turned away from the group and started walking.
"We'll have Tsunade baa-chan look at you three." Naruto said.
"Ok." Kakashi said as he, and the others followed Sasuke.
"Wow." Kakashi said as he entered the camp.
"Yeah, this place does have that affect." Naruto said as he walked ahead of the group. "BAA-CHAN!" Naruto yelled out. Everyone sweat dropped.
"Naruto, shut up! Some kids are sleeping!" Tenten warned as she approached the group. "What happened to you guys-"
"Tenten." Neji said, cutting her off. "Gather the others. We need to discuss something, now." He said with a serious tone.
"Right, you got it." Tenten then ran off into one of the large tents.
"You plan on telling everyone?" Sasuke asked.
"Of course. Hopefully, they won't take badly." Neji said as he went into the knights training building. The rest just followed. They entered a huge room with a lot of cracks and broken pieces of various furniture everywhere. It had torches every couple of feet that lit the room pretty well. There was only one window, well more like a huge hole on the side of a building. Ten minutes later, the entire room was filled with familiar faces. Sakura and the others could hear some whispers concerning Kakashi, along with why they were covered with injuries.
"Oi Neji! What's going on?" Kiba called out. His dog, Akamaru, barking in agreement.
"Shut up so he can speak, how troublesome." Shikamaru told the canine trainer.
When the room finally grew silent, Neji took his queue as he stepped forward from his group.
"Everyone, I believe that you will want to know the truth about some things." Neji began. Tenten looked panicked as the rest just looked confused. Neji then began to tell his past and what happen up till the reason why Kakashi would then live with them. Neji and the others seemed to be the ones who were surprised at the end of the story when he found that less than half the group didn't seem to mind what Neji just told them.
"Geez Neji. We thought you were going to do something drastic." Ino said as the others nodded their heads in agreement.
"You all knew, how?" Naruto asked. Neji stared at Tenten, but she gave a look of 'I would never!'.
"I told them!" Kiba shouted. Everyone looked at him. "What, Akamaru here can here them a mile away." Kiba said, pointing at Neji and Tenten.
"Hey no one told me!" Choji complained.
"That's because you wouldn't listen." Shino explained.
"No one told me either!" Lee said.
"…No one ever tells you anything Lee." Shikamaru said.
"Well that should really change!"
"Troublesome people these days."
"So are all of you ok with this?" Sasuke yelled out, stopping all the side conversations.
"Of course Sasuke-kun! If you're ok with it, so am I!" Ino said waving at the Uchiha.
"Then I suppose this meeting is over. Any questions, ask me or Sasuke." Neji said.
"Hey me too!" Naruto said.
"Hn." Sasuke said as he and the others left the room. Tenten said a quick 'bye' to Neji as she went with Choji to help out in the kitchens.
"So, where do I sleep?" Kakashi said, speaking for the first time in a while.
"Do you mind bunking with others?" Neji asked.
"If it's people I know, then no. Others, yes, I do mind."
"We don't have that much room in this camp so everyone has to share a place or tent with a couple of people."
"Why don't you four share a place with Kakashi? We can fill your empty spots with someone else." Sasuke said.
"Sure." Kakashi said.
"Me too." Naruto said. Everyone looked at him with a raised brow. "What? I know a great place near the ramen stand, but it has six rooms. I always wanted that place."
"Wait..Six?" Sasuke asked.
"Yup, you're coming with us."
"Hell no!" Both Sasuke and Skura said at the same time. Then they both glared at each other.
"No way am I going to live with you!" Sakura said.
"Well then, I guess you'll have to get used to it." Sasuke said smirking.
"Well that settles it. Let's get ramen!" naruto said, stopping both Sasuke and Sakura from continuing there fight.
"You seriously need to eat a different kind of food." Neji said as he called for Shino. Neji told him the make the arrangements, and he was off.
Dinner came and went. Sakura still didn't feel right about Sasuke, but she got used to Naruto, quick. When they got to their new home, Naruto was the first one to run into the 'actual' house and claim his room, which was nearest to the kitchen. Kakashi got the one across from the blond's and Sasuke got the one next to his. Sai chose the room next to Naruto's. Hinata chose the room with the scenery, two rooms from Sasuke, and Sakura was left with the room next to Sasuke's. "Great." She thought. She could tell why Kakashi and Sasuke would like this side of the building. It was freakishly dark. "Well actually, only half the room is dark. Hinata's so lucky. Her's is so bright, she doesn't even need a fireplace…And what's worse, I'm next to the cold asshole."
Morning soon came and Sakura was rudely awoken by Naruto yelling. "What the hell?" She thought as she placed her head under the blankets. Someone knocked on her wooden door, but she ignored it. The person kept knocking a little harder, and it annoyed her to no end.
"What do you people want?" Sakura asked as she sat up from her single person bed.
"Wake up already. You don't need beauty sleep, seeing that it woke work for you." The guy said from outside her door.
"What!" Sakura said as she grabbed her pillow. She went and swung the door open, at the same time smashing the pillow into the person's face. Feathers came out of the pillow from the impact and covered some of the persons raven hair. "Take that back Sai." She said. The pillow was still on the guys face. "Sai?" Sakura asked, wondering why he was acting so strange. When she pulled the pillow off from the person's face, she muttered 'crap' seeing that she was looking at a pissed of Uchiha. Second later, they both turned around when they heard someone laughing loudly.
"Haha, your head really does look like a chicken's ass!" Naruto said, pointing. Hinata, who was next to him, tried her best to muffle her laughter.
"I'd say that this is a good look for you Sasuke." Sai said as he walked out of the kitchen.
Sasuke looked back at Sakura before patting the feathers off his head.
"What's with all this damn noise?" Kakashi said as he came out of his room.
"Just telling Sakura that she's making breakfast." Sasuke said as he walked off.
"What!" Sakura said.
"Great. I'm starved!" Kakashi said as he walked over to the kitchen.
"….Fine." "At least he didn't kill me or something." Sakura thought.
After breakfast, the group decided to go training. While getting ready to leave, someone knocked on the front door. Seeing that no one was going to get it Sakura said she would get it.
"Yes?" Sakura said before opening the door.
"Hi is my Sasuke-kun th- What the hell are you doing here forehead girl!" Ino said as she pointed at Sakura.
"What did you call me, you fatass pig!"
"How dare you!"
"Why are you so mad, that should be a compliment for you."
"You little." Ino then began to try and control herself from ripping off the pink haired girl's head. "Just tell me where my Sasuke-kun is!"
"He's-" Sakura was cut off when Sasuke stood behind her.
"Move it, you're blocking the way." He told Sakura.
"You can ask a little nicer." "Ass" she said as she moved aside.
"Oh my god! You're living with my Sasuke-kun!" Ino said outraged. Sakura just ignored the fuming blond as she and the others headed toward the training grounds outside camp. They met Neji along the way.
When they finally reached it, Kakashi took both Hinata and Neji to a different section to train their blood lines.
"Lets do two on two." Naruto suggested. When the four agreed naruto yelled, "I'm with Sakura-chan!"
"Hey! I don't want to be stuck with the teme." Sai protested.
"I don't want to be stuck with the loser either." Sasuke said.
"Just suck it in. Stop being a sissy." Naruto said.
"Can we just go already?" Sakura asked.
"Fine." The two said.
"Bring it on teme!" Naruto said as he took out his sword.
"I believe he's talking about you." Sai said as he summoned an ink creature.
"Shut up." Sasuke said as he unsheathed his sword, and activated his sharingan.
"I'm going to show that Uchiha a lesson for good." Sakura thought as she pulled her sword out from its cover.
"This should be a good fight, yeah. What do you think Sasori-san?" A blond haired knight in a black robe with clouds said to his partner.
"Just remember why we're here Deidara." Sasori warned.
"Yeah, yeah, but I'm not sure why Itachi would want us to watch his brother."
"That guy always has his reasons." Sasori told his partner. Deidara looked bored as he watched the four fight one another. Not even a minute into the battle, they saw the young Uchiha fly back ten yards.
"That girl sure does have a mean punch, yeah. Right Sasori-san?...Sasori-san?"
"Doesn't she and those other two look familiar?"
"A little, yeah. Why?" The two looked at Sakura, Sai, and Hinata.
"That girl, she's Hyuuga Hinata. The other two are the orphan peasants Kisame told us about. How did they get here? This isn't good."
"We should report this, yeah, but Itachi's going to get pretty pissed at Orochimaru. Those three are supposed to be dead, yeah."
"Let's get to the horses, there is a change in plans."
AN: I really can't excuse myself…can I?...Sry, been a little distracted. I hope u won't mind too much…hehehe….AH! Don't hurt me! I have fresh baked muffins!
