Chapter 6
Drawing the red scarf higher to cover her frostbite nose to sneak up just a tiny bit more warmth from the freezing air around her, Sakura contradictorily opened her gloveless palm wide to catch the icy flowers on her hand.
She did not like snow as much as he did since it was so cold and wet and depressing but she could not deny herself that snowy winter was always a sight to behold. The way snow gently and noiselessly covered everything on earth with a pure and pristine blanket strangely placated the rosy-haired girl's heart no matter how angry and frustrated she was at that time.
Maybe because she was too used to the way he sat for hours in silence musing over thesnowy scenery laying out in the front yard of his parents' winter cottage, her impression of snow was usually of that calm and tender nature. Although her iced up toes and knees at this moment were begging to differ.
Sakura could condition the chakra inside her body to get warmer instantly but in mission like this, she did not want to waste any chakra for mere self-indulgent purposes. In fact, she could not risk doing so as her chakra reservoir needed to be at full capacity for another two hours. Sometimes, just a tiny amount of chakra left inside a shinobii's body could determine the life and death of herself or her comrades.
Besides, a shinobi's body was a trained one, which was able to withstand most of extreme weather conditions thanked to the constant itinerary from one continent to another. Nonetheless breath-takingly beautiful sight like this was always a rewarding aspect of this danger-laden profession. Just like he said, open air and striking landscapes worked like soothing incense or painkillers, relaxing the most perturbed mind because standing in front of vast nature, you just realised how small you were and your trouble hence became less significant.
"What if one day you could not calm yourself even when you are standing in front of a stunning scenery?"
"This means you're really in deep trouble then"
Another snowflake landed itself on her palm, joining four others before slowly melting away in a few minutes due to her body heat. Ephemeral beauty. Too short and too beautiful. The type of beauty he liked. She remembered him insisted on taking a detour through the mountainous areas of the Snow country instead of the shortcut straight to the waterway back to the Fire country border some years ago so he could see the legendary snow flower that was only in full-bloom every fifteen years but once it blossomed, the aroma from the flower's stigma was of the finest and purest scent that no other high-quality perfume extraction could be compared with. Even though feeling exhausted after a long mission, Sakura still let herself be coerced into going on the detour since the story did entice her maybe a bit more than a lot.
The experience was nothing short of extraordinaire. It was magical watching a tiny flower bud slowly open up to fan out white soft petals dusted with lightest hue of pink from the centre. In a few moments, the whole space around them was filled with the purest fragrance that dips the two beholders into a floaty kind of happiness. Sakura was practically holding her breath when dazing at the splendid flower, feeling irrationally scared that if she was so much as breathing too hard, this true beauty would immediately evaporate in the frost.
Kakashi who was usually silent seemed to be two times quieter as his eyes fixed on the blossom as if being hypnotised. His hand resting on the icy rock unmoved as though the chilliness could not enter his system and affect his cold feeling senses anymore.
The sole flower was there, erecting its head in the proudest and most magnificent manner despite the whirlwind of malevolent ice and frost. Sakura did not know whether the flower's scent had got to her and created these strange illusions but in her eyes, this untainted beauty seemed to be hosted by a magical spirit who was so certain that if it did not show off all of its charm and splendour right at this moment, it would have to wait for a very long time to finally appear again.
In the middle of wilderness, surrounded by lifeless and inanimate rocks and snow and grass, the flower stood out like a soulful creature – living and breathing. Now Sakura understood why her father who seemed to be so passive about most things was that determined to get here to witness this marvel.
But like the sweetest dream, this one-in-a-life-time wonder did not last long. Five minutes after being full-bloomed, the petals started to wither and died on spot, making young Sakura's eyes sting keenly:
"Oh" – she sounded extremely disappointed – "Why does it die so quickly dad? This is unfair, hadn't it waited for 15 years to bloom and only lasted for five minutes?"
"Fair?" – Kakashi repeated, sounding a bit surprised at little Sakura's word choice then chuckled lightly: "Life is hardly fair, honey. But isn't it great? Even when it only blossoms every 15 years and only lasts for five minutes, it's the most beautiful flower in this world and anyone was lucky enough to witness it will never forget it in their lifetime and its tale will continue to be passed down for generations. I don't think I can forget this, what's about you Sakura?"
"Of course, I will never forget it" – Sakura responded quickly, puffing and pouting her lips along the way, earning another laugh from her father who rubbed her head lovingly through his thick glove.
"Come here, kiddo" – Kakashi climbed to his feet from his sitting position behind the big rock and approached the dead flower with little Sakura followed suit. Withdrawing a kunai from his leg pouch, the Copy Nin decisively dug onto the snow covered dirt around the flower to pull whole root systems off the ground amongst Sakura's protesting shrieks:
"Dad, what are you doing?"
Not slowing down for one second, the silver-haired man chopped the flower head off and rummaged through the backpack to find a bag:
"The root systems and stalks of this flower are extremely precious and rare herbal ingredients, better than even thousand year ginseng roots, your Tsunade-baachan will be very pleased to get her hand on one of these. The seed, however…"
Kakashi seemed to be much more careful in separating the dead petals of the flower head apart to get a thumb-size hard green seed in the middle out and showed it to Sakura:
"has an incredible surviving ability, even though it cannot grow in hot climates, it can wait for years until the right conditions are met to thrive again"
Opening her palm wide to receive the seed from her father, Sakura eyed the green gem with ascending marvel and intrigue:
"You mean this small seed can sleep underground for fifteen years until the day it can crack the dirt and flourish again?"
"Uhm, that's exactly what happens, sweetheart" – Nodded Kakashi while giving the little girl a happy smile that crinkled his eyes. Delving into his backpack again to pull out a tiny glass bottle, the Copy Nin unplugged the cork and raised the uncovered lips toward Sakura:
"Do you want to…"
"No wait, Dad, didn't you say this flower only blooms every 15 years, isn't it cruel of us to take it away from its natural habitat?" – arm slightly curled up to cover the seed protectively, Sakura looked at Kakashi with worry-stricken face:
"There's not only one of these seeds under the ground here, Sakura-chan" – Kakashi laughed lightly at the panicked daughter – "there are hundreds of these down here even, it's very rare for this flower to bloom, it's even rarer for two or three of them to bloom at the same time, very narcissistic flora, I guess" – gently taking the seed away from Sakura's palm, the silvered haired man dropped it inside the bottle, closed it, and gently shoved it back in the younger girl's hand: "Just keep it, maybe one day you may try to grow it yourself" – he rubbed the top of her head again.
Unconsciously tightening her fingers around the crystal locket containing a single green kernel in the middle, which was strung through a small silver chain around her neck, Sakura's ribcage suddenly constricted painfully as the face of a certain silver-haired man flashed through her mind. She was never scared when he was around but when he was out of sight, even though she was trained very well to be calm and collected and brave on the outside, on the inside a flimsy, insidious fear that she may never be able to see him again always chose the right moment to surge forward. How silly was it? Who would want to be with your own father every day, every minute?
The thought scared her deeply because it would lead her straight to places she did not want to go. But it was so hard not to think when your heart just acted on its own and she was just unable to control it.
She really needed to stop thinking this way, having him obsessed her like this was not right. He was always with her no matter what she looked at and where she went. He was the reason why she strived to be stronger every day, after every mission so she could always go back to see him again and hear him say: "Welcome home, Sakura- chan". In another way, it was also a good thing, a tiny ray of light shown in the infinite tunnel of darkness. Because as much as these forbidden feelings made her utterly miserable, it also made her tremendously happy. Every now and then when she could just let her guard down and simply enjoyed to be near him, to be in his presence, her heart was always overwhelmed with contentment and she wished that that very moment would never end.
Just like the magical time they shared by that mystical snow flowers, if she could ever freeze time like the way snow did with everything on earth in winter, she would chose that moment. But because she couldn't, she chose to wear the green seed around her neck so she could at least console her silly mind that she had kept part of that beautiful memory frozen with her for as long as she wanted it to be.
Inhaling deeply and clapping her hands to her cheeks to snap herself out of unnecessary stupor, Sakura slightly scolded herself:
"I'll be alright, how could anything go wrong with me, Katsuya, Uncle-Lee and Itachi-kun here?"
"Sakura-nee-san" – Katsuya's voice softly called out from the bushes behind Sakura.
"What's up?"
"Lee – ojisan wants us to rehearse the strategy again"
"I'm coming"
Sakura turned around and hurried her steps through the thick needle-shaped leaved bushes heavily covered in snow to get inside a small clearer ground where one grown man with bowl-cut hair and thick eyebrows stood in silence with two young teenage boys. They looked expectant when Sakura appeared nonetheless. Well, truth to be told Lee and Katsuya looked expectant; Itachi on the other hand was wearing his trademark indifference and slight annoyance.
Sakura was never really fond of the Uchiha family in the first place. She did not know whether it was because of her witnessing cold shoulders her own father traded with Uchiha Sasuke for years or the way they always thought of themselves and acted as if they were so much more superior to anyone else in the village making her feel that uninterested about them. She wouldn't say that she hated them because it was a strong word and for many years they went to the same academy together, Uchiha Itachi never really did anything bad to her. She wouldn't want to call him a friend either, since they never really had that sort of relationship so she did not want to be judgemental towards someone you did not really know much in the first place.
Itachi's beautiful look and insane talents were however always a big fuss with the girls in the academy and the village. Sakura herself had to admit that Itachi was amongst the most beautiful people she'd ever met. But simply put, he may not be her type. Her type would be able to throw sarcastic and witty remarks at people while maintaining his perfect poker face, he would have many eccentric quirks but most of all unbounded hidden kindness for everything around him.
"Well, stop that, will you?" – mentally scolded herself again, Sakura smiled lightly at the team leader in an attempt to diverge her thoughts to more current matters at hands:
"The scenery just off the cliff is breathtaking, sorry I can't help it"
"It's ok, beautiful Sakura – the daughter of my teacher's eternal rival, letting the poetry in your soul pours out before a dangerous mission is a sign of a true bravery. Snow is the symbol of winter and you are the symbol of springtime and youth, having spring goddess admired the beauty of winter is a wonderful thing, we'll definitely survive to see the next springtime in Konohagakure" – the sentence ended with a pair of gleaming and sparkly eyes which could give Pakkun a run for money (even when he was craving for the special cat-flavoured cookies Sakura made for him)
"Haha, I guess so" – One of Sakura's lip corner was weakly lifted up into an awkward smile and from the corner of her eyes, she could see Katsuya just slapped his forehead in dismay while Itachi just quickly knitted his eyebrows in a confusing look and then let it go.
Most of the time Sakura never understood any of Lee-ojisan's logics because there was probably none in the first place but she really liked him and admired him so she never really splashed cold water on his ever-burning enthusiasm.
"Can we go over the plan now?" – asked Itachi with his trademark indifferent impatience.
"Sure" – Lee answered with an unswayed excitement. Groping for a small stick nearby, the taijutsu master started to scribble on the snow-filled ground:
"This is where we are, this is where the enemy is, as you all know from ANBU spying information, the whole fortress wall is eight metres high and covered by high-level chakra blocking and detecting genjutsus. Not even a single chakra bug can get passed without alarming the whole army inside. We do not know how many of them inside but one thing for sure they must be insanely strong to capture Kankuro of the sand and Killer-bee-sama's son – Daiki"
"That's why you need both a byakugan and a sharingan in this mission" – Sakura chimed in when flashing a cheeky smile at Katsuya.
"Correct, Sakura-chan. I just want to repeat the goal of our mission, find and rescue Kankuro and Daiki and…" Pointing at Katsuya for dramatic effect:
"Find the scroll that the second-in-command advisor of Raikage sent to this fortress, if possible steal it, if not, copy the information." – finished Lee-ojisan sentence with a better concealed impatience than the Uchiha, Katsuya continued: "With the spying work we've been doing for the last couple of days, the radius of this fortress must be at least five hundred metres, there are three levels to the security walls of the fortress, the first..." – taking the stick from Rock Lee's offering hand, Katsuya drew three circles around the enemy's position marked by the green-clad jounin before: "…level is the chakra blocking and detecting genjutsu – filled walls"
"How far is the active field of these Jutsus?" – Itachi asked, indicating the first circle created by dug-up dirt and snow.
"About 4.8 metres in width and 2.7 metres in height from the top of the brick wall" Sakura and Katsuya replied in unison with a sly smile thrown at each other face, which instanstly raised an eyebrow from the young Uchiha and curious smile from Rock Lee:
"I can see you guys have done some research. How deep into the compound can you see Kat-chan?"
"I can see through the first three layers of surrounding walls, starting from there is around seventy rooms connected with each other by wooden alleyways which are patrolled by seven groups of guards, five for each. All the alleyways lead to one big hall in the centre and that was where my byakugan could not go any further. The main hall seemed to be covered with a very strong blocking genjutsu again. I could not see underneath the compound either but there is definitely an underground system of some sort because some of the rooms have doors which did not seem to go to anywhere externally. May be that where they keep the prisoners"
"How did you test the effective field of the outermost wall again?"
"While Kat-chan activated his Byakugan to look into the compound, I have sent seven clones of mine to circumnavigate around this area and each of them using this to determine the effective field of this chakra detecting walls"
Sakura made a gesture of stretching something out between her fingers in a straight line, something completely invisible to naked eyes. But by the subtle change of chakra flow around her, Rock Lee could feel it instant due to years of training his senses to detect chakra movement without seeing it:
"That technique from Kankurou? You've mastered it already?" – his voice was obviously impressed.
Katsuya also could not help a small smile but with the unsurprised expression he had, he must already have seen this show by Sakura several times before. Quickly activating his sharingan, Itachi spotted a very thin needle-shaped pink chakra thread strung between Sakura's fingers:
"Invisible chakra threads used in controlling fighting puppets?" – The raven-haired boy asked with a slight scowl between his eyebrows.
"It is" – Sakura answered proudly – "Kankurou-san taught me this a year ago. But he didn't have time to teach me how to monitor my chakra flow to vary the shape and size of the invisible chakra thread" – as if demonstrating what she meant, the pink-haired kunoichi just twirl her fingers around so one hand was hovering above the other and pulling moves were made again. Under normal eyes, it looked like she was just playing around aimlessly with her hand but under the sharingan's scrutiny, each of her five digits was actually strung to one thread of thin chakra:
"Look like you've figured it out yourself" – Itachi scoffed at Sakura's little show, to which Sakura just smirked arrogantly back:
"Yes, I use each of my clones as a post for one of the thread, so they basically create a fishnet above the chakra detecting field of the outer wall, once the two fields collide, I will know instantly the height and width of the jutsu. And as soon as the two fields are in contact with each other, my thread and clones will disappear…"
"And because you send your clones out from different location around the fortress, they could not trace back which direction this chakra comes from, hence your location is well-hidden" – Itachi finished smoothly and something akin to intrigue fleeted through his eyes .
"Yes" – Sakura smiled slyly and then turned to Rock Lee – "I also figure out how these chakra detecting jutsu work. They are actually a bunch of five element spells grouped together: Fire, Wind, Lighting, Earth and Water. It's detecting Chakra by sensing the oppositeness in chakra natures. For example, my affinity is Earth, when my chakra flow gets in contact with that chakra detecting field, it'll dissolve if it touches Lighting group, and it will poke a hole in the field if it touches Water group since Earth is weaker than Lighting but stronger than Water. If it touches Fire or Wind group, the disparity is not that blatant but they can definitely feel the subtle difference in chakra nature and alarm the whole fortress of the intruders"
"So you mean the best chance we have is searching for the correct location on the field which is similar to our inborn chakra type to get passed undetected?" – Itachi raised an eyebrow at Sakura who nodded in agreement:
"Naturally, if my chakra flow connects with the Earth group, there won't be any incompatibility, they won't be able to tell the difference, so I can get passed that field at that particular point"
"The tricky part is that this chakra detecting field is rotating clockwise nine round per minute so even when we locate the right chakra group, we have to be very quick barging in there" – Katsuya supplied but immediately cut off by whimpering sounds to his right.
The three teenager shinobis just quickly abandoned their discussion and turned to look at the only adult in the group who was busy crying on the back of his arm:
"You guys…hurgh…" – hiccuped a very emotional Lee – "are amazing. I'm so happy… hurgh, hurgh… Konoha's new generation of Shinobis…even smarter and more t- talented than…than the l—last"
"Lee-ojisan no baka" – Katsuya scolded and threw an annoyed look at the green- clad Jounin while Sakura instantly took on the awkward smile which made her mouth corners quiver indecisively. Even Itachi had a hard time maintaining a straight face since he looked like he could burst out laughing so badly any moment now but that didn't seem to sit well with his usual icy demeanours. Sakura bet that was the only reason stopping this younger Uchiha from destroying his normal "cool" image.
Undeterred by being called stupid, Rock Lee cocked his face away from his arm and looked at the three younger shinobi with his huge glassy eyes:
"So I guess I can just walk passed that field and wait for you three from inside?"
As if having a cold bucket of water splashed straight to their faces, the three teenagers growled with frustration. It seemed so empty and ridiculous when they had to spend so much time to navigate the enemy's lair and formulate a complicated plan to break into the chakra sensing wall unnoticed while their team leader could easily walk passed it like an uninhabited place since he doesn't have a chakra nature to be detected.
"So Katsuya, you will be the last person to get in since you have to use your byakugan to detect which chakra area compatible with Sakura's or Itachi's and alert them to make their moves?" – said Rock Lee while unabashedly cleaning his tear-tainted cheeks with the back of his hands.
Even when this leader was very fast to cry, the three younger shinobis had to agree that he was actually very sharp and he was very reliable in the leader role. There were very few illustrious ninjas in this world could be this emotional and this successful in their careers. Like their respective fathers, Rock Lee was also listed amongst war heroes in Konoha. He had reached his legendary status as the number one non-chakra fighter in the ninja world by the time he was twenty five. His taijutsu skills had long been feared by ninjas from all lands and territories since it had reached the god-like level, earning him the nickname: Konoha's Invisible Kick Green Beast. His attacks were so fast that even people with kekkai genkai could not follow. Being with a team-leader like this somewhat reassured the three subordinates' spirits.
"So once we get inside the fortress, we split into two groups, Katsuya and I will search for the south area while you two search for the north. If each group find anything, we will contact each other by writing the information on our palms, the information will be carried across to all member"
This chakra manipulation invention was created by no other than Sakura and Kakashi. Sakura started to take care of her father's wounds and injuries since she was ten and Kakashi was usually willing to be his little daughter's guinea pig for new healing techniques she learnt or invented on many occasions. During one of her many experiments Sakura and Kakashi discovered that they can leave a small amount of chakra inside another person for a certain period. This foreign chakra because of its difference in colour with the host can work as a highlighter and a transmitter of information to its owner.
For instance Kakashi and Sakura could both leave a small amount of their chakra signature on each other's arm. When Kakashi's chakra is electric blue and Sakura's is pink, Kakashi could manipulate her chakra into some sort of writing and symbol then Sakura will instantly receive this information on her hand as Kakashi's chakra signature embedding inside her palm changed its shapes.
This technique was only usable for people who completely trust each other and have a high level of chakra control. Since it was very risky to have another person's chakra in your system no matter how short it is. Some chakra nature is extremely malicious and could easily damage the host's inner nerves and organs. This technique however quickly spread amongst Konoha's ninjas and gained its popularity in a whirlwind because of its convenience. Especially during A-Ranked or S-Ranked missions when trust amongst comrades was vital for the success of the operation, this technique was very often in use.
Standing up straight from the snowy ground while using one foot to flatten the earth where the plan was drawn onto before to cover the trace, the oldest jounin looked around to his three subordinates who were climbing to their feet with all seriousness:
"We just wanted to be as stealthy as possible, once we found Daiki, Kankurou and the scroll, we teleport out of this place, we do not engage in any unnecessary fight with the enemy, is it clear?"
"Clear" – the three teenager shinobii chorused.
"Ok, Hands in, Konoha's young soldiers" – Rock Lee flew his hand forward while flashing the whole group his trademark dazzling smile again. Heavy sighs from the two boys could be heard but none of them turned the colourful gesture down. When four hands were placed on top of each other, Rock Lee's smile widened:
"Here we go, for Konoha and the world peace"
None of the younger ninjas repeated this but they all lifted their arm up in sync with the enthusiastic team leader. Then without a making a tiniest bit of sound Rock Lee turned on his heels and started towards the fortress's direction, followed closely by Katsuya, Sakura and Itachi.
For one very swift second Sakura's chest just clenched hard as a rush of nervousness washed over her spine:
"What is it? Why do I feel so unsettled about all of this" – thought Sakura while flying through trees and rocks to keep up with her teammates.
Author's note: very short chapter, I'm enjoying writing about scheming and planning and Rock Lee's quirks as always although for me, it's always a lot harder than writing emotional part, :)