-RECAP-
The Akatsuki smirked as he saw what was trailing behind him. He began to increase his speed and chuckle. "Didn't I tell you that my art is always better? yeah"
Kakashi then smiled beneath his mask and spoke up. "And didn't I tell you I won't miss this time?"
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'I'm sorry..'
Someone was apologizing to her.
'Why are you apologizing?' she asked
'I'm sorry..' the voice repeated again.
'Why' she asked again 'Who are you anyway?'
She heard a sigh.
'I am you and you are me, Sakura.' the silhouette finally replied. 'And for that I am sorry..'
She was confused. Why?, she wanted to ask, but before she could, she was enveloped in a blinding light and was slowly being swallowed by it.
'I really am sorry..'
She heard it again.
'Really, really sorry..'
And the light finally swallowed her.
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"Uhhn. W-What happened?" she asked clutching her aching head "S-Sasuke?" she asked eyeing the raven haired male in front of her.
"You passed out." He said in a monotone. "You were drained of your chakra." he finished with an emotionless face
"I see." she answered as she looked down. What the hell was that about?
"Where are the others?" she quickly asked after remembering what happened earlier.
"After the enemy." He answered "You stay here, I'll go after them." he said in a cold voice.
Sakura stared at him for a moment and stood up.
"No." she said. "I'll go with you."
Sasuke glared at her
"You'll just be a burden to us, stay here."
"No." she said and glared right back. "I'll go with you, I must protect Naruto." she said determinedly
"You have almost no chakra left, you'll be weighing us down."
"Damn it Uchiha I said no!" she screamed angrily at him. "If that so bothers you, here."
Sakura then made a series of hand signs that were unfamiliar to the Uchiha, and then grabbed the Uchiha's arm firmly. The next thing they knew, green light covered her entire body.
Sasuke just stared at her with an emotionless face. A second later, he felt some his chakra slowly leaving his body and being transferred into the kunoichi. When he understood what she was doing, he tried to get his arm back, however, with the kunoichi's insane strength, he was unable to do so. He was about to kick her violently, however just as he was about to do so, she let go of his arm. The next thing the Uchiha knew, all the bruises, scratches and any other marks that were previously on the kunoichi were now gone. Not only that but it also seems that her chakra was also replenished.
And to think, this all happened in the span of five seconds.
"Better Uchiha? Well then let's go." Sakura said snapping him out of his thoughts.
Shishou would surely kill me if she learns what I just did.
Sasuke glared at her again "No." he said firmly "You're not coming with me."
Sakura was appalled. What the hell?!
"What?!" she screamed at him "What the hell is your problem Uchiha?! I'm not weak anymore, and I'm coming along, whether you like it or not!"
"No, you're not." He stated in his cold voice. "And that's final"
And with that he disappeared from where he was standing and reappeared directly behind her.
He then proceeded to knock her out cold like he did the last time, but suddenly stopped when a 'poof' sound was heard and in Sakura's place was a log.
"Damn it" he cursed under his breath.
Sakura aimed a punch at the Uchiha. "I saw that one coming." she said
The Uchiha easily evaded her punch and soon afterwards launched himself at her.
"You can't hit me" he said cockily.
She smirked.
"That may be true but.." she started as she punched the ground "I can try."
The ground erupted violently, and large pieces of rocks and dirt flew in the air. It clouded the Uchiha's vision and so he resorted to activating his sharigan. He tried sensing the girl, however, there were several replicas of her chakra signature. He groaned in frustration and concentrated harder. As he was having an unusually difficult time in locating her, he knew right then that Sakura did not only borrowed his chakra, but somehow tampered with it. With such disturbance in his system, he did not sense that Sakura was already behind him, her hand on his neck, and was about to knock him out her self.
When he did realize, it was too late.
"Have a good nap.." she said before touching the pressure point on his neck.
"Bastard." she finished,
And he dropped to the ground.
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"So what's this about Tsunade?" the white haired sannin asked. "Why have you suddenly called us here?"
The Hokage eyed him for a moment and sighed.
"I think we both know why you're here Jiraiya." she answered with a bored tone.
Jiraiya smirked.
"So, I guess we'll just get to the point now, ne?" he said "How many are there?" he asked as he plastered a serious look on his face.
"Just one." the Hokage answered quickly.
"I see.. Have they found him yet?" he asked
"No." The Hokage then let out a frustrated sigh. "At least Naruto's safe." she added as she spotted the blonde boy still unconscious.
The white haired sannin kept quiet for a while and looked as if he was deep in thought.
"Well that's weird." he finally said after a few minutes of silence.
Tsunade raised a questioning brow at him and asked: "What's weird?"
The white haired man sighed.
"If they are after Naruto, how come they didn't even get near him?" he started. "How long ago was the Akatsuki spotted?"
"About three hours ago." Tsunade answered
Jiraiya looked even more troubled after hearing the Hokage's answer.
"If they've been here that long, how come they didn't get that close to him?" he asked. "Surely, it wouldn't be any trouble for an Akatsuki to track Naruto's chakra signature."
Tsunade stared at the man in front of her and took out a sake bottle.
"He must've sensed that you were with him" she argued as she proceeded to take a drink from her sake bottle "He probably didn't want to fight a sannin and a jinchuuriki at the same time."
"That may be true, however, it's the Akatsuki were talking about, I doubt they'll just abandon their attempt because of me."
Tsunade sighed, and glanced up her fellow sannin.
"Well, in any case, I'm glad that they weren't able to accomplish abducting Naruto. That would just be disastrous." she paused "Tell Naruto this when he wakes up, that he is not to go anywhere without you or Kakashi or at least two of his teammates. He will also not be able to go on missions for a while."
"What if he refuses?"
"Tell him his dreams of being Hokage would be just that, a dream."
The white haired man sweat dropped
"Don't you think that's a little too harsh?" he asked "I mean, crushing his dreams?"
"We have no other choice. If we must to resort to such things, we will, to ensure his and the people's safety." she said and glanced at the unconscious boy "I know he'll understand."
The white haired sannin sighed.
"Okay then, you're the Hokage."
Tsunade then propped her elbows on her desk and placed her chin atop her entwined fingers. She then noticed something dangling from the hands of the other sannin, and it caught her immediate attention.
"Jiraiya.." she started " Do tell me what you are holding right there?"
Jiraiya, caught off guard by her question, proceeded to look at the item in his hand.
He then proceeded to laugh nervously.
"Well, haha, Tsunade, I have to, uhhm go train Naruto! yeah! We need to train!" he said nervously, and then proceeded to run away from the Hokage's office, dragging the poor unconscious boy behind him.
"JIRAIYA!!"
(A/N: If you don't get what Jiraiya has in his hands, better consult the previous chapters.. if you still don't get it.. well.. I pity you.. hahahaha)
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"Sai, for how long can you keep this bird flying?" Kakashi asked
"About seven more minutes." the artist nin answered
"Good." Kakashi answered. "Just evade if he attacks." he commanded.
"What are you planning?" the artist nin asked
The Copy-nin however did not reply for he was busy forming a series of hand seals.
The Akatsuki watched with an amused look as the two desperately tried to trail after him.
He took out some explosive clay and molded them into tiny birds. He then did a few hand seals and the tiny birds flew towards the copy-nin and artist-nin.
"Let's see how good this art of yours is... yeah."
About ten clay birds made there way towards the two. Sai however spotted them and immediately took out his scroll.
He then began drawing tiny birds himself and once they came to life, he ordered them to attack the clay birds the Akatsuki deployed. And as the two set of birds clashed, inky explosions occured.
The Akatsuki watched the clashing with a dull look.
"I see you're art has some use after all, however, as I've already mentioned.." he started as he molded another explosive sculpture in his hands. "Mine's better... yeah" and with that, he threw his newly created 'masterpiece' at the two and did a few hand seals, bringing to life a huge clay dragon.
Sai knew that he had to divert the attention of the approaching clay dragon away from Kakashi. He then drew another bird and when it came to life, he left Kakashi and rode the new bird.
With the new ink bird, he flew towards the dragon and drew on his scroll. Two hawks then emerged from it and made their way towards the clay dragon. Once they reached it, they tried clawing it, however, upon contact with the clay, they exploded.
"I don't think that would work... yeah." Deidara pointed out. "The scales of my dragon you see are explosives. They can and will explode upon contact... yeah"
Sai looked at him impassively and began drawing on his scroll again.
This time, five small birds, similar to the ones he used earlier came to life and made their way towards the clay dragon.
"I told you that wouldn't work.." the Akatsuki pointed out again, as the tiny birds exploded, "Don't be stubborn, kid... yeah"
Sai however just smirked at him.
He drew about ten tiny birds and this time, instead of approaching the clay dragon, it approached the Akatsuki.
"Stubborn brat, your birds won't hurt me.." the Akatsuki taunted as he threw his left over clay spiders at the approaching ink birds. "The kunoichi could do better, you're just wasting my time.. yeah." he finished.
Sai smirked again.
"I think you'll have to rethink that statement, why don't you look at your dragon?" he said. "I don't think ugly could do that." he pointed out smugly.
The Akatsuki narrowed his lone eye at the boy and then turned his attention at his clay dragon. As he gazed at his 'masterpiece' he noted that there was no significant changes in it, and thought that the kid was only bluffing.
"It's that all you can do? Bluff? ... yeah" he asked. "How pitiful... yeah"
"I think you should take a better look." Sai interrupted "There might be something you've missed."
The Akatsuki, out of curiosity did as he was told. He glanced up his dragon again and this time, he did notice some changes.
His dragon was falling apart!
How?! he asked himself.. I don't think he even touched it.
He then noticed something black on the dragon's head. He focused his mechanical eye at the dragon's head and began zooming in on the said location. What he found startled him a bit. It was ink, and it was the one causing his dragon to fall apart.
"I don't know about you, robot eyed freak, but I think my art's destroying yours.." Sai pointed out with a smirk. "Which makes mine better." he added.
The Akatsuki had to hand it to the boy, he did have some brains and some talent. He was able to figure out that the dragon's weakness was it's head. Sure, he knew that as long as he controlled the dragon, it's head would be protected. But that's where the ink birds came in, he thought. They were used as a diversion, not a direct attack.
I didn't even notice that.. he mused to himself. I think it's time to get serious.
After pondering for a bit, the Akatsuki let out a maniacal laugh.
"Don't delude yourself boy.." he started, plastering a serious look on his face. "I guess there's no point in holding back now is there? yeah"
he then took out a considerable amount of clay from his pouch and began molding it. "I'll show you just how a blast art is."
A/N: Ahhhh!! Sorry!! I kind of rushed this thing.. :d well, I had lots to do.. Sorry!