An Extra Edge
Welcome back to An Extra Edge. The preliminaries got underway, with the final line up being Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, Ling, Fu, Lan Fan, and Neji. Naruto and Sakura were both concerned about the fact that Sakura would face Ling in the finals, and both found themselves under the tutelage of Jiraiya and Tsunade respectively, two of the Legendary Sannin. While Naruto was given to Jiraiya by Kakashi, Sakura sought out Tsunade of her own free will, wanting to level the playing field for her battle with Ling. We now find them at the end of the training period, the finals a day away.
Legal stuff: I don't own Naruto or any of its characters. Just my fic and ocs.
Sakura's fist impacted on the stone wall, causing it to shatter into rubble. She looked over her handiwork with a smile.
"Good work, Sakura," Tsunade said. "You grown strong this past month, and I'm very proud of you."
Sakura bowed. "Thank you for teaching me, Lady Tsunade. Your training helped me with my training in my clan's jutsu as well."
"You're welcome, Sakura," Tsunade said. "Now get some rest. You have a big day tomorrow."
Sakura nodded. "Yes, Lady Tsunade," she said before leaving to shower.
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Naruto looked up as his Rasengan practicing clones dispersed and sent their knowledge to him. "Awesome!" he yelled as he dispelled his chakra cloak and held out his hand, forming a Rasengan in it.
"Nice work, Naruto. You've come far," Jiraiya said.
"All thanks to you, Pervy Sage," Naruto said, allowing the Rasengan to disperse.
Jiraiya frowned, during the whole month, he failed to get Naruto to stop calling him 'Pervy Sage'. "Anyway, you should head home and get some rest. You'll need your strength tomorrow."
"Sure thing, Pervy Sage!" Naruto said before dispelling his clones and leaving before Jiraiya could protest the nickname.
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Naruto walked through the streets, where people were having a festival on the eve of the fights, when his stomach growled. Normally, he'd have gone to Ichiraku, but noticed that he was nearer to the Haruno compound. "Sakura-chan's clan has always been nice to me. Especially her mom and granny." He had never understood why he could always expect a warm welcome from them, but given how everyone else treated him, he wasn't gonna look a gift horse in the mouth. With that in mind, he entered the compound and headed for Sakura's house, which was the biggest in the place, given her status as the heiress. He made sure to return the greetings of her clansmen along the way before arriving at Sakura's home and knocking.
"Coming!" a woman's voice called, the door being opened shortly after, revealing the face of Tokine Haruno, Sakura's mother. "Naruto! How are you? It's so good to see you!" she said happily, pulling the blond into a brief hug. "So what brings you here?" Her answer came in the form of Naruto's stomach growling. "Well what are you waiting for? Come on in, dinner's almost ready."
"Thanks, Tokine," Naruto said as she let him in. The Harunos had all insisted that he be on first name terms with all of them.
"You're welcome, Naruto. I'll tell Sakura you're here," Tokine said before heading down the hall.
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Sakura sighed contently as she dried off from her bath, which was very relaxing after her long day of training.
"Sakura, our favorite dinner guest is here," Tokine called.
"Okay, I'll be out soon!" Sakura called back, finishing drying off and putting some casual clothes on before brushing her hair. Once she was satisfied with her appearance, she walked out of the bathroom and went to the living room, finding Naruto on the couch chatting with her uncle Masamori. "Hi, Naruto," she said, smiling happily. In truth, like the rest of her clan, she thought very highly of him. She only treated him the way she did at the academy as a facade to keep her friends, who she was worried would reject her, but after the mission to the Land of Waves, she decided to stop putting up that facade, much to the delight of her clan.
Naruto looked up at her greeting and returned the smile. "Hi, Sakura-chan! Hope you don't mind me dropping in like this."
"It's fine. You know you're always welcome here," Sakura said, sitting down next to him.
Masamori gave her a sly grin. "Getting kinda close to the boy, aren't you, Sakura?"
Sakura and Naruto both blushed. "Uncle, we're just friends!" Sakura said quickly.
"Come on, you two are so close," Masamori said. "Remember the day you met?"
(flashback)
Four year old Sakura sat on a park bench crying her eyes out. She had just escaped from a group of bullies who had made fun of her forehead, not noticing someone approach her.
"What's wrong?" the person asked, getting her attention and making her look up, seeing the concerned face of a boy her age. He had spiky blond hair, sapphire blue eyes, and three whisker marks on each cheek. Her first thought was that he was cute, but quickly thought back to the bullies' words, that she would never have friends because of her forehead. "Nothing," she finally said, drying her tears.
The boy didn't buy it and sat next her. "Didn't look like nothing. Please, tell me what's wrong."
Sakura looked at her lap. "Ami and her friends were picking on me because of my forehead. It's too big."
The boy reached over and lifted her bangs to look at her forehead, making her blush. "Yeah, it's big, but I think that makes it cute."
Sakura blushed darker. "You really think so?"
The boy nodded. "Yeah. It's really cute," he said as he pulled his hand away. "I'm Naruto, by the way. Naruto Uzumaki. What's your name?"
"Sakura," Sakura said, giving him a small smile. "Sakura Haruno."
"Nice to meet you, Sakura," Naruto said, grinning widely.
Sakura smiled back, as though the smile were infectious. "Do you want to be my friend?"
"I'd love to!" Naruto said, grabbing her hand and leading her toward the playground.
After a couple of hours, an elderly woman came to the playground. "Sakura, time to go home!" she called.
Sakura pulled Naruto with her. "Come on. I want you to meet Granny Hisana!"
Hisana smiled at the sight of Naruto and Sakura's joined hands. "Who is this boy, Sakura?"
"This is Naruto, my new friend!" Sakura said happily.
Naruto smiled nervously. "Nice to, meet you."
"It's nice to meet you too, Naruto," Hisana said, kneeling down in front of him. "I'm Sakura's grandmother, Hisana Haruno."
Naruto smiled before his stomach growled.
Hisana chuckled. "Would you like to have dinner with us, Naruto?"
Naruto looked at her in disbelief. No one had ever invited him into their home before. "Yeah! That'd be great!" he said excitedly.
"Let's go then!" Sakura said. "You'll love mommy's cooking!"
(end flashback)
Sakura blushed darkly. "I must have gotten so obsessed with Sasuke that I completely forgot that day, and to me, the part of my mask to others about thinking Naruto's a talentless idiot was real. I was so stupid to forget," she thought as Tokine stuck her head in the room.
"Dinner's ready," Tokine said.
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Dinner consisted of rice, barbeque, and ramen, much to Naruto's delight.
"So, Naruto, Sakura, I hear you're both gonna have strong opponents tomorrow," Masamori said.
Naruto swallowed the ramen he had been chewing. "Yup! I'm up against Neji Hyuga."
"I think I've got it worse than you, Naruto," Sakura said. "We know how Neji will fight for the most part. All we really know about my opponent is that he's got a stinger tail covered in poison under his cloak, and he's good with genjutsu."
"We know you'll both do great," Masamori said.
"Yeah! After all, becoming a chunin means I'm one step closer to being Hokage!" Naruto said.
"And you'll be a great one," Tokine said.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
After dinner, Naruto visited for a while before deciding to head home. "Bye, Sakura-chan! See you tomorrow!" he called as he walked away from her, as she had seen him off.
"Can't wait!" Sakura called back before going back inside her house.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto entered his apartment and leaned on the door. "Sakura-chan's gotten even prettier this past month. Bet she's gotten stronger too."
"I'm sure she has, kit," the Nine-Tails said as Naruto fell onto his bed.
"Hope I don't end up having to fight her," Naruto said. "It's not that I'm hoping she'll lose. I just don't want to hurt her."
"Sounds like you're in love, kit," the Nine-Tails said in a somewhat teasing tone.
Naruto blushed. "Am I that obvious?"
"Pretty much," the Nine-Tails said before Naruto drifted off to sleep.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
As dawn broke, nobles began arriving from out of the village, along with the Kazekage and Mizukage.
Ling, Fu, Lan Fan, and Rin stood at the gate waiting for the Mizukage.
"There she is," Fu said as the Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumi came into view, flanked by her bodyguards, Chojuro of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and Utakata, the Six-Tails Jinchuriki.
"Mommy!" Rin called, jumping off Ling's shoulder and running to Mei, who promptly slapped her. "Mommy," Rin muttered, holding her cheek and starting to tear up.
"Don't you ever do that again!" Mei snapped. "I was worried sick about you!"
"I'm sorry, mommy," Rin sobbed. "I just, wanted to see Ling Ling."
"Lady Mizukage, I take responsibility for Rin's actions. As her caretaker, I should have brought her with me to begin with," Ling said.
Mei knelt down and pulled her crying daughter into a hug. "I'm sorry I had to yell at you, honey. But you really scared me by running off on your own. Don't leave the village without escorts again. Okay?"
"Okay, mommy," Rin said, calming down and returning her mother's hug.
"Honey, I want you to stay with Ling or his teammates while we're here," Mei said.
"Okay, mommy!" Rin said, cheering up and running back to Ling and climbing on his shoulder.
"Congratulations to you three for reaching the final fights," Utakata said.
"Thank you, Utakata-sensei," Ling said as the group turned and headed toward the arena.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
On the roof of Kikyo Castle, two figures stood, their bodies hidden beneath cloaks adorned with red clouds, and their faces obscured by straw hats with tassels around their heads.
"So, remind me again why we snuck into the most powerful of the five main hidden villages," one of them said.
"It has come to Leader's attention that Orochimaru plans to invade this village. There are currently four Jinchuriki in this village. Our job is to protect them and ensure their survival. If even one of them perishes, our plans are ruined," the other said.
"So one of our old colleagues is gonna be here," the first one said, reaching into a pouch on his belt and holding it in the pouch. "A canvas truly worthy of my artistry, hm."
"Just don't get carried away, Deidara," the second one said.
"Not a problem, Dante my man," Deidara said. "Although, I don't see why you didn't use those unique jutsu of yours to kill that guy that found us after we got here, hm."
"Hayate was strong," Dante said. "Defeating him with my jutsu would have been easier than facing him in a kenjutsu battle, but had I used my jutsu, it would have only served to reveal my presence here. And I would rather not have to kill any more Leaf shinobi than needed."
"Do you still care for your old home, hm?" Deidara asked.
"No. Not a bit," Dante said. "Let's go. An ANBU patrol will be coming by here soon."
"Lead the way, my man, hm," Deidara said as they left, heading toward the arena.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Naruto ran toward the Haruno compound, wanting to walk with Sakura to the arena, and found her as she was leaving it. "Hi, Sakura-chan!" he called, stopping in front of her.
"Hi, Naruto," Sakura said, smiling as Naruto caught his breath.
"Mind if I walk with you?" Naruto asked.
"Not at all," Sakura said.
Naruto then noticed something he hadn't noticed the night before. "Sakura-chan, what's that mark on your forehead?" he asked, pointing to the purple diamond shaped mark on her forehead.
"Oh that? That's the Reserve Seal. Lady Tsunade taught it to me," Sakura said.
"What does it seal?" Naruto asked.
"You'll see, maybe," Sakura said as they started walking.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Sakura looked up at the crowd from the arena, where she stood in a line with the rest of the genin, then noticed someone was missing. "Where's Sasuke?"
"Don't know," Naruto said from his spot next to her.
"Alright, listen up," Genma, who was Hayate's replacement, said. "The rules are the same as last time, there are none. The fight continues until someone dies, forfeits, or is unable to continue. In addition, I can step in and stop the match at my own discretion. Now then, Naruto Uzumaki and Neji Hyuga remain down here. The rest of you go up to the observation level."
"Be careful, Naruto," Sakura said quietly.
"Sure thing, Sakura-chan," Naruto said.
Once all the genin but Naruto and Neji were out of the fight area, the two stood across from each other.
"It is your destiny to lose to me, Naruto Uzumaki," Neji said, entering the Gentle Fist stance.
"I don't believe in destiny," Naruto said, drawing the Kubikiribocho.
"You're a failure, Naruto," Neji said. "A failure will always be a failure. The four Hokage, even the fourth, became Hokage because they were destined to be Hokage."
Naruto frowned. "That's enough, shut your damn mouth!" he snapped. "They each became Hokage because they worked hard to earn it! They didn't have it handed to them because of destiny! I may be considered a dead last by most people, but I won't let that stop me! I'll become Hokage, and nothing short of death will stop me."
Neji returned the frown and activated his Byakugan. "It seems we are at an impasse. Let us find out through battle who's philosophy is correct."
"Begin!" Genma said.
Naruto threw a few kunai at Neji, who deflected them with a kunai of his own and jumped back to avoid Naruto's sword slash, using the opening to launch an attack of his own.
"Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms!" Neji said, launching his attack, though Naruto managed to bring his sword up to block most of them, though he got hit by the last four or five strikes, having difficulty holding up his sword, so he sheathed it and pulled out his trench knives.
"It'll take more than that to bring me down," Naruto said, charging at Neji, going into an exchange of blows that eventually ended with him getting the full force of Neji's Eight Trigrams: 64 Palms.
Neji looked at Naruto, who had fallen to the ground. "As I said, a failure will always be a failure."
"Looks like Whiskers loses," Rin said from her perch on Ling's shoulder.
"What's the kid doing here?" Kankuro asked.
"I'm her caretaker," Ling said, watching the fight. "At any rate, Rin is right. It looks like Naruto will lose."
"You're wrong," Sakura said, making them look at her.
"Why do you say that?" Temari asked.
Sakura smiled. "If there's one thing I've learned in the time I've known that baka, it's that you should never bet against Naruto. He has a habit of doing what some people think is impossible."
As though to prove her words, Naruto began getting to his feet, his whisker marks darkening, his nails becoming claws, and when he opened his eyes, they were blood red with slitted pupils, making Sakura gasp.
Neji was shocked, looking at Naruto's chakra network, which had red chakra flowing through it, forcing the closed chakra points open.
"I will never give up, Neji," Naruto growled as he held up his hand, a Rasengan forming in it and ran at Neji.
Sarutobi was shocked. "That's the fourth's jutsu!"
Neji started spinning. "Rotation!" he said, forming a chakra dome around himself.
Naruto kept running. "Take this, Rasengan!" he yelled as he hit the barrier with it. The barrier held up for almost a minute before giving way, the Rasengan hitting Neji in the gut, knocking him into the wall, hard, and knocking him out.
Genma checked on Neji before standing. "The winner is Naruto Uzumaki."
"That's my teammate!" Sakura said happily.
'He won! He won! Naruto-kun won!' Inner Sakura yelled, making Sakura blush a bit at adding kun to Naruto's name.
Naruto put his trench knives away as his features went back to normal and jumped up to the observation level. "I did pretty good, huh Sakura-chan?"
"Yeah, you did great," Sakura said, smiling.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Tokine and Masamori smiled at Naruto's victory.
"Who'd have thought he learned that jutsu?" Masamori asked.
"Yeah," Tokine agreed.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Dante and Deidara watched from their hiding spot, their chakra signatures cloaked.
"That looked like a pretty artistic jutsu," Deidara said.
"To think that he would learn that particular jutsu," Dante said.
"What is that jutsu anyway?" Deidara asked.
"One of the last jutsu invented by the fourth Hokage before his untimely demise," Dante said. "It's called the Rasengan."
"I see, hm," Deidara said.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"Next match, Sasuke Uchiha vs Gaara," Genma said.
"Sasuke isn't here yet, so they'll disqualify him," Sakura said in a worried tone as Raido jumped down to inform Genma of Sarutobi's decision to postpone Sasuke's fight.
Once Raido left, Genma spoke up. "Since Sasuke isn't here yet, we'll move on to the third match, Fu vs Kankuro."
Kankuro quickly spoke up. "Proctor, I withdraw," he said, drawing the jeers of the crowd.
"You damn coward!" Fu said, disappointed that he wouldn't get to fight Kankuro.
"Due to Kankuro's withdrawal, Fu wins by default," Genma said. "So we'll move on to the fourth match, Lan Fan vs Temari."
"Go get her, Lan Fan!" Fu said as Lan Fan and Temari jumped down to the arena.
"You're going down, Temari," Lan Fan said, grinning.
"We'll see about that," Temari said, returning the grin.
"Begin!" Genma said.
Lan Fan jumped onto the wall and unsealed one of her shuriken, throwing it at Temari, who blew it away with her fan. Lan Fan grinned and twitched her fingers, making the shuriken get back on course, still spinning.
"What the! How?" Temari asked, dodging the shuriken, which dug itself into the ground. "My jutsu would cut wires!"
"Who said I was using physical wires?" Lan Fan asked.
Temari's eyes widened in realization. "Chakra threads!" she gasped.
"Got that right," Lan Fan said, unsealing another shuriken. "Chakra threads aren't so easy to cut," she said, throwing the shuriken.
Temari started dodging Lan Fan's shuriken, knowing she couldn't deflect them, either with wind or her fan itself, since the lightning chakra enhanced shuriken would cut right through the fan.
After 20 shuriken total, Lan Fan made a hand sign. "Ketsu!" she said, sending chakra stored in the shuriken out as threads to trap Temari, who was now unable to move. "You have two choices now. Either forfeit, or the next shuriken takes off your head," she said, spinning a new shuriken.
Temari growled. "I withdraw."
"The winner is Lan Fan," Genma said, prompting Lan Fan to release Temari and return to the observation level.
"Next match, Sakura Haruno vs Ling Osoreida," Genma said.
Rin got off Ling's shoulder and moved to Fu's. "Good luck, Ling Ling!" she said cheerfully.
"Thank you, Rin," Ling said, jumping down to the arena.
Sakura was feeling nervous, but calmed down when she felt Naruto's hand on her shoulder, and looked at him.
"Go get him, Sakura-chan," Naruto said, grinning.
Sakura returned the grin. "Yeah," she said before jumping down to face Ling.
"Fifth match, Sakura Haruno vs Ling Osoreida, begin!" Genma said.
Sakura jumped back and threw a volley of kunai, which were deflected by Ling, while two cut through his cloak.
"This might prove interesting," Ling said as his cloak ripped and fell off, revealing a large oni mask on his back with the stinger tail being its tongue, and there were scrolls in its eye holes.
"Ew! What is that thing?" Ino asked from her seat with her team.
"What you see there is not Ling's real body," May said from her seat in front of them.
"Then what is it?" Choji asked.
"That's merely, a puppet," May said.
"Then where is his real body?" Ino asked. "A puppeteer has to be pulling the strings from somewhere!"
"His real body is inside that one," May said.
"Inside?" Asuma asked.
"Puppeteers aren't too good at close combat," May said. "Manipulating puppets during battle leaves them wide open to attack. It was to overcome that weakness and hide his other abilities that Ling created that puppet. It serves as his armor, as well as his weapon. It's the very first puppet he ever crafted, Giriko."
"You seem to know a lot about it," Shikamaru said.
May nodded. "I know everything about that puppet. It's highly skilled in attack and defense, deadly at both. If she is to defeat Ling, she'll first have to destroy Giriko, which will require enormous destructive power."
"Wow," Ino said.
"But to do that, she will first have to avoid every attack that his hidden weapons launch at her. She must dodge every one perfectly. She can't risk even the slightest scratch," May said.
"Because of the poison, right?" Choji asked.
"Yes," May said. "As you've seen, the smallest cut can be fatal," she said, making the genin shudder. "Before she can ever get to him, he will strike at her with all his hidden weapons. To survive, she must understand and instantly anticipate his moves."
"A tall order for a genin," Asuma said.
"True, but I have faith in my student," a new voice said from behind them.
Turning, they saw none other than Lady Tsunade herself.
"So this is Lady Tsunade," May said. "A pleasure to meet the greatest medical ninja to grace the shinobi world with her presence."
"Wait, you called Sakura your student, Lady Tsunade," Asuma said.
"Yup. I've trained Sakura for the past month, she wanted to get stronger, and she has," Tsunade said.
"Well, Sakura may have an easier time destroying Giriko than I thought," May said. "If she has trained under Tsunade, then she probably has gained the same monster strength that Tsunade is famous for."
Ling reached up and pulled his hat off, along with the veil on his face, confirming that the crowd was indeed seeing nothing but a puppet. "Is that all you've got, Sakura?" he asked, opening Giriko's mouth and beginning to shoot a barrage of senbon.
Sakura drew a kunai and started dodging through the storm of senbon, deflecting a few with her kunai.
Naruto watched in amazement at Sakura's evasive skills, as did everyone else who saw her before the finals.
"How did Billboard Brow get so good at dodging?" Ino asked.
"A medical ninja must never be hit by an enemy attack," Tsunade said.
The barrage of senbon eventually stopped, Ling surprised that his attack had been dodged as he closed Giriko's mouth. "She was ready for that one, huh?" he muttered. "In that case," he muttered, raising Giriko's hands and extending small nozzles from the palms. "Let's try this!" he sad, shooting fire at Sakura.
Sakura dodging the flame and ran through hand signs. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" she said, spitting out chakra enhance mud that hardened into several rock barriers.
"What the?" Naruto gasped. "She learned jutsu like that?"
Sakura took cover behind one of the walls to avoid the flames, which were blasting her cover quite insistently. "Glad I learned some elemental jutsu," she thought.
(flashback)
Sakura entered her family training room to find her uncle Masamori waiting for her. "Uncle?"
"Hello, Sakura. I thought I'd help with your training," Masamori said, motioning for her to come closer.
Sakura came up next to him. "What are you going to do?"
"I'm going to teach you some jutsu that will go hand in hand with your medical training," Masamori said. "You can't afford injury, so depending on this little test, I'll teach you an appropriate defensive jutsu."
"What's the test?" Sakura asked.
Masamori smiled and held up a vial of water. "This is called chakra water. It's used to determine elemental affinities. We have a similar means here in the Leaf, but chakra paper only determines your primary affinity. This water tells both your primary and secondary affinities."
"Alright, how does it work?" Sakura asked.
"Give me your hand, Sakura," Masamori said, holding out his free hand.
Sakura held out her hand, which Masamori held palm up, in a cup shape as he pulled the vial's cap off with his teeth and poured some of it into Sakura's hand.
Sakura shivered. If he hadn't been holding her hand steady, she probably would have dumped it to get away from the cold. "It's so cold!"
"Yeah, but you get used to it eventually," Masamori said. "now, channel some chakra into the water, it'll have different affects depending on the nature affinity."
Sakura nodded and channeled her chakra into the water, making it bubble briefly before turning into mud just as briefly, then turning back into water.
"Fire and Earth, great combination," Masamori said. "This is better than I thought, I can teach you a couple of Earth Style jutsu for defense, and a Fire Style for attack."
"Great!" Sakura said happily as Masamori put the water back in the vial and capped it.
(end flashback)
Sakura noticed the fire attack end. Jumping to another barrier, she threw her kunai at Ling as she passed, the fire beginning again just as she reached the cover, the kunai quickly being melted by the intense flames.
"It'll be tough getting close to him," Sakura thought, deciding that she would have to wait out the attack.
Ling soon ran out of stored fire, the scroll in Giriko's shell's right eye glowing and disappearing. "Alright, let's try this," he muttered as the other scroll briefly glowed and Ling began his attack again, the nozzles shooting water, which cracked the rock Sakura was behind, since it was being cooled rapidly, quickly breaking.
Sakura dodged the rocks as Ling rotated Giriko's arms to narrow the water streams, turning them into narrow blades that cut through her new barrier and had to be dodged.
"There are few things that pressurized water cannot cut through," Ling said, still attacking, until the water ran out, the scroll disappearing. "She dodged it all? Impossible!" he said, retracting the now useless nozzles. "Fu or Lan Fan I could understand, but this girl?"
Sakura saw her chance and drew another kunai, charging at Ling.
"Is this girl mocking me? Attacking me head on?" Ling asked as Sakura threw her kunai, which Ling deflected with his tail and sent to stab her, though she stopped just as the stinger stopped short of impaling her face. "What? Something stopped it! Of course!" he said as Sakura quickly closed the distance and built up chakra in her fist, releasing it as her fist connected with Giriko's shell, shattering it.
"She did it!" Naruto exclaimed happily.
"Hold on," Fu said.
"What do you mean?" Naruto asked.
"It's not time to celebrate yet," Fu said as something jumped out of Giriko's remains, away from Sakura, crouching with a cloth covering its head.
"So that's your real body," Sakura said, grinning.
Ling didn't answer as his fingers twitched, causing Giriko's head to shoot into the air and fire a volley of senbon from its neck, which Sakura dodged.
"Well played," Ling said in a much younger voice as he stood. "I should have expected no less from a student of Tsunade. No wonder you could dodge my attacks so easily."
"How do you know I've trained under Lady Tsunade?" Sakura asked.
"I knew from the moment you smashed Giriko with the monster strength that Tsunade is famous for," Ling said.
"And it seems that the old woman went behind my back and gave you pointers on how to make chakra threads, from which you taught yourself the puppetmaster jutsu," Ling said, making Sakura gasp.
(Flashback)
Sakura was practicing her taijutsu when May approached her. "What do you want?"
"I have grown tired of my grandson hiding inside that puppet, so I would like to give you a few pointers on making chakra threads. I'm sure you'll find a way to use them to your advantage," May said.
(end flashback)
"By the way," Ling said. "How clever of you to attach chakra threads to Giriko's tail. But don't get to proud of yourself. It was only a lapse in vigilance that prevented me from noticing until the tail's motion came to an abrupt halt. You did it when you threw that kunai, didn't you? The thread tied to the knife stuck to his tail once it was deflected."
"Not bad," Sakura said. "Even though I used a small amount of chakra to keep the threads undetectable, you still figured it out."
"But of course," Ling said. "Remember who taught me how to play with puppets, it was the same old bag that gave you tips."
"Well play time is over," Sakura said.
"Indeed it is," Ling said, taking hold of the cover on his head and pulling it off, revealing his face for the first time.
Sakura gasped. "Now I know why you seemed so familiar," she snarled, frowning at him.
"Sakura, I'm hurt," Ling said, dropping the cloth to the ground and running a hand through his hair, which was black with a braid in the back. "Is that anyway to treat your own cousin?"
"Shut up, Ling!" Sakura snapped. "I was hoping I'd never see you again."
"Sakura, I'm actually quite happy to see you," Ling said. "It's our first reunion in eight years," he said, opening his eyes, which were a calm dark brown. "Now that you've forced me out of Giriko, let me show you something very special to me," he said as a scroll dropped from his pitch black cloak's sleeve and he grabbed it, holding it up. "I assure you that you will be interested. This piece was a coming of age gift from the witch," he said as he unrolled it, revealing an image of a cherry blossom. "I am very fond of this puppet," he said as he channeled chakra into the scroll, causing a large cloud of smoke, which cleared slowly to reveal the puppet.
Sakura's eyes widened at the sight. "No, it can't be."
Naruto was surprised too. "Is that?"
The smoke completely cleared to reveal a puppet with bright pink hair, in the appearance of a woman.
"That's... That's Granny Hisana!" Sakura gasped as Ling fell into a stance, the puppet floating next to him.
"So this is what happened to her," Sarutobi said.
"What do you mean?" the Kazekage asked.
"It's been over eight years since Hisana disappeared on a mission. We never found her. The strongest of the Haruno clan simply vanished," Sarutobi said, turning to Mei. "Lady Mizukage, it was your people?"
Mei looked at him. "I must thank you for having Yagura assassinated. He was doing more harm than good, but Hisana was captured by May and killed."
"I see," Sarutobi said.
Sakura was absolutely livid, and Ling's smile did not help.
"What's with the puppet?" Naruto asked. "And why is Sakura-chan so mad?"
"That puppet was made from Lady Hisana's body," Lan Fan said. "A puppet that retains the shell of its previous life. It's called a human puppet."
"Ling, you had the nerve to mess with a Haruno for the third time?" Sakura yelled.
"Third time?" Ling asked.
"First my father, then my brother, AND NOW GRANNY HISANA!" Sakura yelled.
"I won't deny killing your brother, but I wasn't involved with the deaths of Lord Sekuno or Lady Hisana. That was all Granny May's doing," Ling said. "Though she did use my poison on both occasions."
"Then it's the same as if you did it with your own hands!" Sakura yelled. "I swear, I am going to kill you, Ling Osoreida!"
"You're welcome to try, but I really must eliminate you in order to move on to the others. Naruto is the one I'm interested in fighting, since I need to reclaim the Kubikiribocho from him.
At that moment, feathers began falling in the stadium, a genjutsu that a number of the shinobi released.
"What's going on?" Ino asked.
"An invasion by the Sand and Sound," May said. "Orochimaru believes that the Mist will aid him, when in fact we are aiding the Leaf, our greatest friend."
The Kazekage looked at Sarutobi. "Shall we begin?"
At that moment, the Kazekage's guards set off a smoke grenade.
The sand siblings looked up. "The operation has begun," they thought.
Sakura looked up. "What's going on?"
"It begins," Ling said.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Dante and Deidara dropped the cover on their chakra signatures.
"Let's go," Dante said. "Protect the Three-Tails and One-Tail. The Six-Tails can look after himself. I'll look after the Nine-Tails."
"Not a problem, Dante my man, hm," Deidara said, molding the clay ball that his palm mouth had spit out into a bird before tossing it into the air, where it expanded into a bird large enough to ride on, and jumped on. "Good luck, my man, hm." with that, he flew off to engage the giant boas that had entered the village.
"Who are you?" a Leaf Ninja asked, appearing behind Dante, who turned to him, his face still hidden.
"Begone," Dante said, running through hand signs. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he said, burning the ninja alive before leaving to keep an eye on Naruto.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
And so the Invasion of the Leaf begins. Hope you don't mind some Akatsuki presence to protect their precious Jinchuriki. I bid you all a most respectful farewell.