Chapter 1: Reformation
Summary: She has returned. But there seems to be something she knows that they don't. Before it's too late she must tell them and save Konoha, at the same time, she must confront her heart, mind and soul about her feelings to a certain Uchiha. Simple enough right? What if it seemed every thing and one was against her? What would she do? Did her training for five years prepapre her for the future that is about to come? Sasusaku. Rated T for violence.
'Thoughts'
'Inner selves'
"Talking"
FLASH BACK…
P.O.V
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, Masashi Kishimoto does.
"Uzamaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Sai, Haruno Sakura and Hatake Kakashi, together, you as an ANBU squad are Team Kakashi" Tsunade announced to the five shinobi in front of them.
"Hai" Naruto nodded while the others just seemed to understand and remained quiet.
"Now for your first assignment, you will take a test" Tsunade smirked.
"A test?" Naruto questioned.
"Team Kakashi, for five years you have basically been disbanded, and without much contact, I assume you don't know much of your team mates strengths and weaknesses, now will be the time to experiment those through this test" Tsunade explained.
"What is the test?" Sai asked.
"The bell test, only this time, it will not only be Kakashi holding the bells, all of you will hold bells, and I'm sure you understand the rest" Tsunade stated.
"I see" Naruto nodded.
"When do we begin?" Sasuke asked.
"You will meet at the Forest of Death in two hours, be prepared, this will last for five days" Tsunade announced.
"Is there anything else?" Kakashi asked.
"You are allowed to use any method up your sleeves; after the five days, return to the central tower, I'm sure most of you remember it from the chuunin exams?" Tsunade smirked.
"Hai" Naruto and Sai nodded.
"May we leave to prepare?" Sakura asked quietly, making everyone jump from surprise. It was obvious they had forgotten that she was still there.
"Sakura-chan, please don't just say something out of the blue" Naruto whined.
"I didn't" Sakura stated "So may we leave?"
"Yea, but…" Tsunade began.
"But?" Sakura asked.
"Is it really necessary for you to be wearing that cloak? Aren't you hot in it?" Tsunade frowned.
"Nah, it's not that hot, well if that's all, I shall take my leave, I will see you in two hours" Sakura announced and in a matter of seconds she was out of their sight.
"Damn, she's fast" Sai muttered.
"Was it just me, or was there some tension in the air from Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned.
"I think it wasn't just you" Kakashi sighed glancing at the quiet Uchiha in the room.
"So you decide to finally show up?" Tsunade sighed.
"Gomen, gomen, I was helping a little boy with his homework" Kakashi lied.
"LIAR!!!" Naruto proclaimed.
"Yes, well…"
"Can we get on with it? If you weren't going to show up until two hours after the designated time slot, I wouldn't have come so early" Sakura sighed.
"Right, so you know the rules, here are your bells" Tsunade said as she handed the five two bells each "Now go to the gates I've assigned for you to use and once the gates open, enter" she ordered. With the order complete the five dispersed leaving a lonesome Sannin.
"Yosh! This won't be hard at all, first I go to Sasuke-teme and get his bell and I will move on from there!" Naruto proclaimed.
"This will be a piece of cake, they have no idea how strong I have gotten, the Dobe will be the best to attack first" Sasuke smirked evilly waiting for the gates to open.
"I guess this time, I will have to use the sharingan; if I don't want to fail too miserably" Kakashi sighed, putting away his novel "It won't be like when they were genins"
"I wonder who should I go for first; Pansy or Dickless? The other two can wait" Sai sneered.
"How nostalgic" Sakura muttered, looking up towards the sky "I wonder how strong they've gotten" 'Maybe I was the idiot for leaving and returning…'
FLASH BACK…
Finally after cleaning the Haruno district from top to tail, the blossom let a massive sigh of relief, knowing that the huge task she set upon her self was completed, with surprisingly little effort. Well, that's what you get when you have a kekkei genkai like hers. Realizing that all the district needed was a dust sweep and a bit of gardening, the girl set her kekkei genkai to work as she willed the weeds and untamed grass, plants and flowers back to their original state from five years ago; inside the house it was just a matter of using a little bit of her powers to will the wind to gently lift the dust particles through the house and out the entire district, which was completed in under a couple of hours, leaving the house spotless and almost shinning.
Looking at the sky, the blossom assumed it was roughly five in the afternoon judging from the almost disappearing sun and that it was time to go find something to eat. Remembering that she had yet to go shopping for food, the female sighed in slight annoyance as she picked her self off her black bed and trudged out of the Haruno district to the centre of the town in search of food (after she left Guyver and Jinki with their own share of food ). Walking through the town, she came across something that appeased her growing hunger, and while she hadn't actually eaten at this restaurant before, judging from the blonde who was gobbling it down, it must be pretty good, it smelt pretty good.
Walking into the Ichiraku Ramen hut, she took one of the stools and made her order.
"One pork ramen please" she said, making the people in the store jump from the sudden noise.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Hey Naruto" Sakura smiled.
"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked dumbly.
"What do you think? I'm getting some food" Sakura sighed in frustration.
"You're actually eating ramen?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Why not? There's a first time for everything" Sakura stated.
"Here you go; one pork ramen" the owner smiled.
"Arigato" Sakura nodded as the bowl was placed in front of her and she reached her the chop sticks "Itadakimasu" Sakura whispered as she snapped the chop sticks in two and began eating the ramen in a very civilized and high up manner.
"Woah, Sakura, you eat with such restraint!" Naruto exclaimed.
"I'm surprised you even know that word" Sakura muttered quietly "When you come from a family like mine and have had the upbringing I've gone through, it just comes natural, and would be expected, much like in the Uchiha clan" Sakura explained.
"Huh?" Naruto frowned.
'From slightly smart to completely dumb' Sakura sighed "When I was younger, it was expected of me to act accordingly and eat properly, after all, I am basically a representative of my clan, and the Haruno clan was a very high up and noble clan" Sakura explained.
"Oh, I see, so that's like Sasuke-teme's clan then?" Naruto asked.
"I would assume so, but the Uchiha clan from what I remember is less slack on the manners and etiquette and tend to focus on the shinobi side of everything, either way, both clans were noble and strong clans, to be highly respected, so it was expected that they behave as such, the Hyuuga Clan would be like that too, so be careful" Sakura said, looking down at her reflection in the soup bowl.
"You know, I think I'm kinda glad I wasn't born in a family like that, I don't think I would handle all those rules" Naruto chuckled.
"When you've practiced such customs all you're life, it's kind of expected and comes naturally" Sakura said, continuing to eat her meal.
"You know…" Naruto murmured.
"Hmm? Nani?" Sakura questioned after she finished chewing on the noodles in her mouth.
"I heard that Sasuke told you about being engaged" Naruto said.
"And?" Sakura asked
"Are you really okay with that?" Naruto asked nervously.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Sakura frowned.
"I saw the note you left Sasuke five years ago…" Naruto muttered.
"Oh that?" Sakura chuckled "It was just a little school girl crush, I'm long over it" she smiled.
"Really? Are you sure you're okay?" Naruto asked hastily.
"Yea, daijobou" Sakura reassured as she went back to eating her meal.
"Are you really…" Naruto muttered. Naruto sat, waiting for her to finish the bite she was on.
"Naruto, I know you're concerned, but I can assure you, I really am okay, and besides, even if I did still 'love him' as I proclaimed many years ago, I would be happy knowing that the one I love is happy even if I'm not the one to bring that happiness" Sakura smiled forcefully.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto murmured, admiring her.
"Is it true…" a voice asked from behind them. Turning around, they two were faced with the remaining of Konoha twelve aside Sasuke.
"Is what true?" Sakura asked.
"You…you're…" Tenten gaped pointing at the pink haired kunoichi.
"I'm?"
"Sakura-chan!" Ino squealed as she latched her self onto the slightly unsuspecting pink haired female.
"I can't believe you're back!" Tenten cried as she and Hinata entered the some what hug between the two women.
"Sakura-chan, my love! Have you considered my proposition to become my girlfriend?!" Lee exclaimed hopefully.
"I'm sorry Lee, I would prefer it if we remained friends" Sakura replied 'Otou-sama would kill me for having a relationship with him (if he wasn't already dead)'
"So are you staying for good now?" Kiba asked.
"Until the day I die" Sakura grinned slightly.
"I glad" Chouji beamed.
"I'm so happy that you're finally back!" Ino smiled.
"Aa" Sakura nodded.
"So I heard you're on the ANBU now" Neji smirked.
"Yea, on Team Kakashi" Sakura replied.
"We'll have to have a match some day" Neji suggested.
"I'd be honored" Sakura nodded.
"One miso ramen please" a voice ordered. Turning to their left, some how they weren't at all surprised to see Sasuke sitting next to them, next to Sakura.
"Hai" the old man nodded as he went to work to make the ordered meal.
"Sasuke-teme" Naruto glared.
"Dobe" Sasuke sneered.
"A-ano; is it me or is the tension in the air suddenly rising?" Hinata questioned as she sat on Naruto's lap.
"No, it's definitely not just you" Tenten gulped as she took a step back into Neji's arms.
"Err…Sasuke, Naruto, is there any reason you guys should be fighting?" Sakura sweatdropped.
"He started it!" Naruto and Sasuke shouted in unison, pointing an accusing finger at each other.
"…okay…since when have they learnt to argue in sync" Sakura sweatdropped "Well, I should be off" Sakura announced as she got up from her seat.
"But what about your ramen?" Naruto exclaimed.
"I'm finished" Sakura stated, pointing to her empty bowl.
"Demo…" Ino whined.
"Ahh…gomen, I really have to get going, Guyver-kun probably needs to be fed a bit more, I didn't leave him with much" Sakura said.
"Sakura-chan…" Naruto murmured.
"Daijobou" Sakura reassured "Ja ne" she waved, and before they knew it she was gone.
…END FLASH BACK
Suddenly all five gates flung open and in seconds Team Kakashi stormed into the Death Forest at their own pace, searching for their team mates they were against.
"Okay, now to find Sasuke-teme and beat him! I'll show him he ain't so great!" Naruto declared to himself.
"Hn, this should be easy" Sasuke smirked as he went in search of Naruto, who was ironically looking for him.
"I wonder where Dickless and Pansy will meet up" Sai pondered, heading into the unforgiving forest.
"Knowing those two, they'll aim to find each other, well, I'll just fight against who ever I come across next" Kakashi decided.
"How troublesome" Sakura grunted as she walked into the forest, not actually intending to get into a brawl with any of her team mates 'A fool proof plan, go to the centre tower and wait for them to come to me after they're all tired' Sakura smirked.
"Where is he?" Naruto muttered as he dashed through the forest, searching under nearly every rock and behind every tree.
"Interesting, the dobe hasn't shouted yet" Sasuke remarked.
"I wonder if they've met each other yet…" Sai wondered.
"It's still rather quiet, must mean none of them have come up against each other yet" Kakashi noticed.
"Let's see, Sasuke and Naruto are slowly heading towards each other and Sai and Kakashi are heading to each other, ironically, it seems they're all heading for a centre point to fight it out" Sakura stated, honing in on their chakra "Baka" she snickered as she made her way to the central tower after creating a couple of bunshins to act as decoys if they actually found her.
"Finally I found you!" Naruto smirked as he jumped in front of Sasuke.
"I'm surprised you could find me that easily" Sasuke sneered, moving himself into his fighting stance, in front of him was Naruto mimicking his action. In an instant, the two clashed with their shuriken before coming face to face with their kunai in hand. Dodging a punch from Naruto, Sasuke aimed to kick Naruto off his feet only to miss as Naruto jumped up and prepared to launch forward towards Sasuke with a punch, which was retaliated with his Katon jutsu. Barely dodging the fire technique, Naruto counted by throwing a barrage of shuriken towards Sasuke, which flew in all different directions, and failed to actually land a mark on Sasuke. Smirking at all the misses the blonde made, he began charging forward as the two began to fight in close combat, not seizing to break apart, in fear that they would end up looking cowardly.
"Aahh, this is getting boring" Naruto remarked as the two continued to battle it out, it seemed they forgot about the bell test all together.
"Hn, I would have to agree with you for once, dobe" Sasuke nodded. Instantly both pulled out their deadlier attacks, gathering their chakra to perform jutsus they could have been renowned for; the Chidori and the Rasengan.
"So, we're both thinking the same huh?" Naruto chuckled.
"Hn" Sasuke sneered before the tow made a made dash to the centre of the battle field before clashing with each other for a second before they were pulled apart but the force of the jutsus. Slightly roughed up, the two clashed, unaware of the two pairs of eyes that watched their every move, smirking as they wore each other out.
As hours passed, the two continued their brawl, completely lost in their own worlds, not even realizing how tired their bodies were. Suddenly, both Sai and Kakashi jumped from out of their hiding places and smirked, eyeing their bells.
"Looks like Pansy and Dickless forgot what they were here for" Sai commented.
"Urasai Sai-teme!" Naruto shouted.
"I know I haven't forgotten, but I don't know about the dobe" Sasuke sneered.
"Still, couldn't you at least aim to get each other's bells?" Kakashi sighed.
"Bells?" Naruto muttered "Oh yea!" Naruto exclaimed and then made a mad dash for Sasuke' bell, in hopes he could obtain it before Sai or Kakashi could get it.
"I don't think so dobe" Sasuke sneered as he kicked the Kyubi container away. In seconds, the four males were battling each other in an attempt to get each other's bells and claim victory; it had not once crossed their minds to where their pink haired team mate could possibly be.
"My god, it's been four days, I haven't seen a sign of any of them" Sakura grunted as she lay bored on the ground, waiting for her team mates to show up so she could steal those bells away effortlessly. Suddenly a massive explosion erupted from the north of the canopy, alerting Sakura.
"I bet that's them" Sakura sighed 'May as well go and see what they're actually doing'
This battle if you will had lasted long as each male was too prideful and arrogant to realize that four days had passed and despite their desire to rest and recover from their bountiful amount of wounds, they just couldn't give up, because that would mean that the other three would charge off them, thus leaving them at an advantage. It was quite obvious that all of them were on basically an equal level and that none were willing to give up (despite being sprawled across the battle field from the recent explosion which they all caused with their stronger attacks)
'Eh? Looks like they've been battling it out for these past four days' Sakura realized as she remained hidden in the bushes near the battle field, her chakra masked and her body refrained from moving to avoid any sounds that would most likely be caused because of any careless movements 'Stupid egotistical males, if this was an ANBU mission, they would fail miserably' Sakura sighed as her hands discretely moved into a quick series of hand seals.
"Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu" Sakura whispered. Smirking to her self, as she watched the equivalent of imaginary leaves fall to the ground, the four males absolutely oblivious to that fact it was a genjutsu, not even Kakashi or Sasuke who had their sharingan activated at the time, but she could tell both were just putting it on for show and were about to give up at any minute.
Suddenly an ear piercing heart stopping shriek of utter pain erupted from the Forest. Alerted by the sudden shriek, the four males looked around for the source. There was one thing they all decided upon unanimously and mutually; despite never actually hearing such a shriek in their lives.
It was Sakura.
They just knew it.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto gasped in fear. Suddenly a slowly a battered, bruised and bloodied pink haired girl camp trudging and limping out of the clearing, completely disheveled with various kunai poking out of her along with many other weapons, and not only that, a majority of her clothing was torn and tattered, leaving only the bare minimum covered.
"Minna-san! Save your self! Th-their c-coming!" Sakura gasped as she choked on blood was splattered across the ground before she her self collapsed onto the ground in a rough heap, breathing heavily.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried as he ran over to the girl while the other three sat on the forest ground completely shattered at the sight of their newly reunited team mate on the brink of death. As the other three made it over to the pink haired girl, a secret smirk played across her features as in a matter of seconds the genjutsu was dispelled to reveal the four males were standing around nothing but a log.
"W-who did that?!" Naruto shouted, pointing accusing finger to the other three males.
"It wasn't me!" Sasuke, Sai and Kakashi insisted in unison.
"I bet it was you!" Naruto growled, pointing an accusing finger at Kakashi, remembering he could perform a genjutsu similar to it.
"Why would I go over, if it was my own genjutsu?!" Kakashi frowned.
"Just to make it look like you weren't acting a little suspicious!" Naruto declared.
"You know, I think the dobe is one something" Sasuke glared.
"I have to agree with Pansy and Dickless for once" Sai remarked, standing up to face Kakashi.
"Ah hem!" a female coughed up from the top of the tree tops, smirking, yet obviously bored. In her right hand were four pairs of jingling bells.
"S-Sakura-chan!" Naruto cried, sighing in relief knowing she wasn't as injured as the genjutsu displayed she was, in fact, she wasn't in the least injured.
"Aah, geez, you guys forgot about me" Sakura sighed in fake disappointment.
"Then that means…" Sai mouthed.
"Yup, that's right" Sakura chuckled evilly.
"That genjutsu…" Sasuke continued.
"Was mine, I must say, I'm mighty proud I can get you guys with it still" Sakura smirked as she jumped off the tree and landed a fair distance away from them (just in case) "It seems you were still all caught in it" Sakura laughed "Just like last time"
"Last time?" Sai frowned.
"Aa, she got the dobe and Kakashi in the genjutsu when we were genins, only it was less gruesome" Sasuke explained.
FLASH BACK…
At opposite ends of the training area, Sakura could see Sasuke, which both could see that Kakashi was toying with Naruto. Sakura, nodded to Sasuke, telling him to start the plan.
Jumping forward slightly to get in range of Kakashi, Sakura began with the rat hand seal, and did the Magen: Narakumi no Jutsu.
A circle of leaves began tornado-ing around Kakashi and Naruto, it seemed some what normal. Suddenly horrific images of people in the town dying appeared in the training grounds leaving a shocked Kakashi and Naruto. It was about five minutes after the genjutsu began that Kakashi realized he was caught in the genjutsu and formed the seal of the tiger in his hands to undo the illusion.
"Kai" He shouted.
The genjutsu dispersed to reveal Sasuke and Sakura standing together each with a bell, high-fiving each other in their achievement.
"Well, I see you two got the bells" Kakashi smiled, a few seconds later, the alarm bell for lunch went off. "-And before lunch too, well done" Kakashi congratulated. Sasuke and Sakura nodded, moving over to the stumps and sat down.
…END FLASH BACK
"Well, now that I have gotten what I came for, ja!" Sakura grinned as she waved before she disappeared with the wind and a quick jingle of the bells she just collected.
"How did she catch me in that genjutsu again?!" Kakashi sulked.
"I say we ambush her and get our bells back!" Naruto growled.
"I agree" Sai nodded. With that, the four males were off, looking for their pink haired team mate.
"I can't believe I got them so easily" Sakura smirked as she traced her steps and returned to the foliage around the central tower 'May be they really haven't improved as much as I thought they would' Sakura remarked. Suddenly her eyes hardened. They were all after her; she just knew it, especially since she just heard Naruto screech in annoyance, presumably because he came across one of her clones and attacked it only to learn it was a bunshin.
"Well, I better keep my guard up" Sakura said before she disappeared and went deeper into the forest, knowing that they would predict that she would go to the tower, and decided to return to the tower with the most indirect route she could possibly come up with.
"Where is she?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"We've got twelve hours left and she's no where to be found" Sai sighed.
"Maybe she decided on taking a longer route back to the tower since she probably heard Dobe shouting and screeching like a five year old when we came across her water bunshin" Sasuke sneered.
"I was not screeching like a five year old!" Naruto glared.
"Sure you weren't" Sasuke sneered.
"Look, for now we have to work together and work as a team to get our bells back, let's go deeper into the forest, she probably went in to lose us" Kakashi suggested.
"Hai" Naruto nodded.
"Woah, this place brings back memories" Sakura muttered as she passed the collection of trees and field where she and Team Seven fought with Orochimaru and other sound nin. Going over to the tree were she was stabbed into, she ran her hand over the bark, reminiscing of when she was younger 'I was quite foolish back then' Sakura remarked before she let her hand fall to her side, to her kunai pouch, which was still hidden because of her black cloak.
"Ahh, how nostalgic" Sasuke smirked as he faced the girl, who's back was facing him. In an instant, the other three males had surrounded the girl with their weapons drawn.
"So you've teamed up" Sakura noted; switching her gaze back and forth to each shinobi surrounding her.
"Well, the exam was originally intended to encourage team work" Kakashi sneered.
"Aa" Sakura grunted, her bang covering her eyes "Well, I guess since it is four on one I should really go all out ne?"
"…" none of them made a motion to speak as they eyed the girl cautiously. Suddenly a smirk adorned her features.
In seconds she had created four bunshins with each facing her four opponents while she stood in the middle. Each clone had a vicious smirk plastered that refused to disappear. In sync the four clones each moved their hands in a quick series of hand seals which were covered by the black cloaks they wore before they each brought out two long double headed katanas.
"Elemental Jutsu: Katon: subeta Yoshi. Suiton: subeta Fuka!" Sakura shouted as the blades became a lite with two different elements. Yoshi became a lite with fire, which continued to burn all around the both side of the katana while Fuka blended in with water before the water froze and became ice as the ice continued to move like water. Throwing them expertly in the air, she performed another set of hand seals, still concealed from sharingan eyes before she caught the blades and disappeared. In seconds, the other four clones mimicked the pink haired female's action and disappeared as their opponents were getting slashed up to pieces without a single trace of a blade or a person to commit those horridly deep slashes and slices. As the technique drew to a close, the four males were left similar to what her genjutsu displayed of her self previously.
"T-that…j-jutsu!" Kakashi gasped.
"Correct" Sakura nodded "The silent kill, you wanted me to go all out didn't you, I don't use that technique for just any one" Sakura remarked as she put her katanas back in their scabbards, making sure not to make any jingles to indicate where the bells were.
"Where did those blades come from?" Sai asked as she began healing all four males at once, truly a miracle.
"I summoned them, any Haruno, good or bad knows how to summon their blades- each member is given blades fit to their mental and physical strengths" Sakura explained.
"Wait, don't medics usually have to heal people one at a time?" Kakashi gasped as he felt his wounds from before closing and healing.
"I wasn't doing nothing for the past few years, this is only a small nick in the surface of my medical abilities" Sakura said, slightly boastfully.
"Sugoi Sakura-chan" Naruto exclaimed joyfully.
"Aa" Sakura grunted as she stood up and began to walk away.
"C-chotto matte! Sakura-chan! Where are you going?!" Naruto shouted as he stumbled to his feet and ran after the girl.
"Where else? Five days is almost up" Sakura said and in a second she was gone.
'I don't know if it was me, but I can't help but feel that she attacked me the hardest…and didn't heal me the best' Sasuke remarked as he looked over his team mates who were replenished while he still had a few bruises and scratches left. Noticing that the others began moving, he also began to move and started a slightly mad dash towards the central tower.
"Welcome Team…Ka…ka…shi?" Tsunade gaped. In front of her was the entire of team Kakashi, slightly battered, but nothing serious, Tsunade was kind of expecting half dead zombies to be walking into the tower that she'd have to heal. Further more, Sakura wasn't even injured, if Anko saw this she'd spit out her dango and choke to death, the only other person who managed that was Gaara and that was almost ten years ago.
"What the hell happened here?!" Tsunade exclaimed "I was expected you all to be half way to your deaths!" Tsunade exclaimed with Shizune nodding in the back ground furiously.
"Sakura-chan healed us" Naruto explained.
"Then why aren't you in bit's in pieces Sakura-chan?!" Tsunade questioned.
"I didn't per say enter the battle" Sakura sweatdropped.
"Then you lost?" Tsunade asked.
"No, well bell wise, I guess I won" Sakura shrugged carelessly as she brought out the four pairs of bells plus her own. Tsunade gaped.
"H-how d-did you do it?" Shizune stammered.
"Genjutsu" Sakura explained.
"Genjutsu?" Tsunade questioned.
"Yup. Genjutsu" Sakura smirked.
"You got them with genjutsu while you had two sharingan users against you?" Tsunade gasped.
"Yup" Sakura nodded carelessly.
"And you didn't technically fight?" Tsunade asked.
"Well, I did, but not for long compared to these four" Sakura replied.
"H-how?" Shizune gaped.
"A kunoichi never reveals her tricks to the trade" Sakura winked.
"Sakura-chan" Naruto sniffled.
"Nani?" Sakura frowned.
"I still can't believe you got me with that genjutsu, AGAIN!!!" Kakashi cried.
"I can" Sakura smirked "I mean, I do specialize in genjutsu out of all ninja arts"
"Beaten twice! I feel so robbed" Kakashi sulked.
"Well, is there anything you want us for?" Sakura asked.
"No not really, you can make your way back on your own" Tsunade grinned.
"Gotcha" Sakura nodded and in a flash, she was gone.
"Damn, that's some speed" Sai cursed.
"Well, I hope you're all rested and relaxed from the week off, because now you five are going to get back into system and start on another mission" Tsunade smirked facing Team Kakashi who stood in front of her "Although, Sakura, that mask of yours is going to have to go, it will act as a temporary mask until you get one to replace it" Tsunade ordered.
"Hai, hai" Sakura shrugged, waving the subject off, obviously she wasn't interested in it.
"What's our mission Tsunade-sama?" Kakashi asked; sweat dropping at Sakura's careless behaviour.
"In two days, you will meet up with the prince of the Lightning Country and you will escort him from here to the Lightning Country. Currently he is resting in the hotel opposite this building which is under high surveillance with his son-"
'So that's what that big fuss was about this morning' Sakura twitched.
"-and daughter and after he is finished with business here, you will leave. Please note, that the Lightning Country is considered to become a very important alliance, so I trust you won't do anything to anger the client. That means you three in particular, Naruto, Sasuke, Sai! On the way to the Lightning Country you will make a stop at the Wave Country as the Prince wishes to see something in the Wave Country" Tsunade slightly glared.
"W-what?! Why am I always accused of 'making the client unhappy'?!" Naruto exclaimed angrily.
"Hush Naruto" Sakura sighed, patting his shoulder trying to calm him down.
"That's easy for you to say, you weren't accused of angering the client constantly" Naruto scoffed.
"That's because the client usually angers me, not the other way around" Sakura sighed "May I leave?"
"Hai" Tsunade nodded "meet your team in two days at the North Pier" Tsunade ordered.
"Hai" Sakura nodded, walking calmly out of the office.
As the pink haired kunoichi walked out of the Hokage Building she suddenly had the wind knocked out of her as a figure suddenly zoomed right passed her, ignoring her presence all together. This person, had long black hair, tied in two pony tails with pink ribbons and crystal clear blue eyes. It seemed she was a shinobi as she had a kunai holster on her right leg and another pouch on her left hip. She wore a bright pink halter neck top over a white tank top with a short white skirt over a lightly brighter pink skirt which had a white 'K' on it and black bike shorts which had ribbons on the end of them. On her arms were light pink arm warmers, similar to Sasuke's old ones only these had ribbons instead of the normal buckle tie up. On her feet were the traditional ninja sandals in a red colour which ironically had bows on the ankles. Around her neck was a small silver chain; and another pink ribbon tied around her neck.
'Can you get anymore pinker? Or any more bows?!' Sakura exclaimed when she saw the…girl?
"Sasuke-kun!!!" the girl squealed.
'Fangirl? No, I've seen her some where before' Sakura noticed as her eyes hardened slightly.
"Oh, Kagaimi-chan, you're here" Kakashi smiled as he opened the door.
'Kagaimi?' Sakura questioned before inwardly glaring at the girl.
"Oh, Sakura-chan, you're still here?" Naruto questioned from inside the room.
"Aa, well any way, ja" Sakura waved.
"Matte, Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted.
"Hmm?"
"This…this…is…" Naruto stuttered.
"My fiancé" Sasuke said as the girl came towards him and latched onto his arm happily.
"I see, well I bestow my congratulations upon the two of you and hope that you find your happiness with each other for as long as you each desire" Sakura smiled fakely, slightly scaring people in the room as she congratulated them in such an odd way.
"Ne, Sasuke-kun, who's this?" Kagaimi asked.
"This is my team mate, Haruno Sakura" Sasuke explained.
"Eh? This isthe Haruno Sakura?!" Kagaimi exclaimed fakely.
"Yes, the one and only" Sakura smiled.
"Well, I think I can already see a friendship forming" Kagaimi giggled, extended her hand for the pink haired kunoichi to shake.
"I do to" Sakura lied, shaking the offered hand "I would say, a very interesting friendship to say the least" Sakura smiled, gagging inwardly.
"Well, I really must apologize Kagaimi-san, I really must be going, I have to prepare for the upcoming mission, it was nice to formally meet you" Sakura waved 'Not' she added inwardly "Ja"
"Yes, it was nice to meet you Sakura-chan" Kagaimi giggled, waving to her childishly, expressing fake happiness form Sasuke's arm.
"Ne ne, Sasuke-kun she seems nice" Kagaimi said.
"Aa" Sasuke replied, looking at the back of the retreating kunoichi. Looking down at his fiancé, Sasuke told her to go ahead of him as he wanted to take a walk. In understanding (it seemed) Kagaimi nodded before walking away.
"Sakura" Sasuke glared as he faced her back, which was upright, poised and as straight as possible as the girl sat, watching the world pass by from the tops of the trees.
"Nani?" Sakura questioned, not even bothering to open her eyes and turn around to look at him, almost sneering at him "What'd I do this time to get you glaring at me?"
"If you would bestow congratulations onto me and my to-be-wife could you at least do it less fakely?" Sasuke growled.
"I have no clue of what you mean, I did what any member of the Haruno clan would do, I assure you, it's only proper the representative of the Haruno clan bestow their congratulations to the to-be-head of the noble Uchiha clan, no?" Sakura questioned.
"Then say it like you mean it! Or are you just jealous that I have found some one and that some isn't you?!" Sasuke shouted.
"I'm sorry if there was a misunderstanding between the communication but I whole heartedly meant what I said, and on the issue of me being jealous of your to-be-wife, I'm sorry but you have your facts rather messed up. I am not jealous, I'm sure that I told you before, I harbor no feelings towards you more than a friend" Sakura replied.
"Then, if you really do, treat me as equally as you do to the rest of our team" Sasuke demanded.
"I do" Sakura said.
"Then how come when we were in the Forest of Death you didn't heal me completely?! Like you did with others?!" Sasuke growled.
"If you took a moment to notice, I did not heal other completely either! Naruto still had slightly open cuts around his hands and stomach, Kakashi; his sharingan couldn't even be activated! And Sai couldn't muster up any real chakra! Don't think for one second, that I would do something so lowly! I'm not that pathetic to hate some one and hold a grudge after a long gone school girl crush! So, please don't think so highly of your self!" Sakura growled, slapping him on the face. Sasuke stood shocked. She had never slapped him or raised her voice at him! They'd never even fought that viciously overanything!
"Consider your self lucky I put your revenge in front of my own life! Maybe next time I come across your brother I should just kill him my self!" Sakura growled before she began jumping off the tree branches and ran away from the quiet Uchiha.
"I see you guys have finally arrived" Sakura glared.
"Hehe…gomen Sakura-chan" Naruto sweatdropped.
"Yea, Dickless wanted ramen before we left, so we sat there watching him eat for the past three hours" Sai explained.
"It wasn't that long!" Naruto whined.
"Look, I don't care, let's just get this over and done with" Sakura muttered "Where is the client?" Sakura asked.
"…" no answer.
"Let me guess, you forgot to go greet them before coming here?" Sakura sighed in frustration.
"Well…" Kakashi sweatdropped.
"I got it, I'll go get them" Sakura sighed as she began walking away and towards the hotel Tsunade said they would be in.
"We better follow her" Kakashi suggested as he began following the pink haired kunoichi who was clad in her black cloak.
Looking in front of her, Sakura saw a train of carriages waiting outside the said hotel as three rather rich looking people stepped out of the hotel and made their way towards the carriage that they would sit in for the remainder of the journey. One female and two males, one small male, roughly at the age of five or six and the other rather tall, presumably around the age of twenty to thirty, and the girl looked roughly half his age. They must be their clients.
Picking up her pace, Sakura made her way to the trio.
"Ouji-sama of the Lightning Country I presume?" Sakura questioned as she extended her hand for him to shake.
"You are correct, I presume you are one of the Konoha shinobi who will be escorting us" the prince smiled.
"You couldn't be any more correct, Haruno Sakura at your service" Sakura smiled forcefully as she removed her mask and shook her client's hand. The Prince of sorts had blonde hair with hints of brown and orange running through it and bright blue eyes. Many would call him a god, almost as good looking as Sasuke, yet Sakura was unaffected as she looked upon the man.
"You may call me Ryou Akio" the blonde smirked seductively, kissing the girl's hand. Suddenly there was a loud shout. Turning around, they found an angry Naruto pointing an accusing finger with a slightly ticked off Kakashi, Sai and Sasuke.
"You!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Gomen Ryou-sama for my team mate's behaviour, but I'm sure it will settle down as the mission continues" Sakura assured, her hand still in the man's grasp.
"Oh, its okay Sakura-chan, may I call you Sakura-chan?" Akio asked "You may call me Akio-kun" he insisted before kissing her hand again.
"Gomen, but I don't believe it would be ethical and correct to be calling each other by such familiar terms, let's keep our relationship on a professional level" Sakura insisted as she pulled her hand away from his grasp with a simple self defence action, making him yelp in pain; at that second it seemed her team mates began cheering inwardly.
"Ohayou gozaimasu Ouji-sama" Kakashi smiled "I am Hatake Kakashi and the team Captain for this mission" Kakashi introduced, pushing Sakura aside.
"Kakashi-san a pleasure to meet you" Akio grinned.
"These are my team mates, Sai, Uzamaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura, whom you have already met" Kakashi said as he pointed to each respectively. Instantly there was a high pitched squeal erupting from the area as the other female latched onto Sasuke's arm (who sighed in irritation). The girl had long blonde hair tied into two ponytails wearing a shinobi attire similar to Kagaimi's only it was a purple colour, matching her mysterious purple eyes.
"It's nice to meet you all, this is my daughter Ryou Mimi and my son Ryou Ichirou" Akio said.
"Ohayou Sasuke-san" Mimi squealed in delight. Looking down, they waited for the youngest son to say something, but soon they realized he wasn't going to say anything as his gaze was fixated on an oblivious blossom. His hair was a darker blonde than his sister's or father's and he had blue eyes but darker than his father's.
"Well, let's get going then" Kakashi suggested. Nodding in understanding, the carriages moved as the pink haired kunoichi began walking with the front of the carriages.
"Yes, let's I want to get to wave as soon as we can" Akio nodded "Oh, Kakashi-san, can I make a request?"
"Yes, what is it?" Kakashi asked, realizing the other males were also listening in on the conversation.
"Can Sakura-chan sit with me in the carriage?" Akio pleaded.
"Err…you'd have to ask her" Kakashi sweatdropped, refusing to actually give an answer.
"Sakura-chan!!! Matte!" Akio shouted, causing all the carriages to stop along with the said woman. Turning around, Sakura back tracked and went up to the client.
"Nani?" she asked.
"Can you please sit with me in the carriage?" Akio begged.
"Gomen, but I would prefer to walk, and besides, judging from that carriage of yours it would only seat three people comfortably-"
"Otou-sama, can I walk with Sasuke-kun?" Mimi pleaded.
"May she?" Akio asked.
"Sure thing" Kakashi smiled.
"Well, now there's an empty place, would you care to sit in our carriage?" Akio asked.
"No, I don't believe it would be proper for me to do so as the shinobi you hired" Sakura answered and began walking away, passing through the North gate entrance of Konoha with the other carriages.
"Kakashi-san" Akio whined "Can you make her sit with me?!"
"Err…Sakura…" Kakashi sighed.
"Please sit with Ouji-sama for the duration of the mission?" Kakashi ordered, yet also half asked.
"Fine, but I will sit on top of the carriage, it is less troublesome if enemies attack" Sakura bargained.
"Ouji-sama is that alright?" Kakashi asked nervously.
"Better than nothing" Akio shrugged; delighted he would be closer to the kunoichi.
'What a player!' Naruto glared.
'Ugly is getting more attention than she used to…'
'How dare you sit on top of the carriage!' Sasuke glared 'What about this thing on my ARM?!'
'This will be a long mission' Kakashi sighed.
'This will be a very long mission; I can just feel it…' Sakura grunted as she hoped on the top of the carriage and sat cross legged and stared forward 'I wonder if the carriage will break under my weight?' Sakura idly wondered remembering that she increased the weights she was wearing the night before.
"Oh, hey Jinki-kun" Sakura smiled as they smaller hawk landed on her head "Where's Guyver-kun?" Sakura asked looking into the bird's eyes.
"I see, thank you" Sakura nodded before the bird flew off, everyone around her oblivious to the conversation that just took place. Remaining in her place, Sakura glanced around; counting the number of people she was able to spot.
"Kakashi, there are people around us about to ambush, ten people" Sakura muttered into the head piece.
"I see; did the rest of you hear that?" Kakashi asked.
"Hai" Naruto nodded.
"Take two each?" Sai asked.
"I think one of us should take Sasuke's share, he has to protect the girl" Sakura suggested.
"No I will be fine" Sasuke seemed to glare at the girl.
"Who are you talking to Sasuke-san?" Mimi asked.
"Hn" Sasuke grunted.
"I'm just saying Sasuke, it'd be safer for the girl" Sakura shrugged "But if you want to be like that, then fine by me"
"Hn"
"Oi, Sai-teme, Kakashi, is it me or is there a sudden amount of tension and coldness in the air, despite us being in the middle of a desert, and speaking of which, Sakura-chan why are you wearing a black cloak with a hood in the middle of the desert? Aren't you hot?" Naruto asked.
"Not really, it's actually quite cool where I am" Sakura replied.
"That's because you aren't walking and consuming energy" Sasuke sneered.
"You want to swap places?" Sakura glared.
"You want to experience a girl's clinginess?!" Sasuke challenged.
"No- shit!" Sakura cursed.
"What happened Sakura?" Kakashi frowned.
"AMBUSH! They're all on my side!" Sakura explained as the sound of some one screaming came from the back ground.
"Sakura-chan! Help!" Akio shouted.
"Hai!" Sakura nodded before switching off the two-way.
"We better go help" Sai said.
"I'm sure she could handle her self just fine" Sasuke grunted to him self.
"Fine, if you won't give us the older one, we'll take the younger one!" the black clad man proclaimed as he dove towards the young boy.
"I don't think so!" Sakura glared as she also made the dash to the boy, collecting him before the other man could.
"Ha! You've left your self open to an attack and now we can talk the older man!" another chuckled.
"You wish!" Sakura growled as held onto the boy tightly, causing him to blush slightly and began to move towards the men who were aiming to take the prince away.
"Close your eyes little one" Sakura ordered as she created ten clones of her self and ordered them to attack; quickly the clones began stabbing and kicking the men away from Akio, leaving Sakura standing still, not having to lift a finger at all.
"You bitch!" one of the men growled.
"Tch!" Sakura scoffed as she disappeared from sight for a second, all ten shinobi began flying away from the carriages for a good few metres.
"You-" one of the men gasped.
"Don't move" Sakura ordered. In front of each of them was a kunai made of water ready to knock them dead, her clones disappearing a long time ago.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto gasped as the four males arrived at the battle scene with Mimi behind them.
'Lucky little brat' her team mates hissed inwardly as they glared at the young boy in Sakura's hold (he was right under her breasts).
"Ha! These are just made out of water! Water can't kill us!" one of the men proclaimed.
"Well see" Sakura muttered as she placed the young boy onto the ground "Go to your father" she ordered. Complying with her order, the little one dashed towards his father and hid behind his legs.
'Let's see…1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; 10' Sakura counted 'Good they're all here' "I'll take care of these guys, you guys keep going on ahead" Sakura declared.
"Hai!" Kakashi nodded, collecting the carriages together and requesting Akio and his son to go into the carriage before they all slipped away.
"Oi get back here!" one of the men growled attempting to stand up.
"I wouldn't try that if I were you" Sakura said, moving her gaze to the roots that had wrapped around they're limps.
"Why you!" they growled.
"I really didn't want to do this" Sakura sighed. In seconds the enemy shinobi lay dead with blood pouring out of their body mercilessly.
"That's really a shame, you guys could have become great shinobi; you're all so young" Sakura noted. Suddenly a huge shadow was cast over Sakura, looking up, Sakura smirked.
"Gee, you guys didn't get far did you?" Sakura questioned from above their heads. Looking up, they all seemed to gape as Sakura came towards them on a huge bird.
"Well, you didn't really take your time did you?" Sai sneered.
"Not really" Sakura shrugged.
"What did you do to them?" Kakashi asked.
"Left Jinki-kun to deal with them" Sakura answered.
"Isn't Jinki your other bird?" Naruto asked.
"Yes" Sakura nodded.
"Then how?" Sasuke asked.
"Jinki-kun is my bird after all" Sakura smirked. All the four males of Team Kakashi could do was shudder.
"I see" they quietly all muttered.
"…why is she continually staring and glaring at me?" Sakura muttered, glancing at the blonde haired girl who refused to take her eyes off her since the incident with the (presumable) rouge shinobi. Sitting on Guyver as he glided across the desert, Sakura couldn't help but twitch.
"You" Mimi glared.
"Who?" Naruto asked.
"Her!" Mimi shouted, pointing an accusing finger towards Sakura causing everyone to pause in what they were doing.
"Me?" Sakura frowned.
"Yes you! What are you to Sasuke-san?!" Mimi glared. Suddenly, Naruto and Sai began sneering at Sasuke who was glaring back at them. (A/N: Scene © to Bleach TM episode 145-146 or at least somewhere around there)
"Sasuke and I are team mates and friends" Sakura replied monotonously.
"Yea right! How can you say you're just that if you just called him Sasuke with such familiarity?! Not even I call him such familiarity and I am the Princess of the Lightning Country!" Mimi glared.
"Do the words team mate and friend ring any bells?" Sakura sighed.
"So? Some one as low class as you couldn't possibly be associated with some one of the Uchiha clan!" Mimi proclaimed.
"What do you want me to call him then eh? Uchiha-dono?!" Sakura challenged.
"I think it would be more appropriate" Mimi sneered.
"Sorry, I don't belittle myself into calling some one who is of the same ranking of higher respect" Sakura scoffed.
"Otou-sama!!!" Mimi whined.
"Sakura-san, I would appreciate it if you did call him by what my daughter has requested for the rest of this mission" Akio ordered.
"Fine…" Sakura muttered through gritted teeth 'I will just not speak with him' Sakura added mentally as Guyver flew higher slightly giving Sakura a better view of their location 'Stupid fangirl, should I mention that he was a fiancé?' Sakura wondered for a moment'Nah'
"We're almost reaching the Wave Country Ouji-sama, is there a place where you wish to stay?" Kakashi asked.
"No, we'll just put up our tents outside the Country" Akio replied.
"Hai" Kakashi nodded.
"Man, it feels like ages since I've been here" Naruto proclaimed as they walked into the village they visited on their first mission as genins.
"Dobe, it has been ages since we've been here" Sasuke sighed.
"Well, we better help them set up, after that; we have to assign shifts to guard this place, two people at a time" Kakashi explained.
"Kakashi, can I not have the first couple of shifts?" Sakura requested.
"Why?" Kakashi asked.
"Yea, why Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, the other two males also paying attention.
"I have been requested to go to the Mizukage and take a look at his sick son and to fix up some business that I left unfinished here" Sakura sweatdropped showing the letter explaining the girl's absence.
"When did you receive this?" Kakashi questioned.
"Recently" Sakura answered.
"Well, go ahead" Kakashi nodded. Nodding in slight thanks, Sakura left the four males to set up the camp on their own.
"C-chotto matte!" a boy's voice exclaimed, stopping the girl from leaving. Turning around, Sakura came face to face with Ichirou.
"Hmm, nani?" Sakura asked as she bent down to the boy's level, leaning on one knee.
"Can I come with you Onee-sama?" Ichirou asked.
"Gomen, maybe next time" Sakura smiled, standing back up and began walking away before she was pulled back by a tug on her cloak.
"Onee-sama!!" Ichirou cried "Otou-sama, Onee-sama won't let me go with her!!" the boy wailed loudly.
"Demo, Ichirou-kun, your Onee-chan isn't going anywhere" Akio frowned.
"Not her! Sakura-onee-sama!" Ichirou sniffled before exploding into tears again.
"You don't want to go with that trash Ichi-chan" Mimi insisted.
"I do, I do!" Ichirou insisted.
"What have you done to my Otouto you witch?!" Mimi exclaimed.
"I'm sorry Ichirou-chan, but this time you can't go with me, maybe next time" Sakura said.
"Don't call him with such familiarity!" Mimi shouted.
"Onegai, Onee-sama, let me go with you!!" Ichirou pleaded.
"Could you please Sakura-chan?" Akio asked.
"…" Sakura chose to remain silent for a second before she answered "I am going to see the Mizukage, I don't think he would appreciate it if I brought along company while healing" Sakura explained.
"Come on, it could help the alliance between Konoha and Lightning" Akio insisted.
"…Fine" Sakura sighed, knowing if she declined, Tsunade would learn immediately and have her head "Come on Ichirou-chan" Sakura said, offering her hand for him to take.
"Arigato Onee-sama!" Ichirou cheered as he latched onto the girl before they left.
"How could you let Ichi-chan go with that trash?!" Mimi exclaimed.
"Just so you know, Mimi-san, Sakura is part of the Haruno Clan, a highly respected clan in Konoha" Kakashi said.
"So? She should know where she stands!" Mimi glared.
"Be quiet would you?! Stop trying to belittle our team mate in front of us! She is a highly respected shinobi in Konoha, and I don't think many would like to become allies with a country who undermine and disrespect their shinobi" Sasuke glared.
"Sasuke-san" Mimi gasped.
"Seriously, don't be so rude to Sakura-chan, she's really a nice person" Naruto insisted.
"Besides…" Sai muttered.
"Besides what?" Mimi growled.
"I'm engaged" Sasuke stated, showing her the ring on his finger.
"Sasuke-san! How could you?! Baka!" Mimi cried before she began to run away from the camp site.
"Ahh…Mimi-chan!" Akio exclaimed as he watched her run, attempting to run before he was stopped by Kakashi.
"Let her have some alone time for a moment" Kakashi said.
"Aa; sorry about that Sasuke-san" Akio apologized.
"Aa" Sasuke nodded.
Mimi continued running through the Wave Country, not even caring to where her feet brought her.
Her heart hurt.
Suddenly she tripped on her own two feet.
'Why did he have to be engaged?' Mimi cried "BAKA!!" she shouted picking her self up from the ground.
"Look here, a little cutie left on her own" a man remarked. Looking up, Mimi's eyes widened in fear when she realized she was alone and two men who looked drunk were in front of here.
"Hey cutie, why don't you come home with us?" the other chuckled.
"N-no" she stammered.
"What was that?" one of them growled.
"I-I s-said no!" Mimi shouted.
"Looks like a bit of a stubborn girl" the man remarked.
"Well, we'll just have to knock some sense into her won't we?"
"Hehe, I know you too well"
Instantly they were both on the girl, knocking her against the fence opposite them.
"Now, will you go with us?"
"I-I-"
"Like hell she will!"
'That girl, getting her self into trouble' Sakura sighed, clutching Ichirou tightly so he wouldn't give away their position.
"Onee-chan" he whispered.
"Stay behind me Ichirou-chan" Sakura whispered as the two began walking towards the two men who were about to basically rape the blonde haired girl.
"Now, will you go with us?" one of them sneered.
"I-I-"
"Like hell she will!" Sakura glared.
"S-Sakura-s-san" Mimi stuttered.
"Who, looks like you have a friend"
"Tch" Sakura scoffed. Grabbing a hold of the young boy, she dashed forward and kicked both men away from the captive girl and stood in front of her, defending her.
"You're pretty feisty, I like that"
"Me too"
"Get lost" Sakura glared as she gave them both chakra infused punches, sending them far away. Straightening her posture she let go of the younger boy and let him run to his sister, not bothering to turn her back and face her.
"Y-you…w-why are y-you helping me?" Mimi asked, tears forming in her eyes.
"You're my charge along with the rest of your family, it would be improper to allow you to get raped just because you were rude to me" Sakura replied "Come on, I'm already late visiting the Mizukage"
"C-chotto m-matte! Shouldn't you have gone to the Mizukage first?!" Mimi exclaimed.
"My mission comes before other requests" Sakura replied "Now hurry up, I don't have all day" Sakura ordered.
"H-hai!" Mimi and Ichirou nodded as they begun chasing after the pink haired kunoichi.
"Sorry I'm late Mizukage-sama" Sakura bowed as she entered the room where the said Mizukage was sitting next to a bed where his son was laying, breathing heavily.
"It's okay" the Mizukage nodded.
"Let me see your son" Sakura ordered as she moved towards the bed and began to examine the male, who was just younger than her.
'I see, got hit by poison' Sakura noticed "Mizukage-sama, has your son been in contact with any poisons lately?" Sakura asked.
"He recently came back from a mission and hasn't recovered since" he answered.
"I see" Sakura nodded in understanding before getting into her work. Performing one hand seal, her hand began glowing a bright red as it moved over the boy's body, extracting purple liquid with ease without disrupting the boy's sleep. In minutes, all the poison seemed to be extracted and in the palm of her hand. Performing another seal, her hand began glowing a bright blue as the poison liquid began turning a clear green colour which seemed to swish around in the palm of her hand. Getting out several syringes with her free hand, she began sucking up the liquid in doses of five millilitres before her the glow of her hand changed to a green colour changing the liquid to a thick yellow colour.
"There that should do it" Sakura smiled handing the Mizukage three of the five syringes.
"That's it?" the Mizukage gaped.
"Yea, but you will have to give your son one of these doses every twenty four hours, preferably not injected into the blood stream and just consumed. Just mix it in with this tea- " Sakura said as she handed the man three tea bags from her pouch "-and he should be fine with in the next three days" Sakura prescribed.
"You serious? My medic nins couldn't find a solution to his condition!" the Mizukage gaped.
"Yes, well, yes that's all it was probably hard since the poison seemed to be attracted to various parts of the body where normal poison couldn't enter unless very strong, using that antidote should build up his immune system and prevent this from happening again, just tell your son when he wakes up that he should avoid any plants that look suspicious when looking for food and when being attacked with kunai, make sure you recognise that some weapons will have poison on them, some poisons can end up very deadly" Sakura advised.
"I will; arigato for your time" the Mizukage smiled.
"It was no problem, I better be taking these two back to camp now" Sakura bowed "Ja ne"
"Who are they?" the Mizukage asked.
"Mizukage-sama, meet the Lightning Country's Prince's son and daughter, Ryou Ichirou and Ryou Mimi" Sakura introduced as the two bowed.
"I see, you better get them back quickly then" the Mizukage advised.
"I know, ja" Sakura waved, guiding the two out of the Mizukage mansion.
"Thank goodness, you're back!" Akio exclaimed as he brought his son and daughter into a big hug "Are you alright Mimi-chan?"
"Hai. I'm good Otou-sama, thanks to Sakura-san" Mimi smiled.
"Thank you Sakura-chan" Akio smiled gratefullly.
"It was nothing" Sakura nodded before she walked away, letting them enjoy their family time 'Pity my family was never like that' Sakura muttered to her self.
"So how did it go with the Mizukage?" Kakashi asked.
"Yea, it was fine, his son is all good again. Just a simple poison case" Sakura answered.
"I see, well then can you start your shift yet?" Sasuke asked, obviously ticked off she had left them to guard the place.
"Y-"
"Sakura-nee-chan!" a boy shouted. Turning around, they were confronted with an older looking Inari and behind him was a girl, who also looked familiar, to Sakura anyway.
"Onee-chama" the girl shouted.
"Oh hey Inari!" Naruto waved.
"Who are you?" Inari and the girl asked.
"What do you mean who am I? I'm Uzamaki Naruto!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Oh you!" Inari exclaimed.
"Come on Sakura-nee-chan! I want to show you how much better I've gotten!" Inari exclaimed.
"Me too Onee-chama, I've become a kunoichi just like you!" the girl cheered as both latched onto the Haruno female and attempted to drag her away but failed.
"Hold on! I'm on a mission here!" Sakura sighed.
"Onegai" they both pleaded.
"…Kakashi?"
Sakura sighed.
"No you-" Kakashi gasped as he looked at the
pleading eyes of the young kids "-Fine you can go-"
"Demo, Kakashi-sensei! How come she doesn't have to guard these people?!" Naruto whined.
"Gomen Naruto, I'll be back as soon as I can" Sakura shouted from a distance as she was pulled through the Wave Country.
"How come Sakura-chan is so popular among everyone?" Naruto whined.
"It's just how it turned out" Sasuke sighed.
"Well done you two, but I have to go now" Sakura said and before the two could even argue, she was gone.
"I've missed you guys" Sakura murmured, looking down off the hill where Zabuza and Haku were buried. Placing the bouquet of cherry blossom flowers on both graves, Sakura said a final silent prayer before leaving.
'I hope you both enjoy heaven as much as my parents probably do' Sakura whispered.
"Where the hell have you been?!" Kakashi exclaimed.
"Watching little kids train" Sakura shrugged 'Visiting graves'
"Well, now that all of your business is finished, can you guard now?!" Naruto and Sasuke seethed.
"Yea, whatever" Sakura muttered as she walked away from the group and towards her assigned post.
"I wonder what happened to Sakura-chan" Naruto whispered to Kakashi, Sasuke and Sai who were all watching (from a safe distance where they assumed Sakura couldn't see or sense them) Sakura stand at her post with eyes closed, supposedly guarding the area.
"Maybe she's finally losing it after being associated with Dickless and Pansy for so long" Sai sneered.
"Urasai Sai-teme!" Naruto glared hitting him across the head.
"Quiet dobe, she'll hear you" Sasuke hushed. Suddenly a bundle of brown feathers landed on the girl's shoulder before she looked to the bird, her body tensed and she jumped up, landing on Guyver's back.
"Where's she going?" Naruto questioned. Only able to watch from the ground they saw her stand on top of the flying Guyver before he came towards the earth at extreme speeds towards the edge of the camp, behind her was Jinki with what appeared to be kunai coming out of his wings which were shot towards the camp where screams were erupting from.
"What the?" Sai muttered.
"Come, we better go check it out" Kakashi said.
"Everyone get back inside!" Sakura ordered as she knelt down on Guyver and stabbed the shinobi who came in front of Guyver. Understanding her orders, the people from the Lightning Country hustled as they all grouped inside many of the tents which were protected from one of Sakura's jutsus. Jumping off Guyver who was a few metres in the air, Sakura landed a punch on one of the men, and a kick each to two others who attempted to save their comrade. Surrounding her was roughly twenty shinobi.
"Jinki go get Kakashi and the rest!" Sakura ordered.
"No need, we're already here" Kakashi announced as they all kicked an enemy shinobi away.
"Is it me or are these people getting attacked more than the usual leaders who get escorted?" Sai questioned.
"Of course they are-" Sakura grunted as she jumped up and slammed her foot down on the shinobi she was versing face "-with all these carriages full of god knows what it is normal that rogue ninjas would be attracted, there's no way this amount of carriages would go unnoticed" Sakura cursed as she punched another shinobi. Suddenly there was a pained screech coming from the side of the battle.
Sakura paused and turned around before she stiffened.
Guyver and Jinki were both inured, badly.
'Guyver-kun, Jinki-kun' Sakura muttered, staring at them for a moment before she snapped out of reverie and began charging towards the shinobi that surrounded the two birds. Sakura glared hard. In an instant she was in front of the two injured birds and glared even harder at the rouge shinobi. In seconds, the men were pummeled to an almost certain death, however it seems Sakura had yet to move a muscle.
"Sakura yamatte!" Kakashi shouted.
"Ugly stop it; he's becoming even uglier than you!" Sai urged.
"Sakura-chan stop!" Naruto ordered.
"Sakura, yamatte!" Sasuke shouted. That brought her out of anger as she paused in mid action and looked at what she had done. Realizing what she had done against these shinobi; Sakura stopped attacking the helpless shinobi and went over to Guyver and Jinki. Performing a quick set of hand seals, a shield formed over the two hawks that glowed a bright white, lighting up the dark night. As seconds passed the bloodied birds were bloodied no more as their wounds completely healed. Ending the jutsu the shield seemed to dispel as her hands fell limp to her side and she collapsed to the ground in front of the recovering birds.
"Gomen nasai Guyver-kun, Jinki-kun" Sakura muttered as she gave them both blood replenishment pills.
"Sakura-chan…"Naruto muttered bringing his hand to touch her shoulder.
"Gomen Naruto, but, I would appreciate it if you guys would leave for a moment" Sakura muttered quietly.
"Hai" they all nodded before the left the girl to recover, taking the decapitated bodies away from the scene in body bags.
"I've turned into a monster I never wanted to be, all because I saw you two injured" Sakura muttered "Gomen nasai Guyver-kun, Jinki-kun, I shouldn't have done that to these shinobi" Taking off her mask, Sakura's expression seemed very dark and depressed as she looked into the eyes of her birds. As a moment passed quiet reigned supreme over the three before Sakura's eyes widened in understanding.
"I see, well it'd be quite foolish for me to cry over such a thing no? I'm quite foolish aren't I?" Sakura chuckled bitterly as she was dragged over to Guyver by Jinki. Moving in silence the three managed to huddle up together under the starlight sky, enjoying the silent comfort each other was providing with Sakura leaning on the sleeping Guyver as she slept with Jinki on her lap who was also sleeping.
"It seems it all worked out with Ugly" Sai remarked looking over at the sleeping blossom and birds who were basically in the middle of no where and pretty far away form the camp.
"I don't think I have ever seen Sakura-chan that angry in battle" Naruto commented.
'I have' Sasuke added to himself.
FLASH BACK…
"What do you know? Like I would ever destroy something that means a lot to me" Sakura glared.
"Look at us, we did" Hikari smirked.
"W-what are you talking about?!" Sakura exclaimed.
"I'm sure you remember the Haruno massacre; that was all our doing" Daiki smirked.
"W-what?!" Sakura gasped, leaving her self open for a second, but that was all they Akatsuki needed to charge at her, hitting her across the battle field.
"Those men you killed, they were our accomplices, of course, it was us that told them how to destroy the clan" Hikari smirked.
"W-why? Why would you kill your own family?!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Because, we were testing how strong the clan was, and obviously it wasn't very strong" Daiki sneered "You see, we saw how they all acted every day, so Hikari and I thought it would be fun to see them suffer. It just happened on that date that we had planned to do everything, we had a mission. It was pretty convenient if you ask me" Daiki cackled.
"Just to test how strong the clan was?!" Sakura shouted angrily, blocking the incoming attack of Tobi and Deidara.
"Oh, and to test how strong you were, to see if you were really worth all the fuss the elders put on you" Hikari sneered.
"You…you…I HATE YOU!!!" Sakura snarled as her chakra levels began rising immensely, much like Naruto when he gets angered and his Kyubi power is released.
"Finally! It's coming out!" Hikari chuckled watching the amazing levels of chakra emit off the girl. Suddenly there was a massive explosion as weapons of all sorts flew everywhere, hitting all the Akatsuki except Itachi, and left Sasuke unharmed who was staring wide eyed at how much her chakra had increased by.
"You will die!" Sakura exclaimed as she performed another water jutsu. Jutsu after jutsu came and hit the members, especially her older brother and sister continuously.
…END FLASH BACK
"Yea, she's not really one to loose her temper so easily, it's not like her to cry over spilt milk" Kakashi nodded.
"Maybe the thought of her birds injured caused it" Sai suggested.
"I hope she's okay" Naruto sighed.
"Maybe Pansy should go and talk to her and see if she's alright" Sai suggested.
"Why me?" Sasuke snarled.
"Yea, why him? Shouldn't it be all of us?" Naruto frowned.
"Because I reckon she likes Pansy better" Sai said "Or at least used to" Sai sneered.
"Shut up Sai, she likes us all equally, as friends" Sasuke glared.
"Either way, if we ambush her at once, she'll probably bolt, remember, she was like that when we were younger" Sai said.
FLASH BACK…
"Tch, they never told me what it was" Sakura muttered darkly, not noticing that people were in the room with her.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned.
"Who never told you what it was?" Sasuke questioned.
"What was it?" Sai questioned.
"Nani?" Sakura muttered, her hand still cradling her forehead.
"Sakura-chan what's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"Where am I?" Sakura asked.
"You're on the way to the Snow Country, we are traveling by buses now" Kakashi answered.
"I see" Sakura muttered.
"Sakura, what was with your jutsu when we fought those Snow shinobi?" Sasuke questioned.
"What do you mean?" Sakura answered.
"When you created one of your jutsu, the first water jutsu, it should have missed and hit me, but it didn't and followed the guy you were versing" Kakashi explained.
"And the water froze into ice when it caught the guys" Sai added.
"And you took my jutsu and added it to your water dragon jutsu, and you took Kakashi's jutsu to freeze them, and the lightning came out of no where, what was up with all that?" Sasuke interrogated.
"I have no idea" Sakura muttered as she looked at her twitching hands.
"You have to have some idea of what it was or you wouldn't have been able to do it Sakura-chan" Naruto frowned.
"I'm serious, I have no idea who I did" Sakura said.
"How can you not know what you did?" Sai scoffed.
"I don't know" Sakura frowned.
"It was your jutsu how can you not know when it looked like you knew what you were doing?" Sasuke scowled.
"Because I don't!" Sakura glared.
"Sakura, seriously just tell us how you did it" Kakashi sighed.
"For the love of Kami-sama! I told you already! I have no idea how or why I took you jutsus, heck, I didn't even realize I did it until the fire was added to the dragon and the other water dragon appeared out of no where! If you don't believe me; that's your own decision" Sakura growled before she stood up and walked away from the males, and bare footed. The sound of a door slamming erupted, and their guess was that Sakura had jumped out of the moving vehicle to be alone.
…END FLASH BACK
"Oh right" Naruto sweatdropped "Well, then, go on Sasuke-teme!" Naruto urged, pushing the Uchiha in the direction of the sleeping blossom.
Glancing down at the sleeping blossom, Sasuke sighed; releasing the tension he felt in his body and shook the girl awake.
"Oi Sakura, wake up" Sasuke ordered gently. Instantly the girl was brought out of her sleep and faced Sasuke with question.
"Nani? Do you want me to watch?" Sakura asked, rubbing her slightly tired eyes, being carefully not to wake up Guyver or Jinki.
"No, the dobe and that were wondering if you were okay" Sasuke said.
"Oh, yea I'm fine" Sakura nodded sitting up to look at him properly.
"Anyway, the rest wants you over there, it's safer" Sasuke said then walked away towards Naruto, Sai and Kakashi.
"Hai" Sakura muttered "Hey, Guyver-kun, Jinki-kun we've been asked to go over to the others" Sakura whispered as the birds slowly arose from sleep, nodded and followed the girl to the campsite before falling back into sleep. Following her birds example, Sakura lay out the sleeping bag Kakashi just gave her and fell asleep next to the already sleeping hawks.
DREAM SEQUENCE…
Happiness…
Joy…
Smiles…
Laughter…
Enjoyment…
Life…
Pause.
Screams…
Blood…
Limbs…
Torture…
Death…
March 28th…
Once a day which was full of life…
Is now a day of death…
…A young girl, no more than five, screamed. Before her were her parents' bodies, as well as the rest of her clan bodies. Well what remained of them.
She watched the demise of her parents and her clan, while she was held captive and could do nothing. The only ones alive now were, her onee-sama and onii-sama, and that's only because they were both out on missions.
Today was supposed to be of joy, of happiness, yet some how it all ended in misery and suffering. Today was the young girl's birthday. She had officially just turned five, and yet she felt no reason to celebrate it. As night fell, a group of rouge ninjas ambushed into the Haruno district, taking everyone who was there, which for some reason was the entire clan, captive in the main house, where a party was supposed to be held. This clan, it wasn't supposed to be captured so easily, it is a prestigious clan, one of great power, and yet, some how, they were captured, main and branch members alike. Each person tied up like cattle about to get slaughtered; each with a blind fold, except one little girl.
Each member was slaughtered, heads chopped off, arms sawed off, legs pulled off. Blood was spilt. Floors, walls, ceilings were caked in the thick, sticky, red substance. All of which, the young girl at the age of five, stood tied up witness to the brutal massacre. The finale was about to arise. Up straight were the young girl's parents, the leaders of the clan. Both stripped of their clothes, and hands bound behind their backs. The girl watched as her own parents; who were also blind folded; were whipped, slashed, bashed, kicked, stabbed; they were tortured; possibly for the secrets of the clan, yet they said nothing. The girl's mother was kicked down and raped before her eyes. Her father was beaten more. Blood poured over the rich floors, splattered onto the decorative walls, leaked into the tiniest of crevices; it was every where.
The more the young girl watched; the more she wanted to turn her head, and yet; she couldn't. She was forced, be it she wanted to or not, to watch the torturing of her parents.
Before her parents demise, the end of their torturing, they spoke.
"Tell Daiki and Hikari we love them" the women spoke
"However you, Sakura, you, that's a different matter. You are a disgrace to this family, you should have saved us, and yet you didn't. Being bound is no excuse" the man hollered.
"If you become as good as Daiki and Hikari in your training, we will forgive you" her father spoke sternly.
"Hai Otou-sama" the girl, Sakura, murmured.
At that final note from her parents the girl watched as her parents' life was ended with a stab to the heart and then a slice off a head. More blood was spilt, staining the young cherry blossom, splattering more family blood over the main house room. The bodies, like the others, fell limp and crashed onto the ground below. Both heads, rolled towards Sakura, both looking up to her, as if to say, "You were always a failure"
The girl fell to the ground, in shock. Her parents, her clan, friends, family, the people closest to her, all killed. A great clan, a strong clan, killed by rogue ninjas. No tears fell from the girl; she was in far too much shock to cry.
Betrayal…
"I'm sure you remember the Haruno massacre; that was all our doing" Daiki smirked.
"W-what?!" Sakura gasped, leaving her self open for a second, but that was all they Akatsuki needed to charge at her, hitting her across the battle field.
"W-why? Why would you kill your own family?!" Sakura exclaimed.
"… testing how strong the clan was…" Daiki sneered
"Just to test how strong the clan was?!" Sakura shouted angrily, blocking the incoming attack of Tobi and Deidara.
"Oh, and to test how strong you were, to see if you were really worth all the fuss the elders put on you" Hikari sneered.
"You…you…I HATE YOU!!!" Sakura snarled.
"You will die!" Sakura exclaimed.
Blood. Screams. Arms. Legs. They all seemed to be drawn to the girl, haunting her as they continued to move
Slowly the ninja stalked their way closer to the young girl, in an attempt to get rid of her as well. That or kidnap her. Step by step the men came closer; shadows covering their face, black outfits covering their bodies.
As they advance, the girl sat still, still recovering from shock. Step by step, inch by inch, each second the men were getting closer and closer.
A kunai was brought down and stabbed the girl right through the heart, blood pouring every where.
…END DREAM SEQUENCE
Sakura gasped as she bolted out from her sleep in shock. Breathing heavily, she felt a nervous sweat trickle down her neck as her hand clenched around the blanket of the sleeping bag. Looking around, Sakura breathed an inward sigh of relief.
'Just a dream' Sakura mouthed.
"You alright Sakura?" Sasuke asked; it seemed he was the one left on guard. As she was about to reply, her figure tensed and her gaze turned to the left before going to the right.
"Sakura?" Sasuke questioned. In seconds she brought out a hand full of kunai and shuriken in each hand before throwing them left and right. As the weapons seemed to stop, blood began pouring and pained screams erupted from around them.
"Sasuke wake up the others" Sakura ordered as she jumped from her sleeping bag and landed on Guyver who was ready to begin fighting the enemy, like Jinki. Flying into the sky, Sakura began shooting balls of fire out of no where towards the hidden shinobi; standing almost motionless, it seemed she was firing these balls of fire with her eyes, as opposed to how she used to with her hands. As if her mind was guiding them.
"Kai!" Sakura exclaimed as roughly sixty shinobi appeared around the camp site of the Lightning people.
"Oi, Dobe, Kakashi, Sai, wake up" Sasuke hissed, kicking them out of their sleep.
"Nani?" Naruto growled.
"We're being attacked" Sasuke said before he disappeared, presumably to fend off the enemy shinobi.
"This is ridiculous! There's more shinobi than last time! What do these people carry that's so valuable?!" Naruto exclaimed punching down one of the shinobi that were heading towards him "Oi Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he created numerous clones and sent the ten shinobi in front of him towards Sakura with a good kick.
"Gotcha" Sakura muttered as she jumped off Guyver with her bunshins, landed on the ground, back flipped and kicked them to the right where Sai was "Oi Sai, catch" Sakura shouted.
"Can't take care of things on your own Ugly?" Sai sneered punching the shinobi up towards Sasuke after creating a few clones "Oi Pansy, heads"
"Hn" Sasuke glared obviously not liking the 'Pansy' nickname. Kneeling of the ground for a moment he created four clones before they all disappeared and reappeared above the shinobi in mid air and kicked them down "Shishi Rendan" Sasuke shouted sending them down to the ground where Kakashi was standing "Oi Kakashi, have fun" Sasuke smirked.
"Geez, leaving me with the dirty work" Kakashi sighed as he side stepped, created a couple of clones and side kicked the shinobi far away from the camp.
"Hehe, it's been a while since we've done that move" Naruto remarked as his clones dispersed and began fighting with the shinobi.
"Well duh, Dickless" Sai sneered.
'This is getting ridiculous' Sakura grunted. Suddenly shrieks of pain erupted as the enemies fell to a bloody pile, dead.
"S-Sakura-chan, what did you do?" Naruto gaped as he paused in mid action when he was about to punch the living daylights out of the shinobi at his feet.
"Nothing really, just a technique a learned when I was travelling" Sakura replied.
"Who taught you it?" Kakashi gaped "You didn't even move your hands!"
"I did, only would be able to do it with my kekkei genkai" Sakura replied fixing up her cloak which had shifted to the side during the battle.
'That's a slightly sadistic' the males of Team Kakashi shuddered slightly watching her move towards her hawks.
"We must really stick out or something that last was basically triple the amount from about six hours ago" Naruto sighed suddenly the blossom paused in mid step.
"What's wrong Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
"Kakashi, what was the time difference between the first and second attacks?" Sakura asked.
"Hmm…roughly twelve hours, why?" Kakashi asked.
'It can't be…' Sakura gasped.
"What?" Sai frowned.
"No, it's nothing" Sakura grunted 'I'm just imagining it, there's no way they could do that in three hours…'
"I think we should get moving" Sakura suggested.
"Why?" Kakashi asked.
"Move while it's dark, less people would be likely to attack" Sakura replied 'This is just incase my theory is right'
"I guess you're right, I'll go wake up Ouji-sama" Kakashi nodded.
Glancing around at her team mates for a moment, Sakura paused before she closed her eyes in what appeared to be in deep thought before she opened them again and looked around at her surroundings, looking obviously pleased with her self. Enjoying the silence of the rolling carriages and clonking of hooves of horses on desert ground Sakura sat watching the scenery changed before some one broke her out of her peace.
"Sakura?" Sasuke muttered.
"Hai?" Sakura replied.
'Why did you just set up your genjutsu and a shield?" Sasuke asked.
"You set up a shield?" Sai and Naruto asked in unison, obviously unaware.
"So why did you Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
"A precaution" Sakura replied.
"There's no sense in putting something up unless you believe it's absolutely necessary, but I don't think it would be since even you said less people would attack at night" Kakashi stated.
"…"
"Is there any reason for you to believe that you need to set up such precautions?"Kakashi asked.
"No, not really, I just thought it would be safer" Sakura replied.
"You sure?" Sai asked.
"Positive" Sakura nodded 'I mean for once, I shouldn't be right, no one is always right…I mean who would be able to summon over 50 000 men in less than five hours from now?'
'DAMNIT!!!!! Why do I have to be right all the time?!' Sakura cursed as she began killing another round of shinobi. The amount of shinobi seemed to multiply by four of the previous amount which was three hours before.
"How come there is so many shinobi attacking us?" Naruto exclaimed.
"Sakura do you know?" Kakashi asked.
"I have a theory" Sakura muttered.
"And is this theory been correct?" Kakashi asked.
"…"
"Well Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
"Hmm…" Sakura murmured 'Let's see, fire this time, let's make 'em tick like time bombs' Sakura smirked wickedly. Suddenly explosions exploded all over the battle field as the men they were fighting fell limp with blood pouring out of their heads; their faces not actually recognizable.
"Sakura, what did you just do?" Kakashi gaped.
"Just another technique I developed" Sakura replied.
"Just how many more of these techniques do you have?" Sai asked.
"Does it matter, I got the job done" Sakura scoffed.
"Yes it does! Now we'll have to wait for the next attack to come before we get any answers" Kakashi sighed.
'You won't have to wait long then' Sakura murmured inwardly "Those men who attacked us; they were from the Lightning Country" Sakura said.
"How do you know Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked.
"One of the men had a Lightning Country Symbol on his vest" Sakura replied.
"Sakura what is this theory of yours?" Sasuke asked.
"…"
"Sakura?"
"…"
"Sakura-chan?"
"…"
"Ugly you there?"
"Hmm…oh, yea I'm here, just thinking" Sakura replied quietly.
"So what about this theory?" Kakashi asked.
"Well…"
"Out with it Sakura" Sasuke demanded.
"…The theory is wrong, I miss calculated something" Sakura replied.
"Sakura you never miss calculate anything" Sasuke pointed out.
"Umm…right…anyway, Sasuke, just out of curiousity, when is your wedding?" Sakura asked.
"Undecided"
"It means teme and the other haven't decided on a date yet" Naruto said.
"Well no shit Naruto" Sakura sighed "Do you have a rough idea of when a date would be set?"
"No, why?" Sasuke asked.
"I need it so I can plan ahead" Sakura replied.
"Oh right…" Sasuke muttered.
"As if Pansy is going to decide a date, he's too much of a pansy to decide" Sai sneered.
"Yes, well when you do decide please tell me" Sakura said, ignoring the rest of the conversation as Sai, Sasuke and Naruto argued. Sakura smirked.
'Given a topic, those three can argue on it for hours; Haruno Sakura, expert topic changer' Sakura smirked.
"What are you smirking about Sakura?" Kakashi asked.
'Damn you Kakashi' Sakura glared "How would you know if I was smirking or not? There is a mask over my face and I'm in front of you" Sakura asked.
"I can just feel it" Kakashi said.
"…"
"So Sakura, why were you smirking?" Sasuke asked.
"No reason in particular, Kakashi, you wouldn't by chance know the time would you?" Sakura asked.
"Hmm…I'd say about twenty one and a half hours since we left Konoha, why?" Kakashi asked.
"Just wondering" Sakura replied 'Almost time'
Before the rest of her team mates knew what was going on, Sakura jumped onto Guyver.
"Something wrong Sakura?"
"Carriages are uncomfortable to sit on for a long period of time" Sakura replied "Oi guys! Ambush! There are well over 1000 people here!" Sakura exclaimed before Guyver flew forward towards the army of shinobi.
"Sakura, what do you mean ambush?!" Kakashi shouted into the ear piece.
"What do you think it means?" Sakura growled back 'Yet this doesn't seem like a lot compared to what's going to come if I am right. Mizu!' Sakura decided. Instantly a drop of water formed in front of the pink haired black cloaked girl before it disappeared into thin air.
"3, 2, 1" Sakura whispered. Suddenly blood was pouring out of dead bodies from their heads. The location where blood was pouring out was a tiny hole n both side of their heads; the size of a water drop.
"Sakura" Kakashi muttered.
"Nani?" Sakura asked calmly.
"Can you, I don't know, stop killing everyone that comes our way?!" Kakashi sighed.
"Then you deal with 7200 men in forty five minutes" Sakura fired back.
"What do you mean?!" Kakashi shouted.
"I was wrong about my theory being wrong" Sakura sighed.
"What was your theory?" Sasuke asked.
"To put it simply every time an attack came, the next would be in half the time with multiple times the amount of men, the amount would depend on the hours times by the previous amount" Sakura said.
"Why didn't you say something? We could have asked Konoha to send us some men!"Kakashi growled.
"Because if I was right in less than an hour we would have been ambushed by over 50 000 men! Do blame me that the theory sounded so ludicrous!" Sakura glared.
"That'd be impossible!" Sai said.
"How the hell can anyone gather up over 50 000 men in less than an hour?!" Naruto shouted.
"Exactly, that's why I didn't believe my own theory!" Sakura muttered.
"How the hell were you able to count that number of people in such a short amount of time?!" Naruto exclaimed.
"I was quick, besides its simple math" Sakura replied.
"How are you sure of it?" Kakashi asked.
"Think about it, our first encounter had only ten people, the next was twelve hours away with twenty people, that next one was six hours after the last with sixty people, if there's any pattern going on here, it's that the next attack the sixth attack will be six times the amount of the last in half the time, which means these shinobi we've been facing aren't just rouge ninjas, they've been hired to attack in this pattern" Sakura explained.
"Damn! Your brain is working faster than before!" Sai exclaimed.
"Well, if Sakura is right, we need a plan to get us through it" Kakashi concluded.
"Well, we'll just have to get back up and use clones as well" Sasuke said
"Right, it's all we can do" Sai nodded.
"We are outside Wave, from Konoha that takes at least a days travel at a fast speed; we only have an hour" Sakura said.
"…well, we'll just have to hold them off until then" Kakashi said.
"No, I'll go back and gather help" Sakura concluded.
"You can't we have to keep you here!" Kakashi insisted.
"But…"
"No. Send Jinki to fetch them and hopefully they'll be here soon" Kakashi ordered.
"Hai" Sakura muttered "Jinki-kun, take this note to Tsunade-sama, Guyver-kun you follow!" Sakura ordered.
"Why'd you send Guyver?" Kakashi frowned.
"Jinki doesn't know who Tsunade is" Sakura replied "At least not by face"
"Oh" Kakashi mouthed.
"Oi, Sai; Sasuke do you guys know the 'Kage Bunshin' technique?" Sakura asked.
"Of course we do" Sai scoffed.
"Just checking" Sakura nodded.
"Be prepared guys" Kakashi ordered.
"Damn Sakura-chan! Why do always have to be so accurate? And RIGHT?!" Naruto exclaimed as he created a clone and performed the 'Rasengan' on roughly twenty people.
"Do you think I always want to be right?" Sakura growled standing still as she continued to fire various elements at the enemies surrounding her, not even lifting a muscle to attack.
"I really wish for once, you wouldn't be correct" Sai sighed.
"Me too" Sasuke and Kakashi said in unison.
"Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu" Sakura muttered.
"Mizu?! Chotto matte, Sakura, there's no water!" Kakashi exclaimed turning to face her, only to gape when he saw ten clones made of water in front of his eyes.
"Suiryudan no Jutsu" Sakura exclaimed as dragons of water came out of no where and began thrashing at the enemies knocking them away, picking them up and sending them else where.
"Sugoi Sakura-chan! How'd you do that?" Naruto exclaimed performing a wind jutsu on the enemy in front of him.
"Not now Naruto" Sakura cursed as she suddenly came back to back with Sasuke who were both surrounded.
"Well, hello Sasuke" Sakura grunted.
"Hn"
Jumping in the air in unison, both performed the exact same hand seals before bringing a hand to their mouths.
"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu" the two shouted in unison. In seconds, flames exploded on the scene, wiping out a good portion of their enemies. Glancing to the side, both kicked an enemy which was about to hit them down into the blaze before glancing at each other for a second and removing each other from their presence.
"Katon: Housenka no Jutsu" Sasuke shouted, spitting flames out of his mouth burning his enemies that came in front of the technique before slicing them with the hidden shuriken.
"Hyouton: Haryu Moko" Sakura shouted as an ice dragon, similar to the Suiryudan no Jutsu dragon freezing her enemies into a cold death.
Landing back to back again, both seemed to smirk.
"You seem to have improved greatly since I left" Sakura remarked.
"So have you" Sasuke countered.
"It seems neither of us was picking daisies no?" Sakura sneered.
"For what occasion?" Sasuke questioned.
"Point taken" Sakura nodded 'Thunder' Sakura murmured. Again, people fell to the ground dead, this time however there was no blood, there wasn't any sign what so ever of any traces that they had been killed.
"Stop hogging all the action Sakura-chan" Naruto whined as he was about to hit down some one who was already dead.
"Gomen" Sakura murmured.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto questioned "Something wrong, you're not moving"
"Dobe, she hasn't moved much of a muscle in any battle yet" Sasuke sighed"Sakura?"
"Hmm…sorry, just thinking" Sakura said.
"You think way too much, Ugly" Sai stated.
"Urasai" Sakura glared "Let's just keep going, we have to move heaps quickly-"
"Hey Sakura…" Sasuke began.
"Nani?"
"Remember that genjutsu you used back when you got me from sound?" Sasuke asked.
FLASH BACK…
"Shut up woman" Sakura glared, her bunshins, both of them had exploded, an enemy was near by "Some one's close by" Sakura said.
"What makes you think that?" Suigetsu questioned.
"My fail safe plan, if they bunshins are destroyed, both of them, then some one must be after either me, or my goods" Sakura smirked before performing her genjutsu and continued moving.
"And so you are going to run straight into the enemy?" Jugo questioned.
"I bet you anything they won't see me or you guys passing by them" Sakura smirked. Minutes later, they passed a rouge ninja, who was looking for the real cherry blossom, who was passing right over them.
"Told you" Sakura smirked, she was basically in the guy's face but he did nothing to attack her, before dispelling the jutsu
…END FLASH BACK
"Yea?"
"Why haven't you just used that?" Sasuke asked.
"…"
"Sakura?" Kakashi questioned.
"I forgot about it, I haven't needed to use it in a long time" Sakura sweat dropped. Turning around, Sakura smirked slightly as she jumped up and landed on Guyver's back "What was Tsunade-sama's reply?" Sakura asked looking at Jinki.
"I see" Sakura nodded.
"What did Tsunade-sama say?" Kakashi asked.
"There's not one shinobi available for help, we have to deal with it some how" Sakura cursed.
"Well, we'll have to use your genjutsu" Sasuke stated.
"We have no choice" Sakura nodded.
"I can't believe I forgot about that jutsu, if I used it, we could have been saved a heap of effort" Sakura chuckled.
"Shut up Sakura" Sai, Sasuke and Kakashi glared as all four males fell to the ground exhausted.
"Here, take a soldier pill" Sakura requested handing them a brown pill each before taking one her self. Pausing for a moment to let the energy rush back into her system, Sakura performed the required hand seals, concentrating on her chakra and where it should go before she put the genjutsu into action as well as an invisible shield around the travelling carriages, just to be on the safe side.
"All done?" Kakashi asked.
"Yup" Sakura nodded.
"Well, then let's go"
"Sakura how many soldier pills do you have with you?" Kakashi asked.
"A small bag, I haven't had a chance to stock up on them in a while" Sakura replied "Why?"
"We will need a lot" Kakashi concluded.
"Yea we will…" Sakura murmured 'Half an hour, over 400 000 men, impossible'
"As long as we keep moving, we can get going-"
"There's a problem with that, to Lightning from Konoha, its around four days travel, we have barely finished the first day in one piece, without any proper resources there is no way to get rid of them without wasting all our energy" Sakura stated.
"Can you ever look on the positive side of life?" Sai sighed.
"I'm stating facts" Sakura said 'Hmm…maybe I should use poisons for a while…' Sakura thought 'Yea…that could do if I had the right materials, I only have a small amount of ingredients with me right now, I guess I could add other things in them and other poisons I'm carrying for one, although they might all explode…nah…'
"Ouji-sama, do you still require me to sit on the top of your carriage?" Sakura asked walking at the pace the carriage was moving at.
"Oh yes please Onee-sama!" Ichirou pleaded.
"Okay" Sakura nodded, jumping onto the carriages, secretly pulling out various poisons and ingredients for poisons. Crushing the ingredients, she lay oblivious to the curious eyes of her team mates as they watched her hand glow green as the ingredients she crushed plus the other poisons combined in her hands as the mixture began changing from a yellow to a darker green colour as the glow of her hand slowly turned blue.
"Kakashi-sensei, what's Sakura-chan doing?" Naruto asked.
"I have no idea" Kakashi replied.
Concentrating on the mixture, the glow of her hand turned a bright red before it turned a muckish purple colour swooshing around in the palm of her hand.
"That should do it for now" Sakura muttered as she poured the liquid into a couple of jars.
"I think she's making a poison" Sai said.
"Or made it…" Sasuke added.
"Well, knowing Sakura, we better be wary of her weapons then, her poisons are deadly" Kakashi remarked.
"So…so…so…so many SHINOBI!!!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Well of course it is, 50400, it ain't exactly a small amount" Sakura scoffed "We have to move as quickly as we possible can after this attack, because as soon as it ends, the 8th attack will be on us like stink, and that will be roughly 403200 shinobi!" Sakura exclaimed.
"Well, I'll just have to combat against that number" Naruto proclaimed "Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu" he shouted as hundreds upon hundreds of Naruto clones appeared and began attacking madly.
"Can some one actually summon that many men in that amount of time?" Sasuke questioned.
"It's possible" Sai muttered.
"Well this lot isn't a genjutsu, but maybe the next lot will be, we'll just have to wait" Sakura replied "Even I have my doubts about being able to summon that many shinobi in 11 and something minutes"
"We've already fought close to nine thousand shinobi, there can't seriously be fifty thousand more who will do this person's bidding" Sai scoffed.
"There's a catch to it then" Sakura concluded 'Earth' Sakura mused. Instantly all the shinobi they were fighting, were swallowed by the ground below them leaving only their heads viewable.
"Come on, let's go" Sakura said half heartedly before she walked right passed the cursing heads.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Sakura?"
"Ugly?"
"Sakura?"
"SAKURA-CHAN?!!!"
"…Sakura?"
"SAKURA-CHAN YOU THERE?!?!?!"
"Hmm? Oh…is something wrong?" Sakura asked.
"Is something wrong with you?" Kakashi asked.
"No, why?" Sakura questioned.
"You seem preoccupied" Sai said.
"Mm…just thinking" Sakura replied.
"About?" Sasuke asked.
"Don't you think it's odd that Lightning Country Shinobi are attacking Lightning Country royalty?" Sakura asked.
"Well sorta" Naruto replied.
"You wouldn't have even thought about it Naruto" Sakura sighed.
"Well…yes…Umm…err…" Naruto stammered.
"That means the rumours are true…" Sakura said.
"What rumours?" Kakashi questioned.
"The current King of the Lightning country has gone missing and been over thrown, the person who over took…he has access to any and nearly all shinobi at the Lightning Country's disposal as well as the fact he has hundred upon thousands of men ready to serve him" Sakura replied "I didn't think much of it when I came from the Lightning Country a while back because there was still peace and I thought it was highly unreasonable that the Lightning King ruler could have been over thrown" Sakura growled kicking a rock that lay unsuspecting on the ground "I'm so stupid! I should have realized it immediately!"
"It's okay Sakura-chan, you can't know every thing" Naruto frowned.
"But if I even considered that the rumour was true we could have moved faster and not have to encounter this many shinobi" Sakura cursed "Tch, how troublesome, oi Guyver-kun, fly up for a sec" Sakura ordered as she jumped onto her large bird.
"Sakura is there anyone around?" Kakashi asked.
"Yes, and by the looks of it, every one of the 403200 that I predicted…hmm…I think I have a way out of this; tell Ouji-sama to stop the carriages' Sakura announced.
"Are you nuts?!" Kakashi yelled.
"Just do it" Sakura said.
"Fine" Kakashi sighed "Ouji-sama, there will be another attack coming soon and one of our members has come up with a way to avoid them, the sheer amount of people would overwhelm us completely if not for this plan, so to aid in the plan, we are asking you to stop your carriages" Kakashi said. On the other side in the back ground it appeared that the Prince had agreed as the carriages had stopped seconds after.
"Alright, tell them to hold on" Sakura said.
"Hai, minna-san hold on please" Kakashi asked "Sakura they're ready"
"Good, get ready" Sakura whispered. In seconds the ground below the began rumbling madly as the feeling of being raised up into the sky rushed through everyone's souls "No one fell down right?"
"No"
"Good, no hold on real tight" Sakura shouted so everyone heard her. Instantly, the ground began shaking again, even stronger than before as the ground below them, began to slowly move forward.
"This…Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed.
"Please Naruto, no noise, requires a lot of concentration, never done this before" Sakura said forcefully "Tell the charges they may rest if they wish to, you may too guys" Sakura said.
"You sure Sakura?" Kakashi asked as he watched her head towards the front of the carriages and sit down.
"Yea, get some rest, when we get to the Lightning Country we are going to over throw the people who over threw the Lightning Royalty" Sakura declared. Nodding in understanding, everyone on the moving Earth (aside the one blossoms) settled down for a some what comfortable sleep.
Morning of the next day slowly came to the moving troop of Lightning Country Royalty and Konoha shinobi, waking up the shinobi in little to know time.
"What time is it?" Naruto grumbled as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes.
"Hmm…about twenty passed six" Sakura replied.
"EEEEEEE!!!!" Naruto screeched, waking up everyone on the moving earth.
"Nani?!" Kakashi exclaimed as he jumped up from his sleeping bag.
"Dobe what's the problem so early in the morning?"Sasuke glared as he recomposed himself.
"Who…who…who just talked?!?!?!?!?" Naruto exclaimed.
"When?" Sai yawned as he sat up tiredly.
"You know…before!!!" Naruto wailed.
"Naruto, if you are talking about before you screamed, it was me" Sakura sighed.
"EEEE!!! SEE!! That VOICE!!!!" Naruto shouted.
"Dobe, that voice was most likely Sakura, we can't hear it because unlike you, we turned off our headsets before going to sleep" Sasuke grumbled, obviously upset he was awoken by something so pathetic.
"Oh…was that you Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, calmer than before.
"If you are talking about before you were screeching, then yes it was me" Sakura replied.
"Oh, thank Kami" Naruto sighed in relief.
"Oi Sakura, how far have we gotten?" Kakashi asked.
"I've cut down a four day journey into a bit more than one and a half days journey" Sakura replied.
"Then do you want to take a break now?" Kakashi asked.
"If I were to stop now, then more than likely we would be hit by the millions of men below us" Sakura stated.
"…" Kakashi gaped as he looked over the edge of the moving earth.
"I for one am glad Ugly can do this" Sai sighed in relief.
"I think we all are" Naruto murmured. Slowly silence reigned over the five Konoha shinobi, each in their own thoughts about the current situation.
'Sakura sure has learnt a lot over these past five years away from Konoha, she has learnt more than what I did in five years, on her own' Sasuke thought with jealousy.
'I can't believe how much stronger she has gotten, I didn't think it would be possible, maybe Genma-san was right all those years back' Kakashi chuckled bitterly.
'Sugoi Sakura-chan! You have so much strength' Naruto thought admiring her strength.
'Ugly sure has changed a lot over five years, her battle technique is totally different; she practically avoids getting physical' Sai noted.
'Hmm…I think there's a pile of laundry that has to be done soon and the fridge needs to be restacked' Sakura thought idly before she pulled out another solider pill and crunched on it. Four unsuspecting males jumped in surprise after hearing the crunching noise.
"Oh hey Guyver-kun" Sakura said "I see, thanks Guyver-kun, go rest" Sakura said.
"What was your bird doing Sakura?" Sasuke asked.
"Scouting the area" Sakura replied "Apparently there aren't many men left at the Palace, it will be an easy take over; but we have to be careful incase, it might be a surprise attack and they actually might be strong" Sakura answered.
"You've been up the whole time haven't you Sakura?" Kakashi stated.
"Yes…" Sakura replied.
"As soon as we get there, we'll all hide out and take a break" Kakashi announced.
"Hai" Sakura replied. Suddenly the ground began to slowly move faster and faster.
"You don't have to move faster Sakura" Kakashi said nervously.
"I wasn't moving that fast before because you were all asleep, I didn't want to be losing random people" Sakura replied.
"Oh…" Kakashi mouthed.
"Gomen Ouji-sama, but for now we are going to rest here before we go and take but the Lightning Country" Kakashi said as they began to move into the forest just outside the Lightning Palace.
"Hai" the Prince nodded.
"We've gotten a pretty far way into the forest, I think we should be safe here" Kakashi noted.
"Hai" Naruto nodded.
"Sakura, you can take a break now" Kakashi said.
"Aa" Sakura grunted as she chose a random tree, jumped onto one of the many branches and sat there, quite contempt to fall asleep then and there, secretly, out of habit two sets clones were set up and began to search the area.
Hours passed before a new day came to the prepared Konoha troop, over the night, each guarded, just incase of enemies that would come their way. Still in the tree, Sakura lay asleep, obviously she was very tired.
"Sasuke go wake up Sakura" Kakashi ordered.
"Hn" Sasuke grunted as he walked over to the tree the girl was perched in. Suddenly the girl woke up with a start and threw two kunai to the left of her. Breathing heavily and rapidly, Sakura looked around before sighing in relief.
"Err…Sakura-chan you alright?" Naruto asked.
"Yea I'm fine-" Sakura said before she trailed off at the end of her sentence.
"Sakura?"
"Sshh!" Sakura hissed, placing a lone finger in front of her mouth to indicate silence. Glancing around Sakura's eyes narrowed.
"Sakura-chan?" Naruto whispered.
"We should get moving, I have this feeling that the enemy is coming this way" Sakura said "It'd be dangerous to fight in a forest"
"Right" Kakashi nodded.
"You were right Sakura-chan! People were after us! And there weren't many people at the palace!" Naruto exclaimed, grinning madly as they began to make their way back towards Konoha with the mission completed.
"How'd you know?!" Naruto asked.
"Mmm, I had Guyver-kun out scouting the palace before…and I heard them before shuffling through the forest, bunshins went off" Sakura replied.
"Seriously?" Naruto gaped.
"Aa" Sakura nodded.
"Well done Team Kakashi on a successful mission" Tsunade smiled, greeting them as she entered her office. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.
"Come in" Tsunade said. Slowly the door opened to reveal the village elders, Danzou and a slightly nervous Shizune.
"Danzou? What are you doing here?" Tsunade growled.
"Please excuse us Tsunade-hime" Danzou sneered "But there is a matter at hand that must be addressed"
"Which is?" Tsunade asked.
"The trial of Haruno Sakura for treason" the female elder announced.
Suddenly the entire room went tense.
Chapter 2: Trials of Sakura