CHAPTER 23

Retribution
(応報Ōhō)

Sea green eyes gazed upon the blonde kunoichi standing infront of her as Sakura continued to take in the young girl's appearance. Her light blue eyes, her cream yellow hair, and wearing black and orange, just like a familiar blond that was on her team. Her lower lips quivered in astonishment and a bead of perspiration rolled down the medic nin's face, dripping from her chin and splattering almost silently on the dark gray tile on the floor.

'Miyuki...? This is Miyuki...? But she...she looks like Naruto! How can that be? Unless Naruto has a sibling that he doesn't know about, but that's not possible. He's an only child as far as I know of...'

"Sakura..." Sai's voice called out to her and handed her the clipboard that she had dropped earlier. "You dropped this."

The pinkette came out from her daze and with shaky hands, she had took the papers and pen from the artist and she gave him a feeble smile. "T-Thank you, Sai..."

Suigetsu thought it was weird how everyone was reacting so strangely whenever they saw Miyuki. He didn't know why, but he had a feeling that he would find out more than what he wanted to know. As he contemplated his thoughts, he looked over the blonde, examining the view of her profile. 'What is it about Kitten that makes people look at her as if they seen a ghost or something...? I gotta find out why...'

"Listen, Sakura. I'm leaving. I'm gonna meet with Naruto at the Hokage's Mansion. I'm sure you can handle things from here." Sai speculated, hoping that Sakura would calm down soon before she had to work on the so called "patients". The artist thought that Sasuke's partners should of went to the Hokage Mansion right along with him. It didn't make sense to him, but it wouldn't be right if they didn't get the help they needed. And speaking of help...

"Oh...and please take care of Ugly over there..." Sai said, pointing at the now steaming red-head behind him. "She's been complaining about her injuries ever since she entered the village. She's a feisty one, so you might want to hurry up with treating her or else she'll bite your head off..."

Suigetsu on the other hand just snickered inwardly at the thought of someone getting on Karin's nerves for a change. To him, this is what he called "bad karma". 'Karin has finally met her match...'

This fucking bastard is asking for it! Karin's hands were clenched into fists so tight that her knuckles were starting to turn white. "That's only with you, smart ass!"

"And me..." The water nin reluctantly pointed out. He knew that him and Karin had not been on the best of terms, but he wanted to let them know that he wasn't the only one who had dealt with that insane temper of hers. It seemed that Sai could handle her better than anyone else could, which was such a relief.

"Anyway, I leave it in your capable hands." Sai turned his back towards the exit of the hospital and started to make his way to the automatic slide open doors. "Have fun with the screaming harpy..."

That last comment had pushed the red-head over the edge.

Karin has had enough of that pale-ass, no mannered, Sasuke wannabe who was being so brutally rude to her. Not Suigetsu, not Jugo, or even Miyuki! It was just her! What did this bastard have against her so badly that he would continue to ridicule her like she was nothing? Was it because of the simple fact that she had defended Sasuke when the pale artist had disrespected the Uchiha? Or was he doing it just for the sheer enjoyment of pissing her off? For whatever reason, she was going to make sure that he didn't do it ever again.

Being quick, Karin stretched her hand downward and a kunai that had been hidden in the sleeve of her purple jacket slipped into her hand. With speed and velocity, she threw the kunai towards Sai, which was now aiming towards his head. The others in the hospital gasped when the frantic red-head was becoming even more violent than she already was.

Sai continued to walk towards the door and without as much as even turning around or flinching, the artist had caught the kunai in mid-air just before the weapon had a chance to even graze a tiny hair on his head. The fiery red-head's eyes widen from the shock that the artist had actually caught the kunai with such ease. 'Damn it! He's better than I thought...!'

Miyuki stood there amazed by Sai's quick movements. 'Nothing less from the future Anbu Captain of Konoha...'

The painter just sighed sadly. He was hoping that this woman wouldn't be such a headache. The other two was not really a problem. The tallest of the two was quiet and the loud one called 'Suigetsu' if he remembered correctly was...okay. The only thing about him was he was kind of loud like Naruto and his appearance was...somewhat similar to that of his late adoptive brother, Shin, but he can deal with the loudness. Karin on the other hand, that was a different story. She was in a class all by herself.

He had never met a woman that was so..."colorful" with almost every action that she took. In his eyes, she was somewhat...vibrant. Yeah, that was the right word to describe her without going overboard. "Uchiha sure has some strange yet interesting friends but sadly, he has no taste when it comes down to women." Taking the kunai into his hand properly, his finger slipped through the ring of the hilt as he spinned the weapon around. "Karin-san, if you want to get someone's attention, there's no need to throw kunai at them." As quick as he said, he threw it back at her with a simple back flick of his hand.

The red-head quickly tilted her head to her right side to keep the kunai from scraping her face and the sharp weapon had thunked against the white wall, practically scaring the receptionist behind the front desk.

"On another note, Karin-san, your hair..." Sai started, who had already observed it from seeing her earlier. Her hairstyle had disturbed the artist greatly. It was pointy and unkempt on one side and really straight on the other side. What female wears their hair like that? "Are you trying to make a statement? If you are, then you succeeded because it's looks like a porcupine. Hopefully, you'll like it evened out..."

With that last statement, the artist had finally left from the hospital, leaving everyone baffled from what he had said. "What did he mean by th-" But before Karin could finish the sentence, some of her hair that was always pin-straight on her left side was sheared, falling down to the ground. Bringing a shaky hand to her now pared piece of hair, Karin felt the oscillation in her lips from the shock that the artist had actually...cut her hair...

'Oh, shit...' Was the only thing that ran through Suigetsu's mind at the moment. 'She gonna blow...!'

As Sakura watched the scene unfold with her eyes, she clutched the clipboard she held in her hand from her teammate's actions. Karin's was trembling from both anger and vexation. How dare he does something like that to a complete stranger...'Making fun of a girl is one thing...but never ever make fun about a girl's hair...'

"Well, at least it's even now..." Suigetsu said chuckling, trying to make Karin feel better, but that only had the opposite effect. Miyuki just shook her head in disapproval, knowing that what the water nin had said was not the right way to comfort her. From outside the hospital, the chagrin shouts of "I'm gonna kill him!" and "Bastard!" that was coming from an angry kunoichi could be heard throughout the entire village.

In the village streets, the artist couldn't help but smirk from hearing the familiar outburst. As he continued to make his way to the Hokage's Mansion, he nodded in approval that things were gonna get very interesting, very soon...

XxX

Inside the Hokage's Mansion, Tsunade was reading vigorously through the books that Shizune had brought her earlier today. So far, she had only found some abstract pieces about the history, but nothing that was concrete at the moment. She was getting seriously frustrated and she wanted to take a break and take her mind of it for a little while, but she decided against it.

Shizune had came back to assist her and much to her dismay, it wasn't all that much she could do.

"How can this be? This can't be everything about the history of the Infinite Tailed Beast. There has to be more about it!" Tsunade asked herself, rubbing her temples out of pure aggravation. She didn't think it would be this difficult to find, but she was determined to find out everything to prevent the outcome of the future events Nariko had foretold. Unless...

"Shizune, have you checked the Konoha Archive Library for anything?" The sandy blonde inquired, hoping that the Library would at least have some information about it.

"Lady Tsunade, I'm afraid that's where I went to get the books and scrolls from. I had asked the librarian was there anyway that I could go into the crypt of the library to find more information, but she told me that under that commandment of the First Hokage, no shinobi was allowed to go into the crypt under any circumstances..." The medical assistant answered.

"WHAT?" Tsunade hollered, standing up from her desk from hearing such a rule.

"I'm terribly sorry, Tsunade-sama..." Shizune apologized, giving her a bow out for not being as helpful as she should have been.

Tsunade bit her lip in grievance and crossed her arms, trying to figure out why would her grandfather, Hashirama Senju, would place such a legislation on the Konoha Crypt. The crypt was there to use for emergencies such as this. Was he trying keep certain things pertaining the village's history in there? Or was it for some other reason? She also contemplated if she were to go down there, they still wouldn't give her permission. Even with her status as the Hokage of the village. 'We're so close yet all the information we need, we can't even get access to it. Grandfather, what are trying to hide...?'

A hard knock on the wooden door drove Tsunade out of her thoughts. She sighed, knowing that she would have to deal with that mess later. She hated leaving things half-done or unfinished, but now she had to take care of another problem.

"Come in..." She answered while she walked behind her desk to sit back down in her chair.

The door opened and several figures walked into the room with soft footsteps. The last person who was with them had closed the door behind them. Tsunade had looked up from her desk to see Naruto, Kakashi, Yamato, and a familiar raven young man who was cuffed and restrained.

"We're back, Grandma..." Naruto announced as everyone lined up side to side accordingly. "...and we brought teme too..."

"I see..." Tsunade wrinkled her brows at the raven haired missing nin. Things were bad enough as it is and now Sasuke was back in the picture. Things were getting way too chaotic for her. "I had a feeling that you would return, Sasuke. Unfortunately, I wish you haven't returned to us..."

Sasuke just narrowed his onyx eyes at the busty blonde. His limp hands had curled into fists from hearing that bit of information. He knew the things he did were serious and criminal, but he didn't expect to hear it from her of all people.

"Grandma, what is that suppose to mean?" Naruto asked, wondering why she would say something like that. He thought Tsunade would be on his side to defend Sasuke more than anyone else in the village.

"Naruto, I-"

Milliseconds later, a member of the ANBU materialized in the room next to Tsunade and bowed respectively, excusing himself from interrupting what she was doing. "Lady Tsunade, I've come back with the news regarding the meeting Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had with the Fire Daimyō this afternoon."

Tsunade had a gut feeling that those two were up to something the minute they knew that Sasuke might come back to the village. She had anticipated that they would, but the question was what were they trying to do without her consent?

"And? What did you find out?" Tsunade asked, folding her hands and placing her chin on top of them in a serious manner. The ANBU looked around and he saw that Naruto was right there in the room as well as his teacher and former comrade. This was gonna be difficult for them to grasp and understand...

"Lady Tsunade, under the order of the Fire Daimyō..." The ANBU paused, trying be as professional as possible. "...in a week's time, the missing nin – Sasuke Uchiha...will be executed..."

Around the room from perceiving the ANBU's words, everyone froze and their eyes widen from the news. From hearing that, Naruto's body and mind went completely numb...

* * *NEXT CHAPTER SYNOPSIS* * *

The next chapter of Changing Fate is:

Sakura's Decision
(サクラの決定 Sakura no Kettei)

Naruto refuses to accept the fact that Sasuke was gonna be killed. At the hospital, Sakura comes to a decision that will change her life and everything around her...