"Well, it looks like you can walk and use chakra now!" Sakura said cheerfully as she finally let go of Sasuke and allowed him to take several steps on his own. "Don't get into any fights if you can avoid it, and ask Kabuto for a checkup when you get back to base."
Sasuke stopped dead. "When I get back to the base?"
Sakura stopped as well. She laughed nervously. "Oops. Guess I let that slip out sooner than I intended."
"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked with narrowed eyes.
"I…Sasuke, you're too weak to continue the mission. It'll take several more days. So I think it would be better if I followed the Akatsuki on my own. To get the ring, I mean."
"Sakura, you're a horrible liar," Sasuke said, leaning against a tree and crossing his arms. "You don't plan on coming back."
"Wh—wha? No, I don't think I'll die," Sakura blurted, trying to cover. One glance at Sasuke told her he wasn't buying it. She sighed. "Yeah, alright. Fine. I'm not going back to the Snake-bastard."
"Why?"
Sakura didn't feel like explaining.
She really didn't.
So in a flash, she was in front of Sasuke, slapping a hand to his forehead and using a genjutsu to knock him out. He never saw it coming.
Hazily, Sasuke came to. No sign of Sakura. But then they close to the desert—if he walked out from behind this rock, maybe he could see far away. He assumed she would be heading in the general direction the Akatsuki members were. He picked himself up, gratified at how easily he was moving, and padded over onto the sand. There, on the horizon, it looked like there was something in the sky. And there appeared to be two silhouettes on the ground.
He started stumbling towards them.
He wouldn't be so stupid as to trust Sakura again. He thought he was safe with her, and she had knocked him out.
He was such an idiot.
"So, Neji, do you remember who did this to you?" Tsunade asked as she fastened the bandage around the blind man's eyes.
"Of course. It was that female sound ninja—was she called Tayuya? And the one who harassed Sakura in the chuunin exams, Kin. They created some sort of mutual genjutsu that played on my curse seal." Neji shuddered. "It was…painful, to say the least. I only wish I'd had more self-control than…to do this to my eyes."
"So now the Sound is attacking us?" Tsunade mused. "That's a good excuse to go raid them and bring back Uchiha and Sakura."
"But they're powerful," Nej said. "And we cannot know how big it is."
"You're right," Tsunade sighed. She grabbed a clipboard and signed off on it. "Alright. You're in condition enough to go."
"But…Tsunade-sama, how am I to get around if I cannot see?"
"This has happened to plenty," Tsunade said reassuringly. "Though none with the Byakugan. Anyway, your chakra and other senses will start to compensate for your lost sight. In the meantime, I suggest you stay close to somebody who will help you get around and refrain from getting into any fights."
"Very well," Neji said. He pushed himself up and slowly placed his feet on the floor, just as he heard the door open.
"Neji! He's healed?" TenTen asked Tsunade happily.
"Yep. Oh, TenTen—you're the perfect person for the job. Take care of Neji while he adjusts to being blind," Tsunade instructed. "At least give it a week. This is a mission."
Right when Neji was about to step out, Hyuuga Hiashi stepped in. He took one look at Neji's forehead and shot a glare at Tsunade.
"Hokage-sama, who removed the seal from my nephew's forehead without my permission?"
"The same person who apparently snuck into the Hyuuga manor and assaulted the Hokage," Tsunade said lazily, leaning back onto a counter. "Rest assured, Hyuuga Hinata is doing some time in prison."
The trip back from the Sand was not a fun one.
Ino snapped at everybody, even moodier than she usually was, and nobody knew why. She refused to speak a word to Shikamaru. That was okay, because Shikamaru wasn't speaking anyway. Kiba was pissed that he had nobody to talk to, so he was talking aloud and annoying the hell out of everybody. Kakashi was mulling over the events of the past few days, trying to ignore the scorching heat of the Sand.
Finally, when they sat down to rest Kakashi said, "Come on, Shikamaru, Ino, display some signs of life here. Kiba, display fewer signs of life."
"I don't feel like talking," Ino said miserably. Which was a first. Ino always felt like talking.
Shikamaru mumbled something along the lines of "this heat is troublesome."
Kiba continued whining about how Akamaru was hot, he was hot, sand was in his sandals, the sun was too bright, he couldn't believe they barely got to do any fighting at all, Sasuke was a bastard, Sakura was a bitch, he was the best, Gaara was a freak, they hadn't received any compensation for saving the kazekage, and he was hot and he hated the desert.
Ino took out a scroll from her pack and started reading. "What's that?" Kakashi asked friendlily.
Without looking up, Ino answered, "It's from an elder called Chiyo. I spoke to her about medical things, like creating antidotes and drawing out poison since it appears some of the Akatsuki use poison in their puppets. She's quite wise, and I'm studying this. Maybe I can use it to be of some use…though Tsunade-sama is amazing at brewing antidote anyway…" Ino sighed and wallowed in self-pity.
Kakashi rubbed his temples. It was going to be a long, long trip back.
"Akatsuki!" Sakura called. She'd caught up to the to members who were heading back in the direction of the Sand. They stopped, and Sakura could just imagine the blond one raising an eyebrow.
Slowly they descended.
"Looks like they took care of your puppets, Master Sasori," the blond one said from on his bird…so the weird one with the hunched over puppet was called Sasori. Sakura had heard of Sasori of the Red Sand, but he should be extremely old! How was he still moving about so well? Maybe he wasn't, and that was why he hid inside the puppet. "Not as good as you thought?"
"What do you want?" 'Sasori' grumbled.
"I'm going to kill you," Sakura answered nonchalantly. "Or at least one of you, and force the other one to lead me to Akatsuki's base." Sakura realized she probably should have just tailed them at this point, but they would have found out eventually.
"You have pink hair, un," the blonde one pointed out.
"Hey, you up there!" Sakura goaded. "You look my former friend. Same blonde hair. Are you a girl or a boy?"
"Damnit, I'm a guy! I'm Deidara of the Rock village, remember me and my art!" 'Deidara' yelled.
"Your art?" Sasori snorted. He turned back to Sakura. "Either way, we're heading toward the Sand to retrieve our prize. You're rather stupid, aren't you? You can't hope to overcome both of us, especially since you're a brat of Orochimaru's. What do you want with Akatsuki anyway?"
"That's not your concern!" Sakura huffed. "Anyway, don't underestimate me. I cracked the shell of your old puppet; I see you have a new one?"
"Hey!" Deidara snapped suddenly. "I remember now! In one of the villages. Tanzaku Gai I think, people were gossiping that Konoha's star medical pupil had left. She had pink hair. You're Haruno Sakura?"
"She's a medic?" Sasori snorted. "Fat lot of trouble she's going to give us."
Sakura felt a flash of fear and pushed it away. Okay, she'd screwed up. The only thing left was to follow through on her threat… great. Nice job on leaving Sasuke unconscious in the woods, Sakura. Great job. Just phenomenal. She was such an idiot.
"I don't want to keep the leader waiting. Let's do this quickly," Sasori suggested.
With that, senbon were flying toward her, but Sakura leaped aside just in time and tripped. She glared at the senbon. They were officially her least-favorite weapon. A white bird landed next to her. Whatever it was, it couldn't be good. Sakura rolled aside just in time to avoid being blown up as the deceptive clay bird exploded. She assumed that was what Deidara specialized in: bombs.
Sakura remembered that with Sasori, the trick was to get in close and attack with close combat. That was, after all, the weakness of the Puppet Masters. However, Deidara could see her attack coming and stop her in her tracks. She really wished she'd learned the Shadow Clone Jutsu. All she needed was a way to distract both of them at once.
Hm. She still knew the normal clone jutsu, but it wouldn't fool them for long… it was just an apparition after all. So she'd have to choose one to use the clone on and one to attack herself.
She knew Sasori's moves better, so may as well finish him off first.
She made the handseals to create a bunshin. They charged, the bunshin leaping up to latch onto the now low-flying clay bird and the real Sakura running for Sasori.
She dodged the first kunai. Evaded the second. Ducked the round of senbon. Unfortunately, the fourth kunai which followed the third hit Sakura smack in the shoulder. Shit, she cursed as she sank to the ground. This poison was way more potent and spreading way faster. It could kill her much faster than the three days it took the previous poison she encountered. Maybe the kunai just had more on it—Sakura's thought halted as she pulled out the kunai, arm jerking, before she toppled over face-down in the sand.
"Well, that was easy," Deidara commented.
"May as well finish her off to make sure she doesn't bother us again," Sasori's rough voice said. The words started to slur together. What did they all mean? She had sand in her eyes… she couldn't close her eyes. Her eyelids weren't working. Eyes were drying out, just like her parched throat. Sakura heard a clack clack clack, a sound similar to the last puppet's tail winding up. Well, that was it. She was about to get stabbed. Joy.
Wind whizzed by as the tail came towards her—and then abruptly stopped. There was a sizzling sound, then it sounded like part of the tail hit the ground. What…?
"Not if I have anything to say about it," said Sasuke.
Sasuke noticed Sakura wasn't moving, but there were no visible wounds. He'd seen her get hit by the one kunai and collapse. So it must have been spiked with a potent poison. "What did you do to her?" he asked Sasori just to confirm as he let his chidori crackle to a stop.
"I modified my poison—it's the same basic thing, but it's much more potent. She's already immobilized, but conscious, and she's in great amounts of pain. She'll die within ten minutes." Sasuke kept an eye on the enemy as he rolled Sakura over and almost recoiled. "You destroyed my tail. You'll pay for that." Her eyes were open and glassy, and there was sand in her eyes. Ouch, that must be uncomfortable, but he could hardly pick it out. He hurriedly poured what water he had left into her eyes and it sort of cleared them out. He closed the lids, knowing it would lessen the irritation though she would be pissed at not seeing anything. "Sorry, Sakura," he murmured, and stood back up. He wasn't quite sure what to say, but the blonde one—Deidara, according to his research on Akatsuki—started for him.
"So this is Itachi's brat of a brother, hmm?"
"What is it to you?" Sasuke snarled.
"I hate your brother with a burning passion."
"Great. We have something in common. Lead me to your base so I can kill him." Sasuke activated his sharingan for effect. He wasn't much for conversation, really.
"I hate the sharingan!" Deidara all but shrieked, and let fly several clay bombs. However, Sasuke knew his power because he'd done some research on the Akatsuki and leaped aside.
"Sakura doesn't have much time," Deidara crowed in a sing-song voice. "She'll die in ten minutes!"
Desperately, Sasuke ran over the options. There was no way to get her to the Sand in time, and even then there was no guarantee they'd help her. He didn't know how to get the poison out of her system himself. He only had one chance. He dodged another kunai, rolled over to Sakura's kunai pack, and searched through it. Perhaps Sakura still had the antidote for the last poison, which would be of similar composition… and…yes! Sasuke couldn't believe his luck. There was a syringe there. Actually, there were two. And they had different-colored liquids in them.
Shit.
One of them was the cure, one of them was an unknown thing that could kill her. Which was which?
Preoccupied, he didn't forsee the bomb flying towards him. It was too late when he did—it landed on his leg, exploded. Sasuke yelled out in agony and collapsed, incoherent. There was a huge…freaking…hole in his leg! And the worst part—it didn't hurt as much as it should have. The nerves must have died again. Great. He rolled away from the next bomb with an effort, but dropped one of the syringes and couldn't retrieve it in time. He crawled towards Sakura and stabbed down into her heart with the syringe left.
Sakura jerked, convulsed. Her hand shot out, her mouthed opened and she croaked, "The other one too" and stopped moving.
Sasuke tried to keep his panic at bay. He wasn't made for this. He wasn't a medic. What did she mean? The other one? Was she dead?
Another bomb hit him. The same leg. Lower, on his calf. He snarled in pain. "This is all the last Uchiha has to offer?" Deidara crowed. "Oh, wait, he's not the last! He has a brother who is much, much stronger than him. And they're both pussies, of course."
Sasuke activated his sharingan and glared at the blonde. Then, he realized it wasn't working. Deidara grinned. "Hah! Your pathetic doujutsu not working on me? Shouldn't you at least be smart enough to realize that I would build up a resistance to my most hated weapon?"
Sasuke had let his guard down in surprise, and a rope from a puppet of Sasori's wrapped around him and squeezed hard. He gritted his teeth and chidori-nagashi'd the bonds. The metal fell away harmlessly, almost crushing the remaining syringe.
The other one!
Sasuke swiped up the needle, wiped it off briefly with his sleeve, and stabbed it into Sakura's heart as well.
Sakura's eyes flew open and she breathed hard for a moment. Then she smirked and stood up.
Sasori's puppet's face was emotionless, but there was puzzlement in his voice. "You still had the antidote? But it shouldn't have worked on a more powerful dose…"
"I knew you would probably make it work quicker—the waiting time was a weakness—so you would make it more potent. I didn't have the materials for another antidote, so I put together a booster to make my own antidote work faster and stronger."
"That doesn't explain why you're conscious—it takes time to heal."
"Adrenaline. Pure adrenaline. Added in with the booster. I'll probably collapse after this." Sakura's smirk widened into a grin. "Guess I'm not as stupid as you thought, huh?" She turned and gave Sasuke a once-over, smile dropping as she noted the wounds on his leg and the paleness of his face. "Oh, great. They killed your nerves again. Right when you were able to walk again!"
So, the status: Sakura, high on adrenaline and ready to fight. Sasuke, weak with one seriously injured leg but with plenty of chakra. Sasori, still inside his puppet without his arsenal of 100. And Deidara, still well-stocked on clay in the air on his bird.
The battle had not even yet begun.
Hinata sat in the cold, dark cell in white pants and shirt. They smelled of starch and were much too large for her everywhere, except much too tight around the chest. The cell itself smelled of unspeakable things. There was a cup of water in the corner and prisoners were allowed out for three meals a day in the cafeteria, depending on how serious their crimes were. Some weren't even allowed out of their cells. All the prisoners had chakra seals painted onto the backs of their necks. Hinata had been lucky enough not to get a roommate.
She really didn't mind being here. After all, she'd known there would be consequences for her behavior, and she had lost her temper and assaulted the Hokage. She was getting what was coming to her. But she did not feel guilty for doing any of it: Neji would be able to live a happier life and she herself was free from the Hyuuga. If it wasn't official already, surely they would have disowned her by now. A Hyuuga being in prison was unheard of.
She dealt with the boredom by mulling over her life when she heard familiar outraged yells. "She doesn't deserve to be in prison! There's obviously a misunderstanding; there is absolutely no way Hinata could commit crimes against the village! Let me speak to her, damnit!"
A silence as the guard presumably retorted.
"I don't care if she isn't allowed to have visitors! I'm staying here and nagging you until you let me see her!"
An obnoxiously loud sigh from the guard, then footsteps. Hinata stood up, brushed the dirt off her clothes and walked to the bars that allowed her to see the hall. Naruto was there in a heartbeat, grabbing at the bars. "Hinata-chan! I'll get you out of here, I promise, I'll kick their asses for doing this to you—"
"No, it's okay, Naruto," Hinata said shyly though she was touched. "Everybody will be happier this way. I'll spend a bit of time here, and then the Hyuuga will have closure and the Hokage will be a bit suspicious of me but I'll be allowed out again. I mean, Tsaunde-sama understood my actions but she couldn't just let them go, of course."
"But why? Why are you here? There has to be some mistake!"
"I snuck into the Hyuuga household, pretended to be my father and read through the scroll that allows the removal of the caged bird seal. I went to the hospital, knocked Tsunade-sama out since I knew she couldn't legally assist me, and performed the jutsu on Neji-san. He is now free from the seal… "
Naruto looked at her in awe and Hinata felt insanely proud. Naruto was noticing her. "Hinata-chan, you…you did that?" Hinata nodded. Naruto stuck his broad arms through the bars and wrapped Hinata in an awkward hug. "You're amazing! The Hyuuga got what was coming to them! Everything will be better from now on!" His grin was so broad Hinata thought she might go back to fainting. It was a smile-and it was directed at her. It was all she had ever wanted- and somehow she knew there could be even more in the future. Because it was more than a smile. It was a promise.
AN: So I'm late to update and crap at making excuses. I'm also still badass. Therefore I conclude that I am Kakashi.
Moving on… I have no idea how ninja prison would work so I sort of made it up, lol 8D
I've never much liked NaruHina so writing them is...interesting. It's a new experience I guess.
So, what do Tayuya and Kin want? Can Sasuke and Sakura beat Deidara and Sasori? Will Kiba EVER stop whining? Find out the answers to this and more…well…probably less…in the next chapter!
Thanks to all of you who fav and story alert. To those of you who review—I. Love. You. Fullstop. You're the best :)
I promise more exciting things are coming, but I have to transition to the cool parts you know? Heh.
Don't forget to check my profile for updates on the fics if I'm taking a long time. There may be spoilers as well for future chapters.