I do not own Naruto! Or any of the music in this fanfic! I will do my best to cite my music sources in the end of the chapters in the A/N! I do, however, own the OC's.
I gasped as I walked into Sunagakure for the first time. Gaara, Temari and Kankurou took me to the elders of their village, and I flinched. They glared at me like I'd done something wrong.
"Elders, she's a nomadic ninja. Rogues keep attacking her. She wants to give Konoha a chance to recover before going back to help some more. May she stay here, please?" Gaara asked politely, and I stared at him. He was a Jinchuuriki, like Naruto, and I knew that at any moment he could blow.
"You are to keep an eye on her, Gaara," one of them spoke up. "If only to ensure she doesn't do anything stupid or traitorous."
"Yes, elders. Thank you," he said bowing.
"Thank you very much," I said bowing even lower. I knew these ninja were corrupt, but this was insanity. I realized then that I was going to have a much harder time getting things done here than in Konoha. So much for the spy work.
"So, where do you want to start? Shopping? Training grounds? Other ninja?" Temari asked, eager to have another kunoichi to talk to.
"I was actually thinking about sightseeing first," I said sheepishly. "Would that be okay?"
"Sure," she said, and began leading away. I looked at Gaara, knowing I was his responsibility.
"She's my responsibility, Temari. I'll show her around," Gaara said simply, and began walking in another direction. I hastened to follow him, and gathered the layout of the village. Very much like Konoha – I'd have to draw maps later in invisible ink.
"Hey, whoa, what's that?" I asked, pointing at a large head.
"One of the fallen statues. There are a few more of them," he told me simply. I looked around at the villagers, who were looking at me like I was some sort of monster. I then realized it was because I was with Gaara, and they were probably looking at him that way.
"Did I do something wrong?" I asked, and he looked at me with sympathy. "Or is it because I'm hanging out with you?"
"You're with me," he said quietly. "I'm the host of the one tailed demon, Shukaku."
"Oh…I never thought that a Jinchuuriki would get treated so badly. It's not fair!" I yelled. "A scroll is completely different from the contents sealed inside of it! Why can't they see that Jinchuuriki are the same way and aren't the demons themselves?"
"I…don't…know," he said quietly, staring at me. Apparently I was the only one who ever stood up for him before. "Why did you do that?"
"Because it's true! You're not a monster – you just keep it from attacking everyone else! That's not your fault it was sealed inside you!" I said indignantly. Gaara was a friend of mine, albeit a very loose meaning of the word.
"Thank you," he said quietly. "Nobody has ever said anything that nice before you except Naruto…"
"Hey, you're my friend. I'm not about to let them insult you," I said putting a hand on his shoulder, but meeting up with Sand. "Oops… I guess my tantrum still gets affected by your sand even when I've calmed down…"
"How long are you staying?" he asked, and I shrugged.
"As long as I need to, I guess. I can tell whenever those rogues are getting closer to me – I start having nightmares of being back in their clutches. I don't think they'll attack me while you're near me, though."
After a few more hours, I headed off to "bed". Phantasm was pretending to be me in front of Gaara, while the real me hid and drew out maps of Konoha in urine. I would seal the scrolls of jutsu containment inside of the various scrolls, then inside the single scroll, and the single scroll in this piece of parchment.
I quickly began writing jutsu down with hand signs in a book, and was excited to find that the book had enough pages and lines for each one. One jutsu per two lines (one for title and hand signs, the other for effects), and each one page had twenty lines. Ten jutsu per page, plus one hundred and twenty pages – this book was everything I needed. Well, seven books, actually. I still had the same categories as before.
I'd filled up a few pages in the journal with random jutsu that I'd seen genin perform in this village so far, and was eager to learn more. I quickly performed my invisibility jutsu, and began lurking around different training grounds. I summoned Lucifer, and had him spy on the faster Jonin for more jutsu.
After a few more hours of using invisible doppelgangers for more jutsu, I lurked back into the bathroom to write some more. Each doppelganger had two to five jutsu memorized, and I quickly wrote them down. The doppelgangers had a certain task and category to keep an eye on, and at length, I finished my research for that night. Forty jutsu in one night was exhausting…and I was only getting started. I'd told Gaara and the others that these seven books were training manuals, and in a sense, it was true. I motioned for Phantasm to come back in, and he did when Gaara's back was turned.
I flushed the toilet and walked back out groggily. It was most definitely bedtime, and I was glad Phantasm had gone home after coming back into the bathroom. I collapsed on the bed and let sleep overcome me.
The next few days followed the same routine, and I was getting more and more wore out as the days passed. Gaara vaguely noticed, and Lucifer kept helping me with more jutsu. I'd given Lucifer the order to keep an eye on special jutsu for the seventh book, and he had done his part extremely well. I was constantly writing down jutsu to the point where I'd now have six or seven doppelgangers to help me write all the jutsu down.
At length, the second week passed in a like manner, and nobody had noticed anything. Gaara wasn't paying much attention since he was now helping the new genin train, and Temari and Kankurou were with him. Whenever another Sand ninja saw me writing, they figured it was just for fun since I'd told Temari and Kankurou that I'd wanted to be a novelist. I'd scattered my seven clones out amongst the villagers, and I was gradually earning Baki-sensei's trust. I'd befriended Gaara, who'd asked Baki to help train me in Sunagakure's ninjutsu for protection.
The third and fourth weeks passed uneventfully, and I was learning all too quickly. My seven books were almost full, and I was running out of time to find a way to seal the ninjutsu books inside my scroll and getting it home safely. I'd already sealed them, but was nervous about getting it to Orochimaru. I'd sealed it inside the Sunagakure map made of urine. I'd been writing letters to him and sticking them inside the books, but was reluctant to find his reaction about my urine map, even though I'd explained to him that I was desperate and had no other methods of secrecy at the time.
I headed out on a mission alongside Temari and Kankurou, while Gaara went on a completely separate mission. I was ready to go so I could head out and give my latest reports and findings. I'd created a few more jutsu, but not nearly as many as I had in Konoha. I knew that since I was halfway out of book space, I needed to get home and get the next set of books. I had told Kabuto of my idea, and he had helped me get the scrolls and books ready. Only he and I were able to open the books, and I needed the next set of books.
About the third day, I met up with Orochimaru, who was disguised once more in his red-haired disguise. Kabuto was once again acting as son, but so was Kimimaro, and they both had transformed themselves into having different color hair. I smiled at Orochimaru, who took me into an embrace.
"Long time no see, cousin," Kimimaro greeted, and I went to hug first him and then Kabuto. Kimimaro had chocolate brown hair like mine, and I guessed that it was to help the illusion of the fact that we were cousins.
"You, too," I said. "Still with Ichigo-san and Urahara-Sensei, I see," I grinned, pulling two names out of the hat at random. "Do you have the second set of training books like you promised?"
"Sure do!" he grinned, and handed me a scroll that contained what I knew to be seven blank books. I handed him the old scroll, and grinned widely. "I promised our parents that we'd stay together, and so I will."
"What happened to your parents? Why don't you travel together?" Kankurou asked, and Kabuto looked at him.
"Our parents were attacked by rogue ninja. Kimimaro and I are the only two survivors since our parents hid us in a graveyard and covered us in corpses. When Urahara-Sensei and Ichigo-san found us, we were half-starved. I was only five, but Kimimaro had already begun training to be a ninja. So, we started training as nomads, constantly fleeing from the rogues who attacked us," I explained, making up a very believable lie. It was somewhat true, though – he was the only one left in the clan, and my own was in a separate world.
"Wow. And I thought Gaara had a bloody past," Temari shuddered. "I feel bad for you guys. But why did you separate?"
"We thought it best since they were out to destroy the clan. With us separate, they could only focus on one at a time, giving the other a chance to reproduce," I said, and Temari nodded.
"Nice tactic," Kankurou complimented. "Well, we'd better get going if we're going to finish this mission."
"Right. Bye, Kimimaro! Ichigo-san! Urahara-Sensei!" I called back, and put my scroll in my pouch. Thank goodness they'd been there – I'd have completely run out of space to put all my new jutsu if they hadn't.
When we stumbled back into Sunagakure, things were in chaos. I was forbidden from entering, and ninja were throwing accusations at me from all directions.
"What's going on?" I asked, and Kankurou shrugged.
"Let's go," he said as he walked away from the village. I stayed by his side, and his puppets protected the both of us. "Do you want to go back to Konoha?"
"No – I was thinking about sneaking in a back way," I said, and he shook his head.
"Wait here," he said and he went back into Sunagakure. I waited for a day, practicing a few jutsu that Baki had taught me, and plopped down onto the Sand.
He walked out, beckoning me to join him. I stayed in Sunagakure for all of five hours when a kunoichi came out of nowhere and slapped me.
"What was that for?" I asked, and she glared.
"For killing our Kazekage!" she spat, and Kankurou stared. I watched her storm off, and plotted my great escape. Sunagakure was working out worse than Leaf once I was done jutsu gathering. I kept spying for another week, and overheard the elders talking about how to best kill me.
"We need to convince Gaara that she did it. It's the quickest and cleanest way," I heard them state simply, and I grinned in mirth. I was forewarned and now forearmed and dangerous.
"Thanks for the heads up, old man," I sneered quietly before slinking off invisibly.
Sure enough, on the next mission they gave me, Gaara was my only teammate on the A-rank mission of finding and killing the Kazekage's murderer. I knew where to find him, but Gaara was fuming silently, and I didn't want him angrier than ever. We set up camp at nightfall and he walked off without a word.
After about three hours, he came back, floating on sand. I looked at his face, and he was a combination of both happy and sad. I then realized it – this was when they were going to try to kill me.
"Wait!" I said in shock, and he shook his head. He hurled his sand at me, and I dodged it quickly. This was bad – I was on his home turf. "Gaara-san, please! What did I do? Was is something I said?"
"Where's Orochimaru?" he growled, and I dodged another attack. "Where?"
"I don't know! Nobody knows!" I cried out in shock, and had no choice but to flee this fight.
"Liar! He ordered you to kill my father! Where is he?" he yelled, tears coming from his eyes.
"I didn't do it! Orochimaru did!" I screamed in fear as I performed the required hand signs as quickly as I could. I felt the familiar burst of speed as I sped off like a rabbit at inhuman speed. I performed the hand signs once more and made myself invisible. I ran as fast as I could away from him, desperate for escape, more than happy that I'd kept all my things locked away every night and taking it with me on every mission.
I could have sworn I heard him yelling at me in rage to get back there. My spywork was near completion in Sunagakure, but it would have to do for now. Konoha could wait. I never looked back, and I continued on to a different village – Kirigakure, the village hiding in the mist. One day Gaara would understand – maybe.
When I arrived in Kirigakure, it was almost midnight. I collapsed just inside the borders of the land of Mist, exhausted. I knew of a hideout in the Mist, and immediately got up to go there. The islands that Anko had been at when she'd gotten her curse mark – that was my destination now. I got to the water's edge, and collapsed once more.
"Kuchiyose no jutsu. Korosu," I said wearily after performing the hand signs.
RRRRRRoooooooaaaa! He murmured, nudging me gently with his paw.
I grinned at him, my precious Swampert, one who would rescue me from rain, sleet, or hail. I looked at him and smiled. He was a scaly big fish-cat mixture. He was a pastel purple, with a white underbelly. Dark purple fins were on his head and for his tail, and his face had large orange-gold whiskers on the sides that looked more like spikes to me.
"Korosu, take me to the islands over there," I told him, and he gently put me on his back and started swimming through the warm waters. It was June, I realized. Just a couple more months to figure out how to get back to Arkansas, and then Joe would be coming home this month, too. Oh, well. Mom and dad are probably still mad at me for faking my death, or their still mourning cause they think I'm dead.
As we got to the shore, an otonin appeared out of nowhere. He took one look at me and must have recognized me, because I found myself being carried indoors. I let the darkness close in, and Korosu followed in suit, growling menacingly at the ninja.
"Orochimaru-sama, we found her atop this…thing…on the beach, sir," the ninja said that was carrying me. Ah, home, sweet home. I could finally get to sleep in my own bed for once!
"Set her down. I will deal with her," the Snake Sannin said, and the ninja obeyed and left. "There's no need to keep your eyes closed, pet."
I opened my eyes grudgingly, exhausted by my trip. I looked at him feverishly, and recognized Uchiha Sasuke next to him. Kabuto was also nearby, and Kimimaro was missing. I sighed, and struggled to get up. Korosu ended up helping me in that department since I couldn't stand on my own two feet without toppling over.
"Thanks, Korosu," I said gently, and he rubbed his ear against my cheek. "This is the water-style user, Orochimaru-san."
"I can tell," he chuckled. "Sasuke-kun, this is your fellow apprentice, Sarah. She is also Kabuto's fellow spy. She spies on jutsu and training methods instead of ninjas themselves. She has also been learning numerous jutsu from me. Although, Sarah-chan, I'm impressed – seven hundred jutsu in one month in Sunagakure. How did you do it?"
"Doppelgangers," I said simply. "Used six or seven to keep writing the jutsus down – one for each book – and then the others would disappear when they got two to five jutsus each. It wasn't easy."
"I should hope not!" Orochimaru laughed. "These are the village secrets you're discovering, pet. It's not supposed to be easy."
"Did you like the lie I told the two Suna-nin?" I asked, and he chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes."
"I believe that's enough about your mission for now. Go to bed, Sarah-chan. You deserve it," he said as he put his hands behind my shoulders and under my knees. I felt my world get dark, and nestled into his chest for comfort. His heartbeat acted like a lullaby, and I was soon fast asleep.
Name: Korosu Species: Swampert (Shiny) Level: 67 Beginner from Sapphire – gift from Prof. Birch Moves: Surf, Ice Beam, Muddy Water, Hammer Arm Ability: Torrent – raises water moves a pinch