Chapter Twenty Six
"We're lost."
"No, we're not."
"Then where are we."
"Fire Country."
"Duh! I mean specifically."
"I'm surprised you know a word that long."
"I preferred you when you were shy."
"And I prefer it when you shut up!" Hinata growled, frustrated with his constant blabbering. "I'm trying to figure out where she is!" She added, turning away and furiously wiping tears from her eyes. "I...I miss her so much." She began to sob and Naruto, not used to dealing with crying girls, froze.
"Err, Hinata? I...I was only kidding about the whole 'shy' thing." He laughed nervously. "This 'new you' is very...err...controlling." She cried even harder. "In a good way!"
"Oh, be qu-quiet." She choked, wiping away her tears again. "We ha-have to f-find her."
'She's acting. Hinata can't take this, so she's putting on a mask to cover up how scared she really is.' Naruto realised, having gotten much better and reading people after spending so much time with Sakura. 'Under all that yelling, she's still the nervous, timid girl I know, and she's crying out for help.'
"Come on." She said, gulping down her crying. "W-We have to—We have...Oh, why?! Why can't I keep it t-together?!" Hinata demanded when her tears began to fall again."
"You're an emotional person, Hinata." Naruto stepped in, not knowing what to do, but wanting to comfort the girl anyway. "You're not used to bottling up this much pain. Before, you had Sakura-chan to talk to, but...I guess I really did take her away from you, huh?"
"N-No kidding." She scoffed.
"Stop it." Naruto demanded firmly, getting a shocked reaction from the Hyuuga heiress. "From here on out, we're partners. You can be the brains and I'll be the brawn. Eventually, we're bound to get Sakura-chan back, but only if we work together. No masks, no pretending and Hinata-chan?"
"What?"
"If you need to cry...just cry."
—With Sakura—
Itachi had left a while ago, having had enough of her teasing him about what he revealed. She sighed—with all her time away, Sakura had forgotten just how boring the base was. So, gathering up the emotionless facade she had discarded when she met Naruto, she exited her room and walked down the hall. Looked at the blank walls, it reminded her of how empty her house in Konoha was before she met Hinata.
No picture, just walls. After she and Hinata became friends—of sorts—a few photos of them were hung on the walls. Of course, she secretly kept a picture of them in kimonos from Hinata's birthday on her desk and also a picture of her first Konoha crush, Hinata's cousin Neji, under her pillow. Well, it was, until she decided that he wasn't as cute as her first ever crush, Tsuki, and she had thrown it away. It was unfortunate that she had no pictures of her brother or team mates.
When she and Naruto became friends, a lot of group photos of the three of them cluttered the walls—Naruto always grinning widely, Hinata smiling and blushing and Sakura looking blank. Her favourite picture of all was one that Hinata had taken of her and Naruto. He had decided that he wanted at least one special photo of Sakura smiling, no matter what, and so moments before the picture was taken he placed his fingertips at the corners of her mouth and pulled her lips into an awkward smile.
She had none of that here. The members never posed for photos or anything, and didn't even keep pictures for memories of their past. It was almost like an unspoken rule, and Sakura had never minded. She had no real photographic evidence of a happy childhood other than her team photo, which was burned by her father when he found out that she had kept it. 'Unwanted bonds', he had laughed as he threw it in the fire, just as he had done before with the picture of her mother.
"Sakura-chan?" Deidara called nervously from behind her. Sakura turned to see what he wanted, only to be tackled to the floor.
"D-Deidara! What the hell?!" She growled at him, trying to push him off but he only held tighter. He looked down at her, preparing to use the jutsu—just as Hidan had said—but found that he couldn't.
"Sorry." He muttered, getting up and walking away.
—With Hidan and Deidara—
"You did what?!" Hidan yelled at the blonde angrily.
"More like what I didn't do." Deidara scoffed, not taking the situation as seriously as he should have been. "I...I just couldn't. That jutsu would twist her memories."
"You could make her fall in love with you." The Jashinist tempted. Deidara shrugged and rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, but I would've known it was fake." He sighed. "And besides, every victim of that jutsu so far has gone insane and killed themselves. Like you said, I really like her. I just couldn't do it."
"So you're just gonna let the Kyuubi kid have her?" Hidan grinned slightly, watching as Deidara froze.
"Are you kidding? I'm merciful, not an idiot. And besides, I'm way too selfish for that."
—With Naruto and Hinata...again—
...Hinata's Point of View...
We had been travelling for a week and were only just leaving Fire Country. I'm tired and hungry, but Naruto looks like he's just come back from a day spa with a complimentary buffet. Jealousy stirred within me. I knew that if he hadn't come along, I would probably be sitting in the middle of a forest, lost somewhere without a clue of what to do next.
It's true that Naruto has even less of an idea what to do, but he's determined enough to go through with whatever he can think of and deal with the consequences afterwards. I wish, sometimes, that I could be more like him—maybe then Sakura would like me more. No, she still likes me. It's just...she likes him more. He knows her better than I ever could. I'm being selfish, trying to keep him away from her.
Then again, he's being selfish too. What if Sakura doesn't want him to stop seeing her? How could he so readily agree to stay away from her when he knows full well that she'd miss him horribly? How selfish could he be? He...He...He would never go through with it. I know that as soon as we find her, he'll forget about his promise. They'll both sit and talk and kiss and forget all about the little, lonely heiress.
I'm never going to win.
...Naruto's Pint of View...
I'm scared. Hinata keeps looking at me like she's going to kill be or something and I can't even keep up with her mood swings anymore. One second she's crying and then she bossing me around like I'm her slave. The only reason I'm still with her now is because I just have this feelings that we'll find Sakura sooner rather than later.
Then again, it could just be gas.
It's not fair that the bad things always seem to happen to her. She had a father that tried to use her as a weapon—at least she had a brother and team mates to balance things out. Her first kill was before she turned five. I don't think I had even killed a bug before I turned seven. Seven. Ah yes, Team Seven. I wonder how Sasuke's taking it? First Sakura gets taken away and now I've left the village to search for her. For once, it seems like he's the one being left behind.
Oh well. It's not like he ever really cared what we did. The one I'm really worried about is Inari. Poor kid. Pretty soon, we're gonna have to take him back to Tsunami and Tazuna. Being a ninja, Sakura doesn't have the sort of time she needs to look after a kid, let alone do that and keep up with training. She'll be crushed, but she'd understand.
"What the—?" An older voice hummed as he appeared suddenly on the road in front of us. "What're you kids doing here?"
"Who're you, old man?" I demanded, watching as Hinata shook slightly in fear of the older ninja.
"Me? Why, I'm the greatest and most powerful ninja in the world!" He stated boastfully. "Not to mention an amazing writer!"
"Eh?"
—A Week Later—
The old man turned out to be a Sannin—Jiraiya. Who would've guessed? And he's a real perv, too. She may not be on the top of my friend's list at the moment, but I made sure to keep him away from Hinata. I have to give him credit, though; he had enough self-respect not to go for underage girls. That and he's actually really strong.
He said that he's taking us to a village in Rain Country called Amegakure. There was a hot rumour that the Akatsuki base was either in or near to the Rain Village. So, that's why we're here. However, the old man has to stop at every hot spring, clothes shop and bar we pass, leaving me and Hinata outside so that he can do his 'research'. Oh yeah, did I mention that he's the author of those dirty books Kakashi-sensei reads? Geez, what a rip. I hate this!
Well, I suppose I should stop complaining. If it weren't for him, we wouldn't be any closer to finding Sakura. In fact, I think we'd be further away. I know he's not that interested in finding her, but more so in finding Akatsuki. It's my job—he said—to get Sakura away from them so that he doesn't think she's a target as well. I wonder though...is she, technically, a target? I mean, the Akatsuki came after her and although the Hokage is saying they kidnapped her, I was there when it happened. I saw the recognition in her eyes when she saw them—she knows them. So, is she an Akatsuki too?
No, I can't be thinking about this. I can't hesitate. That's what Ero-Sannin told me, at least. He heard I was in the last rounds of the Chunin exams and so, since I had 'impressed him by hanging out with two girls', he said that he'd train me for the exams. I don't think I'll get back in time, and I told him so, but he also said that if I wanted to save my friend from Akatsuki, I'd need to be as strong as possible.
So, here I am. In the woods, travelling with a perverted sage and a girl whose mood swings are more frequent than Sakura-chan's glares.
How did I get myself into this?
—With Pein—
She's back. The very bane of my existence. The girl who continues to slip through my net and disrespect me to such a degree that if it were anyone else I would have them killed. Not her, though. No, I am not in love with her like that oaf, Deidara. I actually believe her to be nothing more than a pest doing everything in her power to prevent the new world from being a reality. She's nothing like Konan.
Konan bends to my every whim, she's obedient. She knows her place, by my side with her ideas kept to herself. As is expected of an angel, to be submissive to her God. No, this brat is far from an angel. She is the devil, set out to destroy any chance of peace. Orochimaru's plan to corrupt the Akatsuki. He knew all along that at least one member of my organisation would get attached to her, and as such I cannot kill her unless I want an uprising against me.
He's a brilliant man; Orochimaru. He can put ideas in people's heads and twist their thinking to make it believe the idea was there's to begin with. He never had me fool—not for a second. I am no fool, and therefore he cannot make me what I am not.
I suppose, in a way, I am as much of a buffoon as Deidara. Not for falling in love with the girl, but for ever allowing her into my army for the new world. I saw her weakness from the start, but Orochimaru only saw what would develop into her strength. That is the difference between he and I. Orochimaru sees what people may become if they take a certain road in life—I see what people are. I have no time for fools who may become strong with the proper prompting. Itachi is ruthless, Kisame is bloodthirsty, Deidara is a pyromaniac, Kakuzu will to anything for money and Hidan needs to perform rituals involving corpses. Then there's Sasori, who is merely bored with life, and Zetsu, who is the only one other than Konan and I who currently knows of the true leader of Akatsuki.
All of them are fools.
Itachi believes that he had no choice but to join after being forced to kill his clan for his village. He doesn't know that I had Zetsu change the mission document—the part that stated that Konoha would grant him immunity and cover up the whole event. He can see through any illusion, but he cannot see what is right in front of him. I needed someone who could kill without a second though.
Kisame was rejected from the world. I promised him acceptance, and the fool took the bait. Never would the world accept one as deformed and vicious as he, so he settled for fear. I needed someone who had a reputation—he was a swordsman of the Mist—so that my organisation would be known.
Deidara is weak. Emotions always swam in his heart, driving him to do what he pleased, and he was never strong against illusions. He is easily swayed. If you give him something to blow up, he's yours. So much weakness in someone with such a unique bloodline. Trust me, if there was someone else in the world with his ability, Deidara would still be a hired terrorist. However, I needed someone who could cause mass chaos from a distance without using too much chakra.
The others were strong and with their own pasts that made them all easy to control. Really, I had believed building an organisation of powerful criminals would be hard, but no.
Then she came.
The girl who ruined absolutely EVERYTHING!
It was to be expected that Deidara would fall for her—the boy had no interactions with females around his own age other than her and he was only human, unfortunately. Kisame only liked her because she was blunt—she didn't accept his appearance, she was brutally honest about what she thought about him, in fact. Hidan liked her attitude and tried many times to convert her to Jashinism, but failed. Even Itachi accepted her, although the only sign of this was when he fought Orochimaru to keep her here.
This one little girl had managed to undermine my whole organisation and bring half of my minions to her side. If they had to choose between me and her, I know who they would pick to side with. The only ones who didn't like her were Zetsu, Konan, Madara and I. Konan believed she was an annoyance and Zetsu just wanted to eat her. Madara also knew that she could be the one who broke the Akatsuki and I hate her with all my being.
Well, she's in the base.
I'm sure Zetsu wouldn't mind dinner a little early.
—With Sasuke—
Hn.
I've been ditched.
—With Itachi—
Hn. We've been found, I see. A small group of three from Konoha are on their way to Rain, but it seems to be taking them a while to get here. They have the speed of Genin, but it comes from a reliable source that they are after the Akatsuki. I'm not sure who they are, but I believe that I know what, or rather who, they are after.
They should know better, really. We're not going to give her back after expending the effort of deploying a team to get her here. Do they honestly think she's getting out of here and going back with them? Fools. There is no reason for them to actually believe we are going to simply hand her over. We'd more likely kill them all. If it is taking them so long to arrive, they cannot be high-level ninja at all, or at least weak.
Her safety is not assured here, though. Leader has been very tense, sending us out on missions without thinking to place teams of more experience on said missions. For example, he sent Hidan and Kakuzu on a reconnaissance mission just yesterday. That sort of mission is typically Zetsu's job, while Hidan and Kakuzu are better for bounty hunting. Honestly.