Yin and Yang

Chapter 5

Several weeks had passed by, and nothing seemed to have changed. The girl found in the woods was well enough to walk around, and had been dubbed "Yin-Chan" by Sai. She still couldn't talk, but she enjoyed to read the books that Naruto and the others brought by. There was still some disputes on weather or not she was a ninja, as some chakra could be sensed, but not much.

It was on this particular morning that Yin - Chan seemed to be quieter than normal. She was sitting on a bench in the mini garden the hospital had grown on the roof, looking out over the forest, a longing look in her eyes. She hadn't turned the page in her book for hours. At every little movement, mainly ninja returning the city or leaving, she jumped and began looking around frantically, then relaxing, a dissapointed look on her face.

Sai could see all this from his window. He glanced back at the canvas before him, and frowned. The picture wasn't right. He was missing something. To anyone else, the painting was magnificent so far. He'd painted Yin-Chan, sitting as she had all morning. He still needed a few spots to properly shade, and he could do that rather easily. Sai did finish it, but when he hung it up with the others over the large block that read 'Friends', he still wasn't satisfied. Was she not a real friend yet? Sai looked back out his window at her, pondering the thought. He was soon inturupted however, by a knock at his door. He seemed impassive at the possibility of a visitor, but inside he was smiling ear to ear. When the door opened, it revealed an energetic Naruto, who soon dragged the confused Sai out the door, babbling about a picnic with team 8.

Yin-Chan saw the activity of the two Genin once it hit the streets. She wanted to cry, it reminded her to much of a couple boys she knew who were like older brothers to her, and she didn't know how soon she could see them. She missed them so much, it hurt.

"Yin- Chan?" Yin jummped at the sound of the nurses voice, and turned to she her holding a tray of food.

"It's lunch time." The nurse smiled and lay the tray of food on a stand near the bench. Yin smiled and sat down, looking at the food there. The nurse smiled and walked back inside, not realizing that Yin wasn't eating. The young woman gazed at the food, not wanting a bite. She dumped the food behind a bush, and left the empty tray on the stand. Looking back out over the forest and to the north, Yin began to cry.

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"So you two are entering in the next exam?" Kiba asked, eating a rice ball. Naruto nodded vigerously.

"Yup. I'm gonna pass this time for sure!"

"I'll try." Sai said quietly. Naruto slapped him on the back.

"Dude, you'll pass for sure!"

"um...Thanks."

"No problem!" The company burst into laughter, causing a few white birds to launch into flight. Hinata spared a daring glance at Naruto, blushing slightly at the wide grin that she loved so much. Akamaru was several yards away, barking at the vanishing birds, and the group burst into laughter again. Sai tilted his head at the dogs behavior, and stood up while the others still sat and chattered. When he reached the dog, Akamaru had calmed and was sniffing the ground, tail wagging criously. Sai's sharp eyes traveled over the ground and trees, noticing a tiny little Yin-Yang carved into one. His dark eyes narrowed as he touched it, the bark crumbling at his touch. His eyes soon moved to the ground, where he could now see faint traces of animals having just recently sat there. Up in the trees above these spots, were traces of human perchings, quite fresh as well.

Akamaru started sneezing and rubbing his nose, growling a little. Kiba noticed and came over, patting his companion worridly.

"Hey pal, whats wrong?" A moment later, Kiba started to do the same thing. "What the hell?" Kiba paused to sneeze. "I can't smell a thing!"

"What?" Hinata asked, alarmed. Shino looked up and soon, everyone was gathered in the little clearing. Sai showed them the signs he had seen, and the rest analized it, Shino had his bugs out, looking for any traces of chakra. The alarms went off in the city, startling the two teams. They all exchanged looks before they shot off for the village at top speed, Naruto in the lead.

It happened when the gates were only a a few leaps away, it was like slow motion. Two, white clad ninja shot past the two teams, causing them all to turn to watch them go. One held someone on their back. Sai turned just fast enough to see the face of the hostage, and it made him change direction pretty quick.

"SAI!" Naruto yelled. He too turned, chasing after his partner. Sakura motioned for team 8 to go on.

"Tell them we're in pursuit of strange ninja!" she yelled. Hinat saluted, indicating that she had heard, and Sakura hurried after the boys, soon catching up. "Do you know who they are?" Sakura asked Naruto. He shook his head.

"No. Hey Sai! Whats up?"

"They have Yin-Chan!" Sai said evenly. Even so, Sakura and Naruto could sence the venom in his voice, even if his face didn't betray his emotions.

"That's Yin-Chan on that dudes back?" Naruto yelled. Now that he looked, he recognized her clothes. "Why isn't she fighting back?"

"She could've been hurt, put under a genjutsu, and she still isn't straong enough to fight on her own!" Sakura yelled back. There was some shouting up ahead, undestinguishable to the three from where they were. Moments later, there were three pairs of the white ninja. They mixed themselves up, then shot off in different directions. Sai went off one way imeadietly, Naruto went straight, and Sakura took the path left.

Pursuit only... Sakura kept telling herself. It wouldn't do any good to get caught up in a fight and get hurt. She kept on the ninja she was following, clone or not. She humphed at their obvious strategy. Split up the team. Problem was, once Kakashi was alerted, his dogs could track them eaisily. Moments later, Sakura halted with a silent look of rage on her face, the ninja vanished, leaving only white clowds. "DAMN CLONES!" She screamed.

Meanwhile, Naruto was ripping his hair out for the same reason. After he regained his composure quickly, he shot off in the general direction Sai had gone, grummbling.

Sai however, was seeing that he had made the right choice. The ninja were talking again, falling and rising with the trees he knew so well. But what confused him, was that it seemed that these two ninja knew the area as well. Better than a planned escape rought.

One of the ninja ahead yelled out a jutsu, and soon Sai was surrounded by light comprised beasts, wolves it seemed from the looks. Sai whipped out a scroll, and scribbled out a few pictures. A few hand signs, and his ink beasts were living and attacking their illusioned foes, leaving Sai to continue the chase. He heard muted swearing up front, and the pair picked up the pace, switching Yin-Chan to the other ninja's back.

"GIVE BACK YIN-CHAN!" Naruto yelled, sprining up in front of the opposing ninja. There was audible swearing, and the ninja scattered. Unfourtunatly for them, Sakura, Kakashi, and Team 8 all arived, cornering the two ninja.

"Now what, genius?" The one with Yin-Chan asked.

"Working on it..." The other muttered.

"I sugest you refrain from talking!" Kakashi yelled. "And tell us why you are here!"

"I figured that would be obvious..." muttered the free ninja.

"Zip it." The other said. "We're not in a very good position at the moment."

"Like I couldn't tell!" Came the sarcastic reply.

"Ready anyhow?"

"SILENCE!" Kakashi yelled. "Come quietly, and we wont need to use force!" The two ninja ignored Kakashi, and went into a frenzy of hand signs. The Leaf ninja flew into action, but just as they were about to reach the white ninja, they vanished in an explosion of moving lights that shot out around them. The ninja shielded their eyes from the sudden onslught of light, and once they were able to see correctly, the lights rose, centering on the white ninja, dipping down, enveloping them, then vanishing, taking the ninja with them."

The leaf ninja stood panting in a confused circle, their jaws touching the ground. Naruto voiced everyones thoughts.

"What the HELL was that all about?"