Hey guys sorry for taking so long again but I had schoolwork to do and I was planning the story out. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter and let me know what you guys think!
"Time to wake up princess."
The sound of the voice woke me from my world of numb darkness. I opened my eyes and was met with the sun's rays. I closed my eyes and turned my head away from the light, the blades of grass tickling my cheeks and the back of my neck.
'Wait a minute. Why am I lying on grass? There's no grass on the bridge.'
I opened my eyes again and the sight of grass confirmed my suspicions. I was lying in, what appeared to be, a clearing in a forest. I didn't recognize this forest at all and I wasn't even sure where this forest was.
"Where the hell am I?" I asked myself as I sat up. Tall trees surrounded the clearing, their branches were so close and thick with leaves that they casted dark shadows over the ground; the light from the sun unable to penetrate through the many layers. I almost felt claustrophobic in the lit clearing. The sky was a beautiful blue, with a few clouds in the sky, and there was a gentle breeze blowing.
"Your head." The voice answered. I jumped in surprise, as the voice seemed to ring throughout the clearing. I whipped my head around the clearing for the voice but I saw nothing but the trees and falling leaves.
'Is this voice real at all? Or is this all just inside my head?' I thought. I didn't recognize the voice but I could tell that it was a male by its deep pitch and gravely tone.
"What do you mean when you say my head?" I asked, as I stood up, still searching for where the voice was coming from. But the darkness of the leaves made it impossible to see beyond a couple of feet so whoever was here was well concealed.
"I mean what I said. This forest is inside your head." The voice replied with an amused tone. I still couldn't tell where the voice was coming from it seemed to come from every direction.
'This is getting really weird.' I thought.
"Who are you and why do I have a forest inside my head?" I demanded because I was still very confused.
"This forest is a safe place that anyone of Yukito blood has. It's your escape from reality that no one else can penetrate unless you allow them in." I huffed in slight annoyance because he only answered half of my question and I still didn't know how I got here.
"So how did I get here then? The last thing I remember is fighting someone on a bridge and everything is fuzzy after that."
"I brought you here so I could help you." I furrowed my eyebrows in thought as I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Help me with what exactly?" I asked.
"The reason why your memory is fuzzy is because the boy with ice powers threw you against one of his mirrors and you hit your head pretty hard. Right now I'm making sure that you don't have any internal bleeding or swelling." I reached up to touch the back of my head but I didn't feel any blood in my hair and my head didn't hurt either. I looked down at my body and realized that I didn't have any Senbon imbedded in me and all of the cuts were gone.
"You won't see your injuries here since they are only physical." The voice answered for me.
"How come I've never heard of this place before? Why did you choose now to talk to me? Unless you're somehow my inner voice which is weird since you sound like a guy." The voice let out a laugh loud enough to shake the trees, making some of the leaves fall.
"I'm not your inner voice so don't worry. I am just here to make sure that you're okay."
"But why are you here in the first place? And what do you know about my family?" The voice didn't answer for a few moments, as if he was considering how to word his answer.
"So many questions and yet not enough time Akina. You need to go back now." I gasped out in shock at his answer.
"No way! I just got here and I still don't know who you are or at least what you're name is!" I screamed out in frustration. Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew through the clearing sending a whirlwind of leaves to wrap around me like a cocoon. The voice spoke again but it was so muffled from the wind that I could barely hear him.
"Don't worry Akina we will meet again."
I woke up slightly startled, my hands clutching my comforter and pillow in a vice grip, and my breathing was harder than it should be. I continued to lye in my bed, staring at the wall, while trying to figure out my memory.
'Who was that guy? I still don't understand what exactly that forest is and why I'm only seeing it for the first time now.'
Sadly the only the only people who could answer my questions were gone and couldn't speak from beyond the grave. I rolled onto my back and turned to look at my alarm clock that sat on the nightstand. I squinted my eyes as the faint light came through my window momentarily blinding me.
"Awesome, it's only 6:30." I said, my voice sluggish from being so tired. I sighed as I slowly got up in a sitting position and tried to wipe the sleep out of my eyes. I grabbed a hair tie off of my nightstand, since I didn't bother with it last night, and tied my tangled hair in a bun. Pushing the comforter off my legs I lowered my feet onto the, slightly cold, wooden floor and sleepily trudged over to my desk. All of the furniture in my room was made of a dark mahogany wood that contrasted nicely with the light green wall paint; that had been painted before I arrived. I had a desk that sat under the window, nightstand next to my bed, a dresser with a mirror above it that near to my door, and a decent sized closet. I didn't bring a lot of things from my place in the Hidden Mist to decorate with: only pictures of my family and some gifts from the few people I called friends. Art materials and ninja gear covered most of the desk along with unfinished sketches I had been putting off for a while. I grabbed my black hoodie from the chair and put it on over my white tank top. It was a little big on me, it almost went past my black shorts, but that was how I liked to wear my sweatshirts. I walked out of my room and went into the kitchen to get something to eat since I wouldn't be going back to bed anytime soon. I went into the freezer and grabbed a package of sausage and some eggs out of the fridge. I also grabbed some red potatoes out of one of the cabinets and got to work. The Third Hokage really gave me everything that I could need: pans, bowls, utensils, pots, and more. As I cooked I tried to not think of anything but my mind still drifted back to the dream.
'I wonder if I can find anything in the scrolls that the Third gave me. Maybe they will give me a better understanding of what happened.'
The smell of sizzling sausage, scrambled eggs, and cooked potatoes dragged me away from my thoughts. My stomach began to growl as I put the food on a plate and sat at my kitchen table. As I was about to put a piece of potato in my mouth a knock came from my front door. I quietly groaned at the intrusion but nonetheless got up and looked through the peephole. A sleepy Naruto stood outside my door, still in his pajamas, with something in his hand. I opened the door with confusion written over my face and leaned against the doorway.
"What are you doing here this early Naruto?"
"I ran out of milk again." He said groggily as he lifted his hand and I saw that he was carrying a box of cereal. I simply shook my head and moved to the side so he could come in.
"You're just in time. I made myself some breakfast and I have some leftovers, so you can help me finish that." As he followed me into the kitchen I could tell that the smell of food was waking him up by the bright smile on his face and the excitement in his eyes.
"This is awesome Akina. Man am I glad you live down the street from me." He said as he sat down across from me with a plate in hand.
"Nice to know you only like me for my food." I with a serious tone, only joking, as I ate my food but he thought I was serious and quickly tried to apologize. Which only made him choke on his food.
"Calm down Naruto I was only joking with you. Don't die on me please." I said with a smile while putting a glass of water down in front of him but when I said the last sentence I saw a dark look pass over Naruto's expression.
"What's wrong Naruto?" I asked confused. Then I remembered how he had been a little different ever since we came back from the Land of Waves mission a few weeks ago. When we got back Naruto had hovered over me like I ready to drop at any minute since I had to take it easy because of my head injury. When the doctors, at Konoha's hospital, checked me out they said that there wasn't any permanent damage or bleeding but I would be prone to dizzy spells and would be exhausted quicker than normal. It only lasted for two weeks, luckily, but during those two weeks Naruto constantly asked me if I was feeling okay, did I need to sit down, and he even slept on my couch a few times because I had felt tired during some of the missions. Last week when I went for a checkup they said that I was okay and that I should be back at full strength in a few days. Naruto had backed off slightly after that but I knew he was still concerned deep down.
"I-it's nothing." He said quietly without looking me in the eye, his fork was playing with his potatoes.
"It's about the Land of Waves mission isn't it?" He looked at me in surprise and as I was about to say something to comfort him he cut me off.
"Don't say that what happened has happened and we should move on! How could I move past the fact that you almost died that day Akina? It was really scary to see you lying in your own pool of blood and you were so cold. I was really scared that I was losing the one person who really cared for me. I mean before you came here no one attempted to even look at me. I was left alone for so long and then you came here and accepted me for everything without questioning it. You even accepted the fact that I hold the Nine-Tails inside of me and defended me despite it. So I'm always worried that one day you'll be too hurt to recover."
We didn't say anything for a moment; I understood how Naruto felt. I have felt the pain of seeing someone you love dearly die in front of you and you can't save him or her at all. You feel useless and weak. I reached over the table and grabbed Naruto's hand and held it tight. He looked up in my eyes with so much sadness and hurt, his eyes were slightly pink from holding back tears.
"I understand what you mean Naruto. I'm sorry I caused you to feel that way and I promise that I will try my best to not get hurt anymore. But understand that we are trying to become ninjas Naruto. There will be times where I will get hurt, whether they be minor or major, and as we rise up in ranks we have a higher chance of death. I know this probably sounds like the worse cheer up speech but I won't sugarcoat anything for you because you mean too much to me for me to lie to you. But I will try to keep my promise to you Naruto because I have to watch you become Hokage one day and I still have my dream to become an ANBU Captain like my mom. So stop worrying and enjoy your breakfast okay."
"I'm sorry Akina I-" Naruto stopped when he saw me shaking my head with a smile.
"It's okay Naruto. There's no need to apologize for caring about someone." He smiled at my words and continued to eat his food.
Later at the bridge...
The sun bore down on us as we all waited around for Kakashi-sensei. I was sitting down, leaning against the railing, relaxing with my hands behind my head. Naruto was standing to my left his eyes not wavering from Sasuke, who stood across from him leaning against the railing with his arms resting on top of it. He had been ignoring Naruto's glare since he arrived by closing his eyes and facing his head away from Naruto. Sakura stood next to Sasuke quietly, after failing to get him to talk, with a slightly worried and annoyed look in her eyes. Since we came back from the Land of Waves there was a lot of tension between Naruto and Sasuke and their attitudes haven't improved at all. I heard Naruto sigh as he sat down next to me with his arms crossed, annoyance written all over his face.
"Why can't Kakashi-sensei ever be on time? We always have to wait hours before he decides to show up." Naruto complained.
"You should be used to this by now Naruto. Kakashi-sensei never shows up on time unless it's for something very important." I answered without opening my eyes.
"Good morning everyone! Sorry I'm late I seem to have gotten lost in the path of life." Kakashi said as he appeared on one of the beams that hovered over the bridge.
"It's about time!" Naruto and Sakura yelled out. Naruto ran to Kakashi just as he jumped down from the beam.
"I'm ready for the next mission Kakashi-sensei! And I don't want anymore of these baby missions I want a real mission! One where I can show off what I'm made of!" I slightly laughed at Kakashi's slightly scared expression from Naruto's energy.
"Uh…that's nice Naruto. How about you calm down for a sec." Kakashi had his hands raised up in surrender as Naruto turned around to glare at Sasuke again. Sasuke noticed but only stared unemotionally at Naruto while Sakura became irritated at Naruto's action. I could see the image in Naruto's head of him saving Sasuke on the next mission instead of it being the other way around.
"Oh yeah believe it!" Naruto suddenly yelled out with determination.
"Alright Naruto let us know when you're done fantasizing so we can start the mission." Kakashi said with slight annoyance.
"Alright sensei! I'm ready!"
"Why do you have to be so annoying Naruto?" Sakura asked irritated.
Our first mission of the day was to pick weeds in a women's garden. She had her garden lined up against her three walls of fence and the back of her house; so we decided that we would do each one individually. Naruto was at the back of the house, Sakura was to his right, Sasuke was to his left, and I took the back wall. It was silent as we worked for about 30 minutes until I felt something brush against my arm. I turned around and saw that not only did Naruto pick the weeds but he also, unknowingly, picked her plants. The woman cam outside and saw the large pile of weeds and plants and became angry.
"Hey you!" The woman called out to Naruto. He turned around to face her with an accomplished smile on his face.
"Oh hey lady. I picked out all the weeds for ya." His expression turned into confusion when her expression didn't change from anger.
"Uh what's wrong?" Naruto asked.
"You picked out all the weeds but you also pulled out all of my plants."
"What?"
"Those were special herbs I had been growing and you destroyed them!" The woman proceeded to beat Naruto up for ruining her plants while the rest of us sighed at his stupidity.
After apologizing to the woman over and over again, Naruto had received a black eye as a reminder, the next mission we had was to clean up the river. We all had baskets on our back to hold the trash and long tongs to pick the trash out of the river. Kakashi was lying on the shore reading one of his Icha Icha Paradise stories. I was placing a can in my basket when I heard a splash and Naruto yell out in surprise.
"Naruto?" I shouted as I watched him be carried down river towards the tall waterfall. Sasuke and I raced forward; Sasuke pulled out his cable, and threw it to me. I grabbed on tight as he went over the edge and grabbed on to Naruto's feet. Naruto stopped screaming a few seconds after he realized he was no longer falling. I could see he was highly annoyed that Sasuke saved him, which made me roll me eyes in annoyance.
"You are such a loser." Sasuke said adding fuel to the fire.
We were in the forest to complete our next mission, which was to walk a few dogs from a local shelter. Sakura picked a Chihuahua, Sasuke had a Dachshund, I picked a Shiba Inu, and Naruto picked the largest dog they had a Rottweiler. Sasuke, Sakura, and I watched as the dog dragged Naruto towards an old mine field. Kakashi was sitting in a tree nearby still reading his book, not paying attention at all.
"He is such a loser." Sasuke said with annoyance.
"Ugh he just had to pick the biggest dog didn't he?" Sakura shouted with more annoyance. By this point even I was slightly tired with watching Naruto make things harder for himself but he has to learn somehow.
"Wait stop! You're not supposed to go in there that's a mine field!" Naruto yelled but it was too late. Grass and dirt flew up in the air as mines were set off, Naruto's screams of pain heard over the sound of the explosions. I watched with shock as the dog was entirely unharmed by the explosions and yet Naruto was sitting on the ground looking completely fried.
I heard Sasuke and Sakura sigh from beside me and I only stood there and shook my head.
Once we returned the dogs to the shelter Sasuke and I had to help Naruto walk around, one of his arms wrapped over our neck, since he hurt himself all day.
"Look at yourself Naruto. You're hopeless." Sakura said as she walked beside us.
"Hmph, you really are just one big problem." Sasuke taunted. Naruto suddenly withdrew his arm from around my neck, pushing me away, and turned to Sasuke ready to fight. Sakura put her hand in front of Naruto, distracting him from Sasuke, with her right fist raised.
"That's enough I've had it with you! Keep this up and I'll finish you myself." Sasuke took this chance to begin walking away.
"Guess we're not making a lot of progress on the teamwork thing huh." Kakashi said with a groan.
"Yeah our teamwork is all messed up because of you Sasuke! You think you're better than everybody!" Naruto yelled out pointing to Sasuke's back.
"Not everyone just you. Face it. I'm stronger and better than you. It's a fact." Sasuke said as he kept walking. He stopped and turned to look Naruto in the eye.
"Unless you have what it takes to prove me wrong?" The silence was tense as Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other with anger and annoyance.
'They are getting worse and worse everyday. What's going on between these two to make it this intense?' I thought with worry. I looked over at Kakashi to see his expression but he was looking at the sky. I looked up when I heard a hawk cry out seeming to circle over us before flying somewhere else.
"Alright guys lets call it a day. You can beat each other to a pulp some other time. I have to go file my report on this mission." Kakashi explained then poofed away.
"Whatever I'm out of here." Sasuke said as he began to walk away.
"Wait Sasuke I'll come with you!" Sakura yelled out as she ran after Sasuke. I watched as Naruto's face turn into disappointment as he watched Sakura run away. I walked towards him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't worry about her Naruto. How about we go do some training together and then get something to eat."
"Okay! You can help me with my taijutsu! Then we can go to your house and you can make some of that Chicken Yakisoba again." Naruto squealed with delight.
"Okay just have to go to the market after training." I said. Then I noticed a strange box, painted to look like a rock with 2 eyeholes on the front, creeping behind Naruto.
'That is the worst disguise I've ever seen.'
Naruto turned around when he saw my confused expression and looked at the box with the same amount of confusion I had. I watched as Naruto walked forward and saw that the box followed right behind him. Naruto ran back and forth as fast as he could, with the box right behind them, I had stop watching because it was giving me a slight headache. Naruto finally stopped running and turned to face the box while pointing at it.
"That's the worst disguise of all time it's completely obvious! There's no such thing as square rocks!"
"Very slick boss you saw right through my disguise again. Just what I expect from my greatest rival!" A muffled voice called out. The box began to radiate a bright light before exploding in colorful clouds of smoke. Once the smoke cleared I saw three children on the hands and knees coughing from the smoke they used.
'Who are these kids?' I thought as I tried to remember if I ever met them before.
"I think we used a little too much gunpowder you guys." The one in the middle said. He had spikey brown hair, wore a bright yellow t-shirt with a very long navy scarf wrapped around his neck, grey shorts, blue ninja sandals, and he had the same goggles Naruto used to wear on his forehead. When they realized Naruto and I were staring at them they gave us a staged introduction.
"I'm Moegi, the sassiest kunoichi in pre-school. Check me out." She had bright orange hair in two pigtails, a maroon shirt that seemed to have a cape attached to it over a light pink shirt, tan shirts, blue ninja sandals, and she also had the goggles on her forehead.
"I love algebra! Call me Udon." He had straight brown hair, large circular-framed glasses, a long-sleeved navy shirt, tan shorts, blue ninja sandals, and he had the goggles on his forehead too.
"And I'm the number one ninja in the village, Konohamaru! And when we're all together we're The Konohamaru Ninja Squad!" All three yelled the last part out together. Now I remembered who they were.
'It's the kids Naruto always talks about, his little gang of followers.'
"Yeah yeah I knew it was you Konohamaru. What are the goggles for?"
"Well you used to wear goggles so we're copying you." Konohamaru yelled out proudly but Naruto wasn't impressed.
"Hey you should be more excited boss." Konohamaru yelled out.
"So…did you guys want something?" Naruto asked in a bored tone.
"He's just trying to be cool." Konohamaru tried to whisper to his friends.
"You know what we want. Are you busy right now?" Moegi asked.
"Yeah Akina and I have some training to do."
"What! But you promised us you would play ninja with us today." I couldn't help but laugh at this a little; a ninja playing ninja was funny even if he was trying to amuse a group of kids.
"A ninja playing ninja? That is so twisted." We all looked over to see a depressed Sakura sulking towards us, her eyes directed towards Naruto.
'Seems like Sasuke rejected her pretty bad this time. Must have said something insulting that involved Naruto by the way she's glaring at him.' I thought as I looked at Naruto. Judging by the redness in his face, he didn't pay attention to why Sakura was looking at him, he only cared that she was looking at only him. Naruto began to laugh for no reason but I could tell it was because he was so nervous.
"Hey boss who is that girl anyway?"
"That's Sakura she's our teammate." The children looked at me with the expression of 'Oh..' and I thought I saw Udon blushing a little bit but I got distracted by Konohamaru talking to Naruto.
"Hey boss is that your…girlfriend?" Sakura looked like she was ready for murder while Naruto went completely red in face.
"Well you can tell she's really crazy about me." Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head.
"That's it!" Sakura punched Naruto in the face, sending him flying into a nearby fence. Fortunately for me I moved out the way just in time. Sakura panted as a green aura of anger surrounded her whole body.
'If Sakura has all of this strength inside of her I wonder why she doesn't excel at taijutsu.' I thought as I went over to check how Naruto was. His eyes were closed and I could see a bruise already forming on his left cheek. I shook his shoulder but he didn't respond or move at all. Udon and Moegi came to my side and tried to call out for him.
"Don't you think you went a little overboard Sakura?" I asked.
"What kind of girlfriend are you?!" Konohamaru shouted at Sakura.
"He deserved it!" Sakura yelled out, her green aura gone.
"You're a witch and you're ugly too!" Everyone was silent for a moment until the cracking of knuckles broke it. Konohamaru started to sweat before screaming out fear as Sakura attacked him. Within a few minutes Konohamaru was lying on the ground next to Naruto complete with a few bruises and a bump on his head. Sakura walked away with a satisfied expression on her face just as Naruto and Konohamaru woke up.
"What happened Akina?" Naruto asked quietly while rubbing the bump he received from hitting the fence.
"You pissed off Sakura worse than usual." I answered as I helped him to his feet.
"That girl isn't human." Konohamaru mumbled as Moegi and Udon helped him up.
"Are you okay Konohamaru?" Moegi asked, worry and fear in her eyes.
"Yeah I'm okay but did you see how big her foreh-" Konohamaru's sentence was cut off when I appeared behind him and clamped my hand over his mouth. Sakura had stopped and, almost like a robot, she turned around with the promise of violence in her eyes.
"What did you say about my forehead?"
"He didn't say anything about your forehead Sakura. He was just saying how, uh, big your forearm muscles are." That was the worst lie ever but it looked like she was going to let it slide.
"That's what I thought he said." Sakura answered and continued walking. I let out a sigh of release; Konohamaru would live to see another day. Something wet went across my palm, forcing me to lose control of Konohamaru's mouth.
"I said your forehead is huge!" Konohamaru yelled out. Sakura stopped and whipped her head around to glare at Konohamaru.
"I suggest you run now Konohamaru." I said after wiping his spit on his scarf.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as always review or comment if you want and I'm sorry if there's any grammer mistakes. Have a good day!