Clash in the Snow Country: Legacy Version

Chapter 2–The Actress of Princess Gale

(Author's Note) Well…I would call the first chapter a success. It received more reviews, stats, etc then my first chapter on my own fic, Quest to be the Greatest, when it got posted. I must say that if the biggest problems I have are spelling (ie I spelled Legacy as Leagcy and chakra as charka. Oops. Though for some reason, I couldn't help but laugh hard when I realized those amateurish mistakes) then I think I just might be able to pull this off.

Naruto

It was a fair day, with few clouds in the sky, a nice, gentle breeze in the air and the sun was bright, but not too bright. It suited the needs of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke – who were waiting outside of the movie theater – quite adequately as they waited for their ever truant sensei. It was strangely quieter than one would have expected. Naruto was crouching in front of the movie, with a very satisfied look on his face as he continued to look at the promotional poster for the movie. He didn't dare say anything of his thoughts outloud, but it was clear that he was both thinking and praising the movie as he continued to look on the poster.

Sasuke wasn't talking at all, not that that was any surprise. He merely glanced at his two teammates from time to time, as if waiting for someone to explode. Though, curiously, his glances landed more on Sakura than they did Naruto.

Sakura was the most talkative one. She kept rambling on and on about how 'cool and cute Michy-kun!' was (A/N: Michy is the one that played Sukeakuro). Most of the time, she was simply staring off into space, not looking at either of her teammates and lost in her own little dreamworld.

It had been a week since Sasuke and Naruto had been released from the hospital and this mission was the first time that all members of Team 7 had gotten together: Sakura had been spending most of her time in Tsuande's CLS classes, working and studying vigorously, though neither of her two teammates knew about that. Naruto had spent the time with Iruka at the Ichiraku Ramen shop, or locked in his apartment working on his jutsu scrolls (though, he did spare a little time when Konohamaru came over and the two of them 'decorated' Sasuke's apartment as part of their 'welcome back, teme' plan).

After the little 'show' in the movie between Naruto and the employee, all three genin had found themselves kicked out of the movie for being 'unruly and disrespectful for the other people', where in reality, the employee chucked them out more out of sheer annoyance because of all the trash and leftovers that he had been unable to dodge and wanted some form of revenge on the three that he labeled as the source of his condition. So, all three members of Team 7 had been forced to leave an hour before the movie ended. Due to the complaining that Sakura and Naruto expressed – as well as the irritation of Sasuke – a silent, but unanimous decision was made thirty seconds later.

They snuck back in.

It was easier than they thought it would be. A simple genjutsu, provided by Sakura, was more than enough to distract all the people in the lobby area. Naruto also used the opportunity to get his own form of revenge on the employee, who never figured out how his underwear suddenly appeared on the outside of his pants. They made it back to the theater room without incident. Sakura henged herself into someone else and took an empty seat, while Naruto took to the ceiling again, choosing the back corner, where he wouldn't easily be seen and Sasuke simply sat in the back row, where no one noticed or cared.

After the movie ended, they found themselves waiting in a construction site, just outside the movie theater and the place Kakashi told them to meet, which he was now two hours late. Naruto's eye wondered to his two teammates. Sakura was still ranting about Michy, while Sasuke was sitting on some large pipes. To Naruto's surprise, Sasuke spoke up. "So, either of you knew what mission this is?" To question was directed at both, but Naruto saw that Sasuke was looking directly at Sakura. That was a surprise. Usually it was the other way around. Did something happen between those two?

Sakura responded by shrugging, not turning around to look at him. "No," She added. "Kakashi-sensei just told us to watch the movie and meet him here." She then perked up a little. "Wasn't Michy so hot when he…" Both boys toned her out as she started up her tirade again. Naruto went back to his own thoughts, replaying the Kaze Ken Soufuu Atsu and En'en Nijiiro Kaze Ken Soufuu Atsu again and again in his mind. He already had a plan on how to recreate the Kaze Ken Soufuu Atsu. Of course, he wouldn't be able to recreate the En'en Nijiiro Kaze Ken Soufuu Atsu. Not without the Rainbow Chakra, but that was just fiction anyway.

Naturally, he didn't dare practice or write down any notes in front of Sakura and Sasuke. He could still remember clearly when Sakura had stolen his jutsu scrolls. Though he had forgiven her for the act, he wasn't about to forget, or take any chances. And Sasuke knew enough of his jutsu already and he didn't what to give Sasuke the opportunity to learn more. And don't even get Naruto started on baka-sensei!

With that thought, he returned to analyzing the two techniques and wondering just when he would get a chance to practice.


Sasuke

Sasuke went back to his silent mood, resisting that damned urge again. He had hoped that Naruto, being the loudmouth that he usually was, would keep talking about the movie and give him an ample distraction from his thoughts. Anything to get his mind off of that incident. It was so much easier to argue with the dirty haired blond and forget about the rest of the world, but Naruto seemed content with being quiet. No doubt thinking of more jutsu to create.

Sasuke gave a mental sigh as he reluctantly let his mind drift back.

--Flashback Two days ago--

Sasuke was jumping from building to building, trying to locate his female teammate.

Ever since he had been released from the hospital, he hadn't seen Sakura at all. Since the time at Ichiraku, where Sasuke agreed to help her with her first genjutsu, she had stopped following him every step of his life like she did when she had been a fangirl. They would still constantly cross paths, but nothing like the relentless stalking and pursuing as she had once did.

At first, he didn't notice. He merely went about his days as he normally did, minus ignoring the suspicious glares from most of the populous, but after three days and no sight of his second shadow anywhere, he began wondering what was happening. He didn't know why it bothered him. Possibly because of her recent status of Best Friend, or he simply liked things to be predictable. Regardless, it came to point where he had to know what was going on and with that, he took off looking for Sakura. He shook his head at that thought. Must be a first. He thought to himself.

He had thought it would have been an easy task. After all, Sakura wasn't an enigma like Naruto. After an hour into his search, he found out an obvious, yet still surprising revelation: he didn't much about Sakura's personal life. He didn't even know where she lived. As a result, the next few hours were spent trying to talk to people for information. He was very careful with his questions, as he could imagine all the types of gossip and rumors that would spread if it was discovered that Uchiha Sasuke was looking for a girl. As such, he always made sure to ask about his teammates and never mentioning any specific names.

Due to the fact that it had only been about a week since he returned to Konoha, he was still viewed with traitorous glances from the majority of Konoha, making it very hard to get the information he sought. The other Genin teams, Team 8, Team 10 and Team Gai were all out on missions, so they couldn't help him. In the end, his primary source of information had come from none other than Iruka. The man didn't give him any grief like so many of the other villagers did and he seemed to know exactly what Sasuke was looking for, despite all of Sasuke's half-assed answers. Sasuke supposed it was to the man's character, given his relationship with Naruto, but Iruka gave Sasuke everything he needed, especially that address if all else failed.

He spent all of yesterday and most of today looking through the places that Sakura often hung out at: Konoha's library, the park, the Yamanaka Flower shop and other such places. Nothing. Several times, he thought he saw her. But every time he got close, he found nothing. He also noticed that every time that happened, he felt a strong smell of Cherry Blossoms blooming. So that's how he ended up at Sakura's house, at 7 pm at night.

He sighed mentally as he walked up and softly knocked on the door. A few minutes later, an older woman came out, obviously Sakura's mother.

"Yes?" She asked softly, but there was still a cautious tone in her voice.

"Is Sakura here?" Sasuke asked bluntly.

Mrs. Haruno continued to look at Sasuke before saying. "One moment." She then closed the door, leaving Sasuke on the doorstep. He tapped his foot impatiently, and thinking just what Sakura's reason could be. Maybe now was the time for that apology. Or maybe he was just going crazy.

A few minutes later, the door opened and Sakura appeared. "Did you use me?"

Sasuke was taken back a little, confused. Where did that come from? He hadn't even said anything yet! Not knowing how else to respond, he blurted out. "Huh?" Mistake Number One.

"Did you use me?" Sakura repeated, looking him strait in the eyes. Her voice had no anger or sorrow in it. It was like she was staging a normal conversation about training, yet the force behind her words hit Sasuke dead on. "Just so you could go and gain control of that seal, as well as fighting Naruto, did you just use me as a means to an end to achieve those things?"

"…well…yes…" Mistake Number Two.

For several moments, neither one said anything as they simply looked at each other. Mistake Number Three.

The next thing Sasuke knew, he was on his butt on the ground, with his left hand touching the side of his left cheek.

Sakura had just punched him. Hard.

Sakura?

Punched Sasuke?

SAKURA!?

Sakura then stepped back into her house and slammed the door.

--End of flashback--

Sasuke mentally winced at the memory and once again, resisted the damn urge to rub his left cheek. If it had been anyone else, he would have shrugged off the punch. It hadn't even been that hard. Had that type of punch come from Ino, Shikamaru or even Kiba, he wouldn't have even flinched, let alone fall down on his ass. But the sheer shock and surprise from Sakura punching him was what really made the impact.

Of course, Sakura's recent actions to him after that incident only confused him more. Ever since this mission began, she hadn't spoken to him, looked at him or anything. Yet at the same time, she didn't yell at him or even glare at him. She simply went along her normal life. Several times, Sasuke had talked to her, trying to start a conversation which eventually lead to that incident and would tell him what she wanted. Every time though, she simply responded with the most practical answer. Usually a yes or no response with a few other words but that was it, like the time in the theater.

She hadn't even used his name.

The frustration it was causing Sasuke was enough to want him to rip his hair out. He retracted his previous statement of 'Sakura wasn't an enigma like Naruto'. She was an enigma completely on her own! With Naruto, it was easy. You piss him off and he yells out you, but at least he tells you why you pissed him off. Sakura was entirely different. She was both ignoring him and interacting with him! She didn't act angry, but she wasn't acting normally either! She wasn't giving him any clue at what her intentions were! He didn't know what was going on in his teammate's head, but it was driving him crazy!

Sasuke was about to comment about the movie's boring plot, just to antagonize Naruto when the sound of a horse running stopped him. As one, all three members of Team 7 looked towards the wall underneath the promotional billboard as grey horse jumped over the fence, and its rider was none other than Princess Gale!


Naruto

Princess Gale?! Naruto thought to himself in complete awe. He couldn't help but feel surprised at the sight. After all, how often did the Sky Princess herself come at you all of the sudden while riding a horse? Of course, in the span of two seconds, part of reality came back to Naruto, where he had to remind himself that Princess Gale was the movie character. The woman who was riding the stallion was the actress that played the Sky Princess.

Fujikaze Yukie.

She was dressed in her princess costume and had a very determined look on her face. What that was all about, not one of team 7 had any clue, or what her intentions were. Her horse landed right in the middle of the group and before anyone could say anything, she took off again.

Sakura recovered first. "T-the…Sky Princess? Here? No way!"

The gate on the wall burst open and all three were forced to jump back to avoid the violently opened gate. Bursting through were about eight men, all in that samurai armor from the movie! After nearly trampling the three genin, they rode off after Yukie, shouting statements like 'After her!', and 'Don't let her get away!'. They rode down the alley that Yukie had used and disappeared.

Without a word, the three Konoha nin took off.

At another part of town, Yukie continued to ride hard from her pursuers, casually glancing back and throwing a glare their way. Why couldn't they just leave her alone!? She turned her attention back to riding, as she crashed through several crates of fruits and vegetables. She didn't let that stop her though, even when the stand's tarp on her. Glancing back again, she saw that the men were catching up, so she grabbed as much of the tarp as she could and tossed it back at the men. Unfortunately, it opened up halfway through and fell to the ground seconds before the first horseman would had ran into it.

Cursing under her breathe again, she continued to ride throughout the city, turning at random. She didn't have any plan, no place that she was trying to run to. She just wanted to get away from all of this! Quickly taking another left, she rode down that alley as she saw the men slowly but surely catching up to her despite all of her best efforts.

She gritted her teeth as she turned her attention back to the front, where one of the horseman appeared in front of her! He must have taken another route to cut me off! Yukie thought miserably as she pulled back the reigns to stop her horse. The horse kicked back and neighed loudly as the front horseman confidently strode towards her, with the others mere seconds behind her. One of which took out a net and threw at it her.

Seconds before it enveloped her, several small metal stars went flying by her and slashed the net to ribbons. She could hear the collective gasp from the men behind her. Curious, she turned around and looked at the source of the one that had thrown the shuriken. When she saw it, her own jaw dropped in surprise.

It was the 'soldier' in front of her!

She vaguely wondered if she was hallucinating. She shook her head a few times to try and clear it. She looked at the man in front of her again. He was slowly coming towards her, and looking at her strait in the eyes, even though the mask was still on. He then pointed off to the side. His actions and intentions clear.

"What the hell are you doing, dumbass!?" Several of the others shouted.

The man merely responded by furiously jabbing the air again. Yukie regrabbed her reigns and rode off in the direction the man had pointed. He then rode up to his companions erupted in a clone of smoke.

Revealing a small boy in orange riding atop of a large frog.

Naruto smirked at the astonished looks of the group of pursers. He watched out of the corner of his eye as Yukie rode away.

"What happened to Han?!" Several of the men exclaimed at Naruto.

Naruto shifted on his position atop of Gamayoyaku so that he was looking towards the group again. "You mean that guy that you sent ahead? He's taking a little nap." The said person was actually tied up and stuffed in a trash can, where he would be found in an hour or two. Though he would probably want to shower a couple dozen times.

The men all snarled. One came forward a bit, obviously the leader of the group. "Get out of our way, brat!"

"Sorry." Naruto replied. "It's not my style to just sit out on something like this." He then let himself grin at what he was going to say next. "Besides…I need some guinea pigs."

Of course, this only enraged the men as they all charged him. Naruto felt his grin become a smile as he said. "Ok, Gamayoyaku…do your stuff!"

The frog merely nodded as a reply. It jerked its head back as if inhaling something large. It then thrusted its head forward and blew out a large amount of yellowish slime. It covered all seven of the men and horses instantly, all of which began grossing out.

"What the hell is this stuff!?" One cried. He instantly tried to get off his horse, only to find himself stuck. The horse itself then neighed loudly, as it tried to move forward, but it couldn't manage a single step.

"It's called Gama Suramiu," Naruto answered happily, tapping Gamayoyaku on the head. "For all intends and purposes: it's glue. Very strong glue, but glue nonetheless." Naruto hadn't had a lot of experience summoning the frogs and using them, unlike ero-sannin. So, he had used to opportunity to get a little practice with summoning and what the frogs could do, hence the reason for the guinea pigs.

"GLUE!?" All the outraged men repeated as they continued struggling. One managed to move forward a little bit, only to lose his balance and come crashing down, bringing down the others in a domino effect. Struck in all sorts of awkward and uncomfortable positions, they all roared. "GET US OUT OF THIS!!!"

"Don't worry." Naurto said lightly. "It'll dissolve in a few hours…I think." He looked down at the frog, which merely shrugged in return. "Oh well." Naruto said dismissively. "I'm sure it'll dissolve eventually." Thinking of the old pervert got Naruto remembering something else that old man had said, when he had been learning the Doryuuheki.

"And, for future reference," he said, continuing his lecture, even as Naruto began flashing through the handseals. "The same can be done with Suiton jutsus. It just depends on the handseals used."

Hmm…Naruto thought to himself. That meant he could potentially do the Gama Suramiu himself, since it was technically of the Suiton class. He instantly pictured himself hiding in Sasuke's room, spitting out the 'glue' on him and watching his reactions. Now that would be fun to do on the teme! He then wondered what other sort of cool jutsu the frogs could do. Even if Naruto couldn't do some of them himself, he could always make a 'Naruto version'. With that thought, Naruto tapped Gamayoyaku on the head again, more fondly this time. "Gamayoyaku…I have a feeling that this is going to be a long and beautiful friendship!"

Gamayoyaku croacked in response.

"GET THIS SHIT OFF OF US!!!"


In another part of town, Asama Sandayuu was leading another group of six 'samurai' after Yukie down a flight of stairs. Two of the closest men pulled out a glass orb each. It was filled with oil. They simultaneously threw the two class orbs at Yukie's horse. They shattered right at its feet, causing it to fall and trip. Yukie herself was thrown of the horse and went skidding across the ground.

Sandayuu pointed at the fallen actress and yelled, "Now!" Immediately, all six of the men jumped off their horses. Before they got close to Yukie, she vanished in a puff of smoke.

Sandayuu's jaw dropped in surprise as the men came to a halt, everyone looking around. "Where is she?!" He demanded. No one offered any sort of explanation. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the horse itself vanish in that same puff of smoke. Sandayuu shook his head in sheer annoyance. This was unacceptable! They had to find her and get her to go to the Snow Country! It was extremely vital to the plan and his mission! This day was just getting worse and…

Now that he thought about it, this day was turning out sweet. Even pleasant. He looked around and saw cherry blossoms floating around all over the place, giving off a strong and wondrous sweet smell. Dozens of them, if not hundreds. Strange, they're weren't any Cherry Blossom trees in the city. The more he thought about it, the less important it seemed. They were just a few flowers floating around. He glanced at his companions, and noticed that they were all standing still, most likely smelling the sweet flowers themselves. He simple took a few more deep breaths, allowing more of the flower's beautiful fragrance filled him, not giving him a care in the world. He let out a satisfied moan.

The next thing he knew, his world went black.


Sasuke

Sasuke looked at the man with the long hair, bread and glasses as he fell to the ground unconscious, due to the chop to the neck Sasuke had just given him. He quickly moved to the other men and knocked them out as well.

The plan had worked out perfectly. Sasuke's two Kage Bunshin had planned the part of the decoy, henged as their target and horse, perfectly luring the reminder of the samurai and the man in the glasses into one central spot. Then Sakura's new genjutsu, Aikurushii Sakura, took effect rather easily. Not surprising, really. These men weren't shinobi afterall. Then had little, if any, experience with genjutsu.

Sakura then appeared from around the corner. Sasuke nodded in her direction. "That was flawless, Sakura."

"Thanks," Sakura said evenly. She then looked at the unconscious men. "We better tie them up."

"Hai," Sasuke replied and they set off to work.


Naruto

"So, what's it like being the Sky Princess?" Naruto asked the actress as he walked up to her, slightly startling her. She was resting at the edge of a lake, where her horse was drinking quietly and greedily. Her hair no longer in that ponytail, but flowing long and free. "It's still a little hard to believe that I'm seeing you in person. I just saw your movie too. It was great."

After his capture of the samurai, it had been easy enough to sniff her out and track her down. He knew Sakura and the teme would capture the second group easily enough, so he had no worries about being interrupted as he asked his questions. Yukie gave him a hard look, and Naruto wondered just what her problem was. He considered several possibilities, but he didn't know anything about her personally, so he wasn't sure just what was going through her head.

"I'm not the Sky Princess," Yukie told him harshly, turning her eyes back to the lake.

"I know you're not. I said: 'What's it like being the Sky Princess?' not 'Are you ok, Sky Princess.'" Naruto replied, no longer sounding friendly himself. He had little tolerance for people who felt that their own troubles were the biggest thing in the world and he was certainly getting that impression from her. She made no response to his statement, so he asked bluntly. "Why were those men chasing you?"

Again she made no response, just sitting and staring at the lake. Naruto was about to repeat his question when Yukie suddenly jumped up, grabbed the reigns on her horse and took off. Naruto shook his head at the sight.

Yukie looked back, to see that the blond rodent was nowhere in sight. She felt relieved that one less headache was out of the way. She rode for a few minutes then looked back again to see if the blond brat was trying to catch her. What she saw shocked her. He was calmly sitting right behind her, looking bored and annoyed at the sametime. How did he get there!? When did he get there!? "Lady, do you really think you can escape a Konoha shinobi that easily?" He asked, looking strait into her eyes with his own.

Yukie reacted on instinctively, grabbing her horse swatter and jerking it towards Naruto's blind side. Naruto saw it at the last second, and barely managed to avoid it hitting his good eye. He had to start learning how to work with just one useable eye, otherwise he was going to have some serious problems in the future. "WATCH IT!! I ONLY HAVE ONE OF THOSE!!"

Yukie made no indication that she was paying attention to him. Naruto watched her raise her free hand to her earring and gave it a soft squeeze. A small pepper spray blasted out and hit Naruto directly in the eye. He gave a cry, more of surprise then anything else and tumbled off the back of the horse, though still managing to fall gracefully.

Naruto picked himself up and grumbled under his breath. How could he let someone like her get him off guard like that!? "Fine! I haven't got to use this jutsu for awhile anyway!" Since his first match with Kiba, to be exact. He formed the necessary seals and shouted. "Fuuton: Kaze Wana no Jutsu!"

Instantly, ridiculously powerful winds formed, sucking nearly everything towards Naruto. He saw the horse get caught in the wind itself, with a very surprised look on Yukie's face herself as she tried to keep on her horse. But, to Naruto's surprise, the horse itself continued moving away from him! Naruto clenched his teeth and focused a little harder. That in turn, just seemed to motivate the horse to try harder to get away.

After a few minutes of touch and go, the horse won. It managed to get to a small trot and then a few moments later, off into a full run until it and its rider were out of sight.

"Kuso!" Naruto yelled, stomping his foot hard on the ground in frustration. What the hell happened!? Why didn't it work!? It worked perfectly on Kiba and Akamaru! After a few more minutes of mental ranting, he calmed himself down and thought of the problem.

The answer came almost immediately. Kiba and Akamaru had been going strait towards him, and that momentum only served to help the Kaze Wana pull them into his grasp. This time, the horse was going away from him. Plus, it had been a fair distance, at least 20 meters away, if not more, so it hadn't been nearly as affected by the winds as Kiba and Akamaru had. Plus, horses were strong and fit animals. Of course, it would require more than normal to pull them in, in comparison to a human, or even a dog. Still, Naruto felt that if the horse had been only half that distance, he could had sucked it in. Or at the very least, pull Yukie herself off.

He was no longer in a good mood. Both the horse and the actress had gotten the better of him! He mentally vowed not to tell Sasuke and Sakura about this part of the encounter. He could easily imagine Sasuke's mocking sneer at the thought of being outfoxed by some movie actress.

After another chain of swear words, Naruto bent down on all fours and took a couple of deep sniffs. Perfect. Her scent was still strong, even with the stupid pepper spray lingering in the air. With a mental note to update his Kaze Wana entry with the results of this encounter, he leapt off after her, with two new conclusions in his mind.

He hated horses.

And Yukie was definitely not the person she played on screen.


Sasuke

It had only taken a few minutes to securely tie up the men, but it had taken several more to strip the other six men of several pieces of their armor. He was currently finishing up on the glasses man, Asama Sandayuu, where Sakura was working on the last one of the samurai stuntmen.

"Aryarya. What are you guys doing?"

Both Sakura and Sasuke recognized the voice instantly. Together, they both looked at the person who had said those words.

Hatake Kakashi. The Copycat of Konoha.

Sasuke finished with the man, and turned to his sensei. "Killing time." He said lazily, clapping his hands together.

Kakashi vanished. He then reappeared right next to Sandayuu, and all the rope bonds that had been on the men fell off, cut clean throw. The Jounin then offered a hand to the other man. "Gomen." He said quickly as he helped the other man to his feet.

"Huh?" Sakura asked bewildered, while Sasuke merely stared at the other man, waiting for an exclaimation.

Kakashi gave his 'smiling eye' as he gestured lazily to Sandayuu. "This gentleman here is the one who requested our services…assuming he still wants them after being knocked out and tied up by you."

"No harm done," Sandayuu insisted, brushing himself off and giving Sakura and Sasuke a smile. "I'm actually impressed. We were caught completely off guard by these two. Most efficient. Better even that what was said by your Hokage, which was quite praiseworthy. I must confess I had a small doubt on whether or not Genin were suited for this mission. I'm glad to say that your little act has completely erased my doubts." He then offered Sasuke a hand. "Allow me to introduce myself properly. I'm Asama Sandayuu. It is a pleasure to meet your acquaintance."

"Uchiha Sasuke." Sasuke muttered casually, taking the hand and shaking it. The older man's grip was surprising strong.

"A pleasure," Sandayuu said again. He let go and looked at Sakura. "Ah, and you young lady?" He asked, offering his hand to her now.

"Haruno Sakura." Sakura said in a slightly embarrassed voice. "Gomen about…"

"Think nothing of it." Sandayuu insisted. He then bent down and gave a small kiss on the back of Sakura's hand, to which Sasuke visibly flinched at for some odd reason. "One as pretty as you has no need to apologize," Sandayuu added, withdrawing.

Sakura positively beamed at that, while Sasuke had a sudden fixation with his right sandal as that damn urge had returned.

"By the way," Sandayuu said, now speaking to all three of the Konoha nin. "Which one of you caught the other group? I imagine that they're all still stuck with that goo."

Kakashi, Sakura and Sasuke all knew immediately who was responsible.


Naruto

Naruto was racing from rooftop to rooftop back in the city, trying to find where Yukie had run off to. Her scent told him that she was close, so he was carefully scanning the crowds as quickly as he could.

He found her a little while later, in the middle of a small group of children. Each of them had to be only around 7 or 8, and all were holding up paper and a pen and chanting 'autograph.' Naruto couldn't help but smile at the sight. Had it been even ten minutes earlier, he himself might had just gone over and joined them in asking for an autograph.

"No autographs!" Shouted Yukie. All the children stopped immediately, deathly silent. Even all of the onlookers and those just passing by stopped and looked at Yukie. "What's so special about my autograph? If I give it to you, it will just end up gathering dust! What could be more worthless or useless?! It's just stupid."

With that, she took off running down the street, leaving the kids behind, one of which looked ready to cry. Already the people around were chatting about what just happened, none of them impressed with her anymore. "She just went from popular to bitchy," One commented out loud. With a murmur of agreement, the crowd readily agreed and all slowly started dispersing.

Naruto himself clutched a fist as hard as he could, faint trance amounts of blood appearing. His face completely avoid of any emotion involving happiness, joy or excitement. He took another brief look at the children, their parents already gathering them up and trying to comfort them, that one actually crying softly now. Silently, he took off after Yukie again.


(Author's Note) And so ends the second chapter, with Yukie's true character being revealed for many to see, especially Naruto.

As I said in the previous chapter, one of my goals in this story was to resolve some issues at the end of Part 1 that I felt were left hanging. While many of those were small and could be written of as unnecessary or irrelevant, there was one that I felt couldn't be.

Sakura and Sasuke's interaction. Or lack of thereof.

Here's the drill: when Sasuke was 'returned' to Konoha, Sakura heard him confess that he had no real intention of betraying Konoha and joining Sound. She immediately realized that Sasuke had just used her to achieve his two goals: gaining control of the Curse Seal and fighting Naruto. Given what Sakura had confessed to Sasuke earlier (aka, her true feelings and that she 'loved him with all her heart') and how passionate and sincere she was, it was naturally understandable that she felt angry and embarrassed when she learned this. Even Sasuke himself later realized that he maybe should apologize.

But that's all. And frankly, it didn't seem enough.

Why? Because there was never a scene, flashback, or anything on how the two talked this out, or even if they attempted to talk this out (I know. I went back and reread those sections at least five times) and given the nature of what it is, it seemed to me that it should had been touched on, given how hurt and angry Sakura felt by this and a critical moment for the two, for better or worse. Was she truly understanding of Sasuke? Did she not understand? Did she not speak with him for a week? Did she punch him? Did she forgive him? Did Sasuke ever attempt his apology? Did Sasuke even try to justify his actions so that she would understand? We get those two small hints, but then we go and skip a week, where Sakura was taking the CLS classes and then another week to the Second Bell test, and by that time, Sakura and Sasuke are apparently on good terms with each other, so any possible interaction, justification, etc, had apparently already been resolved. I found myself somewhat dissatisfied with this, because that critical moment apparently did not happen.

So, I decided to write that moment and expand on it in this story. I first went through and reread ALL of Part 1, focusing heavily the Sakura parts, which were quite understandably few, to try and get the view of her character and how she would react to all this. Given what little specifics we got at the end, that meant that I had plenty of room to be flexible on Sakura's stance. As well as how Sasuke would act during the following days.

Jutsu used in this chapter.

Gama Suraimu--Toad Slime// Not limited to Gamayoyaku, as all Frog summons can do this jutsu. The frog uses chakra to convert the natural juices in its throat into the slime and it expels a large amount from their gullet to cover the target, or targets. The slime is incredibly sticky and once it's exposed to the atmosphere, it hardens in about ten seconds, making it quite difficult to get out of all. Though, it really will dissolve naturally in a few hours. However, water will dissolve the slime and wash it away easily and completely. In addition, a skilled fire user could potentially burn the slime away. Doing so carries the risk of burning yourself before all the slime is burned off. (upper D-Class Ninjutsu)

Aikurushii Sakura--Sweet Cherry Blossoms// A demi-version of the Haruno Sakura genjutsu. Sakura mainly created this genjutsu for situations where speed is essential, as it only requires seven seals as opposed to the twenty of the Haruno Sakura. It affects the victim's sight and smell. The victim is surrounded by hundreds of Cherry Blossom flowers floating in the air, all giving off an intense, but wonderful smell of the flowers. The smell is more apparent than even in the Haruno Sakura, which allows it to overwhelm the opponent. The longer the Aikurushii Sakura is active, the more overwhelming the smell is. However, the Aikurushii Sakura does not reproduce the calming affect, which means that observant targets can recognize the genjutsu more easily and dispel it. Like its predecessor, it requires a high level of chakra control, but not nearly as much as the Haruno Sakura. (Mid C-Class Ninjutsu) (Sakura)

Fuuton: Kaze Wana no Jutsu--Air Release: Wind Trap// The exact opposite of the Kaze Tate (Wind Shield). It sucks objects into its vortex, centered around the person who activated it. The spinning motion of the user increases the suction power surprisingly. The only weak point of the jutsu is from the top or bottom of user's spinning body, the eye of the storm. A quick-thinking shinobi could counterattack once inside this vortex. If used correctly, it can disorient an opponent and leave them open to a secondary attack if the jutsu is released before reaching the center. Also, if the user is skilled enough he/she can use the person's approaching body as a punching bag with little fear of retaliation. (upper C-Class Ninjutsu). Original technique created by Tellemicus Sundance

I do not own Naruto. It belongs to Masashi Kishimoto. Also, any jutsu that Tellemcius created that are used in this story belongs to him.