Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
Chapter 9
Because I got so many lovely reviews for the last chapter, i decided to update the next chapter of this story. So enjoy!
Naruto's worried expression never gave up. Reaching out and grabbing her clammy hand, he tightly held on to it. He watched as her face contort into small grimaces of pain. "Sasuke her fever isn't letting up."
The said boy looked at the blond before returning his gaze to his female teammate. He had a vague idea of what kind of pain she was suffering in. That burning pain that spread from curse mark and evades to every fibre and muscle of the body. His eyes held an unrecognizable expression, as he flipped the wet cloth on her forehead. "She'll be fine." He had no idea who he was trying to convince, himself or Naruto.
She laid down on the dewy grass, her arms crossed above her head and her legs stretched before her. Her green eyes stared at the fluffy, cotton candy like clouds that glided above her. A gentle breeze carrying the scent of lilies and lilacs whirled around her.
A content sigh escape her lips, as she watched the two blue jays playfully chased around each other.
The sound of laughter could be heard. Turning her head she watched saw her friends. A smile grazed her lips.
She watched as Naruto and Kiba canon ball into a small pond, laughing as they competed with each other to see who created the biggest splash. Their shouts could be heard from all corners of the field.
"Naruto-kun." She saw the purple haired girl tenderly reach out a hand as she helped the blond boy out. Grinning he tackled the paled eyed girl in a hug.
Another bout of laughters erupted
Shifting her head, her green eyes landed on a smirking raven haired male. His muscular body leaned against a large cherry blossom tree in a relaxed fashion as he watched his blond best friend tackle his girlfriend.
A girl approached the raven haired male. Her short pink locks blew in the wind, as a large dazzling smile adorned her face, and in her hand she carried a plater of nicely sliced apples.
She watched as he took a slice and mouthed a small 'thanks' to her.
"SHIKA HELP ME WITH THIS!"
Her attention turned from the stoic boy, and towards the loud blond girl. Her platinum hair fluttered in the breeze, and her face was set in a slight glare as she kicked the pineapple haired shinobi who was currently cloud gazing.
"Troublesome."
She watched as the said man sat up and rubbed the sore spot on his head. A chuckle escaped her lips. Everyone was so happy.
"Don't they look happy Sakura-chan?"
The said girl turned away from the scenery to come face to face with a tall man with long raven hair, and reptile like yellow eyes. Sakura sat up immediately, her hand automatically searching for a weapon.
"There's no point, I'm not real Sakura-chan. I'm your subconscious."
Not listening Sakura stood up and threw a punch at the man, but her fist went straight through him.
"Like I said, I'm your subconscious" His mouth twitched into a smile.
"What do you want?" She growled.
Taking a step towards her, he pointed towards the direction of her friends. Sakura's head followed his finger. "This could have been the ending, but you failed them."
Her green eyes widen as her surroundings whirled around her.
"Do you know who did this to her?" Naruto asked after a while, as he leaned back on a large boulder beside his teammate.
Situated on the other side of the girl, Sasuke turned towards the blond. "Hn."
Naruto was getting frustrated. "Come on Sasuke I'm your teammate aren't I? Tell me do you know?"
'Teammate' Sasuke stared at the blond with an impassive stare. 'It isn't just about working together during battles but also about sharing problems and working together to overcome them'
Sakura's words echoed in his head. Sasuke turned his attention from the blond and to the shaking girl. Taking a cloth he wiped away the tiny droplets of sweat on her forehead.
"Orochimaru"
"Who?"
Setting the cloth down, he turned his gaze to Naruto. He could see the anger burning in his cerulean eyes despite the fact that he knew the blond had no idea who this 'Orochimaru' was.
"A sound shinobi, who used to be a Konoha citizen."
"What does he want with Sakura-chan though?"
Sasuke's eyes narrowed into slits as he glared at the tiny pieces of rocks under his feet. "He's been perfecting the forbidden jutsu of gaining immortality, and every three years he needs a vessel."
Hearing these words, Naruto's hands became clenched by his side, as rage build up within him. "So, he want's Sakura-chan as some sort of soul condom?"
"Hn." Sasuke cringed at Naruto's vivid way of putting it.
Standing up Naruto pointed into the sky, and shouted "WELL I WON'T LET HIM. I'LL PROTECT SAKURA-CHAN WITH MY LIFE!"
Sasuke stared at the blond. A smirk appeared on his face for the first time that night.
There was no dewy grass beneath her feet, no laughter in the distance, no lily and lilac scented summer breeze...nothing.
She nervously turned her head around. The clear blue sky filled with cotton candy like clouds were hidden behind a wall of grey, ominous clouds. The roaring of the thunders could be heard, and flashes of lightenings lit up the dark sky.
In her vision, she saw fellow alliance shinobi's watch in awe as the founder of Konoha, Hashirama faced off relentlessly against his former friend, Madara Uchiha. Two humongous beasts clashed against each other. One completely wooden while the other looked like a larger version of Sasuke's susanoo.
"Wow two beasts"
"The power of our predecessor"
She heard the clamoring around her.
She was back...she was at war again.
"Remember this?" She heard Orochimaru whispered into her ear.
Explosions and clashes of kunais could be heard from all around her.
"Remember how you could have save her?"
Sakura stared down at the ground before her. Ino laid there with blood pouring out of her eyes and mouth. Her face forever frozen in look of fear.
"How she suffered the tragic genjutsu of tsukuyomi?"
She watched as Ino's chest raise and fall. She was alive, but she was trapped, and there was no way for her to escape the crimson world.
"If only you're genjutsu skills were better."
Sakura turned to Orochimaru who stood beside her.
"I could help you get stronger."
"Well, well, well. Seems like we found some Konoha genins."
Naruto and Sasuke's attention turned to the three new guests that arrived on the opposite side of the of stream.
"Hand over the scroll."
Naruto grabbed three shurikens and threw them at the enemy cloud ninjas, who easily deflected it. "Like hell we will." He growled, as ten clones poof-ed into the area. Giving a war cry, him and his clones ran towards the ninjas. Each arms with a kunai they slashed.
White smoke erupted every time one of the clones were destroyed.
"Naruto stay back, and protect Sakura." Sasuke said as he ran towards the real Naruto, grabbed him and threw him back beside Sakura.
"OI-" his protest fell silent when he watched Sasuke disappear and reappear behind the three shocked cloud ninjas. With one swift kick, he sent one of the ninjas flying forward.
"You three aren't worth my time." Sasuke drew out his kusanagi.
"Don't get cocky, brat."
Helping their third teammate up, they performed a series of hand signs in a synchronized fashion.
"Too slow." Sasuke smirked, as vanished and reappeared before the three ninjas. His kusanagi already sending the chidori current through one of them. Withdrawing his sword, he watched the enemy crumble to the ground. "You're next."
Sakura felt her hands clench, when Ino's body vanished before her eyes, and instead the bodies of Neji and Lee appeared. Neji seemed to have what seemed like a very large splinter embedded through his chest, while Lee was missing half of his body.
"What are you doing to me?" Sakura growled as she tried to look away from the grotesque bodies of her comrades.
"I'm not doing anything Sakura-chan. This is all in your mind." Orochimaru smiled, as he kicked the body of Neji.
"Stop that." Sakura seethed as she aimed a punch at the snake man, but as she expected her fist went right though him.
She gritted her teeth, as Orochimaru cackled. The surroundings around her shifted once more. She was back at the academy. The rookies were all there. Smiling, laughing, talking.
"Don't they all look happy?"
Sakura felt something wet trailed down her face. Hesitantly she reached for her face. Was she crying? Why was she crying?
"Join me Sakura-chan." He reached out a hand. "Together we will stop the war." A sly smile crawled on his face.
Wiping her eyes, she tensely reached out one of her hand.
Pulling his kusanagi out from the second enemy, he watched as the third on give a small whimper before falling on to his butt. Smirking, he wiped his sword on the side of his pants before re sheathing it.
Taking a few steps towards the cloud ninja. He watched as the ninja hastily reached for his heaven scroll and threw it at Sasuke. "Take it, let me live. Take it." His tone shrouded in fear, as he scampered away.
Picking up the scroll from the ground, he walked back to Naruto. The blond's eyes were wide and his mouth ajar. "Sasuke you killed them."
"No I didn't dobe. I hit their non vital part. They're immobilized not dead."
The shocked expression left the blond boy's face. "Oh."
"How is she?" Sasuke asked, as he approached the girl. Taking off the wet cloth on her forehead, he gently placed the back of his hand on her head. At least her fever was down.
.
.
.
As the morning sun just started to show its peak in the forest, they heard a small whimper from their female teammate. Both heads snapped back towards her. Immediately they were at her side.
"Sakura-chan?"
"Sakura?"
Another whimper came from her lips, as her body slightly twitched.
"Sakura?"
The said girl's eyelashes slightly fluttered, and after a few attempts her long dark lashes opened to reveal bright green eyes.
"Sakura-chan!" Naruto grinned, as he gently hoisted her up into sitting position. "How are you feeling?"
Lifting her hand to her neck, she traced the mark. She felt a tremendous amount of power course through her. 'So this is what the curse mark feels like' "I'm fine, how long was I out?"
Sasuke stared at the rising sun. "About a few hours."
Letting the information sink in, Sakura - with the help of Naruto - stood up. "Let's go get a heaven scroll." Taking a few precautionary steps, she felt her walk slightly waver. Sasuke automatically appeared beside her supporting her. Draping her arm around his shoulder, he gave her a smirk before slipping his arm around her waist to stabilize her as they walked.
"We've already got the heaven scroll."
"SO WE'RE HEADING TO THE TOWER!" Naruto shouted as he held onto Sakura's other arm. A large grin on his face. "We passed the second test."
Smiling at the jubilant blond, Sakura replied. "One step closer to chuunins."
.
.
.
It was around an hour before they reached the Japanese styled tower. Pushing open the large red door, Naruto held it open for his two other members to enter. Once they all entered the doors slammed behind them.
Before them was a vast open arena, with two viewing stands on both sides.
"Open the scrolls." Sasuke ordered, as he took out the heaven scroll, while Naruto took out the earth scroll. Peeling open the roll of parchment, sealing symbols scattered on the pages, and within the middle of the sealing symbols were the two Chinese characters for human.
"Drop the scroll Naruto!" Sasuke shouted as he tossed his heaven scroll in front of him. Seeing his action, Naruto quickly threw his scroll on top of Sasukes'.
The three ninjas took a step back, when the two scrolls began to quake. When the small quaking stopped, a loud explosion come from both scrolls and a large puff of smoke appeared before them. Once the smoke dissipated a familiar silver haired man stood on top of both scrolls.
"Yo."
"KAKA-SENSEI!" Naruto's blue eyes widened and a grin split across his face, as he ran towards the man, and threw his arms around him. "WE PASSED."
Lightly ruffling the boy's blond hair, Kakashi chuckled. "Yes, yes."
"What now?" Sasuke asked.
The silver haired man turned his grey eyes from the blond and towards the raven haired boy and the pink haired girl, his eyes sightly narrowed. "Sakura are you all right?"
Weakly pushing away from Sasuke, she slightly teetering as she tried to keep upright on her own. "Don't worry about me, but what do we do now?"
Taking out the little green book, Kakashi turned to the dog eared page. "Well since you three finished third and there's still roughly a day and a half left, so go to the third floor waiting for the remainder of the teams." With that he disappeared again in a puff of smoke.
"ALL RIGHT THIRD FLOOR!" Naruto shouted.
Sasuke supported the girl once again and slowly followed after the gleeful blond.
"Keep an eye out for the red head." The purple haired jounin stared at the screen as she shoved another dango into her mouth.
The brunette Jounin stared at the screen. "Also the Uchiha boy and Haruno girl."
The purple haired jounin toss the empty stick on the plate beside her and stared at the footage from the forest. Her eyes narrowed, and a confused look crossed her face. "Is that Orochimaru's kusanagi, and the Byakugou seal?" She peered even closer at the screen as she replayed the footage.
A plush carpet covered the floor, and multiple barcaloungers and couches lined the soothing green walls.
Plopping down on one of the comfy couches, Naruto sank into the leather. "So comfy."
Sasuke rolled his eyes. Still supporting Sakura, he took her to the other end of couch and carefully set her down. Mumbling a small thank you, Sakura let her body sink into the couch. Nodding in acknowledgment Sasuke took a seat between his two teammates.
.
.
.
Within a few hours, Naruto started to snore. His body fell completely slack against the couch and a thin trail of drool dripped from his mouth.
"Che." Sasuke stared at the blond.
"That's Naruto, he can fall asleep anywhere and anytime." Sakura pushed herself up into a more upright position as she stared at the snoring blond. "I remember this one time on the first mission we went on after he returned from training with Jiraiya, he fell asleep in a hot spring and if it wasn't for the janitor he would have drowned." She gave a small laugh.
"…"
"I'm glad we got this second chance." Sasuke's gaze meant hers, a smile grazed her lips. "You could finally be apart of those fun times." She placed her hand on top of his, her smile grew when she saw one of his rare smiles.
"You look awful, hag." A new voice called from the open window sill. Both ninja's heads turned towards the figure.
The raven haired boy jumped down from the window sill, and walked towards the pink haired girl. A fake smile plastered on his face.
"Sai, how are you? Aren't you still with…"
"Well, I saw you approaching the traitor during the war and I followed you, then next thing I know white light and I'm here." To emphasize his point he waved his finger in a circular motion.
"Aren't you with Danzo?" She felt Sasuke tense up beside her. Lightly she squeezed his hand offering him reassurance.
"No, after I returned here, with memories and everything. I left ANBU roots, and with hokage-sama's permission, I am an official Konoha Jounin." Sai gave her another smile.
Sakura rolled her eyes. "If you're going to give me a fake smile, don't smile."
"Scary as always, hag." Sakura grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at the boy.
"Stop calling me that."
"Who is that?" Sasuke decided to speak up as he glared at the pale boy who looked eerily similar to him.
Sakura turned towards Sasuke. "Sai, he was your replacement."
"Hn." Sasuke carefully studied his so called replacement. He didn't look particularly strong or even worthy of being on team 7.
"Speaking of which, what are you going to do now, Sai?" Sakura stared at the former ANBU roots.
The raven haired boy shrugged. "I'm trying to get the Hokage to let me join team 7. Strangely I find myself attached to you and dickless."
"You think of us as your friends." Sakura cooed. "Seems like our emotionally stunted boy is getting feelings."
Remaining impassive he stared at the girl. "I've always had emotions, I just chose to ignore them."
Sakura sweat dropped. Walking closer to the girl he looped his arms around her neck, and placed his chin on top of her head. "As your friend I wish you, dickless, and traitor good luck."
"I think you should stop calling him a traitor."
Not moving Sai turned his head towards the glaring Uchiha. "Jackass it is then."
"…"
"I don't hug people normally so I expect you to tell me how long a hug should normally last." Sai spoke as he continued his hold Sakura.
"I think it's long enough."
Sai immediately released her as if she suddenly turned to goo. "I'll see you, dickless and jackass around then." Turning around he jumped back out of the window.
"I don't like that guy."
Sakura turned to Sasuke, and a giggle shook her body when she saw the disgruntled expression on his face.
"He grows on you."
Done this chapter!
As always please review! the more reviews that faster I update!