Chapter 13: Meeting the Challenges

Baki gave a thin lipped smile as he watched his students train in the small court yard. He almost couldn't believe it had been a year already, the corner kids would have to leave soon. He hated to admit it but he had actually grown rather attached to the little brats. Not too much mind you, but enough to feel just a twinge of sadness when they had to leave. On the other hand he would still have Gaara, and most likely Ichigo, to torture…er train.

They had all improved greatly over the years, not only physically but mentally as well. He figured that Sasuke and Sakura alone were two of the greatest yin/yang users to ever study the art; though that wasn't all too surprising considering who their siblings were. Of course there were slight variations from the true forms seeing as they had never had a proper teacher, but the changes seemed to suite them well, and not to mention the deep connection they had on the symmetry plain held enough mental power to rival the most prestigious genjutsu user. Baki assumed that their connection had something to do with the Haruno girl's heartstrings, how else could two children so young concentrate enough to hold the connection?

Naruto and Hinata on the other hand opted not to take on the challenge of being yin/yang users. One reason being Naruto couldn't concentrate hard enough to even brush the symmetry plain. Still that didn't stop them from becoming a partner pair. Instead they spent most of their time finding, learning, and adapting two completely unrelated stances into an ingenious mold; creating their own, completely unheard of, partner form that was even enough to rival Sasuke and Sakura.

Hinata was the first to realize that none of the partner forms invented was quite what the two of them could conform to and she had been afraid that the remaining two corner kids would have to take up two independent stances. Surprisingly enough, it was Naruto who suggested that if there wasn't one already then they should make one. Hinata, though a bit apprehensive, agreed and the two began work at once. Naruto chose a form that used mostly brute strength enhanced by pouring chakra into his limbs to make the blows even stronger. Hinata, however, already having been taught the jyuken form by her father felt that she should continue using the gentle fist style and only change the form to one that would be more comfortable for her body. She chose one that was more focused on speed then strength and used that in accordance with her gentle fist attacks. For them it was a perfect balance; another form to run under the name of yin and yang.

Baki turned his gaze to the last pair that was practicing in the yard. This partner pair had come as a bit of a surprise to him. He had never thought that Gaara would be one to work with others, especially not with a girl. Still, he found the two red heads most intriguing in their choice of taijutsu style. He had assumed when they first began working together that they would choose the same style as Sasuke and Sakura since Ichigo shared the same bloodline limit that would allow the two to face the conditions that the original yin/yang style demanded, but they didn't. Instead they chose another partner form one that would compliment Gaara's sand and Ichigo's fire in turn.

It was a simple form that focused on the use of ninjutsu and taijutsu together. It would normally use one partner as a distraction while the other had time to form seals. This was able to be cut out because neither of the two kids needed seals to perform their elemental attacks. In the end the form was able to be tightly woven together in a seamless barrage of attack and defense. Then, as if that wasn't enough, the two adapted the symmetry plain into their form. Making them mold together like two crayons left out in the sun all day.

"Oi!" Baki called out to the kids. They all stopped immediately and listened. "The sun is setting. Come inside and eat."

"Hai, sensei!" six voices replied and the three partner pairs formed a triangle where they bowed to each other in acknowledgement of the other pairs' strength.

"Hurry up about it!" Baki barked. "I don't have all night to wait on you!"

XXXXXXXXXX

Kyo wasn't quite sure what had possessed him to do it. Maybe it was the fact that he and his team had yet to collect on their owed favor after the events of their Chunin Exam, maybe he felt the teams weren't quite complete, or maybe he just felt like pssing off the Kazekage. Wheat ever the reason, he had traveled to the Hidden Sand Village to request two of his best academy students to join him and his group of Konoha survivors to train for the assault against Orochimaru nine years following.

The Kazekage, though not pleased by the request, relented knowing that the only reason he still held control over his village today was because of Kyo and his team of brats. A fact he was still quite sore about actually. This aside he had sent for his daughter Temari and his son Kankuro and gave them their very first mission. They were to accompany Haruno Kyo to his base of operations to begin their nine year pre-war training.

Kyo made sure to thank the sour leader before he led the man's kids away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Itachi sat as close to Hikari as he could without sitting on top of her, and made a few quick seals before his hands began to glow a dull pink. Slowly he slid his fingers across the torn flesh of his white haired teammate, carefully stitching her wounds back together with his healing chakra. Once he had finished he sat back and rubbed his seal gingerly as he turned to face the Yondaime Hokage.

Yume nodded slowly and a small smile came to rest on his lips as his eyes trailed the now flawless flesh of the young Haruno heir. It had taken Itachi several months to master this rather difficult medical jutsu, but he had managed, even without his sharingan. Yume could easily see why he was called a prodigy; though he had a feeling the boy's determination to help his friend still sped up the process quite a bit.

When he had first begun to learn this jutsu, Itachi had been quite irritated to find it was a lot more difficult then it should be. Still, as Yume-sama had pointed out, it was a miracle that they were able to accomplish it at all. The seal Orochimaru had placed on the trio's necks were highly effective and was even strong enough to block Yume, the strongest of all of the Hokages, from using his chakra. The only reason he had discovered that they could still perform medical jutsus was because he had been so frantic about helping Hikari that he had completely forgotten about the seal currently disrupting his chakra flow.

The first time Yume-sama had used his chakura to heal Hikari, Itachi had nearly fallen over in shock. It had surprised him to no end that, even though they were unable to use even the simplest forms of their blood-limits; including Hikari's heartstrings, they could use healing chakra. Yume explained later that Orochimaru was a very twisted person and he wouldn't have let something like this just slip by without something in return.

In this case that something seemed to be torture and pain. After all, if his torture victims could be fully healed then that just meant he could torture them again without having to worry about them dying on him. The pain, on the other hand, was given to the healer. In exchange for allowing the healing chakra to leave the body the seal on the person's neck would burn irregularly until the chakra flow ceased.

That was why Itachi was rubbing his seal, because he could still feel the sting of his flesh. The only reason he even considered dealing with this pain was because Hikari's skin, even after a year of torture, still mended together flawlessly. This brought Itachi a great amount of comfort because as Yume-sama had informed him; all wounds that were healed with chakra left no scars at all unless the wound had been made by chakra to begin with or if the body was beginning to fail.

Itachi reached out and touched the unconscious girl's forehead gently with the very tips of his fingers. He was glad that neither of those were a problem. Hikari was just too sweet to carry scars.

Yume watched on blankly as Itachi gently brushed Hikari's bangs away from her abnormally pale face. He didn't show it, but he was extremely relieved that Itachi had managed to learn the chakra-stitch jutsu. He knew it was only a matter of time before Orochimaru removed him from the young jonins' cell and he had wanted to make sure that Hikari would be alright. Knowing Orochimaru, he wouldn't have cared one bit if Itachi hadn't learned the jutsu before he had Yume removed.

A slight frown made its way to Yume's face as another thought crossed his mind. When he was taken away that would leave the two kids in this cell alone.

Two kids of the opposite sex…

Two kids of the opposite sex, who were nearly teenagers…

Two kids of the opposite sex, who were nearly teenagers, and seemed to really like each other…

…Hm. That might pose as a slight problem…even if these kids were too young to think about marriage or what it entails, they won't be young forever. Hm, he had probably aught to do something about that before he has to leave. Preferably right after Hikari wakes up.

XXXXXXXXXX

Sakura was dead tired. Since the one year deadline was quickly approaching, Baki-sensei had started pushing them harder then ever; they hardly ever got a break. And at the moment all she wanted was to go into her room with the other girls and collapse into blissful sleep. Unfortunately she still had one more thing she had to do. So, grabbing a newly cleaned and sharpened kunai from the weapon rack she shuffled across the floor and up the stairs, not stopping until she had reached the boys' room that was right across the hall from the girls.

Knowing that no one was in there at the moment Sakura crossed the tatami mat floor and over to the desk where a gallon jar of dark red liquid lay almost completely full. She easily opened the lid and then, grasping the kunai firmly in her right hand she slid the newly sharpened edge along the inside of her lower left arm. Blood flowed fast and hot from the self inflicted injury and Sakura flinched at the slight sting the oxygen caused as it rushed into her open wound.

For nearly a whole minute Sakura let her dark red life fluid run down her arm into the jar where it instantly blended with the rest of the liquid inside. Once she had let out the exact amount that she had been instructed to she set down the kunai and licked the pointer and middle fingers of her right hand before she slid them across the cut, the skin stitching back together as she did so.

She had started doing this almost right after they had arrived in Sunagakure, though, contrary to what most would believe, she wasn't a masochist. In fact, she hated the pain that came every time she had to cut herself but she did it anyway. Her eyes held a far away look as she replaced and tightened the lid. She did it because one of her best friends needed her to.

XxflashbackxX

Night fell swiftly for the six young nins as they sat in silence, listening to their newly announced sensei explain the rules that he expected to be followed. They were all pretty standard: Don't run with weapons, take off your shoes when you come inside, if your not on time for dinner you don't eat, every thing he says is an order that will be followed; typical teacher/guardian things. However the last rule he gave caused all parties involved to pout and question. The boys and girls will have separate rooms.

"Why?" Naruto asked in irritation. "We share the same room all the time!"

Baki rolled his eyes and responded with, "You'll get it when you need to, but for now you do as I say."

Naruto just pouted.

"Um, Baki-sensei?" Sakura asked softly. "Why are you going to teach us? I thought that outsider nins didn't like other nins."

Baki's eyes grew distant and a scowl crossed his lips as an unwanted memory passed through his mind. "That's none of your business," he said shortly. "Now go to bed."

The kids all grumbled in irritation but they did as they were told and went their separate ways. The room that was set up for the boys was Gaara's old nursery but the girls' new room was on the first floor at the opposite end of the building. This didn't sit all that well with the kids but they complied anyway.

The kids all fell asleep almost instantly, aside from Gaara of course. The young red head sat on his futon and watched the other two boys sleep soundly. Jealousy moved swiftly through his veins as he saw them taking for granted something he couldn't do. Or could he? He had already fallen asleep twice and nothing had happened either time. Was his curse finally over? He wasn't sure, and the only way to find out was to try.

Sleep claimed him quickly but unlike the last two times he had slept horrible bloody dreams plagued his mind and he felt as if his body was expanding. He screamed in pain but no one could hear him. Instead the only thing that answered him was a cry of terror.

Baki gasped as he slid into the boys' room and found a half emerged monster in the place of Gaara. The mutant like devil leered at the two leaf boys as they backed away in fear, even while trying to calm it down.

"Gaara!" Sasuke shouted. "Snap out of it!"

But Gaara seemed to either not hear him or not care as he slowly inched closer, playing with the two frightened children.

"What's happening!" Ichigo cried as she and Hinata slid across the hallway floor and stopped in front of Gaara's open door frame. She gasped as she saw the almost fully emerged Shukaku. "Gaara!"

Baki pushed her back and pulled out a kunai. "That's not Gaara!" he replied without turning to her. "It's a monster!"

Shukaku grinned maliciously at the glaring sand jonin and changed his focus towards him. He had scarcely taken one step, however, when he froze. His eyes grew wide and he began to shrink, once again becoming trapped inside of his human container.

Baki was shocked as he watched this sudden change, at a loss as to what had caused it.

"Wat's goin' on?" A sleep slurred voice asked from behind him. "'Wuz all the a'motion?"

"Sakura?" Baki asked. "Did you just get here?"

Sakura blinked up at her sensei for a second before his question finally sunk in. "Uh, yeah, I jus' woke up."

"You're a Haruno, correct?" The older man pressed.

Another pause. "Um, yeah, I guess…"

Baki ignored the last part of her sentence before he spoke up again. "What is your element?"

"We think its spirit," Sasuke answered for the still not all there Sakura. "Why do you ask?"

The other two girls, who had slipped around Baki earlier to check on Gaara, looked up from the unconscious boy's side.

"I think Sakura may be the reason Shukaku stopped."

Xxend flashbackxX

It had taken two days and four blood samples from Sakura to prove Baki's theory correct. Sakura was the reason Shukaku lay dormant. As long as she was near Gaara could sleep anytime he wished. He also concluded that Sakura's blood had the same effect. Baki had told the kids that even a drop of it was filled to the brim with healing chakra; it was molded into her cells.

Baki had been a bit surprised when Sakura asked if she could start collecting blood in a jar so that Gaara could still keep a rein on the demon even after she had left. Nearly touched by her compassion for her friend, Baki had given his consent with a warning that she was only to give a teaspoon everyday or else she would pass out from blood loss. Sakura had readily agreed and immediately began to fill the jar, and after nearly a whole year of placing blood in the jar everyday it was almost full. She could almost stop.

Still, just in case, Baki had moved the girls from their old room and placed them in the one he was using that was across the hall. Not only were the kids more comfortable with this it also added extra insurance incase the first little bit of blood wasn't enough to allow the young sand nin to sleep. As it was now, the blood in this jar would be more then enough to stem any hostility the demon might throw the boy's way.

"Sakura," Sasuke called from the door way. "Are you alright?"

Sakura sent the dark haired boy a wide grin. "Yes, just fine."

Sasuke nodded in acceptance. "Alright, um, well, I hav-we need to get to sleep."

"Yeah," Sakura agreed. "Tomorrow is our last day…"

"Aa."

Sakura walked to the door and placed a slight kiss on Sasuke's cheek were a small cut could be see. "There you go, Sasuke-kun," she said with a grin. "You don't need to be embarrassed about asking you know. I like helping you all."

Sasuke placed a hand to his cheek before he nodded. "Oyasumi, Sakura-chan."

"Oyasumi, Sasuke-kun."

End Chapter 13

Kaliea: There you go. A not all that great chapter. They'll be like this for a while until I get to the place in the story where I know what I'm going to write. For the moment I'm just winging it. Please review! Thanks!

Review Answers:

Bittersweetdreams: Heh, that chapter was one of my favorites to write.

QuatresG: Thanks, and I will.

Susakuru: Will do Susakuru-san!

Animefreak-shinobi: Honestly I couldn't tell you much about the steps. I didn't write this. I copied it from my good friends at Narutofan. Although I will try to show the eighth step later on.

NaruHinalover: (giggles) welcome back. I hope you had a good trip. And don't worry more fluff and stuff (hey that rhymes!) will appear soon.

Jays Arravan: I will but it probably won't be all that much for a few more chapters.

AiTenshiKosmos: No, Uzumaki Yume is not his real name (to my knowledge at least) but I like the idea of the fourth being Naruto's dad so I made it so. No worries about the reading. I get really busy to.

Danny-171984: (lol) you're right. I won't answer that. But it will be told in time.

Dragon Man 180: It's my second favorite. My first is the exploding note attack that Sakura uses in the movie…that was kind of irrelevant…

Kaliea: Thanks to all my reviewers. Btw, If any of you are still searching CPCF then I'll give you one final hint: 13, tessa. There ya go! Until next time, ja ne!