"Would you like to touch him?" Orochimaru asked us, moments after he picked the snake off the ground.
It's so fucking weird seeing Orochimaru trying to act friendly with us…keyword: trying. There was something about the way he looked at us that made his friendly demeanor seemed contrived. I'm…not exactly unfamiliar with this side of Orochimaru, and I can blame Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth on it! While I failed to catch up onto the main series, the exact opposite happened with the spin-off and now I can't see Orochimaru as anything more than a joke…for the most part.
I am still aware of how dangerous this guy is, but it's extremely difficult to forget all the gags and punchlines that I had seen Orochimaru do in the spin-off. Regardless of my current circumstances, I'm still in a position where I have to approach our current situation very carefully.
"Kaa-chan says we're not supposed to speak to strangers!" I said carefully, Chōko, not annoying!
Orochimaru tried to brush off my little outburst. "Oh, but I am not a stranger—"
"Strangers also lie!" Might as well roll with this approach, since it's working! I can already see Orochimaru struggling to keep his pretense. "Stranger danger!"
"I have already mentioned that I am not a stran—" Orochimaru never had a chance to finish his sentence because I interrupted him again…like the impulsive idiot I am.
"STRANGER DANGER!" I made sure I was louder when I repeated myself. Before I could even think, impulse took over and I ended up punching Orochimaru in the stomach…or at least, I thought I punched him in the stomach. Judging by his pained reaction and the fact that he keeled over onto the ground upon feeling Akimichi clan strength at maximum overdrive, I think I might have gone lower than I had intended…well, oops! "Guys?"
"Y-Yeah, Chōko-chan?" Naruto was nervous.
"I think we should run…" Because I just fucked up majorly when I punched this guy…and I probably shouldn't be leader anymore. Of course, that should be the least of my worries when we should all be getting our asses out of dodge. We're nothing but Academy students and Orochimaru is a Sannin for a reason! Let us not forget his S-rank missing-nin status, which my friends known nothing about, but thanks to my spontaneous actions, they're just as concerned about fleeing.
Unfortunately, Orochimaru seemed to have anticipated any attempts to abscond beforehand, because suddenly—snakes. Snakes everywhere…they were in our way, hissing at us and definitely showing deimatic behavior. I'm still not sure if they're venomous, but I'd rather not find out the hard way—oh god, it's on me.
"L-Leaving so soon?" And, like an idiot, I looked back to see a very pissed off Orochimaru—did anyone feel a chill go down their spine just now, or was it just me? And—oh god…oh god…oh god…I think I just saw myself getting killed—quite brutally, at that. I think I need a moment—huurk. Hopefully, my stomach settles down once I regain all feeling in my limbs—too late.
Splat!
There goes every skewer of dango and cup of tea I ate and drank within the past two hours. Gross. I don't feel good…and my stomach is just making it even worse for myself. And tears—they won't stop! Why did I look back?! I AM SUCH AN—
Hiss!
I tensed as I felt something tickle my ear. I could feel a cold, scaly body circling itself around my neck. "A-aah!"
Oh god, I can just feel my soul crawling out of my mouth—I liked snakes, but at this moment, I was terrified of them.
"Chōko-san!" Neji, can you not yell? I am trying not to freak out and hearing you freak out is making it worse.
"I-I'm f-f-f-fiiine—aaah!" I am a terrible liar when I am extremely petrified. Of course, I am completely justified in the fact that the snake just tightened itself around my neck. Not much, but I could feel it coiling around my neck and just—aah, it's nerve-wracking. I can feel the goosebumps prickling my skin and I am just seconds away from hyperventilating. My body is shaking and it doesn't help that I'm stuck in a rather uncomfortable position. That is, with the upper-half of my body turned so I could look back. Keeping this position is extremely uncomfortable, but I'd rather not move.
"Get off her, dattebayo!" Naruto, you better not be moving!
Hiss!
And it went dead quiet after that. I could hear Kiba starting to whimper, Hinata struggling to keep herself from screaming, and I'm pretty sure that was Sasuke inhaling deeply and exhaling in an attempt to keep himself calm. Shino, Shikamaru, and Chōji haven't said anything since I punched Orochimaru in the vitals (I swear, I meant to get him in the stomach!). Meanwhile with me, I'm seconds away from breaking down and this fucking snake is keeps hissing in my ear—oh god, that was its tongue!
"I would suggest that none of you make any sudden movements." Orochimaru spoke calmly as he smirked at us. "It would be a shame if you were to be bitten."
Translation: Move and you're fucking dead.
"B-Bastard!" Naruto, please don't piss Orochimaru off. I've done enough as is already and our little friend in the shadows isn't around to save our asses. Because the thing with our favorite dog-masked ANBU is that he usually leaves Naruto on his own during classes, usually dropping every hour or so to check up on him. He's probably looking for us right now and I'm hoping he finds us soon before this situation escalates even more than it has already.
Okay, please tell that wasn't a snake that just slithered by me, because it felt bigger than the others—a lot bigger. Nonononononono, get off me—GET OFF ME!
Hiss!
"Eeek!" The snake around my neck just tightened again. "Ah…"
Oh god, someone help me!
"Careful. She can sense your fear." Oh so the snake around my neck is female—not the fucking point! You're enjoying this, aren't you, Orochimaru?! Is this payback for punching you in the crotch?!
Oh god, that explains the giant-ass snake that's starting to curl around me—it's moving higher! I know what it's doing! I've seen ball pythons do this to mice—it's gonna suffocate me! Of course, the snakes I've seen kill mice struck fast, not slow and steady, but this snake belongs to Orochimaru and the fact that I've succeeded in doing nothing but pissing him off says a lot about what could potentially happen to me. And that's my death being slow and painful.
I just realized something…I'm completely terrified about dying. I mean, I always had a fear about dying, but I never realize to what extent. And it took only until I had a giant snake wrapping itself around my body, with a smaller one coiling around my neck, practically threatening to strangle me to realize that.
Why the fuck is this even happening?! Why is Orochimaru even here?! "Aaack!"
"Stop it, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.
"I will stop if you decide to come with me." Oh god, don't tell me Orochimaru was sent to get Naruto because he's a jinchuuriki. Don't tell me the Akatsuki has started the hunt already. This isn't supposed to happen—not now, at least! "Or would you rather she die?"
Oh god, it's getting hard to breathe—it feels like I'm choking. It's as if I need my inhaler to breathe—but I don't have asthma as Akimichi Chōko! I'm getting crushed by a giant snake! Okay, getting dizzy—vision blurring and it isn't my shitty eyesight, even though my glasses were currently on the ground due to one of my sudden actions.
"Why me-ttebayo?!" I would like to know that, too—ooh, colors…wait, that's bad!
"Tick-tock, she is running out of time." Orochimaru, you smarmy bastard, you—ugh, blacking out…
"All right, I'll go!" Naruto yelled frantically. "But—you have to let her, and everyone else, go!"
And those were the magic words that got those snakes off of me and allowed me the pleasure of breathing. I collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. Sweet, sweet oxygen—never deprive me of thee! It feels good to breathe again, even though it kinda hurts to do so…and see, now that I've picked up my glasses again. Wait, I'm forgetting something— "Naruto!"
"I'm sorry, Chōko-chan…" Naruto looked apologetically at me as he walked over to Orochimaru, who just looked so fucking smug.
"You heard the little boy." Fuck you, Orochimaru! I will not stand for this—okay, I can't even stand right now!
But when I can, you're gonna fucking get it!
"Aaugh!" And back onto the ground, I go. I should not try standing up. Not while my body is still hurting, ow…
"Ch-Chōko-chan!" Hey, Hinata, you look…fine? Okay, you don't. Your eyes are red (which is really obvious, due to the white eyes), and you are shaking uncontrollably. "Wh-Wh-What's g-g-going to h-h-h-happen?"
"I…don't know…but we can't let Naruto go." Like hell I'm letting that happen!
Luckily for us, at that moment, our little friend in the shadows showed up and intervened, by killing of every snake within our vicinity. Yeah, you're a little late, pal, but it's better late than never!
Eww, snake guts!
Then an unsuspected third party decided to intrude in the form of yet another Akatsuki member with a large, mechanical scorpion-like tail. Said tail was used to strike the ANBU, and if I recalled something, if vaguely, wasn't that the poison that caused painful paralysis and was used against Kankurō? That being said, I seemed to have forgotten that the Akatsuki travel in pairs, which would make the member who just finished incapacitating our little friend in the shadows…Sasori, in his disguise as his favorite puppet, Hiruko.
"ANBU-san!" Naruto yelled moments before being promptly knocked out by Orochimaru. Naruto's unconscious body fell onto the ground, which was then picked up by Hiruko's tail. Before any of us could react, Orochimaru and Sasori (Hiruko—whatever) disappeared into the nearby woods.
"Oh my god…" This is a nightmare—we can't let them leave! But the ANBU… "Chōji, Hinata, Shino, Kiba. I need one of you to run off to get help. The rest of you, try and get ANBU-san to the hospital. He needs help."
We don't have time to stand around doing nothing!
"Wh-What happened to him?" Hinata looked nervously at the poor ANBU.
"Poison," Shino said as a matter of fact. "I believe there is still some on his body. This may prove useful in treating his state."
"You have to get him to the hospital fast, though," Shikamaru sighed. "How troublesome."
"Shut up!" I snapped at Shikamaru. I didn't mean to sound so harsh, but I'm like trying not to freaking lose it because fuck—they have Naruto. "You, Neji-san, Sasuke, and me are gonna be going after Naruto! Shino, track us with one of your bugs! Kiba…are you okay?"
"S-Sorry, it's the blood." Kiba was covering his nose, his expression showing his nausea quite clearly. "I'll go get help!"
Kiba ran off without saying another word. Right after he left, Hinata and Chōji started to try and drag the ANBU's body. Meanwhile with Shino, he was busy placing some of his insects on us. Immediately after Sasuke had been bugged (no pun intended…maybe—I seriously need an outlet right now so screw it!), he ran off after Naruto. Neji followed right after, with Shikamaru and me soon trailing after the two of them. I can't believe we are doing this.
I know we are not going to be successful in getting Naruto back…but the reason I had all of us go was so we could lead whatever help Kiba managed to get in order to rescue Naruto. Neji would be useful in scoping out Naruto. Sasuke, regardless of what I had said, would have gone after Naruto. The two are just that close. And Shikamaru is smart and level-headed enough to keep us all on track.
As for me…this is my fault. I was the reason Naruto had been convinced to go with Orochimaru. It was because of me that our little friend in the shadows got poisoned with a toxin that had no antidote just yet, as it was years too early for such a poison to be introduced to Konohagakure. The ANBU might as well have been dead, but…I'm still hoping for a miracle.
Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong…it's usually assumed to be Murphy's Law, but that is a mistake. In actuality, that is Finagle's Law. Murphy's Law is summed up as "If something can be used or done a right way and a wrong way, and the wrong way will lead to catastrophe, it will be used or done the wrong way." It's something I found out, sometime before I died…
Finagle's Law was not a kind one in the world of Naruto, as shown by what had just happened. Still, I wasn't one to give up—at least, not as Akimichi Chōko. I'm willing to fight before I decide to give up. Because Orochimaru and Sasori just took my friend away and I will not stand for this…not me, nor any of my friends.
Shisui wouldn't want this on his birthday and god dammit, I will make sure this day doesn't become the day Konohagakure lost its jinchuuriki—our friend, Uzumaki Naruto. We've lost too many people this year and we'll be damned if we lose yet another person who we hold dear to us.
…
…
Neji was surprisingly good at tracking down Naruto's kidnappers. There was something strange about them, though. For a couple of S-ranked missing-nin, they sucked at throwing off a group of Academy students. Sure, we had a Hyuuga on us—but he is only nine-years-old. He still doesn't have enough experience to even be on equal grounds with people like Orochimaru and Sasori.
"They're purposely trying to get us to follow." Shikamaru figured it out. "They want to make sure we keep following."
"Is he aware that we are clan children?" Neji was predictably concerned. As a Hyuuga from the Branch House who was tasked in protecting Hinata, the Main House's heiress, he had all reason to worry.
"Why did you think I told Hinata to stay behind?" I'm not stupid. I know she'd be vulnerable to people, like Orochimaru, who would most likely be interested in children from kekkei genkai clans. Which is why I'm worried about Sasuke. He and Itachi are the last of their clan—excluding a certain Uchiha who is presumably dead, but isn't, but that's spoilers.
Back on Sasuke, it is years too early for him to encounter Orochimaru. And considering the circumstances, I'm worried that Orochimaru might use Naruto as a bargaining chip in order to get Sasuke to come with him. I am terrified of that outcome. I don't want to lose any more of my friends.
No more, no more, no more!
Shisui was bad enough as is and the Uchiha Clan Massacre just did nothing to help with my deteriorating mental health. I still have nightmares about it—just not as often as I did during those first two weeks.
They're still so fucking bad though...
"We need to keep Sasuke-san safe." Neji caught on to Sasuke's status.
"Troublesome…" Shikamaru tried to lighten up our situation, but it was easy to tell that he was just as stressed as we are. "Are you okay, Chōko?"
"It hurts when I breathe." Otherwise, I'm completely fine… Of course, that may be the adrenaline keeping me going—which may not be that good of a sign. "What about you guys?"
"He did nothing to us," Neji replied. "It was just you, who he had hurt. We just watched and—I'm sorry I did nothing to help."
"Don't!" Dammit, don't blame yourself! "You were just as helpless as me and—it's my fault he did that because I pissed him off—"
"Chōko, shut up!" Sasuke snapped angrily at me. "It's not your fault! It's his, for being a creepy bastard! You knew something was up, so you did what you have to do."
"Sasuke's right," Shikamaru agreed, looking just as mad as Sasuke. "It's thanks to you that we didn't lower our guard around him. So worry about yourself for once! You almost died!"
I...I...
"I almost died…" I wanted to cry…I really wanted to cry, because it's starting to set in now. I almost died...but I can't cry—not now.
"Do you need a hug?" Aww, Neji…thank you.
"Not now, but later…" I'll make sure to smack a sticker onto your head by then. "We need to get Naruto…how far ahead are they?"
"Not too far," Neji quickly replied. "How long do you think it'll be before they send in help?"
"Depends how long it takes for them to get to Shino." I seriously hope that's fast enough.
Ever since the Uchiha Clan Massacre, our families have become extremely protective of Naruto. Even the Hyuuga, the clan that took the longest to warm up to Naruto, were just as protective of him. Of course, no one was as protective as Itachi, who was probably still at the Sandaime's office, having a serious talk with the guy. He didn't tell us the details. Whatever it was, it probably involved his ANBU captain status.
That probably should have been a sign not to skip class, because Itachi wasn't around to protect us, as he would have, had he been with us. And Shisui was gone…so it was just us. We weren't armed, all we really had were the knowledge of some of our clans' techniques…well, everyone, but Naruto and I, did. That aside, we were still nothing but Academy students who picked the wrong time to skip class.
We weren't ready for this…and we knew that.
But we still had to try.
…
…
Eventually, our chase came to an end. I have no idea how long we had been chasing after Orochimaru and Sasori, but it felt as if they were leading us in circles. Upon thinking that, I came to a realization…they were leading us in circles. The outskirts of Konohagakure were surrounded by a forest before the outer walls that enclosed the entire village. As far as I know, there are only four entrance gates leading into (and out of) Konoha. I'm not exactly sure how close we are to the nearest one, but I am concerned.
I was even more concerned when Orochimaru and Sasori just stood there and did nothing. Of course, Orochimaru looked as if he was enjoying the hell out of this. I'm not too sure about Sasori…or Hiruko. Bluh.
Well, this is unnerving…
"Give back Naruto!" Oh shit, forgot we had an angry, possessive Uchiha on our hands!
"Sasuke, no!" Did you not see the ANBU go down to Sasori's poison?! We are Academy students! I will not allow you to endanger your life!
I can't lose you too!
"H-Hey!" No, Sasuke, you are staying with us! I am done losing everyone I've come to know and love—holy crap, is that the Sharingan?! Nononono—put it away, Sasuke, put it away! I tried putting my hand over Sasuke's eyes, but it was too late.
"Ah, so he is an Uchiha." Orochimaru saw.
"We're not letting you near him!" Neji said firmly as he got in front of Sasuke and me.
"And a Hyuuga…" Dammit, Orochimaru is just collecting information now! "Which House are you from?"
"None of your business!" You tell him, Neji!
Shikamaru, what are you doing? You've been oddly quiet—oh, you're probably in the middle of using your Kagemane. Wait, you're only eight years old—do you even have the chakra reserves to handle it? Better question…will it work?
"I'm using it on Sasuke, if you're worried." Oh, are you trying to help me keep this kid at our side? Thank you, Shikamaru.
"Wh-What the hell?!" Sasuke stopped struggling, much to my relief…then I realize that Shikamaru also included my shadow.
"Sh-Shikamaru!" Oh god, this feels so weird. "Wh-What the hell, man?! Mmmph!"
When Shikamaru covered his mouth, I did as well…and so did Sasuke. I was mad…because Shikamaru purposely included my shadow, along with Sasuke's, to shut me up. I guess he was afraid I might endanger myself again, as I had done earlier. I'd appreciate it if you haven't pulled that crap without me knowing, ya jerk!
"A Nara is also amongst you." Orochimaru sounded very intrigued…then he looked at me. "And just what clan are you from?"
For once, I am quite glad I have a fast metabolism fucking up my body build. Because otherwise, Orochimaru would know I am from the Akimichi clan.
"Isn't that the brat who knocked you down?" And Sasori finally speaks and eeeugh, that voice is creepy.
Orochimaru seemed annoyed with Sasori's question. I guess he'll never live down the day an eight-year-old girl punched him in the crotch. The fact that even happened just says a lot about how unpredictable I have been in order for Orochimaru to not dodge. Oh, he'll never hear the end of this back at the Akatsuki base…wait, isn't that in Amegakure, where Shisui, Itachi, and Iruka took their Chuunin exams?
…
…
Oh fuck.
Oh god, I just realized something…this isn't a kidnapping. There is an ulterior motive behind this…That's why Orochimaru and Sasori let us follow them! That's why they're still in the village, when they could have been long gone by now!
As someone else was the cause of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, Itachi had no reason to defect from his own village and stayed with us. Because he stayed behind, he had yet to join the Akatsuki. Because he had yet to join the Akatsuki, Konoha was vulnerable to their direct movements, because Itachi's membership had included a stipulation against such.
That's why Orochimaru and Sasori were here. The more I thought about it, the more apparent it became that the actual reason the two of them were here, in Konoha, was to recruit Itachi. I doubt the Akatsuki would overlook Itachi during the Chuunin exams, which is why this is the point of normalization. If not the Uchiha Clan Massacre, then this could potentially cause our friend—our older brother figure of sorts—to leave. We lose either Naruto, or Itachi…that's what this might come to.
I don't want this…I don't want this! "Aaaaugh!"
"C-Crap!" Shikamaru swore.
I think I just broke out of his Kagemane…holy shit. Guess Akimichi clan strength also works on shadows—not the point! "Hey, you! Yeah, you—snake bastard! I know who you are!"
Orochimaru's left twitched slightly upon hearing me insult him. "Do you?"
"You're the Sannin that got butt-hurt because he wasn't chosen to be the Yondaime!" I might have not been able to say anything earlier, but now, this is something that I know I should know, because I've been reading Itachi's history books. Itachi is a history-buff of his own village, which pays a lot when he decides to leave his books around in the open for me to grab and take home with me. He gets annoyed when I borrow them without his permission, but all I usually get is a forehead poke and then another book. Let me just say…Itachi likes to annotate his books, and while he's no Shisui, his deadpan humor makes reading his history books a hell of a lot more interesting than it already is.
I'm pretty sure I dug my own grave, but I was pissed off. I don't do well when I'm extremely mad. There is a reason I had to take anger management classes when I was younger in my past life. It was because I had a hard time controlling my own emotions. I have the same problem here, if only because I still have the body of a child with a still developing brain. Some things are just out of my own control. Age is one of them.
"You insolent, little brat—" Orochimaru is pissed.
Meanwhile with Sasori, he seemed intrigued, in his own way. "I wonder how a child would fare in my collection."
Oh shit, is he talking about that collection? Nononono, I'm not interested in becoming a puppet!
"You can have her after I'm done with her," Orochimaru said darkly. "I'll try not to damage her body too much…"
That's comforting. Now I have two S-ranked missing-nin after me in a manner that results in the end of my life. There is nothing awesome about this. This is a nightmare!
"Dammit!" What's wrong now, Shikamaru—Sasuke, no!
"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Unlike every other attempt to use the technique, this time, around…Sasuke managed to successfully create a rather powerful flamethrower. I couldn't help but think of Pokémon at the moment, even though I should be more concerned about the fact that Sasuke was within range of Sasori and Orochimaru.
However, thanks to Sasuke's Goukakyuu, Sasori and Orochimaru split up and went in two different directions when they dodged his flamethrower. Unfortunately, we now had no idea where the hell they were, thanks to the abundance of trees within our vicinity. They could be in any of them right now…
"Watch out!" Neji yelled before pushing us all out of the way from a barrage of needles that now impaled the ground we once stood on. We were almost hit—are those needles poisoned?! God dammit, Sasori is intending to kill us!
"Find someone else to join your damn collection!" I refuse to become a puppet! That's it—I thought it wouldn't come to this, but I really have no choice at this point! "Hold my glasses!"
Neji was rather surprised when I just handed him my glasses. "Ah…"
I didn't bother letting Neji say anything as my hands formed into a Tiger hand seal and I quickly yelled out, "Suiton Teppōdama!"
What happened next resulted in me spitting out condensed balls of water out of my mouth. I managed to spat out at least five water balls, which I had aimed at the trees around us. I was aiming to throw off Orochimaru and Sasori, because the power in my technique isn't as lethal as it could be. I'm still in the process of learning how to use this technique.
While I did say that Naruto and I were the exception in us not knowing any clan techniques, I never did say we didn't have any other techniques up our sleeves. During the time Shisui and Itachi had spent training Sasuke, Naruto, and me, while everyone else was absent, Shisui had managed to get us three special paper in order to discover what our affinities are. Naruto was, predictably, a wind-type, Sasuke was a lightning-type (Shisui found this amusing) and I was a water-type. No fire-types here, despite this being Fire Country! How is that for irony?!
…
Okay, Sasuke most likely had fire as his secondary (it's an Uchiha thing), so it isn't that ironic, but I digress. That aside, none of us, but Sasuke, knew any elemental techniques. And the only elemental technique Sasuke even knew was the Goukakyuu and that had been part of his clan's rite of passage of sort—again, it's an Uchiha thing. Shisui wanted to start working on Naruto and me the next summer after that, but…yeah…he never had the chance.
The only reason I knew the Teppōdama was because of Itachi wanted to continue what Shisui had planned, starting with me. As the Teppōdama shared the same rank as the Goukakyuu, he decided it shouldn't be that difficult for me to learn and it wasn't—well, it was at first. I mean, being able to convert your chakra into water isn't exactly the easiest thing to do. Especially when I keep thinking of SCIENCE when stuff like that happens and then my brain starts hurting and headaches ruin concentration.
Itachi had plans on working on Naruto right after he finished with me…Naruto was my practice dummy. Part of the goal with me was to improve my aim, while Naruto was supposed to improve his dodging. The more he dodged, the more inclined I was to improve my aim, the more Naruto got hit, the more incentive he had to learn how to dodge better.
So far, my Teppōdama hurts like a paintball hitting someone without proper armor. So as weak as it is, in that sense, it still does hurt to get hit and there is a chance I can cause some serious harm. I'm not exactly sure if Orochimaru and Sasori knew that, as the two of them both jumped out of the trees where two of my water balls hit. Sasuke didn't give any of them a chance to land, as he was quick to use his Goukakyuu on them.
Once again, they dodged and I knew this was going to get nowhere, but it was stalling for time. And that had been the goal: To stall while everyone else gets help.
I nearly had a heart attack when Neji decided to rush to Orochimaru, with his Byakugan activated and his body most likely ready to use the Jūken.
"Neji!" You're gonna get your ass killed, idiot! And you still have my glasses!
"That's Neji-san!" Neji yelled as he tried using the Jūken on Orochimaru. Even when in a risky situation, Neji still had the gall to enforce formality. That's what I thought at first, at least…then I realized that this was his way of venting his anxiety. He needed something to keep him grounded, and this was how he did it.
Orochimaru dodged and kept dodging every strike that Neji made at him. I knew Orochimaru was just playing with Neji, giving him the false hope that he could even land a hit. It was as obvious as the smirk on that snake bastard's face. Orochimaru was observing Neji, and that scared me. Neji seemed just as worried as I was.
I decided to give the Teppōdama another shot. This time, every water ball was aimed at Orochimaru. Orochimaru dodged, as predicted…but managed to time his dodging so that some of my water balls ended up hitting Neji right in the stomach. I think it was enough to knock the wind right out of him. It sure did look like it, considering he was now on the ground, writhing in pain.
"N-Neji!" Oh fuck, I wasn't aiming for you! "Are you okay?!"
"I'm f-fine…" Don't lie to me, Neji! I can tell you are not okay!
"You are pretty strong for a child." Oh fuck me sideways…Orochimaru is behind me, isn't he? "I never did find out which clan you belong to."
"Stay away from her!" Shikamaru yelled. "Kagemane no Jutsu!"
The Kagemane would have been helped immensely with my situation…if only Orochimaru wasn't strong enough to resist it.
"Dammit!" Shikamaru swore. "Agh…"
Thud!
Shikamaru just collapsed, due to the major downside of the Kagemane is that it is tiring to use repeatedly. Shikamaru is still only eight. He has a long ways to go before he could use it to the extent he did during the Chuunin Exams Arc. He was fine using it on Sasuke and me, but on Orochimaru…that must have been his limit.
Hiss!
"Ahh!" Oh god, snake—snake!
"Remember this little one?" Oh don't tell that that's the snake we found on our way to Naruto's house—dammit, it is! "He told me that you said he was cute. Is that true?"
I did, but at this moment, I don't think so. "Get it off…"
"He has also told me there was boy with similar markings as you," Orochimaru continued. "And from what I can assume about that boy's build, is that he belongs to the Akimichi clan—is that your clan?"
I'm not saying anything. Fuck you, Orochimaru—I'm done with this shit! I grabbed the snake off my neck and threw it right in Orochimaru's face. It felt so gross to touch its cold, scaly body, but it felt good to see it smack Orochimaru in the face. I saw an opening…and I took it.
"Suiton Teppōdama!" Five water balls shot out of my mouth and hit Orochimaru right in the stomach. That was for Neji, you ass!
Thud!
I don't know about you, but seeing an S-ranked missing-nin fall to an attack from an eight-year-old girl was hilarious.
"Katon Goukakyuu no Jutsu!" Sasuke was still trying to get Naruto from Sasori, but to no avail.
Again, we are only but Academy students and they are S-ranked missing-nin. The most we can do is incapacitate them, as I have done with Orochimaru—then again, I am quite spontaneous and prone to impulse and—OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE I JUST DID THAT. I don't feel good—I need to get away from Orochimaru right now!
"Shikamaru!" First, I need to get him away from Orochimaru as well. Poor Shikamaru was just sitting on the ground, panting heavily. He was exhausted, I was panicking, Neji was still recovering, and Sasuke didn't give a damn about his own life because Sasori had Naruto, his friend. We are a fucking mess— "Augh!"
Thud!
Ow…who the hell grabbed my ankle?! "Aaaah…hi?"
I found myself looking back at an extremely pissed off Orochimaru. He still had his grip on my ankle—ow, ow, ow, ow! And he was tightening his grip even harder—fak!
"You have made a fool out of me for the last time." Did I hurt your pride or something, you smarmy bastard? Ow! "You will regret ever crossing me."
"Ahhh!" Oh god, that fucking hurts— "Aaaaaaugh!"
I let out a particularly loud, pained scream as Orochimaru's grip increased tenfold. As this went on, Orochimaru stood up, his grip never once releasing my ankle. As a result, I soon found myself hanging upside down as Orochimaru kept increasing the pressure on my ankle. It kept increasing afterwards until—
Crack!
A sickening crack caught my ears. A moment afterwards, pain shot through my left leg. It was unimaginable. I tried to keep myself from crying, but it hurt too much. I felt sick—it hurt so much and just…I was crying. Almost immediately, all my friends reacted to my crying by calling out my name.
Orochimaru responded by twisting my already broken ankle. That, paired up with the fact that I was upside down, my weight doing nothing to help—I screamed. The pain was agonizing. "It must be nice having friends who care about you…which is why it will all be the more satisfying to see you breathing your last breaths as they watch your life end before their eyes."
"Not my student, you bastard!" I felt my heart practically skip a beat upon hearing his voice—Iruka's.
Soon, I found myself being dropped and landing into the arms of someone who made me feel safe and secure, right after hearing Orochimaru's pained grunts.
"Are you fine, Chōko?" Iruka asked me.
"M-My ankle!" It still hurts like a bitch! "And my glasses!"
"Neji-san has them," Iruka was quick to tell me. "Here you go."
I was quick to put on my glasses after Iruka handed them to me. I looked at Iruka, and then at Neji, who was at his side. Neji was clutching onto his stomach, looking rather pained, but otherwise, fine.
"I'm so sorry, Neji-san!" I never meant to hit you.
"D-Don't apologize…" Neji strained. "Your attack—it's gotten stronger."
I felt my face heat up. "You idiot—!"
Leave it to Neji to say something like this in this situation!
"What's good is that you're all still alive!" Oh man, I can already hear the future lecture Iruka-sensei is going to give us once this is all over. Still—it feels good to see him here. "I'm not so sure about you!"
As if on cue, a certain dango-loving kunoichi jumped out of the trees with Shino on her back.
"Sorry if I'm late!" Anko exclaimed. "Now where is that snake bastard?!"
Whoa, Anko has so many irons in the fire! It was made even more apparent when she let out a colorful string of curses upon seeing Orochimaru pulling out a couple of shuriken and kunai from his arms. It was enough to make Iruka, Neji, Sasuke (who had decided to regroup with us), Shikamaru, and I, blush rather hard. I swear Anko could make a sailor blush—if they existed here…did they? Okay, not the time to think about stuff like that!
"Hello again, Anko." Orochimaru seemed amused to see his former apprentice among us. "How have you been?"
"Doing a hell of a lot better without you in my life!" Anko spat before taking Shino off her back. "Go regroup with your friends."
Shino did just that and was the one who helped Shikamaru off the ground. It was a good thing that Shino was currently the tallest out of our group (it made it easier to help Shikamaru), with the exception of Neji, who was older than the rest of us by a year. Speaking of Neji, I found myself being propped onto his back before Iruka left to go handle Sasori.
"Watch his tail!" Don't get poisoned, Iruka-sensei! "Wh-Whoa!"
"I got you…" Neji adjusted his hold on me and made sure I wasn't going to slip off his back. "Put your arms around my neck if you have to. I'm not letting you walk on that ankle."
"Thank you for caring." You're getting two stickers for this—oh my god, Chōko, forget about the stickers! Ugh, if this is seriously how I'm coping with the anxiety of the situation, then I need better coping mechanisms…maybe.
"Since we have everything handled, how about you all leave?" Anko was basically telling us to scram. And we did…except for Sasuke, who decided to stay behind!
"Sasuke!" I yelled as we rushed ahead without him. "We need to go back for him!"
"We can't," Shikamaru said. "We're not exactly in the best position to drag him back with us. How troublesome…"
"Which is why I consider it his fault if anything bad happens to Iruka!" Oh hello, Anko, what are you doing here—Sasuke!
"Let me go!" Sasuke struggled to get out of Anko's grip as she carried him over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I can't leave Naruto behind!"
"We were gonna get the kid back!" Anko snapped. "All you had to do was leave it to us!"
"I'm not leaving Naruto behind!" Sasuke stressed. "He's my friend…"
Sasuke…are you crying? Oh god, he is… "Sasuke, it's okay—"
"No it's not!" Sasuke yelled. "I'm gonna lose him like I lost Shisui and everyone else…I don't want to lose him—especially to bastards like them!"
"I hear ya, kid, but you can't do everything on your own against people like them." Anko's tone softened. "They're dangerous—didn't you see what they did to ANBU-san? And that snake bastard—he's just as dangerous."
"You sound as if you recognize him," Shino remarked.
Anko made a face. "Yeah, I do…I'd rather keep quiet about this for now. Maybe one day, I'll tell you guys since you got involved with him. For now, I need you kids to stay here or leave to the hospital. I'm not sure if Iruka can handle the two of them on his own—"
At that moment, a huge flash of fire caught our eyes. We stared as we could hear Iruka's voice call out a couple of Fire Release techniques.
"Hey, did you know that Iruka-sensei did really well during the Chuunin exams in Ame?" I found myself saying.
"Nii-san and Shisui said that the Sandaime said that Iruka was too nice for ANBU," Sasuke remarked.
Cue the simultaneous, "What?" from Anko, Shino, Neji, and Shikamaru. Naruto, Sasuke, and I were all told this information back in the day when everyone was absent due to their training regimens. Shisui and Itachi weren't the only ones considered for recruitment into ANBU, from what I gathered from this tidbit of information. It was just that Iruka wasn't recruited (Thank god! I can't handle having Mizuki as an instructor...). So Iruka was probably the most capable of handling two S-ranked missing-nin, apart from Anko, who is stuck with us because Sasuke didn't want to leave.
"If that's the case, then you guys should trust Iruka and me to get Naruto back," Anko decided to change the subject. "Just leave it to us."
"No!" Sasuke yelled. "I just…Naruto…"
"Look, kid, I'll get him back, or I'll die trying." Knowing Anko, she meant what she said. "Can you at least take my word for it?"
"You don't have to," a voice suddenly said. "There's been a change in plans."
Almost instantly, we all turned to see Itachi with Kiba on his back. Kiba hopped off Itachi's back and ran over to us to regroup. He was trying to tell us frantically what had happened, but Shino told him to calm down and Kiba did just that…or at least, tried. Meanwhile with Itachi, he just looked at us and sighed in relief.
"Nii-san!" Sasuke exclaimed. "Naruto is—"
Itachi nodded. "I know…you can put him down, Anko-san."
And just like that, Anko dropped Sasuke like a sack of potatoes. Sasuke was quick to land on his feet and then jump towards Itachi to give his older brother a hug. Itachi returned the hug, smiling as he held Sasuke in his arms. There was something off about Itachi, though. The melancholic look in his eyes was hard to ignore.
"Sasuke…there's something I need to tell you." Just hearing Itachi say that…whatever it was—it wasn't good.
"Wh-What is it, Nii-san?" Sasuke caught on.
"I'm…going to get Naruto back," Itachi began. "I can promise you that I'll do anything to bring him back safely. Shisui entrusted Naruto into my care and I'll make sure to follow through with what Shisui would have done, had he still been alive. Before anything, I need you to promise me this…"
"What?" Sasuke asked.
"Promise you'll keep Naruto safe." It felt strange to see Itachi say something like that to Sasuke. "Make sure he never stops smiling. Make sure he won't ever be alone. Make sure…he knows that he's important."
Sasuke looked at Itachi with disbelief. "Why are you saying stuff like this? Nii-san…what's going to happen?"
"Just promise me, Sasuke…" Itachi repeated.
Sasuke hesitated at first, but then nodded. "I promise."
"Good." Itachi smiled warmly as he poked Sasuke on the forehead. "Congratulations on activating your Sharingan. I'm sorry can't do anything right now—goodbye."
Before any of us could even say anything to Itachi, he left without saying another word. Minutes passed, we stayed in our place, just waiting. We were anticipating the outcome of Itachi's interference. Nothing was happening. It was quiet—too quiet.
After a total of twenty minutes, Iruka came back, carrying an unconscious Naruto in his arms. We were quick to swarm him, now that Naruto was back with us. He was still out cold, but for now, we were just happy he was back with us. Then we noticed that Itachi was missing.
"Iruka-sensei, where's Nii-san?" Sasuke asked.
Iruka grimaced. "I'm sorry, Sasuke…but Itachi-san won't be coming back."
"What?" The look on Sasuke's face was just heartbreaking. "Wh-Why?!"
"It was the only way he could get Naruto back," Iruka explained. "Those two wanted him—not Naruto. They knew how close Naruto was to all of you and him…"
"That's why they kidnapped him…" There was just something extremely scary about being right about the things you don't want right. This was it…I had been hoping that Orochimaru and Sasori weren't here to recruit Itachi—but they had. And because of that, Itachi was gone—no, not yet.
That's what Sasuke seemed to think, as he seemed about ready to run after Itachi, but Anko stopped him. Sasuke struggled and started calling out for Itachi, telling him to come back. When he received no response, Sasuke started crying. He continued calling out for Itachi, even as Anko and Iruka escorted us out of the forest and to the hospital.
As much as we wanted to follow after Itachi—to bring him back—we were in no condition to be going anywhere but the hospital. Unlike last time, the nurses learned their lesson and gave us rooms close to each other. That was where we met up with Hinata and Chōji. Neither of them was harmed in any manner, but was mostly there for a check-up—just in case. Shino and Kiba were also in a similar state.
Naruto was surprisingly unharmed, but he was placed in a hospital room. He hasn't woken up yet… Sasuke had to be sedated, due to how upset he had been and how much he struggled to escape. He had a couple of scrapes, here and there, but nothing too serious. Meanwhile with Shikamaru, he was on the verge of chakra exhaustion, what with his Kagemane eating up a lot of his chakra. Neji had a rather nasty bruise on his abdomen and, upon closer inspection, actually had a cracked rib. Adrenaline had a hand in masking the pain of his fractured rib, which is why he said absolutely nothing about it when he had carried me on his back.
As for me, I had it worse. I had bruises around my neck, torso, and legs—the type that comes from being immobilized and almost strangled and crushed to death. My ribs had been bruised, which explained why it hurt to breathe. My ankle had been broken (courtesy of Orochimaru), but otherwise, I haven't been too badly injured.
At least, that's what Sakura told me when she went to check up on us. When I had asked her about our friend in the shadows, Sakura frowned and told me that he wasn't doing too well. That the poison was too complex, which is why many medic-nin and their assistants were going to be working together to make an antidote to counteract the poison. The fact that medic-nin assistants were involved showed just how desperate they were.
"I'm going to be helping," Sakura said. "I've never done this before…"
"Are you scared?" I found myself asking Sakura.
Sakura nodded. "Yeah, but I'm okay…how are you doing?"
"Fine, if a little bit in pain." I got told that was normal, despite having been healed my medic-nin. I'm just glad I'll be able to start walking in a few days… "Good luck with your job."
"Thank you." Sakura smiled at me and then left the room.
…
…
And within the next twenty-four hours, an antidote had been created. Many medic-nin had a hand in the antidote's production, but Haruno Sakura had been given honorable mention for her careful work and main contribution for concocting an antidote. It had been the first time someone as young as Sakura, a medic-nin's assistant, no less, had accomplished such a feat.
When we heard the news…well, all of us, sans Sasuke and Naruto, both of whom were still unconscious, we set out of our rooms to look for Sakura. When we found her, minding her own business, still receiving praise from passing nurses and medic-nin, we pulled her into a group hug. Sakura seemed to appreciate the action, as she had been extremely stressed throughout the whole antidote concocting process.
"I was so scared," Sakura confessed. "I still can't believe I even did that…"
"P-People are talking about you!" Hinata brought up.
"You're showing a lot of promise for someone as young as you," Neji added.
Sakura thought for a moment and nodded. "Yeah…thanks."
"Hey…how is ANBU-san?" Kiba decided to ask. "Did you get to see his face?"
Sakura shook her head. "No…assistants weren't allowed into the room and only a few medic-nin entered the room. They were mostly there to restrain ANBU-san when the head medic-nin used the Saikan Chuushutsu no Jutsu to extract the poison from his body. I heard it's quite painful."
"Yeesh…" I'm starting to have flashbacks of Sakura extracting poison from Kankurō's body. Imagining that happening to our little friend in the shadows is a bit discomforting. Hopefully, our friend is doing fine.
"I feel bad for ANBU-san." Chōji frowned.
"At least he's healing," Shikamaru remarked.
"Speaking of healing—what are you guys doing out of your rooms?" Sakura looked sternly at us.
"We heard the good news and wanted to congratulate you," Shino replied. "Was it too much or not enough?"
Sakura looked at Shino for a moment and laughed. "No, it's fine…just I don't think the nurses will appreciate you guys leaving your rooms."
"Well, we're going to check up on Naruto, so if you can keep the nurses away from us, that'll be just lovely." I'm honestly surprised that Naruto has been unconscious for this long. Then again, Orochimaru had been the one to knock him out…
"I'll see what I can do." Sakura sighed. "But be careful."
…
When we entered Naruto's hospital room, the he had just woken up. He was in the process of rubbing his eyes when he recalled what happened and quickly looked at us.
"What happened to you, Chōko-chan?!" Naruto must have noticed the crutches I was using in the meantime until my ankle completely healed.
"Nothing too badly, ahaha…" I'm really glad Naruto wasn't there to see Orochimaru break my ankle. I'm not too sure about how Shikamaru, Neji, and Sasuke felt…speaking of Sasuke, Naruto seemed to have noticed he wasn't in the room.
"Where's Sasuke?" Naruto asked as he looked around the room.
"Sasuke-kun is still unconscious," Shino replied. "Sakura-san said that he'll be waking within the hour."
"Oh…what about ANBU-san?" Naruto frowned. "Is he…?"
"He's still alive," Shikamaru was quick to answer. "Thanks to Sakura and the other medic-nin, they managed to make an antidote for the poison in his bloodstream."
"Eeugh, please don't mention blood…" Kiba looked queasy.
"We really need to work on your hemophobia…" Otherwise, poor Kiba will never make it far into the shinobi life.
"Hana is already working on it," Kiba remarked.
"H-How is it going?" Hinata asked.
"Still have a long ways to go," Kiba sighed. "That's enough about me, though! Hey, hey…Naruto…you wanna go check up on Sasuke?"
At that moment, we all heard the door opened and we immediately turned to see whom it was. We were expecting a nurse, one who came to investigate the outburst Naruto had made earlier. Of course, instead of a nurse, it was Sasuke who had entered the room. Well, speak of the devil.
Sasuke stared at us for a moment before shifting his attention to Naruto. Slowly, Sasuke began walking toward Naruto. The closer he got, the more noticeable it was that he had been crying. I wouldn't blame Sasuke for crying and, honestly, I'm amazed that none of us is crying yet. Then again, maybe there's this small hope that Itachi will come back, even though Iruka said otherwise. We haven't received word of what had happened just yet and maybe we all thought that Itachi would soon return to us.
That made me think—Naruto hasn't heard about Itachi yet. He doesn't know that Itachi took his place. That's probably why Sasuke is having a hard time saying anything to Naruto. It was only until Sasuke was hugging Naruto, an act that caught the blond by complete surprise, that Sasuke finally said something.
"Nii-san's g-gone," Sasuke's voice nearly cracked. "H-He's gone."
"Wh-What?" Naruto's eyes widened.
"Nii-san said…he would bring you back, no matter what," Sasuke explained. "And he did…but now he's gone—and the nurses outside are saying he's left the village. They're calling him a traitor!"
Whatever hope we had in Itachi returning to us was shattered as gossip from hospital nurses only confirmed that people were now talking about it. And the content of said gossip only concerned us to the extent that Naruto was near seconds away from a panic attack as he and the rest of us started crying.
If Shisui were here, he wouldn't have wanted us to cry. Unfortunately, he wasn't here and to make matters worse, neither was Itachi and that really just made what would have been Shisui's sixteenth birthday, which was yesterday, a day we wouldn't be forgetting anytime soon.
Sometimes, life really just sucked…
…
…
A few days passed and all of us were released from the hospital. We returned to the Academy not long after that, where Sasuke now faced scrutiny from his own classmates—mostly boys who have been jealous of his academic prowess and popularity amongst his female classmates. It was during what should have been a typical lunchtime that a boy named Hibachi and his friends started pushing Sasuke around.
"You shouldn't bother to show your face after what your brother had done!" Hibachi said rather harshly as he pushed Sasuke onto the ground.
I was seconds away from beating down Hibachi with my fists, as I don't like it when people pick on my friends—especially if it's about touchy subjects. But Chōji stopped me, saying that Sasuke should be able to handle it. And dammit, I knew Chōji was right, but just…Hibachi is a dick. He's always picking on Naruto whenever he thinks none of us is looking and just… I really want to smash his face into the ground.
Hibachi usually refrained from picking on Sasuke, for fear of negative attention shifting on him for doing such a thing. Though, considering recent events and Sasuke was currently receiving mixed reception from his own classmates…Hibachi decided now was a good time as any to vent out his usual feelings of repressed jealousy toward Sasuke.
"Your brother is a traitor!" Hibachi taunted. "That makes you a traitor, too!"
"Traitor~! Traitor~!" Hibachi's friends started repeating in a typically childish derisive tone.
Sasuke scowled at Hibachi as he stood up. "Nii-san isn't a traitor…"
"Then what is he?" Hibachi asked, looking expectantly at Sasuke for an answer.
"A hero!" Sasuke exclaimed. "Naruto is still here because of him. If it wasn't for him, Naruto would be gone."
Hibachi arched his brow at Sasuke. "Eh? Really? Well, he should have stayed instead of letting trash like him stay. Unlike your brother, Naruto isn't worth keeping. It's all his fault we lost your brother. We're better off without him—Aaaugh!"
Sasuke had just finished punching Hibachi directly in the face.
Crack!
There was a sickening crack that resounded upon Sasuke's fist coming in contact with Hibachi's nose. There was no doubt that Sasuke had broken Hibachi's nose—and he fucking deserved it for saying what he said. Sasuke was completely furious as, right after he had punched Hibachi in the face, he tackled the boy onto the ground and started punching him over and over again in the face.
"Take. It. Back." Sasuke said between punches and strained teeth, repeating constantly, almost like a mantra of sorts.
We all watched, too shocked to do anything. It took only until Kiba could see the blood on Hibachi's face that he finally managed to force himself to run off so he could do his best to calm himself down, what with his hemophobia still troubling him. By then, five minutes had already passed and Hibachi's friends started trying to pull Sasuke off Hibachi, but to no avail. Sasuke was just too mad to allow himself to be removed, or let anyone get in his way.
It was Naruto who was able to successfully pull Sasuke off of Hibachi. Hibachi was practically unrecognizable. Blood and bruises covered his face and after Hibachi coughed a few times, he spat out a couple of bloody teeth. Hibachi's friends took this as a time to take Hibachi away from us, afraid that Sasuke might really kill him.
Once Hibachi and his friends were out of our sight, Sasuke finally managed to calm down. He was breathing heavily, his anger taking a while to subside. Once it had occurred to him what had happened, he latched onto Naruto and tried his best to keep himself from crying.
"I…don't blame you," Sasuke told Naruto. "I don't blame you at all. You're important…that's why Nii-san made sure to bring you back—even if it meant leaving. Just…don't let those idiots get you down."
It's honestly touching how Sasuke doesn't blame Naruto at all for the fact that Itachi is no longer in Konoha. It gave all of us a sense of relief and comfort, just knowing that nothing has really changed about how we feel about each other…except maybe Sasuke feeling strongly about how close he felt to Naruto. After all, apart from us, Naruto was all Sasuke had left of his life before his entire clan was killed, now that Itachi was gone.
Sasuke didn't get in much trouble for what he did to Hibachi, but he did get a warning. Sasuke didn't really care about it, though…and Hibachi couldn't really forget what Sasuke had done to him. Even after his injuries had been healed, Hibachi decided to get even with us.
…
The next week, during class, as Iruka-sensei was lecturing the class, I was trying my best to pay attention, even though I was nodding off. Sometimes, I had a hard time staying away during lectures and it was only because of Hinata's notes that I managed to get as far as I have done, academically. Unlike most times, the reason I was falling asleep was because nightmares have been keeping me up last night. Events regarding the day of what should have been Shisui's sixteenth birthday were hard to forget…
Just as I had effectively nodded off, I felt something cold and scaly brush my arm. I immediately woke up, my body tense and my eyes alert. When I found myself looking at a relatively harmless garter snake had somehow crawled into my sight, I let out an earsplitting scream. It was loud enough to bring all attention on me, thereby disrupting Iruka-sensei's lesson, but I couldn't care less about that, if only because there was a fucking snake right on my desk!
"Aaah-aaaaaah-aaaaaaaaahhh—Getitawaygetitawaygetitaway!" For the love of god, just get it the fuck away from me!
It was Iruka-sensei who removed the garter snake from the classroom, as I stayed in the corner, crying my eyes out as my friends tried to calm me. It was Hibachi who had thought it would be funny to bring in a snake, having heard about our bad experience with snakes. Iruka-sensei punished Hibachi accordingly and sent me to the infirmary to recover.
I found out that day that my near-death experience with Orochimaru left me with a crippling fear of snakes. Because of that stupid snake bastard, I developed a phobia of snakes… There was nothing funny about this. Every time I looked at a snake now, all I could think about is the little snake that had been coiled around my neck and the giant snake that tried to crush me. It was difficult to forget—and it didn't help that it added more to the nightmares I've been having.
I never appreciated the irony that has inflicted my life and I still don't. I was honestly pissed off that I went from liking snakes in my past life to being terrified of them in this life. And it was all thanks to Orochimaru that had happened.
Even Kiba wasn't on my level in terms of how his phobia affected him. And, unlike my phobia of snakes, Kiba's hemophobia would get in the way of his potential career as a ninja. Not to say the same wouldn't happen to me, it was just that a phobia of blood was the worst thing to have when you're living the shinobi life. Snakes…they can be avoided. Blood cannot.
As I was discussing this with my friends on our way out of the Academy, now that classes were over, we neared the Academy tree swing. We usually took turns on the swings whenever something stressful has happened to us. And considering what had happened today, I needed the tree swing… However, it was already being occupied by a child close to our age.
Normally, we would have just gone our merry way to do something else, like going to an Akimichi clan restaurant or to Ichiraku Ramen. Then I got a closer look at the child on the tree swing. It was a boy with short, red hair, wearing clothes that were unlike typical Konohagakure wear and seemed more suited for a desert environment.
The boy eyed us with his sea-foam green eyes that were encircled with black eye-rings that reminded me of a raccoon. The boy lacked eyebrows and carried a gourd on his back. And on the left side of his forehead, was the kanji 愛, for love.
I honestly should have recognized him from the start, but it was just so unreal, seeing this kid here, of all places, at this time and day, years early before he was even supposed to be in Konohagakure.
And yet, there he was, in all his eight-year-old glory, Sabaku no Gaara.
…
…
…
A/N 3-23-18 EDITS IN THE PROCESS, FEEL FREE TO TELL ME IF I'VE MISSED OUT ON ANYTHING!
AND I MADE ANOTHER LONG CHAPTER. BEHOLD OVER 10000 WORDS! AAAAH, it just feels so good to be able to write so much for this story. It's been a while since I wrote this much…
That aside, a lot of stuff happened in this chapter. For one thing, Orochimaru and Sasori, for another thing, Itachi left his village, and to top it all off, Chōko has ophidiophobia (fear of snakes). Course, I wouldn't blame Chōko for what she had to put up with, what with Orochimaru being his usual discomforting self. Definitely do NOT let around children.
So yeah, let me get into an explanation I should have made last chapter. The reason Itachi and Sasuke are alive is because they were at the summer festival with everyone else. Itachi's behavior of wanting to enjoy every little moment stems from the fact that he WAS supposed to kill his entire clan…but someone else got there before he did. And so, if you really think about it, it was all luck. That is pretty much the reason why Itachi was being questioned and suspected, in case any of you guys were wondering.
Moving on from there, you guys do recall that Orochimaru used to be part of the Akatsuki. And that Sasori was his partner. Which is why the both of them were there. And the reason they were there in the first place was to recruit Itachi because, as mentioned before, as Itachi didn't leave his village, since he had no reason to, there was basically nothing keeping the Akatsuki out of Konoha.
And remember how I set the Chuunin exams in Amegakure? I kinda just found out (really, I just remembered) that the Akatsuki base is in Ame and just…considering what had happened in Ame, I'm pretty sure the Akatsuki would have seen Itachi in action and it is pretty difficult to ignore talent.
I'm honestly surprised with how well this turned out, even though I only picked out Amegakure because I live in California and we needed rain and, ironically enough, we started getting rain…a lot of it. AND IT IS FUCKING AWESOME.
And Sakura managed to create a name for herself at such a young age. AGAIN, I am quite happy with how Sakura is developing on her own. Only eight-years-old and she managed to help create an antidote to Sasori's poison, many years before she did it when Kankurō was poisoned. Course, she had help this time around, unlike in canon, where she did it on her own…but then again, she had more experience and Tsunade as a mentor, so there's that. At least she saved our favorite dog-masked ANBU from death.
Also, Naruto and Sasuke are as close as brothers are. That won't be changing anytime soon. Now that Itachi is gone, Naruto and Sasuke just have each other back home. Sasuke does face some mistreatment, considering what Itachi had done, but Sasuke doesn't blame Naruto. Sasuke is actually proud of what his brother had done. Itachi had sacrificed himself for Naruto…that's all Sasuke cares about and not what others say, which is that Itachi is a traitor.
By the by, Neji/Chōko is still the most supported pairing, with Shikamaru/Chōko in second, and with Naruto/Chōko being a recently introduced one. I know it's a bit too early for romance, but I have lots of time to build up chemistry. I just find it intriguing with what people think. Again, this is mostly something for me to keep in mind. As I said before, nothing is set in stone unless otherwise.
Anyways, shout out to nic611 for being reviewer #80! I would give out a shout out to reviewer #90, but I keep getting anonymous reviewers and I'm fine with that, but I just wish you guys would give yourselves a name to differentiate yourselves. It makes it easier on me, so I'll just give an honorable mention to clashingHeartsofChocolate and Mangafreak666. Now I'll give a big shout out to Veedramon for being reviewer #100. And since reviewer #110 is also an anonymous reviewer with no means of differentiating themselves, apart from the huge "DOOOOOOOOM" (eight o's—nice!), I'll just give an honorable mention to Weirdchick27. And one last shout out to Angel4EverLostInLife, for being reviewer #111! Damn, that was a lot of shout outs, but I got a lot of reviews this time around and just…thank you so much, everyone!
Also, I bet you guys didn't know that, after 12-24-14, I would have been writing for over six years already! That's a lot of time spent writing, but I really do enjoy what I do and I appreciate that people take the time to read my stories. Again, it really just means a lot to me, so thank you so much! ^^
I guess that's about it for this chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please excuse any mistake I might have made. This chapter was somewhat difficult to write, but I managed to get it done! So until next time, everyone! KD out! XD