Gravity Chapter 9: Expose, a naruto fanfic

A.N.

Bless all of those who have reviewed, faved, and followed my story. I really, truly appreciate it!

If you haven't read Slowly Slipping Away, you may not really understand what's going on in this chapter. I hope you do though! Thank you for reading. Also if you have not kept up with the manga from here on out there may be spoilers.

Disclaimer: Naruto does NOT belong to me.

Sayuri and any characters that have not and will not appear in the manga and/or anime are completely original.

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Expose

"Try again." Moriyo instructed as her brunette student panted, hands on her knees as she leaned forward.

"I can't…" Sayuri said as her shaking legs gave out under her.

Moriyo crossed her arms and moved closer to the girl. "You need to learn this jutsu…it was your—"

"Clan's original jutsu, yeah, yeah, yeah…I know that already." The fourteen year old huffed. "But I can't do it…"

"You've done all the others, so why not this one? Is it because of its nature?"

She watched as Sayuri looked away and began to tug at her sleeve. The teen had mastered her clans' water, earth, wind, and lightning Justus yet she has yet to learn three fire ones. What's more, during training and even on missions she refuses to use them even though they would bring her at an advantage. Sayuri would rather waste her time using other techniques then set anything on fire.

"Alright…" Moriyo sighed. "You can go."

Brown eyes met orange ones for a second before flickering away. "I really am sorry."

"Don't worry about it…maybe next time." With a nod the teen stood and left the training area.

What did she have to do to get Sayuri to use her birth given right? From the very beginning her use of jutsu, while mediocre, showed some potent talent. Given, her chakra control was almost on par with that of a medic nins when she was eleven, it was her lack knowledge of a jutsu's true power that really held her back.

During the Chunin exams, Moriyo had made sure that Sayuri read up on the few jutsu she already knew before teaching her how to properly use them. The young girl had done a such a marvelous job that she had began to doubt what Kaminari had told her years ago about Sayuri not having a blood line limit. But now…

"I just don't know!" Moriyo huffed gaining the attention of several villagers as she stood by the market district. How she got there, she had no clue. Covering her mouth quickly she fled the scene not paying any heed to where she was going until she hit something rather hard.

"Where are you in such a hurry to?"

Her brow twitched at the voice as she rubbed her nose. "Hey Kakashi…"

The silver haired jounin glanced up from his orange book. "No, 'Hey Scarecrow' or something along those lines?" Moriyo frowned. "Not in the mood today?"

The dark haired jounin rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She muttered with a frown.

The two began walking side by side. "I take it, training didn't go too well." Moriyo kept her eyes locked on the road ahead. Silence followed them as they walked along the busy Konoha streets. Seconds slowly turned to minutes and the silver haired jounin looked away from his book for a second time that day to look at his female companion. "You can't force her into something she fears, Moriyo."

The woman glanced up at him and shook her head. "How can she fear something that is a part of her?"

Kakashi looked back at his book, but not really seeing it as he tried to come up with an answer. "Have you ever wondered why Sayuri's eyes changed?"

Moriyo looked up at the silver hared man. "Of course I have."

The two slowed their pace as they neared the academy. "Saito had a theory…"

"Theory?" she echoed, one delicate eyebrow raised.

"Yes," he flipped the page of his book. "He noticed that Sayuri had begun to abhor fire…any time it was anywhere near her she would shy away from it…well more like run away from it." Folding the page he was on he tucked the orange paperback into his pouch. "When she began to learn about jutsu she had trouble using fire based ninjutsu. Each time he'd try to show her something as simple as a fireball she would immediately shut down and stop her training…" he looked as her sideways. "Sound familiar?"

She nodded. Of course it was. Sayuri did practically anything she could to avoid anything fire based. Today had been mild compared to the others when she so much as touched the fire ninjutsu subject. Other times Sayuri would have made excuses...on occasion she'd throw a fit, or sometimes—like today for example—she'd purposefully waste her chakra in order to botch the jutsu.

"She's afraid of fire, Moriyo." Kakashi stated.

"But fire is her chakra nature." Moriyo frowned.

"And that is what Saito believed was the reason of her eye color changed." The jounin answered as they came to a stop as they neared the nearby almost empty park. "Marihasha eyes coincide with their chakra nature. Their kekkei genkai has to do with their ability to use and manipulate the elements to their advantage. Not only that but their willingness to use their ability."

The two stopped in time to see a pair of five year olds running through the sidewalk. The two toppled over but sat up just as quickly to reach their goal, the slide. Just a few feet away were three woman, one blonde, and two brunettes. The two brunette's were the obvious mothers of the two children that had ran past them just a few seconds before, the blonde however held her growing stomach, sign that she was pregnant.

"She's rejecting a part of herself so forcibly that it in turn had affected her kekkei genkai…unless she gets over her fear and learns to accept that part she will never be able to master her family's Zenshihai." Moriyo concluded while Kakashi nodded in agreement.

XXX

She lay on the roof of her home, arms folded behind her head as a makeshift pillow, brown eyes focused on the sky. No one would ever really know how glad she was to be able to actually relax and stare at the clouds without having to worry about someone finding out who she was or trying to kill her. She missed being inside Konoha walls and having that sense of safety that being back home brings to someone.

Yet for some reason that sense of security never came, not when she finally set foot past the looming gate, not when she headed home, not even when Neji held her, something that was now becoming a common occurrence. No. Sayuri felt no safety, she felt no protection, or even sheltered. She felt exposed, vulnerable, and insecure.

Sayuri absolutely loathed the feeling.

She blinked up at the afternoon sky taking note of the slightly reddening clouds. The sky that day strangely reminded her of blood. Two light thuds on the roof made her sigh in relief as she sat up. Standing before her were her two teammates still dressed in their ANBU attire, their masks off and to the side of their heads.

This had become a custom among the three. One of them would go off on a mission the other two would work relentlessly inside the village, and would soon visit their teammate once news of their return spread. Unlike other ANBU teams, however, they never wore their masks in front of each other when it came to these meetings. They saw no need for it. After all they were teammates, friends, and allies.

They knew each other's deepest secrets, and despite the fact that neither ever said anything on the matter, they were secretly thankful that someone knew what went on in their minds. It was a way to keep them sane…they were each other's anchors to this world.

But for some strange reason, that day she would have preferred that they were like every other ANBU team before them because she didn't want them to be able to read her like a book in that strange and slightly unnerving way they did, nor did she want to read them. Her mind felt…well scrambled, for lack of a better word.

All of the nightmares she's had in the last couple of days have had her seriously question her mentality. And with all of that going on, her mind was just too tired to think of the possible reasons as to why Diachi looked like he was getting ready to murder someone, or why Hajime looked more haunted than ever before.

Hajime whistled. "Damn what happened to you?" They all knew that it was a miserable attempt to liven the mood, so they played along because that was how Hajime handled his daemons.

"You don't look too good yourself, screw up." She smiled as she gingerly got to her feet, all the while she raised her arms high above her head to stretch.

"I'll have you know that I look damn hot! I had ten girls from Suna to ask me out on a date!" The silver haired teen replied.

Sayuri smirked. "You sure they weren't desperate…or blind?"

Hajime growled. "I don't see anyone asking you out!"

Diachi sighed and shook his head at his team's antics. For some reason he always felt like he was dealing with children when it came to those two. Still he couldn't help but join in.

"That's where you're wrong Hajime." The brunette boy drawled. "It would seem that Lady Sayuri here has gotten herself a Hyūga."

Hajime's green eyed widened comically. "What!" he exclaimed. "Wow! Finally getting some, Marihasha!?" He asked.

The female of the three turned bright red at her teammate's remark. "Listen here you a—"

"Language, Sayuri." Diachi interrupted and Sayuri frowned.

"What are you? My mother?" she mumbled under her breath as she crossed her arms and looked away.

Sayuri felt a pat on her back and she turned to Hajime who smirked wickedly. "That would explain why you look like you haven't slept in ages." He wiggled his eyebrows. Suddenly he recoiled, clutching his face while Sayuri shook her hand and looked rather content with herself.

"I strongly suggest that you don't ruin Hajime's face. It's the only thing he has going for him in his old age." Diachi announced as he took a seat on the railing of the roof top.

"What!?" The silver haired teen screeched as he held his nose. "I am only three months older that you, you bastard!"

Diachi shrugged and turned to Sayuri. "I heard that the snake is dead."

Hajime perked up at the news and turned to Sayuri for confirmation. The brunette took a seat and nodded. "Yes, that's right."

"Sasuke has yet to return." Diachi's light brown eyes were on the Marihasha heiress.

"You don't say." Her tone was rather bored as she looked off to the side.

"I don't get it." Hajime finally decided to speak. "If he killed Orochimaru then why is he not back in Konoha."

"Because he has yet to do what he had left the village for." Sayuri stated while leaning back on her arms.

"Itachi Uchiha?" Hajime asked. Diachi gave him a tired nod.

"And what of the Akatsuki?" Sayuri asked her green eyed teammate who let himself fall onto to a seating position.

"They are a bunch of lunatics trying to get the tailed beasts for whatever purpose." He sighed and shook his head. "They almost killed the Kazekage…I fought alongside Sakura to take one of them down. You should have seen it." Briefly the two noticed how, for the first time, Hajime had a tortured far off look to him. "I honestly believed I was going to die that day."

Sayuri could empathize with that. Every day she had spent with Orochimaru felt like it could very well be her last. Every single day she'd worry about whether or not she kept up appearances well, or whether or not Orochimaru would suddenly become bored of her and kill her himself.

"And of the ROOT?" all eyes turned to Diachi then. Both Hajime and Sayuri noticed how their usually calm teammate tensed up and clutched the fabric of his pants.

"Everything is clean…too clean if you ask me." Diachi glared at the brown roof. "As much as I tried everything seemed in place, but…" He hesitated and took a breath. "While you two were out I had followed Danzo into the woods and I saw how the ROOT became ROOT in the first place."

Hajime tilted his head to the side in concern while Sayuri's brows dipped ever so slightly.

"These ninja…they kill off their own comrades…their friends." He looked at the two then. His light brown eyes look haunted. "He isolates them, makes them become each other's only confidants only to have them battle each other to the death. It's just…"

"Cruel." Sayuri offered to which Diachi nodded in agreement.

If there was something that both Hajime and Sayuri knew well was that Diachi hated conflict, he hated when two people were pitted against each other, and he loathed when friend would turn against friend. It was a miracle, really, as to why he rose to high up in rank being how he is. But Diachi hid his too kind heart well. To everyone he was a ninja through and through. But to Sayuri and Hajime he was too kind of a soul born and raised in the wrong time.

Both Hajime and Diachi had lost their innocence early enough. The two had fathers in the ANBU who wanted their sons to follow in their footsteps. They had taught their children from an early age how the ninja world really worked and made sure that the two of them really understood that.

Perhaps that is the reason as to why they had tried to shield Sayuri from the truth from the moment they were assigned as her body guards three years ago. At the time Sayuri had little to no recollection of her past and had a naïve way of interpreting everything around her. It had gradually become harder for them to preserve that innocent demeanor as she began to recall more of her past, and the fact that she was growing up didn't really help their cause.

"Orochimaru?" Hajime asked for now it was their turn to hear from her.

Sayuri bit her lip and looked away. "He's trained Sasuke well, I was able to keep up with him and his training. The snake was…rotting away in a sense when I got there…" she debated whether to tell them of the ANBU documents but opted against it. It wouldn't do for them to feel troubled for something that, in all honesty, was more her problem than theirs.

"Anything else?" Diachi asked and Sayuri shook her head.

"No. He died, Sasuke killed him and that was that."

Hajime glanced at Diachi then at Sayuri before deciding to speak. "What if…" both teens turned to him. "What if Sasuke never comes back?"

"He will." Sayuri answered without missing a beat.

"How sure of that are you?" Diachi challenged.

How sure of that was she? Sayuri turned back to sky, the sun was finally setting leaving the dark colors of the night in its wake. It was then that Sayuri realized that with Sasuke she could never be sure of anything…he always had a way of surprising her.

XXX

It was official. In just a couple of days he would go in search of his brother. He had heard rumors of where he might be and he was more than ready to finally put Karin to work.

Sasuke's dark eyes were on the white orb high above him. A full moon again, he noted. The Uchiha heir didn't particularly like full moons, they reminded him of the night of his clans' massacre. His fists tightened at the memory of his parents lying in a pool of their own blood. He closed his eyes in an attempt to make the memory leave his mind, seconds later it was filled with that of a female whose brown hair and dark and light brown eyes he could not get out of his head.

Now that he thought about it, she had never been particularly fond of moons. He remembered one occasion during a mission that Sayuri had turned her back to the white piece of rock. Sayuri much more preferred the sun, and when it came down to it, it made sense. Sayuri was brilliant and warm, while he was dark and cold. She liked people and he hated them. She saw good in almost anything and he only the bad. She was emotional and he physical.

Yet despite their differences, he was attracted to her for that very reason. She was everything he was not, yet somehow he had felt if the two had a quiet acceptance and understanding of who each other were.

"Sasuke!" he heard Karin whine as she crept closer to the Uchiha, suddenly latching onto his back. "So here's where you've been. I've been looking for you." He felt as the redhead pressed her front to his back.

"What do you want Karin?"

"So cold!" she whined as she pressed her cheek to the side of his face. "Come on Sasuke, I know you want to ravish me the same way I do you."

Did she not learn from last time? "Leave, Karin." She merely pressed herself closer to him.

Karin could never be Sayuri, she was too loud and too obnoxious. Most importantly Sayuri did not have him on a pedestal like Sakura, Ino, and now Karin did. She understood that he was not perfect and made it a point that he know that, where as the others seemed to be in love with the idea of him, with what they thought he was.

Sasuke stood up abruptly leaving a slightly shocked Karin. He looked down at her apathetically. "Go to bed." He ordered just before entering his own room.

As he lay there, staring at the white ceiling, his tired self couldn't help but imagine the brunette lying beside him.

XXX

Sayuri leapt from rooftop to rooftop heading a bit away from the town and toward a less crowded area. The teen stopped and snuck into an alley way to take out a black cloak from her small bag and placing it over her small frame making sure that it was secure.

Cautiously she made her way back into the street making sure she wasn't followed before making her way to the large building that loomed in the middle of the almost abandoned part of town. She scanned the area for ninja and found two on the roof.

In fluid movements she climbed up the wall and disabled the two ninja with four senbon each. As they fell with a dull thud she bent down to pick up her tools, getting caught was not something she had planned for that night. Pocketing the eight senbon she scanned the area once more before moving to the side of the building.

Very carefully she pooled chakra to her feet and began to climb down, just as Kakashi had done on a tree long ago. She turned to the window and tried to push it open. Finding it locked she took out a glinting kunai and began to pick at the lock until it clicked open the window became slightly ajar. Carefully she shifted the curtains and scanned the room before going in.

She found herself in the library. Quietly she closed the window behind her before she took out a piece of paper from her pocket. They were blueprints that Diachi had so kindly, and a little reluctantly, provided. According to it, she was one floor above Danzo's office. Well then, that worked out perfectly she smirked as she made her way to the door.

She turned the knob carefully and noticed three other ROOT members lurking in the halls. She watched as one on her floor made a turn further into the building and out of eyesight, on the first floor the ninja stood in place by the main entrance, and on the second floor there was a guard at Danzo's office.

Just as the one on the first floor turned his back to her, she quickly she stepped out into the hallway, closed the door behind her and jumped over the railing using her chakra to muffle her movements. She paralyzed the guard, skewing his mask in order to muffle his shouts. In a matter of seconds the guard became dead weight in her arms. Sayuri reached out behind her for the knob and very carefully turned it, quietly she stepped inside and propped the body of the guard beside the door.

The office was completely empty, just as she expected. She had made sure that Danzo would be out on his routine walks around the village, just as Diachi had said. Moving quickly she looked through his folders hoping to find the original ANBU documents. She shifted through all of them and even opened his desk drawers but found nothing.

Where the heck are they!? She wondered as she closed the last drawer. Her forehead rested on the edge of the desk when she saw it.

On the side of the desk was a small door. Brow furrowed she took out a kunai and began to pick around it until something clicked. Her eyes set on slender folders inside. Taking one out she read the title.

Konohagakure Guard Posts… With a frown she moved to the next folder. Uchiha Clan? She looked at it confused. What on earth would he want with the Uchiha clan? She wondered as she opened the folder. In it was information on the Sharingan and its wielders. Placing the folder aside she took out the following folder. At the sight of it she almost cried out in joy.

The ANBU documents were there, and they were the originals to boot! How's that for evidence. She smirked as she took out her bag and began to scan each page making sure everything was there. As she looked through them she failed to notice as one folder slipped down on the wooden floor.

Suddenly the sound of Danzo's voice brought her out of her musings. Shit…She thought as she heard him from the first floor. Quickly she took out a stack of blank sheets from her blue bag and replaced those with the ANBU documents in folder before she placed it back into the compartment. Looking down at the two folders she decided to do the same with them.

"I'll have some green tea in my office…" Danzo's voice echoed up the hall, his footsteps letting her know that he was by the stairs. She moved to close the compartment when she noticed the last folder that had fallen on the floor.

Marihasha Clan? She froze.

What the hell was Danzo doing with her clan's information!? Footsteps at the end of the hall caught her attention once again. Damn it! She took out the documents and placed the folder back into the compartment before closing it carefully. She stuffed the papers inside her bag and slung it over her shoulder.

She stood up quickly finding the window as she moved to it, unlocking and pushing it open. The door knob to the door began to turn just as she climbed out and closed the panes behind her.

Danzo looked around his office feeling as if something was out of place. He looked down and found one of his ROOT on the floor lying uselessly. His eye shifted to the window and found it closed. He frowned, moving quickly to his desk he knelt and found the little door on the side of his desk shut. Taking out a key he opened it and found the documents he had kept hidden inside.

The old man looked around him before he pushed aside the curtains to his window and neither saw or sensed anyone within the vicinity.

"Lord Danzo," he turned to the ROOT who stood by his door, tray in hand. "Your tea."

"Hn." He nodded as the ninja placed the tray in his desk as he took a seat. "Make sure to get rid of him." He nodded to the unconscious ninja by the door.

"Sir." The ninja nodded and took the other man as he left.

As Danzo sipped his tea, his mind began to work on possible ways to eliminate a pesky little heiress who didn't know how to keep her nose on her own business. He smirked at the strand of brunette hair on his desk.

A.N.

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