Naruto: The Uchiha Chronicles Re-Version:
Hello Everyone! Welcome to this months chapter. This one is the beginning of a new arc, one I've had planned for a while. Not much to really go over before we start so on with the show!
Arc V: Kusanoka's Revenge:
Chapter 23: A New Mission, Deliver the Package!
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A tension built in her lungs as she inhaled. Her nostrils were filled with the smell of pine. The cord grew tight in her left hand. In her right the laminated wooden handle was firm and cool to the touch. The fletching tickled her cheek. With a simple twitch she released the cord, and it snapped forward with a crack of displaced air!
TWANG! WHOOSH
The arrow streaked through the air, no more than a black and red blur. It crashed into the worn out straw target dummy with a solid–THUNK! Sasuki smirked with satisfaction at the sight of the arrow quivering in the center of the faded bullseye. Five other identical arrows stuck out right next to it in a tight group. Their shafts were painted midnight black, with crimson-died feathers for the fletching. She'd come a long way from the terrible shot she'd been as a child.
It was Naruto's grandfather that'd suggested she take up the sport. A way to calm and center herself.
A shaft of golden light suddenly peaked above the treetops, catching her attention. "Huh, better get going." She muttered to herself.
Kakashi had told them to meet at the mission hall at seven o'clock. There couldn't be more than a half hour left. With a quick pulse of chakra her bow was sealed back into her arm warmer. After taking the time to deftly pluck her arrows from the target and re-seal them, she took off from her sheltered training area for the outside world.
Even if she knew her sensei would probably be late, Sasuki wasn't about to risk being late herself. The gentle strain of her training weights only slowed her down slightly as she raced through claustrophobic streets that cut between towering buildings in all manner of angles and shapes. Some were rounded at one end and square on another. Many were painted red or blue, while others were left a bland and faded white save for their awnings. They were evidence of the many different eras of the Hidden Leaf as it had continued to build from the humble settlement it started out as. She tried to avoid main streets as much as possible, though occasionally she would have to take one for the sake of time.
Some of the people that were already out and about called to her, but Sasuki ignored them. It would be easy enough to pass off as a ninja headed to a mission with no time for pleasantries. Truthfully didn't have any desire to interact with them. It hadn't taken very long for her to get annoyed by the way people treated her after … after Itachi did what he did. Too many of them wanted to pry or get her to act a certain way. The matter wasn't helped by how they treated Naruto. In the end, Sasuki honestly couldn't care less about most of the civilians.
Turning one last corner, her destination came into view. The Mission Assignment Desk was on the south side of the Shinobi Academy, a large flat building face with a wrap-around balcony in a more traditional style. Her teammates were already there. They stood in the Academy's shadow near the entrance, their respective cherry-blossom and bright blonde hair colors making them stand out against the worn white façade of the building.
As she stepped into the massive shadow from the building her skin broke out in goosebumps. The air was still cold from the night before. On this side of the village the sun didn't hit quite as early due to the massive Hokage Mountain that loomed over them.
Sakura waved at her as soon as she saw Sasuki.
"Hey Sasuki, ready for today's mission?" She called enthusiastically.
Despite herself Sasuki felt her lips twitch into the smallest of smiles. She'd gotten used to Sakura's enthusiasm and if she was honest, she was growing rather fond of the pink-haired girl. A few months ago such a thing was unthinkable.
"Yeah, I'm ready." She replied as she strolled over to them. Her eyes slid over to Naruto\. Dark circles hung under his eyes. It was becoming more of a common sight. She had to forcefully push down the worried twisting of her stomach. "And what about you dummy, are you ready?"
Naruto gave a shrug, showing that nonchalant attitude he knew annoyed her. "Yep. Hope this time it's something interesting and not another D-Rank." He said.
Sasuki noticed how Naruto suddenly tensed. He froze like an animal hearing a noise in the forest. She'd seen him react to his sensing enough to know when he was reacting to something. There wasn't a chance to ask about it before the reason made himself fairly obvious. The drawling voice of their sensei called out from behind her.
"No, not a D-rank. Since you're all here, no use in waiting around." He said.
Without waiting for a reply, Kakashi causally brushed past them and walked towards the entrance. Momentarily stunned at the abrupt turn of events, Sasuki exchanged curious looks with her teammates. She met a pair of equally surprised bright blue and jade eyes. Naruto simply offered a casual shrug.
"Guess we're going right in." He said.
There really wasn't any other option. With a slight shake of her head, Sasuki started to follow the retreating form of her sensei. She could feel the familiar presence of her teammates as they stepped up beside her. They were led through the heavy set of bright red double doors, into the familiar halls of the academy with their faded egg-shell walls and gleaming wooden floors. Up a set of wide, shallow stairs they went, finally they were led into one of the older rooms in the building where missions were assigned. Two of the walls were basically missing, places where old-fashioned screen walls were supposed to be instead peered out over the bustling village. A cool breeze drifted across her face.
Finally, Kakashi stopped before a rather gruff looking chunin with choppy brown hair. The man wore an eyepatch, with a faded crescent scar on his opposite cheek. Her nose crinkled at the lingering scent of tobacco that surrounded him. She saw Kakashi give a casual wave as the man craned his neck to look up at the Jonin.
"Team 7, here for a mission. I believe we were specifically requested for a C-Rank?" He said.
A specific request? It was odd for them to get a specific request this soon. Generally shinobi didn't get requested for missions until they'd made a name for themselves.
The gruff man blinked slowly. "Huh, yeah, I think I remember something about that. Let's see …" He said, his voice as rough as his appearance. Glancing down, the man began to shuffle scrolls around. It took about a half a minute before he finally pulled one from the pile. "… here it is. A C-rank delivery mission to Koyama Village in the Land of Rivers. Here you go. The details should be in there." The chunin said as he tossed the scroll to Kakashi.
He caught the scroll with ease. The paper rustled as he unfurled the scroll to read its contents. Sasuki found herself leaning forwards, eager to hear what it was. The thought of another mission outside the village had her blood pumping. Ever since the escort mission they hadn't left. She desperately wanted to be able to read the details, but it was impossible to do so with Kakashi's back blocking her view of the scroll. Stupid old scarecrow and his height!
After a minute or so perusing the scroll, Kakashi gave a hum of understanding. "Huh, seems simple enough. We'll get right on this."
Quick as a flash he rolled up the scroll and turned to look at them for the first time that day.
"Alright you three. I'm going to go retrieve the package. You go get ready for the mission. This one shouldn't be as long as the last, five days maximum." He instructed seriously. It was a marked difference from how he'd handled their last mission.
"Okay Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura replied diligently.
Naruto simply gave a grunt of acknowledgement.
For several seconds, Kakashi held their gaze. It was finally broken when he gave a slight nod and reached up to scratch the back of his head. "Well, I'll see you soon. Meet back up at the main gate in an hour and a half." He said. With a whisper of displaced air, her sensei vanished.
Sasuki's stomach fluttered with excitement a moment later. They were finally getting another C-rank. She'd been waiting eagerly to get back out on a mission. The last one had felt like a personal failure. She'd been knocked out and Naruto had to step in. It left a bad taste in her mouth. This time, it would be different. Even though it was a simple delivery mission, she couldn't help but hope they'd get a chance to test their skills. 'Steady, don't get too excited. Save it for the mission.'
Taking a deep breath through her nose to calm herself, Sasuki waved goodbye to her teammates.
"See you in a bit." She said.
Naruto nodded. "Yeah, see you."
"Likewise, good luck preparing!" Sakura replied.
Sasuki smiled as she formed the tiger seal. Her body was instantly flooded with a burst of energy in every cell. Recently, she'd gotten Naruto to teach her the Teleportation Jutsu. It was extremely convenient, and she was very proud of knowing it–a rarity for a genin. Though her mood was slightly dampened by Naruto smirking with a casual wave and disappearing even more seamlessly than their sensei. She knew damn well he did that just to upstage her!
'Tch, I'll get the dummy back later.' She thought.
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The sun was well into it's ascent by the time she finished her preparations, though it hadn't taken all that long. Even this early it's hot rays bombarded the village. Sasuki strode confidently towards the imposing granite archway that marked the main entrance to the village. The titanic faded green gates set into it were already thrown wide to allow commerce in an out of the village.
Clip-clop ka-kuh. Several different horse-drawn wagons meandered about. One in particular caught her attention, piled high with bright red tomatoes that smelled as if they'd just been plucked.
With every step she took, Sasuki was constantly reminded of the unfamiliar weight at her lower back. It came from the black handled tanto that jutted out at her lower back. The short blade was a suggestion on Kakashi's part to help her keep distance from her opponents if needed. After Hinata had shown what taijutsu fighters could do in their spar, Sasuki couldn't help but agree. Unconsciously her hand wandered to the supply pouch at her hip where she felt the bulge of her storage scroll. Even though she knew she'd packed it she was still reassured to feel it. The thing had all her camping supplies in it, including her well-used tent and hygiene supplies. Not to mention her shinobi tools. 'Storage scrolls have got to be the most useful invention ever' She thought to herself. Without them she'd have to lug all that stuff around on her back.
A flash of blond hair in the shadowed recesses at the bottom of the gates caught her attention. Her oldest friend was slouched against the large red wall with his arms crossed and eyes closed. A subtle smirk stretched across his face as she got closer.
"I see you got done quickly too Ms. Moody." He said cheekily, finally opening his electric blue eyes to pin her with his gaze. She'd never admit it … but there was something unnerving in the way his eyes seemed to shine even when the lighting wasn't the best. Though not necessarily in a bad way.
"Tch. You know, you don't impress me with that sensing ability." She shot back.
Unfortunately, that just seemed to amuse him even more. "I've offered to help you develop your own. Sure it won't be as good as someone with a natural ability, but it's better than nothing." Naruto replied with a shrug.
That made her smirk. "Now why would I need one when you're always around? What's the use in having a personal sensing tool if I have to do it myself." She fired back.
It wasn't the first time they'd had this exchange. Though oddly enough, Naruto didn't seem to take it as lightly as he usually did. She saw his shoulders suddenly stiffen. For a split second a dark look passed over his face, and an unknown emotion swam in his eyes. As quickly as it came, it was gone, and Naruto's features returned to their normal easygoing expression.
"Well, I'm not always going to be around. Might be useful to pick it up." He said seriously.
She was caught rather flatfooted at his response. One second he was joking around, then the next he was as serious as she'd ever seen him and back again just as quickly. What should she make of it? It left her uncertain how to respond, so instead they lapsed into an awkward silence.
It was broken soon after by Sakura's cheerful call of, "Hey, looks like we're all here!"
Their third teammate was approaching from the bustling main road. Sasuki wasn't too surprised to see Sakura wasn't wearing a backpack either. Both of them had been using storage scrolls copiously since mastering the sealing technique. More surprising, though, was the sight of Kakashi strolling beside her, nose stuffed in a book and shoulders slumped nonchalantly. Though the silver-haired man soon shut the book with a firm–snap–and regarded them with a lazy eye.
"Well, I suppose I'd better fully explain the mission." He said. As he spoke, Kakashi reached up to one of the scroll pouches on his vest and deftly unsnapped it, swiftly catching the scroll that dropped out.
"Yeah, that would probably be best." Naruto responded cheekily.
Unflappable as ever, Kakashi didn't respond to the snark. Instead he held up the scroll. "Now, listen carefully. Especially the slower ones–" He said, looking pointedly at Naruto. Sasuki had to hold back an amused snort. Okay maybe he hadn't ignored it. "–This sealing scroll contains a package we're to deliver to our client in the Land of Rivers. It's sealed using a storage seal that ensures secrecy at the behest of the client. We're not supposed to open it until we deliver it. All we know is it's been inspected and okayed by Mission Assignment.
"We shouldn't encounter too much trouble this time, but nonetheless I want you to keep your guard at all times. For this mission we can move at full speed, so it should be much faster. Since the location is rather far, we'll be making camp at some point. Any questions?"
Sasuki bit her lip and mulled it over. Honestly it seemed fairly straight forward. Ultimately she shook her head no. When her teammates did the same, Kakashi gave a nod of satisfaction.
"Good, then follow me." He said.
Kakashi turned and dashed away. She shared a quick glance with her teammates before they followed. The three seamlessly fell into their normal formation with Sasuki on the right flank and Sakura on the left, while Naruto took up the rear. Shadows blanketed the road like fence posts. Underfoot the dirt crunched tirelessly. Soon the Hidden Leaf Village became nothing more than a speck on the horizon when she glanced back over her shoulder. Not long after, Kakashi called out from the head of the formation, "This is where we break off from the main path. We're going into the trees." He warned.
With a chakra enhanced leaping bound, Kakashi launched himself into the canopy of the gigantic trees that towered over the road. Sasuki let out a grunt of exertion as she channeled chakra into her own legs. Her muscles compressed, unleashing like pent up springs to launch her off the dirt.
A second later, her right foot caught purchase on the firm bough of one of the trees. She was quick to use chakra to stick to it. Soon enough, she was following after the form of her sensei as they dashed from branch to branch. In her peripheral vision, she could see Sakura with her long hair streaming in the wind. Though she couldn't see him the tell-tale clack of Naruto's sandals on the wooden branches assured her he was following as well.
It wasn't long before they settled into a monotonous rhythm. A constant blur of motion and silence. The only thing she could really hear were a clack-clack … whoosh in sets of three as they jumped limb to limb. Every time she heard the last set of sandals landing, her mind would turn to their owner. A frown twisted her face. Naruto had been … off, recently. He'd been moodier, often showing up to meetings looking haggard with dark bags under his eyes. It was clear something was going on. What it was she wouldn't know.
She didn't know how long she spent trying to puzzle it out. Nothing she remembered from their recent interactions since that mission stood out. Wait, was that it? Was it something on the mission? 'It's not like I can just ask him. The last time was embarrassing enough.'
Just the thought of when she'd asked him about it before the sparring sessions made her want to crawl under a rock and die. Trying to get in touch with emotions and relate to others was alien to her. It made her insides curdle with embarrassment when she misgauged a situation. No, it was far easier to ignore silly things like emotions and being polite. Yet, if she was going to live up to that ideal she'd taken from Haku she'd have to. Sasuki didn't like emotions. She wasn't used to them. They were messy, and complex. Besides … if you didn't have emotions you couldn't get hurt.
An icy hand seized her heart as a blood-spattered face swam in front of her eyes. Cruel red eyes glared at her underneath dull black hair. Her breath caught in her chest for a moment. It almost made her lose her footing when she landed on her next branch. A grunt left her lips as she lurched hazardously when her left foot stumbled. Sasuki was just able to recover and launch herself away with her right foot.
She could feel her heart pounding nervously–both at that reminder of Itachi, and the near miss. 'Get ahold of yourself. Now's not the time to lose focus.' She berated herself.
On second thought, maybe it was best to wait till after the mission to make drastic life changes.
"You good Sasuki?" Kakashi yelled from in front. He had his head turned to regard her with his normal eye.
Just great. He'd noticed her little screw up. The only thing more embarrassing than misreading social ques was messing up. "Tch, fine. Just lost focus for a second." She replied.
He held her eyes for a heartbeat longer. His gaze felt calculating and cold. Like he was somehow x-raying her. She suppressed a shiver. It was easy to recognize that look. She'd seen it from her father and brother all the time. The look of a shinobi that could sniff out bull shit a mile away. How she could have ever bought into his idiot act she'd never know. In an instant that serious shinobi was gone. Locked behind a cage as her teacher gave a lazy shrug.
"Oh, good. Well, we'll be stopping soon anyways. It's getting a bit late in the day." He said. Sasuki started. She glanced around quickly. The rays of sunlight that penetrated the immense canopy were becoming more horizontal. Now the trees shadows were starting to become much longer, engulfing the forest in a field of dark stripes. With a start, she realized her musing about Naruto had lasted far longer than she thought.
True to Kakashi's word, he stopped a few minutes later when they came upon a clearing. A small hollow inside the trees that was dimly lit by shafts of golden light. There was a damp, earthy smell that hung in the air–though not in an unpleasant way. The ground was green with a blanket of moss save for patches of dirt. Not far away there was a whispering stream that cut through the greenery. It wound around the hollow before disappearing around a corner and being swallowed by the dark forest.
"Alright, Naruto, make some clones and set up a perimeter. I'll be along shortly to help make sure everything is correct. The real you and a clone can set up the tents." He ordered. Naruto nodded sharply, giving a muffled 'got it' in reply. Kakashi then turned to Sakura and said, "Sakura, you go collect wood. Make sure it's dry. I don't want any smoke. The water nature transformation exercise should help with that." Her pink-haired teammate gave a nod as well. Finally, the scarecrow turned his gaze to her.
"And me?" She asked.
The mouth area of his cloth mask twitched. There was an almost audible smirk to his voice when he said, "Oh, you'll be catching dinner. I see some fish in that stream. That or rabbits will do fine. You're the best with aim of the three of you so that's right up your alley."
She glanced at the water. It was the best lit place in the area since there were no trees going through there. True to Kakashi's words, she could see flashes of silver darting too and fro in the clear blue water. Sasuki nodded grudgingly. The man had a good point. Though now she was glad she'd brought her bow with her. It would make it all the easier to complete her chores. Almost like … well … shooting fish in a barrel.
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Well, there you have it. This beginning of the arc was rather slow and simple. I thought I'd try to show a bit of Sasuki's perspective to give more of a feel for her character. As you can see, she's not really as angsty as Sasuke, or at least, not in the same way.
Anyways, in other news, I feel like I'm close to being able to do two chapters a month. Despite some setbacks with a couple nasty ear infections that made it pretty hard to write for a couple weeks, I'm at a bit more of a surplus of chapters now for posting on and AO3. It'll also let me do the occasional short chapter that's just best left as it's own thing because It'll be followed by a slightly longer one.
So yeah I think starting in January I'll post once at the beginning of the month and then another in the middle.
Well, that's all for now.
Until Next Time,
RinneTaicho Signing Off!
