It's that time again.
Wiiii!
This is another overlong chapter.
Yaaaay!
It's even
longer than the monstrous Chapter Eleven, for which you have my deepest
apologies.
Why are you apologising for a GOOD thing? @_@
If I'd had any idea that I'd be writing chapters this long,
I would never have started this story.
Then it's a good thing you didn't know beforehand!
***********************************************************************
Disclaimer: Naruto does not belong to me, strange though that may seem.
Instead it is Kishimoto Masashi's creation. However, the text of this
fanfic is mine, and may not be used without permission. Also, donkeys!
Gasp! Not...DONKEYS!
[Day Seventy-one]
*blink* Whoa...we're that close to the end now? o.o;;
Beside the older woman, Shizune grinned in triumph. "That's a
week where you do all your own paperwork with no escape attempts or
drinking that you owe me, Hokage-sama," she stated merrily.
"Damn it," Tsunade hissed under her breath. "It seemed like
such a sure bet, too."
*SNRK* Yeah, like Tsunade EVER wins a bet...unless the world is about to
end... XD
"And don't forget the rest," Shizune added. "You can't do
anything permanent to Anko-chan."
"Define permanent." Tsunade's fingers danced on her desktop,
picking up speed as she began to envision creative ways around that
restriction.
"You break it, you fix it." Shizune gave her mentor a
disapproving look.
"I can fix an awful lot." Tsunade folded her hands in front of
her face in thought.
"Before she leaves here," Shizune added.
"You're no fun," Tsunade griped.
*SNRK*
"Umm... Hokage-sama?" the chuunin, nearly forgotten, asked
carefully.
"Send her in," Tsunade commanded grimly. "Let's see what she
has to say for herself.
Missing quote mark.
"Mitarashi Anko." Tsunade sounded out every syllable of the
special jounin's name frostily. "Care to explain yourself?"
"Well, it all started when my father and mother loved each other
very much, and -"
*CHOKE*
"Oh, you wanted me to explain something specific about me?" Anko
asked, her voice and face a perfect picture of innocence. "My good
looks? My winning personality?"
"My technique for giving head?"
Tsunade groaned as the door to her office shut behind the two
younger women. How the hell did it work out that Anko screwed up and
she got punished instead?
The life of a Hokage is fraught with misfortune.
The bars of the Leaf Village had been doing a brisk business
recently, but tonight this bar in particular was, unusually, among the
busiest. Usually, it was a quiet place, frequented mainly by the
academy teachers and jounin instructors for new genin teams. The day
after the close of the Chuunin Selection Exam, it was filled with
everyone who had been involved in making that exam a success.
Except the participants, much to their dismay.
In a corner, one of the Hokage's chuunin assistants was not-so-
surreptitiously slipping half of his drinks to the technically underage
Nara Shikamaru. Ordinarily, this might have resulted in some
difficulty, but all the employees were among the ones wagering on just
what type of drunk the person who would soon no longer be the Hidden
Leaf's newest chuunin would turn out to be. The bulk of the money was
riding on him being quiet but surly, yet a few people had risked
substantial amounts on him becoming loud, cheerful, and giggly. Much to
his discomfort, one Umino Iruka had been dragged in off the street and
pressed into service as the judge.
Oh dear. XD
"You're late, Gai," Asuma commented.
"Some idiot at the hospital thought it would be a good idea to
give Lee a celebratory drink," the green-clad jounin explained as he sat
down.
OH DEAR XD
"Well, I can tell you who I'm not recommending." Anko took
another cautious sip from her flask. "The Hyuuga and your little clone.
Nobody who wimps out and denies me a nice, climatic bloodbath deserves
to be a chuunin."
"Anko-chan," Shizune said disapprovingly.
Heee.
Junhime's face was dark as she seated herself on the ground
across from Naruto. "I'm not happy about this," she stated, "but I
suppose I have no choice."
Please tell me Naruto gets to rip her face off.
Naruto bared his teeth at her. "You're not happy? Good."
The kunoichi snorted. "At least try to act like a human being,
you little monster." She smiled a smile that was no less threatening
than Naruto's own expression. "If I'm too unhappy, I might just send
Sharingan Kakashi for another round with the interrogation squad."
Man, she's just ASKING for it, isn't she?
It would have surprised many who knew him that Naruto was able
to restrain himself. Not even a flicker of red chakra was visible in
the air around him as he glared at the young woman. "I told you before.
If you hurt Kakashi-sensei, I'll find some way to make you pay. You'd
better believe it!"
*snrk* Sorry, can't suppress a snicker here. :)
For the barest of instants, Naruto's eyes turned crimson before
fading back to an angry blue. "I'm not stupid."
"Apparently not," Junhime replied. "I was so looking forward to
filing the report for being forced to kill you in self-defense."
She is either 100% arrogant, or 200% stupid...or both.
This morning, finally, Sakura felt like a human being again,
instead of some hollow shell. The past few days were practically blank
to her. She hadn't even had the energy to think at all, much less
consider her performance in the exams or the information about Midori
she had managed to get out of Neji after them. As she finished her
breakfast, glad that the milk, one day past its expiration date,
AAAAAAH! The apartment is infusing her with Naruto's bad habits!!
For the first time in months, she didn't have some overriding
goal.
'Overarching' is the word you want here, I believe.
Tenten glanced at Sakura's legs.
"Didn't know you swung that way, Tenten!"
"You should," Lee said seriously. Sakura just nodded, but she
still wasn't that certain. If she was going to get a new set, it could
definitely wait until she had found a replacement for those orange
warmers. What had she been thinking, wearing those in front of the
whole village during the exam? Was she insane?
And does she REALLY want an answer to that?
Tenten sighed, gesturing at her teacher's protege. "It's all
Lee's fault. I don't know how I let myself get roped into this."
Oh, Tenten lets herself get *ROPED* into all SORTS of things...
"We aren't!" Sakura took a deep breath, forcing herself to stay
calm. "You know perfectly well why I'm here and that Naruto was gone
before I moved in."
"Well, yes," Anko replied, "but I think it's a crime to let
little details like that get in the way of a good tease."
*snrk*
"You know what else is a crime?" Sakura replied. "Breaking and
entering."
Good comeback!
Anko sighed. "Sakura-chan, you just very publicly used a snake
technique. There's more than a few people in this village that have
fairly negative views on that." She grimaced. "You can trust me on
that. I was worried that some of your neighbors might cause trouble,
particularly since -" She cut off suddenly, wincing.
"Since?" Sakura asked curiously.
Anko winced again. "I shouldn't talk about that."
Man, Tsunade REALLY needs to kill that stupid "no-talking-about-Kyuubi"
thing DEAD.
"I guess this is it for us," the special jounin said. "After
this, you'll be with Tsunade-sama." The certainty in Anko's voice was
enough to quiet Sakura's instinctive protest that the matter wasn't
certain. "I just wanted to say that you were a good student. If you
ever need my help..." The woman trailed off slowly.
Awww.
That meant reconnaissance, and that meant a disguise. He
couldn't just wander out of the temple and around the Cloud Village
looking like himself. He was going to need to use the Transformation
Technique, but what should he transform into? Whatever transformation
it was, it would have to stand up to casual scrutiny from other ninja,
so he needed a good one.
"Who left this bright orange fire hydrant here?"
Naruto frowned. He couldn't look too much like himself either,
though. His frown deepened into a pained grimace as another solution
from Jiraiya came to mind. He dug through his wardrobe, pulling off the
one change of clothing
Pulling "out", maybe?
He quickly stripped, then created a shadow replication and had
it hop into bed, snoring loudly. Then he changed into Mako's clothing
and returned to the mirror. Grimacing at how perverted he looked in her
clothing,
Oh, like it's any worse than Oiroke no Jutsu? :P
Leaving his snoring clone behind, Naruto quietly slipped out of
his room. Fortunately, he didn't encounter any priests until he reached
the public areas of the temple. Once there, he resisted the urge to
breathe a sigh of relief and just walked out of the temple complex like
he had every right to do so. The long walk down the mountain gave him
time to consider his next steps, and when he passed the Raikage's palace
and headed into the city proper, he knew exactly what to do.
"RAMEN HUNT!"
"How did you wind up here?" Naruto asked.
"I took a ship to this country," the doctor answered. "I was
planning to travel to Fire Country like Jiraiya-sama suggested, but I
met a woman and... well, you wouldn't understand."
Oh, he'd understand. XD
"So we're agreed. Good." Zeshin paused. "You're certain the
Toad Hermit is gone?" That, Naruto decided, was a very disturbing
question.
"Yes," Junhime said.
"That gives us a window of opportunity to secure the Kyuubi."
Oh crap.
All things considered, Hatake Kakashi was relatively
comfortable. He was far too valuable a prisoner to be left to random,
unguided mistreatment. What pain and discomfort he did suffer was
carefully chosen and administered by Storm's interrogation squad.
So it's sort of the caviar of torture, for the discerning gourmet of pain.
"There are things more important than pride, as I'm sure you're
aware." Junhime moved until she was standing directly before Kakashi.
Her hand played across his face briefly. "It's a wonder that you hid
this under that mask. It's rather handsome."
"Are you trying to seduce me?" Kakashi asked incredulously.
"Would it work?" Junhime responded, her voice all serious.
Kakashi bit back a laugh. "Of course not."
Then again, this IS Kakashi...
...which means it'd actually end up being HER that got seduced.
Arata skimmed it, and his face paled as he read the terse
reports. "...coordinated strikes by the Valley on multiple outposts in
the occupied Waterfall Country...numerous skirmishes with Valley
infiltrators along the cease-fire line...Valley forces relocating from
the Rice Field border...intelligence reports of increased communication
between Valley and Rock..."
You know, the usual stuff.
"This is," Maya began, and then her voice faltered.
"War," Arata finished weakly for her.
Nissho nodded. "That's what it looks like," he said.
"What should we do?" Ikkei asked.
"I vote for shitting ourselves."
He had to consider the worst case scenario. In that case, the
entire leadership of the Hidden Cloud had been coopted and was little
more than a pawn of Akatsuki. He didn't think that terribly likely,
though. Kaida would have to have known if that was the case. It was
far more possible that some rogue faction was operating in alliance with
Suggest 'plausible' instead of 'possible' here.
The first thing he was going to have to do is to check and see
Verb tense failure.
"Perfectly," Jiraiya said. Not an agent, but a member, huh?
Sotaru had believed that Akatsuki didn't just have a friend in the
Cloud, but that some high-ranking Cloud was one of the actual members of
Akatsuki.
Makes sense. It's hard to see the blood moon on a cloudy night.
Sakura arrived early for the promotion ceremony. She just
couldn't stand to sit around Naruto's apartment worrying, so instead she
sat around at the promotion ceremony worrying. ^_^
Sakura walked over to the pair and seated herself next to them.
Ino's eyes lingered on the pink-haired girl's forehead protector,
resting properly on her forehead,
which it barely protected a third of...
and Sakura swallowed slightly. Ino's
own forehead protector was in its familiar location around her waist.
"I prefer to think of it as a chastity belt."
Ino was silent for what seemed an eternity, and then she
laughed. "I guess that makes me feel a little better."
*restrains comment about how Ino'd make a better whore than a ninja anyway*
"Hyuuga Neji." Unsurprised, the Hyuuga prodigy walked over to
the examiners. As he began to bow to Shiranui Genma, Tsunade announced
the next name. "Rock Lee." The green-clad ninja followed his rival.
"Haruno Sakura."
YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!
...oh, wait, I'm supposed to hold that until the end. o.o;; sowwy!
"Your father's," Shizune finished for her. "Your mother wanted
you to have it."
Awwwww.
A few minutes later, everyone was outside the academy, where
refreshments had been placed. Several minutes passed in a blur to
Sakura. At some point, she found herself facing Tenten, for the moment
unmolested by well-wishing strangers.
Not to mention ill-wishing perverts.
"Congratulations, girls." Both fresh chuunin started, then
turned to face Tsunade, who had appeared beside them, a probably
alcoholic drink in hand.
"Yay, I *FINALLY* get to drink!! IN YOUR EAR, SHIZUNE!"
"By the way, Sakura-chan," Tsunade continued, grinning, "my
apprentice can afford to be a little less formal." Tenten stiffened,
glancing in surprise at Sakura.
Poor Tenten.
"Apprentice," Tenten said softly.
"Is something wrong, Tenten-san?" Sakura asked.
The other girl shook her head. "No," she said, offering a
slightly fake smile. "Congratulations."
"Dream-stealing little cunt."
The hunter ninja nodded once more, then raised her hand. Squad
after squad of Mist and Sound emerged from the dark forest and began to
silently slip through the Leaf's open gates. The hunter ninja's
attention returned to the spy. "Stick with me, Amaya-chan," she
ordered, and despite the familiar form of address there was not even a
hint of softness in her voice.
...I really should have seen that coming. >.>;;
Shikamaru pulled out some rope and quickly bound the prisoner.
"I don't suppose you'll tell us what's going on?"
"I don't think so," Ren replied. "You'll find out soon enough,
anyway. It's just about midnight, isn't it?"
Shikamaru's eyes widened. Then, there was a series of loud
explosions from the Hokage's office and the surrounding buildings. Mere
seconds after that, another set of explosions sounded from the direction
Saburo had fled in.
"Damn it," Sakura breathed.
Yeah, that about sums it up, Sakura-chyaaaaaan.
Then there was a chorus of sounds that dwarfed those. "Those're
from the gates," Shikamaru snarled. "What's going on?"
Something VERY TROUBLESOME.
Tayuya of the Hidden Sound, not being deaf, quickly realized
that someone had hidden all the sound from her!
The six-armed ninja carefully stepped out of the shadows,
looking far worse than Tayuya felt. "Yo," he said weakly.
Tayuya stepped forward, and before she realized what she was
doing she had embraced him, tears watering her eyes. "You fucker," she
muttered as she released him.
Master of tender sentiment, that one.
"One?" Sakura asked, then she grimaced. "Oh yeah." So long as
Midori was in the fight, Neji's Bloodline Limit became a dangerous
vulnerability. "Can't you fight without your Byakugan?"
"Not well enough to do anything but weigh you down," Neji
replied, "particularly with a jounin on the other side. It would be
like you trying to fight with your eyes closed, and I couldn't use the
Gentle Fist at all besides."
Wow, I'm amazed Neji would willingly admit a glaring weakness like that.
Neji stiffened suddenly, almost missing the next jump.
"Something's wrong at the ANBU building."
Understatement of the year!
After what seemed like seconds but had to be at least, he
Had to be at least...?
Midori dove into Sakura's path, pushing her teammate aside.
Sakura's flames briefly caught her in the side, and the other Haruno
fell heavily beside Saburo. Still, she rose before her wounded ally.
"You bitch," Midori growled. "I'm going to kill you."
"You'll try," Sakura forced herself to return. Things were not
looking good. She hadn't gotten Midori on the first strike, and now it
was two against one, with Neji unable to help her. She was going to
have to think quickly if she wanted to pull this off. She needed to
counteract Midori's doujutsu. Fortunately,
Midori was JUST STUPID ENOUGH to fall for an obvious ploy...
Sakura could hear the other girl's pained moan as she rose, and
the pink-haired chuunin carefully drew a kunai. "Are you going to
surrender now?" she asked, and then she advanced slowly while she waited
for Midori's response
Instead, another voice answered, "I think that unlikely to
occur." Sakura's mist vanished suddenly, as though it had never been,
and two black-clad women jumped down into the alley between the suddenly
revealed Sakura and her two foes. One wore a Mist hunter ninja mask,
and the most of the other's face was covered with a cloth mask. Sakura
noted the familiar shade of that woman's green eyes and quickly averted
her gaze.
Oh shit. This is going to get NASTY.
"Katon: Flame Sniper." All the ninja in the alley started at
the new voice, but the hunter ninja managed to roll aside before a thin
bolt of flame would have pierced her heart. Looming over them on a
nearby rooftop was a purple-haired woman Sakura didn't recognize in a
Leaf jounin uniform. Behind her were three genin, one of whom Sakura
easily placed as Toriichi Kasumi, one of Ami's friends from the academy.
Who, for some bizarre reason, was wearing a red-skirted seifuku and patent
leather pumps...
Across the alleyway, Kimi laughed. "You all have bigger
problems than us coming your way," she said. "I suggest we just go our
separate ways." Her hands blurred, and all five Mist ninja erupted into
pillars of thick, dark smoke.
Well THAT'S ominous...
Sakura tried to relax while she waited, but her half-hearted
efforts were futile. How could she even hope to rest when she knew that
in a matter of moments she would be heading back to battle? Neji,
Sakura noted with some annoyance, seemed to have no such problem,
leaning against one wall with his Byakugan relaxed for the first time in
hours. Anko had cheerfully accepted Yuugao's warning not to attack
until she signaled, and now they was waiting with the three-man chuunin
They's was a waitin', massa! Yessuh, they's was a waitin'!
"You okay, Sakura-chan?" Anko asked suddenly as she walked over
to the two rookie chuunin, her voice terrifyingly cheerful.
Sakura gave her a disbelieving stare. "How can you be so
happy?" she asked.
Because she's about to get to KILL PEOPLE!
"You can't possibly be serious," Sakura said.
Neji's eyes flickered open. "She isn't. She's teasing you to
let off nervous energy."
Anko was suddenly standing in front of him. "You, Neji-kun, are
reminding me of why I hate Hyuuga."
Heh.
"Make it short," Neji said dryly, "or at least entertaining. I
already had to sit through one of these this week."
*SNRK*
Neji glanced sideways at Sakura. "My belated condolences."
Sakura blinked. "What?"
"You've been alone with her, haven't you?" Neji smirked. "I'd
rather be stuck alone with Gai-sensei."
OUCH! XD
Kimi drew one of her curved, short swords, and took a step
toward Sakura. "You won't need all your parts to talk," she said, and
the blade began to drop.
She's as bad as her sister...
"Mitarashi-sensei," Saburo breathed in relief. "Midori's about
to -"
"I saw," Kimi interrupted. "What are you waiting for, Midori-
chan? Do it." Her voice was serious. "I want Anko-chan to see her
precious student die and know that she's helpless to stop it."
She's WORSE than her sister. x.x
Behind Sakura, Anko began to cough wetly. "You have... no
idea... what you're about to cost me, Kimi," she said, and Sakura could
imagine her sometimes teacher struggling to rise. The Mist jounin
laughed, but her laughter cut off as a vaguely familiar sensation began
to creep down Sakura's spine.
Oh SHIT.
"Stay," Anko snarled as she roughly dropped Sakura. In a blur
of motion, she returned to ground.
"What in the world," Kimi began, then she was slammed into a
convenient wall. The wood shattered under the force, and Anko's hands
grabbed her sister's neck.
THIS is why you do NOT piss off someone who's been marked by Orochimaru...
Neither Mist genin seemed able to move as Anko opened her mouth.
Her tongue grew rapidly, snaring Midori by one arm and pulling her
through the air at Anko. The special jounin caught the green-eyed
genin, then retracted her tongue. Anko smiled, and Sakura caught a hint
of pointed teeth. "I think I'll do better than killing your students,
Kimi-neesama," Anko stated. "I think I'll mark them as my own."
O.O;;
"Well, now," a new voice intruded. "What have we here?"
Sakura paled. "Kabuto-san."
Man, this just keeps turning into a bigger and bigger clusterfuck...
"Don't waste your time threatening me," Kabuto said lightly. In
a blur of motion, he vanished and reappeared behind Anko. His hands
formed seals, then one reached out a tapped the special jounin on the
shoulder. Anko was still for a moment, then reached up and laid her own
hand on top of the traitor's. She began to laugh, and Kabuto's eyes
widened.
Oooops.
Kabuto backed away, reaching up to adjust his glasses, but he
showed no other sign of nervousness. "Interesting," he allowed.
Which is Kabuto for "I think I just pissed in my pants."
Anko stretched out one arm, and Sakura saw that her sometimes
teacher's hand was almost completely covered by the dark markings. It
bulged, as though something was crawling under the woman's skin, then
burst open. A writhing mass of countless snakes poured out of the ruins
of Anko's arm, twisting around to fly at Kabuto as they lengthened.
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww.
She never got a chance to see if her guess was correct, as a
wave of fire turned the snakes to ash. "That's enough, Anko-chan,"
another new voice said.
Anko slowly turned to face the newcomer. "Shizune-sempai," she
said, a hint of horror in her voice, even as thick, ominous chakra
continued to swirl around her.
Busted!
Below, Shizune was slowly approaching Anko. "Don't make me hurt
you, Anko-chan."
Anko's face twisted with rage. "Hurt me?" she snarled. Her
tongue flicked out, and for a moment it looked forked. "I'll kill you
first."
Ah crap. She's lost in the Riot of the Blood...
"That's what I was afraid of," Shizune said. She held out one
hand. "Forgive me." Without visible cause, blood began to ooze from
her palm. The crimson fluid poured out into the air, dancing around
Shizune and Anko and forming strange characters. "Third-Level Emergency
Field Sealing Method!" Shizune shouted. "Evil-Suppressing Procedure!"
"Akuryou...TAISAN!"
Shaking her head, Kimi stood. "What the hell was that?" she
asked absently.
THAT was what happens when your sister used to be Orochimaru's fuckpuppet.
"What's going on?" Sakura asked Yuugao.
"All hell's breaking loose. Next stupid question?"
"I know that," Sakura responded without thinking, letting a
little too much irritation into her voice. "Neji-san is stronger than
me. I wasn't going to have any chance to win at all if I didn't take
risks." She paused. "Besides, I know Neji-san at least a little, and I
didn't think he'd go for that sort of strike right at the beginning
against me, particularly if he didn't think I was a threat.
Right, because he was EVER so easy on Hinata in the FIRST Chuunin exams...
The ANBU shook his head. "And I thought Morino and Mitarashi
were crazy when they recommended you for ANBU recruitment."
They are. If she goes into ANBU, she'll probably end up having to hunt down
Sasuke, and there's NO FREAKING WAY she's going to do anything but choke if
she takes that mission.
Now I'm wondering what they were up to behind my back."
"Do... do they team up?" Sakura asked, horror sneaking into her
voice. Anko could be bad enough, but imagining what she could do with
the aid of the grim interrogator was truly terrifying.
"All the time," the ANBU griped. "If it wasn't classified, I
would tell you how they got the old head of the interrogation squad to
retire."
OUCH. @_@;;
"I heard what happened," the masked man said grimly. "She's
with Hokage-sama and Shizune-sama now." Anger flared in his voice. "If
we find this Mitarashi Kimi, I'm going to give her to Ibiki and tell him
to have fun with that bitch for the rest of her natural life."
DOUBLE OUCH. X_X;;
As they continued their search, Sakura was surprised by the
extent of the devastation. The incursion had only lasted a handful of
hours, unlike the day-long battle that had consumed the village six
months ago. Despite this, all the progress that had been made in
returning the village to a pristine state seemed to have been reversed
in those handful of hours.
They need an electronic billboard over the gates...
KONOHAGAKURE: Under Construction
*two hours later*
KONOHAGAKURE: Under Destruction
*two hours later*
KONOHAGAKURE: Under Construction...AGAIN...
*two months later*
KONOHAGAKURE: Under Destruction...AGAIN...
"The Mist though," Sakura began, a sinking feeling in her gut.
She tugged weakly on a large piece of wood lying across the woman's
body.
"They just wanted to cause as much destruction and death as
possible before we could respond," the ANBU confirmed. With one hand,
he pushed the wooden beam out of the way, letting Sakura pull the body
out to the street. Numbly, she returned to help him with the man's
corpse. "There was more than one reason why they were called the Bloody
Mist, and some of them still hold true."
They ought to sic Kyuubi on them, and reduce the entire *village* to a
"Bloody Mist"...
"Yes," the Mist hunter ninja who had interrupted Sakura's fight
with Midori earlier in the night said as she appeared perched on top of
a pile of rubble. A moment later, Sakura spotted the black-clad Haruno
who had accompanied her, standing on top of the mostly undamaged
building next door.
This is going to get very ugly, VERY fast.
Sakura took another step back. Where was the ANBU? "I'm not
about to let you do that, damn it!" she shouted, hurling a kunai - not
the one she had conspicuously drawn - at the hunter ninja.
The woman caught the blade between two of her fingers and stared
at for a half-instant, looking at the high-powered explosive tag wrapped
around the hilt. "Oh, by the way," she said, gesturing at the still
silent Haruno. "She can read Leaf sign language." Almost
simultaneously with the explosive tag's detonation, the hunter ninja
dissolved into water. From not far away, there was a sudden scream -
the ANBU.
That ain't good.
Sakura barely managed to dodge out of the way of the Haruno
woman's swift attack, the kunai she still held warding off the Mist
kunoichi's own dagger. As she backpedaled, parrying her foe's rapid
strikes while avoiding meeting her eyes, Sakura tried to gauge the
woman's strength. She was quick, but nothing Sakura couldn't handle if
she got a moment to take the offensive.
Unfortunately, she's not going to be prepared for the psychological shock in
store for her...
Knowing that she might have even less time before the hunter ninja
returned, Sakura didn't hesitate to strike, her kunai slipping between
her opponent's ribs.
The woman stiffened as the blade struck home, and then,
inexplicably, she smiled behind her cloth mask. "You've become very
strong, Sakura-chan," she said.
Sakura's eyes widened. "No way," she breathed.
And that's the one that's going to break her.
"I don't know that you'll ever believe me," the woman continued,
her voice weakening with every word, "but everything I did was for you,
in my own way." She coughed wetly. "I'm sorry. Tell Inoichi -" She
cut off in mid-sentence, stumbling backward and falling over on her
back, and then she was still.
Poor Sakura.
"Sakura-kun?" the ANBU asked, worry suddenly in his voice.
The pink-haired kunoichi didn't answer. "Mother!" she sobbed,
and that was the last coherent thought she would have for some time.
;_;
The only interesting event in her time here had been when that
Leaf team had brought a Sand missing ninja who had been captured in the
Bird Country. Temari smirked as she remembered how she had needled the
girl she'd fought in the preliminaries. Now, that had been fun. It
hadn't been fun enough to make up for the months of boredom, though.
Maybe accepting the promotion to chuunin had been a mistake. If she'd
taken the exam again, she'd be in the Leaf Village now. If she was
lucky, she might have ruined that Tenten's chances a second time. That
would have really been fun.
Gee, she's nice.
In any case, she was going to have to arrange for Gaara to have
some psychotic episodes so that the village council would once again
consider it unsafe to not have both of the dangerously unstable boy's
siblings on hand to control him.
Nice and bitchy. Yeesh.
Sudden hope flared in the woman's eyes. "Lies!" Her free hand
pulled out a Grass forehead protector. "I am Hatanaka Iru, special
jounin of the Hidden Grass! By the terms of our alliance, I request
emergency aid and entry into the Wind Country!"
"Is that so?" Temari asked skeptically, her eyes turning to the
Rain squad.
"Okay, we'll let you in...but you have to share some of your Hidden Grass."
"Why do you interfere?" the Rain's leader asked dangerously,
drawing another blade. "Do the Sand shelter criminals now?"
"I've got too many questions to decide one way or another,"
Temari stated. "My squad will take this woman into custody until her
identity can be determined. You are welcome to stay with us, and once
your story checks out we will give her to you. Is that acceptable?"
The woman dropped her weapon. "I consent." Temari's eyes
widened.
"That tears it," another Rain, not the apparent leader growled.
"Kill them all!"
Well, that pretty much proves which one is telling the truth...
"There's no time for that," Temari said, spreading her fan out
on the rocky ground and kneeling on top of it. "Everyone aboard." The
Grass kunoichi complied without hesitation, and Temari's squad scrambled
on top of the fan a moment later. "Channel chakra to keep yourself on,"
Temari advised Iru before rapidly forming seals. "Fuuton: Swift
Traveling Wind Technique."
Swift Travelling Wind...a Taco Bell fart?
"Yesterday morning," she said flatly, "forces of the Hidden Rain and the
Hidden Sound, acting in alliance, attacked and destroyed the Hidden
Village of Grass."
"Now I wish we'd just shared the hidden grass with them..."
"Gods," Temari wasn't able to stop herself from breathing. One
of her team said something much more vulgar, and it took some effort for
Temari to not follow suit. She forced herself to take a deep breath.
"What do you want us to do, Iru-san?"
"I never did get your name," the older woman said.
"Temari of the Desert," the blonde answered.
"Well then, Temari-san," the Grass ninja said, "I would like to
request escort to the Sand Village, where I will complete my mission."
"Your mission?" Temari asked, already knowing the answer.
"Now that I know you have no part in this treachery," Iru said,
"I will request that the Hidden Sand honor our alliance and go to war
with the Rain at once."
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeesh.
5) Next time, in One Hundred Days Chapter 13, The Fire Burns: Jiraiya
hunts for the Akatsuki member hidden in the Cloud Village, knowing that
with every step he takes he comes closer to becoming the hunted instead.
Naruto faces what might be his most difficult challenge yet: alone,
against the strength of an entire village, he must find a way to save
Kakashi. Back at home, Sakura must struggle to come to terms with what
she has done as the Hidden Leaf readies itself for war...
And Everyone! Gets! NAKED! Woohoo!
Draft Started: July 13, 2006
Draft Finished: August 10, 2006
Draft Released: August 11, 2006
Musta hurt like a sumbitch, holding a fart in for that long. X)
================================
It's not a butthole, it's a mangina.
~~*~~
The Eternal Lost Lurker
www.lurkerdrome.com
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