yo say hooooo! ;) I'm back haha! thanks for getting this story to over 60 reads!! :D that's an achievement for me, definitely! okay so from what I've gotten feedback from, Zeri might seem really cold and stuff and it kind of takes after other characters in more popular fan fics, but I'm trying not to. I just don't want her to be so open to her team and other people yet :) okay here's chapter five!!
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Zeri's POV
I followed behind my squad silently, grimacing about how oblivious they were as they walked towards Tazuna's house. They were open and defenseless from all sides, if anyone wanted to attack them at that particular moment. I scowled, kicking at a rock as I twirled a kunai around my finger. I'd have to interfere and protect them, I thought with a frown as Sasuke and Naruto stumbled slightly, Kakashi's arms around their shoulders as they struggled to walk properly. He probably overused his Sharingan, and was too exhausted to even stand, I mused, as they came to a stop in front of a shabby-looking house, where a woman held the door open for them, peering at Kakashi in confusion and worry. As my squad stumbles in, I turn and walk in the opposite direction.
Wait a minute, did I just do what I think I did? I halt in my tracks, stiffening. A scowl formed on my face as I leapt onto a tree and continued going further from the house and higher until I reached the top, sitting down on a stable branch as I gazed at the view, the fog settling in once again. Like I would protect them, I thought, trying to clear my head. I only protect myself.
Naruto's POV
Kakashi-sensei stirs, blinking as he takes in all of us staring at him worriedly from his bed. Then he chuckles and rubs the back of his head awkwardly. "I think I overdid it with my Sharingan," he mumbles, and Sakura-chan leans forward and studies Kakashi-sensei worriedly.
"Look Kakashi-sensei, your Sharingan's amazing and all, but if it puts too much stress on your body then maybe it's not worth it?" she inquires, and Kakashi just sighs, turning to us. "Well, I'm feeling better now, and I'm sorry for making you all worried." I give him a cheeky grin, my hands on the back of my head.
"Even though you passed out and stuff, you were still awesome Kakashi-sensei!" I said, grinning at him. Sasuke just makes that weird noise whenever we say something to him, and Sakura-chan smiles. "Yeah, since you took out one of the most powerful ninja assassins, we should be safe for now," she says, but a thoughtful expression appears on her face. "Wait, but what about the guy with the mask?"
I turn to Kakashi-sensei expectantly. "Those masks are only worn by the most elite Shinobi, so he's a Tracker Ninja from the Village Hidden in the Mist." Sakura-chan asks him to explain more, and I yawn. Another lecture? "The ANBU Black Ops, known as The Inferno Squad, destroy all traces of a rogue ninja's body. A ninja's body contains many secrets, like the...." Ugh, com'mon Kakashi-sensei! Don't be so boring, like the old man when he talks about ninja stuff. I drop my hands, as Kakashi-sensei rests his forehead on his hand. "What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei?" I ask curiously. He snaps out of it, sitting up straight and throwing me a closed-eye smile.
"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine, Naruto. As I was saying earlier, Tracker Ninja deal with the body immediately on the spot, so that there's no room for error." I try not to look confused, nodding like I totally understand what Kakashi-sensei was talking about. "What's so important about this, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura-chan questions, and he sighs. Oh no, I know that look! I yawn again, my mind wandering as Kakashi-sensei continued talking. Aw man, I haven't eaten in forever! I'm starving, I grumbled, looking down at my stomache. I could really use some ramen....
"No way!" Sasuke looks shocked as he stares at Kakashi-sensei. "Zabuza's still alive?!" My mouth drops open, and I yell along with Sakura and Tazuna. "WHAT?!" I turn to Kakashi-sensei accusingly.
"But, Kakashi-sensei! Didn't you check his body?! You said his heart had stopped!" Sakura-chan exclaims, and he nods. "Yes, his heartbeat had stopped, but it was a temporary death. The Tracker Ninja used senbon needles to 'kill' Zabuza, before taking him away. Firstly, if he was a Tracker Ninja, he wouldn't have needed to carry Zabuza away to get rid of him. Secondly, he used non-lethal senbon needles to paralyze Zabuza momentarily before taking him away. Hence we can conclude that the Tracker Ninja wasn't actually trying to assassinate Zabuza, he was trying to save him."
Tazuna chuckles nervously, as he faces Kakashi-sensei. "Don't be so serious! You're overthinking this, aren't you?" Kakashi-sensei shoots him a serious look. "A Shinobi can never be too careful. It's best to expect the worse, so that nothing can surprise you." I smirk slightly. Hey, if that cow guy is still alive, I can go kick his butt for fighting Kakashi-sensei! Then I can prove to Sasuke that I'm not some dumb scaredy cat and make Sakura-chan like me! I glare at Sasuke, before turning to Sakura-chan with a dreamy expression.
"Wait a minute," Kakashi-sensei interrupts, his eyes scanning all of us. "Where's your fourth teammate?" My eyes widen and I look at Sasuke and Sakura-chan in shock. We completely forgot about her! Then I scowled, crossing my arms over my chest. Who needs some traitor like her? She ditched us for Zabuza anyway. No way was I going to look for a girl who's uncle was the enemy! That made her the enemy too!
Kakashi-sensei gazed at us evenly. "I know all of you might be thinking that Zeri is an enemy because her uncle is Zabuza, but she is still a part of Team 7 and a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village. She might be hostile towards all of you, but that doesn't change the fact that you guys are a team." He said, and I grumbled under my breath. Yeah, but she still choosed the cow guy over us! Sasuke nodded and headed towards the door, Sakura-chan following behind him. Both of them waited for me, but I still refused to move, sulking.
"Come on, Naruto. We can't just leave Zeri out there alone when all of those evil ninja are wandering around! Even though she's not exactly the nicest person ever, she's still our teammate." Sakura-chan pleaded, and after a while I stomped out of the room after them. "Yeah, but I'm still mad at her, believe it!"
Zeri's POV
Yawning, I blinked as I felt the sun's warm rays settle over my face. I stretched my arms over my head, trying to shake the remains of sleep. It wasn't exactly 'sleep', just a pathetic attempt at trying to relax and actually rest for once. I couldn't sleep for some annoying reason, and it took a toll on my body sometimes.
"CHHHAAARRRGGGEEE!" A loud, voice snaps me out of my trance and I hold back a snarl of irritation. Just the perfect thing to wake me up, I grumbled as I peered through the thick canopy of leaves below to catch sight of all the members of my squad running up three different trees, with kunai in their hands. I narrowed my eyes, noticing Kakashi standing behind them, supporting his weight on crutches. Hm, this must be his idea of training to get them ready to face Zabuza.
I sweatdropped as Naruto slides back down, landing on his back, having barely taken three steps up the tree. Sasuke's not much better, but at least he made it three meters up before he flips back down. I raise an eyebrow at Sakura, who managed to climb the highest out of my squad, and was waving down gleefully. I roll my eyes, seeing how much further up I was from her. But I'll just stay here for the moment. Or maybe the whole day.
Kakashi smiles at Sakura. "Well, it looks like our pink-haired member has the most chakra control so far. Well done, Sakura," he praises, and I scoff, glancing at the annoyed expressions of Sasuke and Naruto. For someone who was in the Uchiha clan, he didn't really live up to his name. I hop down a few meters, but still higher than Sakura, as Sasuke and Naruto growl from Kakashi's mocking. You go Kakashi, target their egos, I sweatdropped, watching as they rushed up the tree in anger. They'll never get anywhere with that kind of chakra control.
The sound of rustling leaves catces my attention, and my hand whips out to catch a kunai just a few centimeters away from my face. I scowl as I distinctly see Kakashi smirking at me from below. Standing up, I do a flip and send the kunai flying towards him, before jumping off the branch and falling towards the ground. I land gracefully on the ground, as Kakashi dodges the kunai just in time, making it stick in the tree behind him. A stony expression comes over my face as I shoot him a glare, clearly annoyed with him for revealing my presence. Now I had to deal with my squad.
"Zeri!" I hold back a growl, as Naruto sits up and holds a hand up, as if about to wave to me. Then, he abruptly stopped, a confused expression coming over his face before he pulled back his hand and crossed both arms over his chest, grumbling under his breath and turning around so that his back was to me sulkily. My lips tilted up at the corners, knowing he was still angry about me being on Zabuza's side. Aw, was little Naruto in a bad mood? I resisted the urge to mock him.
Instead, I turned back to Kakashi with a smirk on my face, taking in his slightly bruised form. "I see my Uncle did quite a number on you, Kakashi," I taunt him, noting how his eyes narrowed.
But Kakashi just shrugged, an indifferent expression on his face. "Oh well, if the Tracker Ninja had not interfered, I might have been even more severely injured, so I thank him for that," At least he knows it - my uncle wasn't someone to be taken so lightly, since he was pretty strong and ruthless. Kakashi points at my squad, who quietly watch my interaction with Kakashi. Seeing Sasuke's glare, I return it, my eyes glinting dangerously as he turns away. Sakura just avoided looking at me altogether, though I knew she was hurt. I didn't really give a Kyuubi's ass if they felt hurt or betrayed, that was part of being a Shinobi - your closest ally might just be your enemy. (A/N: does anyone watch 'Fun With Akatsuki'? it's damn hilarious haha got the Kyuubi's ass thing from there! you definitely should watch it :)))
Kakashi nods towards the trees as Sasuke and Naruto attempt to climb up the tree again. "I would ask you to climb the tree like they are, but from what I know you don't need this." I raise an eyebrow in surprise. I hadn't actually revealed much about my strength since I joined this team, but he might have known somehow. I smirk at him as I sink to the ground, crossing my legs underneath.
"You know me so well," I replied, watching in dark amusement as Naruto collapsed to the ground again, not improving at all from his first try. Kakashi sighed exasperatedly under his breath, before he hobbles towards a tree and leans on it, watching Sasuke and Naruto intently as they keep failing to climb the tree. I glance up at Sakura, nearly laughing as she shoots a wistful look at Sasuke, who glares at her, before her expression falls. Her attempts to get him to notice her were pathetic. What good of a ninja were you if you were in love? I thought, as I watched them with a scoff. That was the first thing I actually listened to from Kabuto. matter how annoying he was, the one statement he mentioned to me was the one of the things I'd always remember.
After a while, I uncrossed my legs, shifting restlessly. Grumbling under my breath, I shot a scowl at the two boys who were still trying to climb their trees without much success. What was so incredibly difficult about the exercise that made it so hard to grasp? I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I retied it in a ponytail, letting it brush against my shoulders.
Feeling a chakra presence approach me, my eyes darted towards Naruto, who stiffened in shock and halted in his steps. I narrowed my eyes as he visibly gulped, taking slow, cautious steps towards me before stopping in front of me. He took a deep breath before opening his mouth to speak, but I cut him off.
"What do you want?" I ask him suspiciously, letting my head fall back and closing my eyes. I heard him growl under his breath, before he took another deep breath.
"Um, Zeri? I was wondering if you could h-help me? Since you're probably really good at this judging from the last time when me and Nejj were chasing you, and you were really fast and you made so many clones like I did and-" I kicked at his feet from my position, causing him to yelp as he fell on his butt. He immediately straightens, shooting me a scowl, which fades as he sees the look on my face. I tap my chin in fake thoughtfulness.
"Why would you want my help? Aren't I a 'traitor' to you?" I asked, a sneer clear in my voice as my eyes darkened in slight annoyance and confusion. Why did he want my help, even though I made it clear that I was on Uncle Zabuza's side?
Naruto gulped at this, his eyes casting downwards in shame. Then he sighs, before looking at me with pleading eyes. "Look, I'm sorry about that, okay! But I really wanna get stronger and beat that Tracker Ninja and Zabuza, cause then I can prove to everyone I'm not some wimpy kid and that I can become Hokage!" he says determinedly, and I cock my head, confused. He really was willing to swallow his pride just so I could help him, with no catch? Why was he doing this? Shaking my head, I glance at him stonily and watch as his shoulders droop, before I shrugged, not believing myself when I replied him.
"Okay, I'll help you."
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okay that's it! :) she's pretty mean here yeah but at least she's going to help Naruto! ;) who do you think the love interest is going to be hehehhe <3