"so you're really not gonna show up huh sasuke?" jin clenched her fists and strenuously shook her leg, failing to focus on shikamaru's match.
saito glanced at her best friend, gently rubbing her back. "don't worry amano, cmon it's sasuke, he's definitely going to show any second now... be happy that they made an exception for his match."
"it's not just that megumi... i'm wondering what the hell is going on. something doesn't feel right."
saito froze, falling speechless at those last four words.
"something doesn't feel right..."
"whaddya say amano?! i can't hear!"she shouted to her bestfriend as they swung in opposite directions.
" i said.." jin stationed her feet on the grass, stopping her swing. "something .. doesn't feel right megumi." she gently rose to her feet, stammering on her words.
saito raised her eyebrows at jin, also stationing her feet. "are you okay? what is it? what's wrong?"
"i can't put my finger on it.." she observed the other kids and parents as they smiled and giggled around the playground, before turning her gaze to her best friend who had a concerned look on her face. she gave her traditional toothy smile with her eyes closed before laughing off her worry. "nevermind maybe i'm just imagining thin—".
BOOM.
the smiles and laughter became faint cries as the air became thin and grey. struggling to grasp her breath, saito held her head in pain as a ringing noise shot throughout her ears. her eyes focused, scanning her surroundings. ashes, rubble, smoke, and fire. she panicked in fear struggling to locate her bestfriend.
"—YOU ASSHOLE!"
saito coughed, feeling a lost for words at the scene only a slight distance away from her.
"j..jin no." feeling weak in her knees, she crawled as she watched the green haired girl charge towards a man with piercings. "stop." her mouth trembled with fear observing the man while he rose his palms forward. "i can't move." she thought, "move saito. move." she spoke weakly trying to instruct herself.
"shinra tensei." the man spoke sternly.
she gasped for breath as jin's body crashed into the stone next to her. she crawled quickly towards her bestfriend, her palms shaking as she struggled to turn her over. she flinched, positioning her upright, blood poured from her forehead coating her green hair. saito gasped. "amano.. you there? wake up." she said gently shaking her best friend. "AMANO!" she yelled shaking her friend with more and more aggression.
"MOMMY! WHERE ARE YOU?!"
saito's focus snapped towards a young boy covered in blood and ashes.
"katsu!"
saito impulsively held jin in her arms as bombs detonated near the boys location. her sight of the boy was lost and she looked up to see a blonde haired man flying on a clay bird, laughing hysterically.
"why..." saito cried, looking up to see the man with piercings inching closer towards her. "AMANO." her heart raced as she looked in multiple directions, feeling nothing but chaos around her, contemplating what to do, questioning if these were her last moments. "AMANO! AMANO, PLEASE GET UP PLEASE!" she cried, as jin's blood dripped into her mouth, "YOU HURT MY BEST FRIEND! LEAVE OUR VILLAGE ALONE!" she cried again before grabbing amano on her back and running the best way she knew how.
"you said something didn't feel right amano. i didn't listen.."
"whadd'ya say megumi?"
saito jumped at jin's voice, snapping back to her current surroundings. shikamaru and temari's match continued, and she made eye contact with a concerned jin. "what's going on jin.. talk to me."
stunned by her bestfriend calling her by her first name, jin fell speechless. "i... i just feel like something is wrong, sasuke isn't here yet and gaara seems unfazed, his brother forfeited his match.. so i can't help but feel like those sand guys are up to something." she shrugged.
letting out a deep breath, saito made a stern eye contact with jin, inching towards her ear. "do you want to tell someone? we can go tell genma-sensei. the last time you said something didn't feel right we nearly died." she whispered.
the two girls stared at eachother, jin contemplating what she should do.
"GO! SHIKAMARU!"
both girls flinched as ino's voice grabbed their attention. losing focus on her conversation with saito, jin looked into the arena to see temari at her defeat, a slight grin growing on her face.
"oh my kami! he did it."
"good grief. i give up." shikamaru rolled his eyes.
"WHAT?!" they all yelled at once
the girls couldn't believe their ears.
"wait did he just give up his chance at becoming a chunin?!" saito questioned.
"that's different." oni huffed
—
time passed as the crowd yelled and cried for sasuke once again.
"i give up i'm going to the bathroom." jin groaned, aggressively getting up from her seat.
"stop it jin. let's just wait it out like everyone else." oni suggested as she inconspicuously nodded her head towards a praying sakura.
jin's eyes softened, realizing she wasn't the only one hopeful for sasuke's arrival, not for money, not for bets, but because she was genuinely worried.
"sakura has known you longer than i have.. i can't possibly care for you like she does." jin thought, letting out a sigh before sitting down.
guy and rock lee had both arrived. oni, sakura, and ino smiled and greeted them both.
"hey you guys.." lee spoke softly.
jin and saito turned around simultaneously making eye contact with lee.
"so this is the boy gaara nearly killed." saito thought.
saito glanced over at gaara in the contestant balcony, before returning her gaze to lee in his wheelchair.
"lee, these are my teammates, saito and jin. aori is sitting on the other side with kiba and hinata." oni smiled, introducing them.
"i do remember you, it is nice to see you awake." he smiled at jin.
"oh right! that's how you know oni.. you protected all of us." her eyes softened, analyzing him in the wheelchair. "the amount of willpower you must have is amazing." she thought making eye contact with saito who was basically at a loss for words, jin nudged her, catching her attention.
"thank you lee." the girls spoke simultaneously before they planted a peck on each of his cheeks.
lee smiled, trying to keep his composure, before gazing at his sensei, who kept a grin on his face.
"because the time limit has expired, the last match..." genma began to speak before the crowd fell silent.
jin snapped her head in the direction of the arena as she heard genma speak, "oh n—"
a sudden rush of wind blew into the arena before revealing the uchiha back to back with kakashi.
"sasuke-kun!" sakura's eyes lit up.
jin felt stunned, analyzing the boy, she watched his long hair dangle in front of his face and his fresh outfit compliment his figure perfectly, she smiled and her cheeks became hot. "talk about a dramatic entrance.."
"longer hair and a new outfit? he looks pretty good!" saito smiled, "pretty edgy, wait are you blushing?!"
"shut up it's just that... that's what i was going for." jin spoke softly, "if only you didn't have me worried to death." she thought before letting out a deep breath.
"OI KAKASHI! GET YOUR BUTT UP HERE!" saito screamed
"he's coming up here?!" oni stammered before gently pushing her hair behind her ears, causing confused expressions on the girls faces.
"oni .. do you have a crus—" saito began to ask as oni tackled her mouth with her palm, signaling her eyes at the jonin.
"yo guy! you too lee, is your body alright?" kakashi spoke casually.
"kakashi sensei!" sakura yelled at him before her facial expression became a sad one.
"sorry sorry! you all must've been worried, sorry for not contacting you." kakashi spoke giving a slight eye at jin.
"it's not just that..." sakura glared at sasuke. "kakashi sensei..."
"hm?"
"you know about the mark on sasukes neck don't you? is that.."
saito, ino, and oni all looked at sakura with wide eyes, jin rolling hers. "why would she ask that in front of everyone?"
"no need to worry." kakashi said.
the match started, gaara beginning to release sand from his gourd, sasuke leaping back.
gaara held his head in pain, "please don't get so angry... mother."
"huh?" saito questioned, she focused on the match not necessarily for sasuke, but for gaara, although she felt an attraction to him during their first encounter, something about him, scared her.
"it's like he's having a conversation in his head." oni analyzed
sasuke threw 3 shuriken, gaara blocking them with a sand clone. sasuke charging at gaara full fist, gaara trapping his arm with sand. escaping from his grip sasuke charges full fist again before appearing behind gaara.
"he's fast!" saito gasped
"faster than before." oni agreed.
the girls watched as sasuke dashed around lee with kicks and punches.
"what kind of training did you do? to come this far in just a month?" guy asked kakashi
"sasuke had copied lee's taijutsu with the sharingan before, that's why during his training i had sasuke use lee's taijutsu.
jin's eyes widened. "the sharingan can copy jutsu?
sasuke can master jutsu with just one glance?"
"that sand armor... i'll tear it off!" sasuke spoke as he sprinted around gaara crashing his foot against his face.
"gaara can't keep up with him." saito examined.
"come on!" sasuke said.
gaara formed his hand sign encasing himself into a dome of his sand.
sasuke dashed towards the dome full fist, only to be cut by numerous spikes from gaara's sand dome.
"what.. is that? what is he doing?" saito gasped.
"he's using all his sand to protect himself.. so it gets hard when it's packed tight. it's like an absolute defense." jin spoke, analyzing the situation the same moment as sasuke.
"she's just as analytical as he is ..." kakashi listened.
"KAKASHI SENSEI!" naruto shouted as he ran down the arena.
guy, lee, kakashi and the girls snapped their heads in naruto's direction, jin's cheeks became hot as she saw shikamaru running behind him, recalling their conversation from earlier.
"SENSEI STOP THIS FIGHT RIGHT AWAY!"
"hn? why?"
"HE'S DIFFERENT FROM US! HE'S NOT NORMAL! HE LIVES TO KILL OTHERS! ANYWAY AT THIS RATE SASUKE WILL DIE!"
jin felt a sharp pain in her chest at naruto's words, snapping her head towards the direction of the battle with a deadly stare towards gaara, then kankuro and temari.
"his chakra.." saito trembled
"huh? who?" oni asked
"gaara... it feels, sinisterly."
"don't worry." kakashi interjected, "sasuke and i weren't late for nothing."
"is that an eyeball?" oni questioned examining the battlefield.
" kakashi sensei? what do you mean you guys weren't late for nothing?" sakura questioned.
"just watch... you'll be surprised, the reason i trained sasuke, is because he is the same as me."
stunned at kakashis words, jin focused her eyes on the uchiha, he grabbed his left arm charging up numerous amounts of chakra in his hand, the chakra electrified, making noises reminiscent to a thousand birds in his palm.
"amazing! what technique is this?! what is that sound?!" sakura's eyes widened along with naruto and everyone else.
"copy ninja kakashi's original jutsu... specifically for assassination, the speed of the stab and the heightened flesh from immense chakra, it produces a sound of a thousand birds." guy analyzed for the girls.
"assassination?" oni raised her eyebrow, glancing at kakashi. he caught her eye contact resulting her to turn her head away as fast as she could.
"CHIDORI!" sasuke yelled out as sprinted towards gaara piercing his sand defense.
"that was .. hot-" jin stammered on her words as saito started coughing really loudly as she spoke. "are you okay?" she asked concerned.
saito widened her eyes and aggressively yet unnoticeablely pointed towards shikamaru.
"oh..."
"ohhhhh!" saito mocked with a silly face.
"BLOOD!!! AH MY BLOOD!" gaara screamed causing the crowd to flinch.
"SASUKE!" jin stood up, "his arm is stuck!"
sasuke yelped in pain before he snatched his arm away, a monstrous hand of sand clenching around his arm, sasuke breaking away.
"what is this feeling?" saito trembled.
"i feel it too." jin stammered.
the defense fell out of its shape as sand covered the the ground, revealing a wounded gaara. he chuckled creepily as he held his arm in pain.
"what is going o—" oni began to speak before falling to the floor.
"what is this?" saito analyzed as feathers surrounded the arena, she snapped her head towards jin and oni, as they were both asleep. "genjutsu? why? and who's is it?"
"kai!" she said forming her hand sign. she looked over at sakura who released herself from the genjutsu as well.
in the corner of her sight she glimpsed at sasuke dashing out of the arena, leaving genma and gaaras sensei in the arena.
"kakashi..." guy spoke, "look within the barrier."
saito gazed towards what guy was instructing kakashi to look at, only to see the hokage with a kunai placed at his neck.
"orochimaru?!" kakashi's eyes widened
saito immediately glanced at jin and oni, remembering the sinister name from what occurred in the forest of death. "what is going o-" before she could think infiltrators were charging towards her and sakura, kakashi kicking them both.
as the two jonin battled out the attacking infiltrators, saito ran over to jin and oni, releasing them from the genjutsu. "kai!"
"sakura! do as saito just did and nullify naruto and shikamaru from the genjutsu." kakashi instructed his student. "this is an A ranked mission."
"HUH?!" she panicked, "what kind of A- rank mission?! shouldn't i wake up everyone then?!"
"no." jin groaned, waking up.
"what's going on, when did i fall asle—" oni yawned.
"sasuke is going after gaara and the others from the sand."
"alone?!" jin stood up quickly.
"if you guys catch up then maybe he wouldn't be—"
"JIN!" saito yelled, before kakashi could finish his words, jin dashed off out of the arena.
kakashi cut his thumb before doing his summoning jutsu to reveal a dog.
"pakkun will be able to track sasuke down."
"i can't wait for this! i have to go after jin." saito panicked
"what about aori?!" oni asked
"forget her for now, she's fine, there's already too many of us going into the forest as it is."
———
"SASUKE!" jin shouted as she noticed him in the distance
"damn it.. how did she catch up so fast? did she bump into shino and kankuro?" he huffed, not in the mood to be disrupted, "i have to get to gaara jin! why did you come after me?!" he said as he continued dashing from tree to tree.
"because you went off alone!"
"i'm following orders!"
"gaara is with temari! kankuro is back there being dealt with by shino! do you plan to go up against them both by yourself?!"
" i'm fine by myself, jinji!" he slightly glared back at her as he spoke angrily.
"don't call me that! i'm here to help!" she yelled
sasuke responded with silence as he stopped in his tracks on a tree branch, a sudden tension grew in the air as jin stopped on a higher branch behind him. she looked beside him making eye contact with gaara. she flinched as sasuke began to speak. "hn.. i don't know what the motive of your village is, but i will stop you, so i want to see your true face."
jin felt a slight tremble run throughout her body, the chakra that she sensed from gaara was menacing.
"what is it that drives you.." gaara spoke, " why do you seek power?
"it's none of your business."
"you're just like me, you have the same eyes, the need to seek out power, and the bloodlust"
jin and sasukes eyes widened as half of gaaras screamed as half of his body transformed into something of a monster.
jin froze in fear. "w..what is that?"
"sasuke!" she yelled as gaara attempted to attack the uchiha with his monstrous arm, sasuke dodged the attack evading to another tree.
the attack caused the trees to fall and ground to shake. jin losing her balance, and evading to a different tree as well. she scanned for sasuke to find him breathing heavy in a state of panic.
"jin! leave!" sasuke commanded her, "you'll only lose control of yourself. this isn't a battle for you."
"no. maybe someone losing control is the type of match this asshole needs." she huffed, trying to gather her breath.
"i—" gaara attempted another strike again, landing on sasuke.
"SASUKE!" jin called out, contemplating what she should do.
sasuke groaned in pain before a log of wood appeared in his place. gaara gasped as he searched for the uchiha. "i'm right here!" he yelled throwing 6 kunai towards him. gaara laughed as his sand arm sucked in the weapons.
jin's heart started beating rapidly. "i wanna help, but i don't know how, i haven't trained with genma sensei because i have no control over my dojutsu, to the point where i've been hospitalized twice within the last two weeks. what if you're right.. what if i only hold you back sasuke? "
"are you afraid of me?! uchiha... sasuke?!"
jin held her head in pain as glimpses of itachi flashed through her mind, followed by a clear image of a young and sad gaara. "why does this keep happening? what are these thoughts?"
"SHUT UP!" sasuke yelled, catching jin's attention.
"you're weaker than me!" gaara taunted
sasuke sat against the tree, shaking in anger, he finally stood up, gathering the noises of a thousand birds in his palm.
gaara smirked as sasuke leaped towards him. he laughed as he turned in the opposite direction in attempt to land an attack at jin. jin's eyes widened as the monster suddenly charged towards her.
"NO!" sasuke yelled, unable to control the trajectory of his chidori.
jin formed her hand signs as quick as she knew how.
"earth style: piercing vine dance!", 12 long vines emerged from the ground as she aimed them towards gaara, "pierce!" she commanded, stabbing gaara numerous times, he screamed in pain as his sand arm dissolved. jin breathed heavily, scanning gaara as he flew backwards into the tree. "did i get him?" she panted. sasuke jumped in front of jin with an arm extended for protection.
he laughed sinisterly, "you.. are all.. weak!" he said as his arm grew back, charging towards them both. jin squinted her eyes as another chidori grew within sasukes palm, charging towards gaara once again.
"sasuke, no!" she yelled, she reached her hand out in effort to grab him. she sensed that he was pushing himself. she watched as sasuke winced in pain before making contact at gaara with his chidori, a blast of sand blocked jin's vision. she squinted to see both sasuke and gaara land perfectly on opposite trees. sasuke collapsed to the ground, causing jin to flinch with worry.
she sprinted towards sasuke, immediately placing her shaking hands on his neck at the sight of his curse mark taking over his body. "i.. can't move." he struggled to speak. jin's heart pounding rapidly against her chest, she was speechless. "jin... your.. eyes.. i can't let you fight." her eyes shot open wider than before, she looked deeply into sasukes onyx eyes only to see her reflection of her kamigan.
"don't mov—" she began to speak before wind brushed against her shoulder, she glanced in the direction to be startled by a menacing gaara flying straight towards them once again.
jin clenched her jaw in annoyance. "you fucking punk, can't you at least wait until someone is looking at you to hit them." before she could get up to defend herself, gaara was flung into another tree by a strong kick.
"naruto!" jin smiled
"sasuke-kun! are you okay?!" sakura yelled landing on the tree next to jin
oni and saito followed behind naruto landing on the tree branch.
"amano!" saito yelled
"well hey i guess this is a party huh megumi.." jin let out a slight chuckle.
sasuke groaned in pain, grasping all the girls attention besides saito, who's attention fell in the same direction as naruto.
"jin-jin chan... is that— that monster looking guy? who is that?"
"i think that's .. gaara" saito gulped.
"yup.. although his figure has been transformed, that's gaara." pakkun confirmed.
"sakura take sasuke back into the village!" jin commanded
"no. i have to control.. this." sasuke groaned as he struggled to stand on his feet.
"YOU GUYS! RUN!!" naruto screamed in fear.
saito remained frozen, stunned at how powerful gaara was.
"JIN! SAKURA! SASUKE! MOVE OUT THE WAY!" oni panicked as gaara dashed past her towards the uchiha.
"i won't let you live! I'LL KILL YOU SASUKE UCHIHA!" gaara yelled
jin immediately guarded sasuke only to be impulsively pushed out of the way by sakura, whom was holding a kunai pointed at gaara.
"out of my way!!" gaara said after gazing at the pink haired kunoichi, slamming sakura into a tree, she yelped in pain before passing out in a trap of sand.
jin stood on her feet but shortly fell back to the floor as she winced holding her knee in pain, saito jumping towards her. "this battle is not working out in our favor." she groaned
"amano! what's wrong?!"
"i'm okay.. i think my knee is dislocated or sprained or something but i'll be fine." jin said using saito assistance to stand up, she gazed at a unconscious sakura in amazement, "you love him.. that much."
gaara groaned as his figure began to transform into more a monster than before.
"and you thought this guy was cute saito?" oni trembled
naruto subconsciously let out a slight chuckle before resuming to his fear.
"SHE WON'T BE RELEASED FROM THE SAND UNLESS YOU BEAT ME!!" gaara taunted