Sakuya's P. O. V:
Once Naruto stops screaming, he gazes around until he suddenly gets down on his stomach.
"Everybody, hide! Quick, get down! That ninja, where could she be hiding?" Naruto gazes around fearfully.
"Naruto?" Sakura utters, she and Sasuke turning their heads to us.
I say, beaming, "It's good to see you're awake."
I sweat drop when Choji pokes the back of Naruto's head with a stick. Shikamaru drawls, hands on his hips, "You really are one of a kind, that's for sure. And I mean, you're the kind that gets on my nerves." Choji hums in agreement as Naruto groans, eyes angry white anime triangles.
Naruto suddenly spots Sakura, sitting by Sasuke.
"Oh, no! Sakura!" Naruto cries, getting to his feet and running up to her as Sakura and Sasuke turn their heads.
"What?!"
"Sakura, Sakura! Something happened to your—I mean... something serious happened to your hair!" Naruto screeches as he slides forward on his knees.
"Oh," Sakura utters in realisation, fiddling with her now shoulder length hair. "That's all. I just wanted to... change my look. I like it better long, but when I'm out in the wilderness like this and I'm moving around all the time, it gets in the way too much."
Naruto hums thoughtfully as Choji, Shikamaru, Homura and I go up to them.
Naruto asks Shikamaru, Choji, Kyo, Ren and I, "So what's your story? Why are you guys here in the first place? What's going on around here?"
The boys sigh in annoyance. Shikamaru groans, "Explaining everything to you is going to be such a pain."
Sakura states, "Everyone just showed up to help."
"What?"
I turn my head when Tenten suddenly appears before Ino, Lee slung over her shoulders. "I'll take care of him now, Ino."
"Ok."
Tenten takes her unconscious teammate and I give a large sweat drop when she suddenly starts shaking Lee roughly, yelling, "Come on, Lee! Pull it together! Snap out of it already alright?!"
Lee groans as he drops to his knees and blinks his right eye open, the other closed, "Tenten, is that you...? What are you doing here?"
Tenten crouches before him as his other eye partially opens and she replies, "I came to help you out. What do you think?"
"Wha...? Where are those Sound ninja guys?" Lee questions, gazing around.
Tenten tells him, "Sasuke took care of them. Don't worry about it."
"Really?" Lee gazes to Sasuke.
"Just what were you thinking, rushing in there all by yourself? Look at you; you're a total mess!"
"Well, Sakura-chan was in trouble, so... I had to do something right?"
Tenten chides, "That was pretty darn stupid, don't you think?"
Lee says dejectedly as he wraps his arms around his knees, "Well, I guess I cannot really argue with that."
"Aha! I know you, Bushy Brow!" Naruto exclaims, having gone up to Lee and point to him.
With an angry pink aura around my body and my eyes angry white triangles, I shout as I punch Naruto flat on his back, "HEY!! YOU'D BETTER NOT SAY ANYTHING BAD ABOUT LEE!!" After I finish scolding the Uzumaki, I turn to Lee, a soft smile on my face.
"Lee? I just wanted to say thank you for helping Sakura." I really was grateful to him for helping her out. Who knows what would've happened if he hadn't shown up when he did?
Sakura adds, "I want to thank you, too. Because of you, I was able to stand up for myself, and I've become a little stronger."
Lee says with tears in his eyes, "Thank you, Sakuya-chan, Sakura!" He fiercely wipes his tears away. "But I guess my efforts alone were not good enough. So, Sasuke." Lee looks up at the Uchiha. "You are as good as your reputation. Just from what you'd expect from the Uchiha clan. To chase off those ninja, you must be very strong." He leans forwards. "Not like me. I got beaten to a pulp."
This causes Sasuke to gasp.
Lee addresses me and Sakura. "Sakura-chan. The lotus of the Leaf Village blooms twice."
"Huh?" She mumbles with a raised eyebrow.
"When we meet again, I will have become a stronger ninja, I promise," Lee tells us.
Sakura and I give him a closed eye smile.
Lee comes up to me and says, "Sakuya-chan, it's an honour to meet the Fujikami princess!" He bows which startles me and Ren and Kyo gaze at us with a raised eyebrow.
I wave my hands back and forth as I tell him, "N-No, there's no need to do that! I'm truly grateful you helped out Sakura."
"I have heard a lot about you from around the village, but this is our first time meeting each other," He says, smiling at me. "I must say, you're truly beautiful like a goddess!" He gives me a sparkly grin.
I feel my face heat up from the compliment as everyone stares at me, even Sasuke. Naruto has a squinted eyed look about him now.
It's usually a big deal to be a clan princess, but to be the princess of the legendary Fujikami clan? That's on a whole other level.
It was awkward silence until Ino's voice reaches our ears across the clearing.
"Hey, Sakura! Come on over here! I wanna fix your hair for you, ok?" Ino calls, waving.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Sakura goes over as Homura goes up to Tenten.
Homura purrs as she gazes at the brunette.
"Oh, wow! So beautiful," Tenten gushes before beginning to stroke her back. "And your coat is so silky!"
Tenten laughs as she hugs my nekomata and I smile at the two as I hear Sakura and Ino bickering about Sasuke.
I'm so happy that Tenten seems to love Homura already.
🌸🌸🌸
"Well, now that that's over, we're off to the tower," I say as I kneel beside Homura and pat her while she's in her kitten form.
Naruto and Sakura blink at me in surprise. "Huh? What do you mean, Sakuya-chan?" Naruto asks in confusion, cocking his head.
Ren says smugly with his arms folded over his chest, "We've already got our second scroll!" Team 7 gasp at that.
"No way! How'd you get your scroll! We lost ours in the beginning, but then the Sound ninja gave us there's," Sakura says in shock.
Kyo mutters with a shrug as I push myself to my feet, "We just got lucky, I guess."
"Anyway, good luck getting to the tower, guys. We need to get going," I tell them with a smile.
My teammates and I turn and leap up into the trees but I use my Wind Style Flight Jutsu.
It takes us a few hours to get near the tower. We were now running along the ground. I have my Earth Release Sensing Jutsu activated to feel for any enemies.
I furrow my brows as I sense an unfamiliar vibration.
"Hold it, you guys!" I say, stopping. Ren and Kyo skid to a halt as well.
Ren wants to know, "What is it?"
"I sense we're being followed," I respond, gazing at a particular tree to my right.
"An enemy? Or a wild animal?" Asks Kyo.
"Definitely human, but I don't recognise their vibration," I murmur. "I'll flush them out." I do a set of hand signs. "Earth Style: Breaking Point Jutsu."
I slam my foot on the ground and there's a pained grunt before a familiar head of silver hair pops out from behind the tree and face plants the ground.
"Who's that?!" Ren exclaims, taking out a kunai.
The silverette sits up and lets out a light chuckle. "You got me, Princess. Guess there's no fooling you, is there?"
Our eyes widen as Ren and I exclaim in surprise, "It's Kabuto!"
I place the backs of my hands on my hips as I interrogate, sounding suspicious, "What the heck are you doing, following us?"
Kabuto chuckles again as he gets to his feet and faces us. He says, "I was just making sure you got to the tower just fine, Princess. I thought you might need my help."
I frown deeply as I study the Yakushi. Why was he really out here, following us? Something doesn't seem right.
I say, "As much as I appreciate your concern, Kabuto, we don't need your help."
Ren agrees, crossing his arms, "Yeah! We've already got both scrolls! So you can just leave us be."
"Really? I'm impressed," Says Kabuto, smiling a little.
Kyo demands to know, a suspicious frown on his features, "Where are the rest of your teammates?"
"Oh, they're nearby," Responds the Yakushi. "You really don't need my help?"
I shake my head as I drop my hands and confirm, "Nope." I pop the p.
Kabuto says, "Alright, then. I offered. Good luck getting to the tower the rest of the way!"
"Right back at you," I call as he turns and leaps back into the trees.
Ren wants to know with a raised eyebrow, "What was that all about?"
I sigh, turning to my teammates, "No idea. Let's just go. We're almost there."
Ren smirks as he and Kyo both nod their heads. We continue to the tower.
About three hours later, Ren exclaims, "I see the finish line! We're almost there, guys!" However, we were stopped as growls reach our ears. Ren's voice is weary. "What was that?" A heartbeat later, we were surrounded by four giant tigers, about the same height as my own Summonings. "Are you freaking kidding me?!?! Alright then, we'll fight our way through!"
He whips out a kunai but I put my hand on his arm to stop Ren as I step forward. "Let's try talking before we start hitting, ok?" I stand before the tigers and bite my thumb. I do hand signs and place my hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu." With a large poof of smoke, two of my tigers appear, Izumi and Atsui. Izumi is a white female tiger and Atsui is a male red tiger. I can summon different types of wild cats.
"Hello, M' Lady," Izumi greets kindly.
"What is it you need?" Asks Atsui.
"Could you two please ask those other tigers nicely to leave us alone so we can get to the tower and finish this exam?" I ask the two tigers I summoned. They take one look at the four surrounding us and step forwards.
Izumi and Atsui chuff out breaths at the four tigers and they do the same in return. Izumi suddenly growls lowly, golden eyes narrowing. The four tigers take a step back and appear surprised.
Atsui lets out a chuff and the four tigers turn to stalk back into the forest.
Izumo says as she and Atsui turn to me, "All is well, M' Lady," She says. "They will not be bothering you or your teammates any longer."
"I also told them if they did, they'd have to answer to us," Says Atsui with a puff of his chest.
I smile as I pat them both and say gratefully, "You guys are the best! Thanks a bunch."
"We shall be off then," Says Izumi before disappearing in a puff of smoke along with Atsui.
I turn to my teammates with my hands planted on my hips only to see Ren is gaping at me and Kyo is gazing at me with astonishment.
"Whoa," Mutters the Takahashi after overcoming his shock. "How'd you do that?"
I reply flippantly, "Not everything needs to be solved with violence, Ren. Remember that." He just nods before putting his kunai away. I let out a sigh. "I'll use my Earth Suspension just to get us to the tower quicker. Gather round."
The boys and Homura gather around me and I do hand signs. "Earth Style: Earth Suspension Jutsu." I then focus my chakra into the ground and raise my arms. A chunk of earth big enough to fit us all on rises up and I steer us in the direction of the tower.
🌸🌸🌸
We make it to our door and I set the platform down before we get off it. We enter the room and step into a large empty chamber.
"There's no one here," Says Ren.
I blink when I notice writing with missing words on the far wall ahead of us. "Look, there's writing on the wall." We go up to it and study it.
Kyo muses, "It looks like it has a few blanks."
"Can you read what is says, Sakuya?" Asks the blond. I nod and furrow my brows before I start to read the kanji aloud.
""If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquired wisdom to take your mind higher. If earthly qualities are what you lack, train your body and prepare to attack. When heaven and Earth are opened together, the perilous path will become righteous forever. This... something, is the secret way to guide us from this place today.""
"What does it mean by that?" Ren wants to know with squinted eyes.
I say, "I think there's a missing word." I glance at my teammates as Kyo steps up to us. "Anyway, it's about the scrolls." I frown ahead. "I think we're supposed to open and read the Heaven and Earth scrolls now."
I take out both scrolls and hand the Earth scroll to Ren while I take the Heaven scroll. The blonde gulps in nervousness as Kyo watches.
We grip the edges of the scrolls as Ren mutters nervously, "I guess this is it..." We hesitantly open the scrolls, only to stare in confusion at the kanji. "Wh... What's this mean?" Ren asks as an anime question mark appears above his head.
With a flat look, I mumble, vaguely recognising the formula, "A man? A person...?" I then gasp sharply as the center of the circle bulges upwards on both scrolls. "This is... a Summoning Jutsu! Ren, drop the scroll, now!" I throw my scroll on the floor just as he does and Kyo pushes me back in order to protect me in case we're attacked, and Homura gets in a ready stance as smoke wafts from the scrolls crisscrossing on the floor.
I gasp as a figure soon appears through the smoke in a relaxed stance with his arms folded across his chest.
"What the?!" I exclaim, much to my teammate's confusion.
"Hey! It's good to see you, Sakuya," Says a voice as they look up and give us a wide smile.