I still do NOT own Naruto or anything, this is just a Fanfic..............But I DO own Leaha/Saki and Kale AND THEIR PLOT
ALSO!!! when something is in * * that means its inside her head (mostly Kale talking, but some is Leaha) when something is in " " that means its outloud (cause when she's alone Leaha/Saki finds it annoying to think everything, so it switches back and forth a little)
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CHAPTER 26 -~-
I kept a careful watch as we traveled towards our goal; all my senses heightened and on alert for anything that may pose a threat. I smiled smugly as I felt the extra weight in my shirt pocket shift with my movement; you wouldn’t think two scrolls would be so heavy. My smile shifted into a smirk; lady luck has been generous to us lately, it was almost too easy to steal their earth scroll.
After Sasuke and I returned, with Sasuke sporting a bruise on his back, we all settled down to eat. Naruto got his fish as promised; Kale and I even forgave each other, but things still stayed a little tense. The night was uneventful; Kale kept watch most of the time again, but switched off every so often with someone else. I could tell the moment I woke up that today was going to be lucky; I didn’t have a single nightmare that night.
**Flashback**
“We should head north farther into the forest; we can search around there for the other scroll,” Sasuke spoke. “Might as well, I already checked the east and south yesterday and didn’t find a thing,” I agreed. We broke camp and trekked through the forest, keeping a careful eye out for another team.
I had been scanning the area we passed for chakra signals for hours before finally getting a hit. I held up a hand and signaled for the others to stop, 500 meters ahead was a resting three man squad. I peered closer, I couldn’t tell for sure because they were suppressing their chakra, but they didn’t seem to powerful.
I motioned that I had found a team, Sakura and Sasuke understood, while Naruto stared at me confused. I rolled my eyes and slowly mouthed my discovery, comprehension flashed across his features and he gave me a thumbs up. I sighed inaudibly, made a hand sign and created 20 clones, Kale joining them a moment later. “Naruto make 20 clones,” I ordered quietly.
He obliged, “ok, each of you go with one of my clones, listen and do whatever they say. Do you understand me?” I said slowly. “Believe It!” one shouted, he was promptly smacked upside the head, “rule number one: STAY QUIET!” my clone hissed. “Go surround them and check them out, but make sure you keep a good distance away.” “No problem chief,” Kale smirked, giving me a two finger salute before leading them off.
Once they had a head start I lead the others in, “how is sending clones to do recon going to help us?” “Especially when half of them are Naruto’s,” Sakura and Sasuke questioned. “HEY!” Naruto half shouted, I gave him a warning look, “Kale will let me know what their status is and then if we ambush them they can be overpowered more easily.”
“But how are you gonna know what…” I held up a finger as Kale spoke up, *yepp three of them, from the leaf village, no namers, but they look familiar.* *Be there momentarily, do they seem tough?* *No they’re scuffed up a bit but seem to have avoided a fight so far.* “Alright, we can head forward, they’re from the leaf village but a team we don’t know; now what were you saying?”
“How do you know that?” Sakura looked at me with wide eyes, I chuckled and pointed to my head, “Kale,” I merely supplied. “You can communicate through thought,” Sasuke stated, “basically yeah,” I whispered, half turning my head back to look at them.
We stopped in a high tree branch and looked down at the small team resting between a boulder and a few trees 100 meters away. I examined the three boys closely; they do look familiar… my eyes widened and a grin stretched across my face.
This is just too good to be true; the boys were the ones who opened their scroll during the last day! And if my memory is correct, and it is, they had the exact scroll we needed; which means we won’t upset the other teams’ original outcomes.
“We just hit the jackpot, they have an earth scroll,” I whispered. “How do you know?” “Because I’ve seen them before, they aren’t very strong, so we should do this as quickly as possible.” *Kale did you get that?* *Yeah, how do you want to play this?* *You guys stay back and we’ll challenge them, if they try to run then pop out.* *Alright,* I smiled in anticipation.
I relayed the plan to the others, making sure everyone (Naruto) knew what to do. As soon as the one on guard turned his head we jumped down from our hiding spot as I unshrouded us. “Well howdy! How are you boys doing this afternoon?” I smiled sweetly. They jumped up quickly, brandishing kunai, “and just when I thought we could take a rest,” the one with spiky hair and side burns spoke.
I internally squealed; he sounds just like Ichigo from Bleach! Too bad he’s not as cute as him. “Wait a minute, you’re that four man squad who started all that trouble during the first exam, you losers don’t stand a chance against us,” the one in the black and white shirt said cockily. “LOSERS?!” Naruto shouted, face turning red with anger, “calm down Naruto,” I held him back.
“You wanna put your scroll where your mouth is?” I glared at him. He smirked, “that depends, if you have the scroll we need, why waste our energy if we have the same one?” I got in a fighting stance, “don’t you worry, I won’t have to waste much energy on a weakling like you,” I smirked. *Let them lose Kale!*
“I’ll teach you you little…” “CHARGE!” Naruto’s clones shouted, jumping down from their hiding spots, my own on their heels. “WHAT?!” I took their moment of confusion to quickly form my hand signs, “Infinite Quicksand!” I slammed my hands to the ground. The one with the black and white shirt got caught in my trap, instantly sinking up to his hips, while the other two jumped away.
“Damn,” I cursed, quickly tracing a circle and transforming it into rock; the boy now encased up to his chest. The other two jumped towards me, “we’ve got you now!” They each threw a handful of shuriken, my eyes widened; shit! I was about to move when I was suddenly grabbed around the waist and tackled to the ground; “Loam Pillar!” I heard Kale shout.
“Ow, what hit me?” I groaned. “What the hell is wrong with you, what were you thinking?!” Sasuke said angrily, glaring at me. “Ahhh,” I looked up at him, a blush rising to my cheeks as I realized he still had his arms around my waist, anchoring me to his side. “Taking them on all by yourself, you could have gotten yourself killed!”
“Uh, Sasuke…” “what!?” he fumed. I fought back my blush, “you’re still holding me.” He looked down at his arms before quickly retracting them; a blush of his own surfacing as he got up hurriedly. I got up as well, dusting myself off; I froze as I noticed everyone staring at us, except Sakura… who was glaring.
“Ahem,” I cleared my throat awkwardly, walking over nonchalantly to the two enemy ninja who were encased in pillars of clay. A new jutsu of mine I had recently created; a column of clay erupts from under an opponent’s feet, swallowing them up and leaving only their necks and heads visible.
“Thanks Kale, nice work,” I smirked at his handy work, my ‘clone’ crossed her arms with a tight smile, “just be more careful next time.” I laughed nervously, rubbing the back of my head, “yeah.” I motioned to the pillars, the one holding the Ichigo sound a-like retracting into the ground so we were at eye level.
“Now let’s do this the easy way, I’d really rather not kill you, and hand over the scroll.” He glared at me, “and how do you know I have it?” he growled. I grinned wickedly, “I have my ways,” I made a hand sign, pressing my palm to the clay; it retreated, only confining his arms and legs. I dug around in his weapons pouch while he struggled to get loose, “Ah there it is,” pulled it out, “thanks.”
I pulled my hand back and the clay returned to its original block form. I turned my back to him, slipping the scroll under my shirt next to the other one. “Alright guys let’s get out of here and head to the tower!” “HEY! WHAT ABOUT US!? ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LEAVE US HERE!?” The one in the other column shouted, I turned back towards them, “well of course not, you guys will be let go in like 20 min. but you’ll have to dig out your friend,” I hooked a thumb over to the head popping out of the ground.
“You’re not an enemy, just an opponent, I wouldn’t let you die.” I started walking away, “come on guys, the winners circle waits!” I pointed forward. “That was amazing Saki, Believe It! How did you learn that, you should teach me it…”
Naruto rattled on, bouncing around ahead of me; Sakura and Sasuke keeping a careful distance from him. “It was nice meeting you, even if I never learned your names! Don’t worry, you wouldn’t want to be in the last round anyway, better luck next year!” I called back, raising a hand in farewell behind me.
~~ __ ~~
I scanned the forest carefully; they really gave him the slip, not a sign of them for the last two days. I chuckled; it sure was something seeing him that furious, he’s usually an expert at concealing his emotions. It must have been someone considerably bothersome to get under his skin. He only told me that he was unable to accomplish his goal, he didn’t divulge why, only that they had escaped and I was to search for them.
I smirked to myself; must have been one of the teammates… but which one? I stopped to rest a moment, leaning back against the trunk of the tree; I studied my team’s scroll briefly. I suppose since I can’t locate them I should take a break and quickly get our other scroll, wouldn’t want to disappoint them.
I slowed my pace as I spotted a team hiding near a boulder and concealed myself in a nearby branch. I watched them for nearly half an hour before finding that they had the same scroll and would only be a waste of time. I silently moved away from them; they wouldn’t be around much longer anyway, hiding in plain sight like that.
I froze as I sensed a new chakra, a happy smile playing on my lips; it couldn’t be? Could it? I cautiously approached the team I had left not minutes earlier, multiples of the same two chakra signals crowding around. I peeked out from my perch; I knew I had sensed his familiar chakra, Sasuke Uchiha.
“Infinite Quicksand!” I turned my attention to the girl in interest, raising an eyebrow. She’s the one I didn’t have any info. on… my my she is quite skillful with ninjutsu; but not skillful enough I mused, noticing two of them escape her trap. “We’ve got you now!” one shouted, both of them releasing a wave of shuriken in her direction.
I watched in astonishment as Sasuke tackled her, pushing both of them out of their path. “Loam Pillar!” one of her clones shouted, slamming a hand to the ground. Two pillars of earth shot up from under their feet, trapping them inside immediately, only their heads visible. Well isn’t she full of surprises; my eyes traveled back to the pair still lying on the ground. Hmm seems like Sasuke as feelings for his teammate, my mouth turning up in a half smile as they split apart quickly.
I strained my ears to hear their conversation, “thanks Kale, nice work,” she looked towards her clone. She names her clones? I quirked an eyebrow, she’s a peculiar one. “Just be more careful next time,” it replied shortly before disappearing, “haha yeah.” She motioned towards the pillars, one of which moved so her and the boy entrapped we’re at eye level; “now let’s do this the easy way, I’d really rather not kill you, and hand over the scroll.”
“And how do you know I have it?” “I have my ways,” she grinned as she performed a quick hand sign and pressing her palm to the pillar. I narrowed my eyes as I studied her; and what ways are those? The earth retracted, leaving the boy’s body visible and encasing his arms and legs only.
She dug through his bag, pulling out an earth scroll, “ah there it is, thanks.” She turned towards her team, “alright guys let’s get out of here and head to the tower,” “HEY! WHAT ABOUT US!? ARE YOU JUST GOING TO LEAVE US HERE!?” the other pillar’s captive yelled angrily.
“Well of course not, you guys will be let go in like 20 min. but you’ll have to dig out your friend,” she motioned towards the one stuck in the ground. Her next words shocked me, “you’re not an enemy, just an opponent, I would never let you die.” What does she mean? Of course they are her enemies; if they had been the stronger team they wouldn’t have spared their lives.
“Come on guys, the winners circle waits!” she announced excitedly, walking away. The boy with the spiky blond hair bounced around her babbling on enthusiastically; “it was nice meeting you, even if I never learned your names! Don’t worry, you wouldn’t want to be in the last round this year anyway, better luck next year!” she shouted back at them, raising a hand behind her in farewell.
It seems I accomplished my assignment; they’re on their way to the tower and I have my information. I waited till they were gone before standing; all that’s left is to obtain my own team’s second scroll. I gazed down at the beaten team with a slight smile, “I could be wrong but it seems I may have found the source of Lord Orochimaru’s anger.”
**End of Flashback**
~~ Saki’s P.O.V. ~~
As we neared the surrounding area near the tower I signaled for everyone to stop. “Before we go any further we have to clear a safe pathway,” “a safe pathway, from what?” “Tomorrow is the end of the time limit for the test… so a lot of teams are going to be setting up ambushes near here,” I explained.
“Let me guess, you already have a plan,” Sasuke stated, his lips turning up a bit in a sly smile. I mimicked him, “kinda… I’ll make some clones of us and send them off in different directions, then once a few of them get caught…” “We sneak past while they’re distracted,” he filled in. “But can you handle making that many clones?” Sakura inquired.
“I’m pretty sure I’ll be fine,” I smiled reassuringly, “No,” Naruto blurted out; we all turned to look at him. “No, I’ll help you Saki, I’ll make my own clones and you just worry about the others,” he grinned. “Alright then, but having all the clones have the same chakra, except for Naruto’s, would be a little suspicious…” I paused, debating whether to suggest it or not.
“Well we can’t really fix that,” Sakura shrugged, “actually,” I glanced at Sasuke, “we can…” Sakura’s mouth hung open in shock as I explained how I had transferred some of Sasuke’s chakra to a clone to help us escape Orochimaru. “I didn’t even know that was possible,” she gasped, “it’s used by medic nin’s usually for healing, but I tweaked it a bit.”
“Ok,” she nodded, I flashed a smile, putting my hands together and performing the needed signs, adding in an extra one for a bit more strength. In a puff of smoke 21 clones of myself appeared, “ok so we’ll have 7 decoy teams, I’ll need one of your clones for each Naruto,” he nodded, performing his own jutsu. “I need 14 of you to change into Sakura and Sasuke, 7 of each,” I instructed.
They split themselves up, doing as I asked; “ok line up we have to do this as fast as possible,” I stepped between the real Sasuke and Sakura, “you already know what it feels like, so it shouldn’t that much of a shock, but Sakura I’m not going to lie… it’s unpleasant but they’re only taking a little so it shouldn’t be so bad.”
She nodded uncertainly, “ready,” the two bared their arms, “go!” Two at a time, the clones quickly stepped up and grabbed an arm, transferring some of their chakra into themselves. “Alright get in your groups and when you meet an enemy… you know what to do,” I discretely winked at them. They smirked back knowingly, “good luck,” they took off in their assigned directions.
A minute or two later an explosion went off to our right, a cloud of dirt rising in the air. “WHAT WAS THAT!?” Naruto shouted, “Our cue, follow me and run for your lives!” Another explosion went off on our left and we picked up the pace, “SAKI WHAT’D YOU DO!?” Sakura screeched between breaths. “CREATED A DISTRACTION! WHAT’S IT LOOK LIKE?” I shouted over the third explosion.
I pushed myself faster as two more blasts were set off, only two more left. We flew forward as a boom sounded from behind us, a gust of hot air propelling us closer to the tower. I picked myself up quickly, yanking Naruto to his feet as the others rose to their own. “COME ON WE’RE ALMOST THERE!”
The tower was now only 200 meters away… 100 meters… 50! I rammed into the door, forcing it open and rushing inside. Not a second later the others sped through; as soon as they were in I slammed it shut. And not a moment too soon; just as I closed them the last bomb went off, causing the doors to shake on their hinges.
I slid down them with a relieved sigh, “That was a close one huh,” I called to my teammates who lay in an exhausted heap, trying to catch their breaths. They slowly turned to me, glaring eyes full to the brim with anime fire. I laughed nervously; sweat dropping in fear, “I guess that wasn’t the best idea?”
I quickly pulled out the two scrolls and unrolled them, “SAKI WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? WE’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO OPEN THEM!” Sakura shrieked, running over to try and stop me. I rolled my eyes, tossing them over her head as smoke began to rise from them. “Oh no it’s a summoning jutsu!” Sasuke called, they all ran from them and over to me, looking back at them in fear as a cloud of smoke grew.
“What it’s you?!” “Hi Iruka-sensei!” I smiled, “hey long time no see huh?” he smirked, trying to act cool. “Looks like you’ve gone through a lot in this test,” “hey, what’s with the surprise entrance? Why are you appearing with a summoning?” Naruto asked. “At the end of the second exam, we chunin are supposed to welcome the test takers back, and well… it was just good luck I was the one to be given the important task of being the messenger for you guys.”
“Since when is luck, begging Anko to be our messenger?” I snickered. “What?” his eyes widened in shock, “how did you--no of course not they’re picked at random,” he quickly stopped himself and covered with a lie. “Ahem,” he coughed, “well would you look at that, you guys made it a whole day before the deadline,” he said, looking at his watch. I raised an eyebrow; he needed a watch to know that?
“Congratulations you passed the second exam, to celebrate your passing I would love to treat you all to some Ichiraku ramen but…” “RAMEN! SERIOUSLY THAT’S SO COOL!” Naruto shouted, running up and hugging him. “Wait I’m not done…!” “So cool,” “let go!” “Believe It,” “Naruto!”
“OH YEAH! RAMEN WOULD BE AWESOME! Especially after eating that undercooked fish!” “HEY! I did the best I could! And to think I saved you the biggest one,” “what?! Why did he get the biggest one?!” “Because he actually did something unlike you! And I promised…” “That doesn’t matter it’s still not…wait what?!” Sakura glared at me.
“Alright alright break it up you two, and I see you’re still as hyper active as ever Naruto,” Iruka laughed, watching him bounce around. “Where does he get all his energy?” Sasuke sighed, sitting down tiredly next to me. “YEAH!” “Ugh, shut up!” Sakura whined, also lowering herself to the floor.
“But you didn’t let me finish, I would love to treat you to ramen, but I can’t.” Naruto stopped celebrating, coming to a dead stop and stared at him aghast. “You have to stay here until the test is officially over for everyone.” His face fell and he hunched over depressed, sinking to the floor with a look of despair.
“Hmph, now I see,” Sasuke smirked, “So then if we had looked at the scrolls in the middle of the exam, what would you have done to us Iruka-sensei?” “As usual Sasuke you’re as sharp as a tack…” *Oh yeah he’s a bright little crayon* I put a hand to my mouth to smother a snicker, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at me; “you’ve figured out the secret.
Part of this exam was to test how well you could see out a difficult mission all the way through. You knew it was against the rules of your mission to open the scroll and if anyone had tried to open one, whoever opened it would have been knocked out.” “Exactly why I was the one to hold them,” I beamed.
“Hey sensei, what does that writing on the wall mean?” Sakura pointed behind him, the other two looked up, just noticing it. “Actually explaining that is one of the duties I’m supposed to carry out,” “seriously?” “Yes, it’s serious business, they’re principles that Lord Hokage recorded that Chunin should follow. Heaven stands for your mind and earth for your body; ‘If qualities of heaven are your desire, acquire wisdom to take your mind higher’ get it?”
“Uhh no,” “Alright I’ll explain, in other words if your weakness lies in your intellect, Naruto, then you have to make doubly sure to work hard and learn all the information and skills you need to prepare for missions.”
“Ok I get your point,” he muttered, Sakura giggled; “and you,” he looked towards Sakura. “ ‘If earthly qualities you lack, train your body, prepare to attack’ so if your weakness lies in your physical strength, Sakura, then you have to make sure you work on your physical conditioning every day to improve. ‘When heaven and earth are open together, the perilous journey will become righteous forever’ ” “That must mean I’m perfect,” I smiled, I heard a double scoff, one from inside my head and another from beside me; I gave him a glare as he smirked slightly.
“So what about the missing space?” Sakura asked. “That part is meant for you to fill in, these five days of survival are to test your abilities as Chunin and see if you’d be good at it. I gotta say you guys did magnificently, a Chunin is a leader, a guide; it’s a Chunin’s responsibility to know the strengths and weaknesses of each team member and to know what skills and training they need to succeed on a mission. You did an excellent job on this mission and I want you to remember these words on your next one. Well, that’s it that’s all I needed to say.”
“Got it,” Naruto saluted him; he looked at him worriedly. “One more thing, for the 3rd exam… don’t push it too far, especially you Naruto I worry…” “Iruka-sensei, when I got this headband I stopped being a student so you don’t have to worry anymore. This headband is proof that I’m a full-fledged ninja right, you gave it to me and I may still be hyper but I’m not a kid. Like you just said I got through the Chunin exam and you watch I’m going to pass the third one for sure. Right now… I’m a ninja too!”
I smiled proudly up at him, crying on the inside; my little Naruto is growing up too fast! “Naruto you’re right I’m sorry about that. Well you guys are free to go, just follow that hallway to the main room and bedrooms for the teams, good luck,” he waved before poofing away.
I stood up, “you guys ready?” I grinned. “YEAH!” Naruto fist pumped the air, “come on let’s go see who made it!” I led the way down the hall, excitement building as we heard people talking. We rounded the corner and came to a large room, the other teams were all hanging out in their separate groups near the walls.
They all turned as we entered, my eyes found the sound nin gathered in a corner of the room; they looked at us like everyone else but turned away a moment later. That’s weird… I thought they would have been more concerned, they were told to try and kill Sasuke… why wouldn’t they have reacted more?
“Looks like quite a few teams have made it,” Sasuke commented, I looked around; only Ino and Kabuto’s team were missing. I smirked, “hey look Sakura, we beat Ino’s team,” she grinned a bit evilly. *She’s planning how she’s going to brag to her no doubt* I chuckled. I spotted our group and headed over, the others following, “hey guys how long have you been here?” Naruto grinned.
“H-hi N-Naruto,” Hinata stuttered, “I was wondering when you guys would get here, been waiting for nearly two days,” Kiba bragged. “Hello Sakura,” Lee appeared next to her, she shuffled away from him looking freaked out; Tenten and Neji followed in his wake. “Hey do you guys know what happened out there? It sounded like someone set off a mine field, that last one even made the walls shake,” Tenten asked.
“I guess I got a little carried away,” “a little! A few of those almost got us!” Naruto interrupted. “Hey, I didn’t know they were going to make them that huge! It was number 4’s fault they got too close!” “That was you!?” I heard a girl gasp and turned around, “hey Shikamaru, about time you guys showed up.” “It was pretty easy to get through after all those bombs scattered the teams waiting to ambush people.” “Exactly! My plan was brilliant!”
“Well I don’t know about you guys but I’m going to bed, haven’t had a moments rest since we started,” Shikamaru sighed. “Say do you think they have anything to eat around here?” I heard Choji ask as they walked towards the hallway that apparently led to the rooms. “Yea, we should go too, see you tomorrow,” I waved to the rest of them, walking away slowly as Naruto and Sakura said their own good byes.
Once they had caught up we searched for a room; “this one should do, far enough from any other occupied room,” I mused, stopping in front of one. We opened the door to find 3 cots, I sighed, “guess we have to steal a cot from a neighboring room,” “I’ll help you!”
“Ok Naruto,” I chuckled; after we had brought it in we all settled down to sleep. While they were getting ready I discreetly put a protective seal on the room. There, we should be safe for tonight; I sighed, I don’t know what’s going on with the sound but if they decide to attack… at least we’ll be ready for them.
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FINALLY! Wer're getting to the fun parts! This might take a little longer because of the actual planning I have to do :( But I'm keeping my deadline of 2 weeks!
Can anyone guess the mystery person? Haha you can probably tell right away by the first paragragh :P A little rushed at the end but what can you do *shrug* I hate how this whole part took forever! But I think the flashback thing speeded it up a lot! :D i hope you liked it!