"We won't let you take Sasuke!" Naruto yelled. Sasuke lay unconscious to the side. Sakura was fussing over him while Naruto fought the snake bastard. Most of the jōnin were fighting off the sound ninja in one on one battles.
Chikako ran into the battle, but stopped. Orochimaru knows who she is. She couldn't risk her identity. Instead, she helped the jōnin fight off the other sound ninja. Before coming to the leaf village she spent some time in the sound village. Pouring over book after book, Chikako studied their jutsus until she felt like there was nothing she could learn there.
A small group of six or seven sound shinobi ganged up on her, but by using their jutsu's against them with a small mix of taijutsu she easily beat them before moving on to the next. The others seemed to be having trouble dealing with the foreign ninja. Eventually she found Kakashi. He was fighting against Orochimaru's four body guards. The red head was about to plunge a kunai straight into Kakashi's heart.
Time seemed to freeze. Chikako's heart dropped, and her feet moved her towards Kakashi as fast as they could. Her speed was something to behold, but that was the last thing on anyone's mind as they protected the village. Blood splattered as the knife ripped through the skin and was pulled out haphazardly. Chikako's eyes widened as she screamed. It was such an unfamiliar sound that the ninja in the surrounding area who could spare a glance looked at her.
A kunai was jammed into her back. It ripped through her cloak and shirt cleanly. The large tear left a large open wound on her back. In another movement, she stabbed the knife into her again creating a large gash that ran down her back cutting through the seal that was on it.
Her mother put it there when she was a child and it was slightly damaged before, but someone helped her fix it. It was called the Kusarisumi seal. It was a seal to block her immense amount of chakra. Chikako used one of her own gentle fist techniques to get Kakashi out of the spider web binding made by one of the other bodyguards with the last chunk of stable chakra she had left.
The chakra pouring from her body took a physical form in a white color and it thrashed around as it grew like a fire. It continued to grow and climb higher to the sky as it raged. Her white colored chakra seemed to be infinite. Slowly black tendrils corrupted the white and her chakra became a murky grey color. An explosion of chakra was added to her already ginormous amount and it whipped and lashed out around Chikako, creating large crators in the ground.
"G-get Jiraiya" Chikako choked to Kakashi in a pained hush as she collapsed. The silver haired man just stood there in complete shock at what just happened.
Orochimaru felt the overwhelming amount of chakra in the air. It distracted him long enough to be was hurt by Naruto. Kabuto called for a retreat and the four guards as well as the sound ninja who were still standing rushed back into the woods. Kakashi ran to his student after the shock wore off and looked at her back. It was a miracle she was still consious.
"Hatake. I'm y-your" Chikako coughed and Kakashi cut her off. His eyes trailed all over her body in a panicked speed.
"Don't talk" he said sternly. It came out as a shout unintentionally. He felt bad for raising his voice at her when she was hurt, but apologizing wasn't really his first priority at the moment.
Chikako's short silver hair was sprawled around her head. Her hood was cut off when she took that attack for him, and veil was slipping off her face. He could see blood dripping from her lips and part of her sharingan eye. Kakashi yelled for the Hokage and he re-covered her face. He didn't miss the horde of scars that were littered around her eyes.
Lady Tsunade was in the hospital treating the other shinobi when Kakashi arrived carrying Chikako. Blood poured out of her back making a puddle under them every time Kakashi rested for even a second. Shizune gasped at the terrible state she was in and lead Kakashi to a room. He laid Chikako on her stomach while Shizune ran to get Lady Tsunade. It didn't take long for her to appear.
Tsunade's face was grim as she healed Chikako. The wound was easy to heal thanks to her mass amount of chakra, but that wasn't what was worrying Tsunade.
The unknown seal on her back was broken when she took that hit for Kakashi. It was a large and powerful seal that even she hasn't seen before. Tsunade wondered who could've put it there and why.
When Chikako was out of critical condition Tsunade kicked everyone out of the room so she could wrap Chikako's abdomen. It seems she was the only one Chikako's shown her face to, and she figured she would keep it that way.
Nighttime finally rolled around and team seven was gathered in Chikako's rooms. She has been unconscious all day. Naruto spent most of the day searching for Jiraiya, but was unable to locate the sage.
"I'm sorry, but visiting hours are over." A male nurse said. The four of them walked out and headed home. Little did they know a member of the Akatsuki was watching over the girl.
When the coast was clear, Itachi slipped into Chikako's hospital room. He sat by her side and put his hand on her head. The cool touch of his hands always calmed down Chikako in her sleep. She nuzzled her face into his palm and sighed in relief. He wished he could do more for her, but there was nothing to be done at the moment. When Itachi was sure Chikako was sleeping soundly he slipped out of the village.
It had been two weeks and Chikako hasn't even moved. She had a few visitors each day, but she still wouldn't wake. The first few days she had a terrible fever, but she was out of the worst within a week. Much to Tsunade's dismay the wounds left behind rather thick scars even after they were healed by using medical chakra.
Tsunade called Kakashi into her office. Both ninja had serious faces. It was obvious that this was about Chikako. There was no other reason for Kakashi to be there. The other ninja were helping to repair the village and weren't being sent out on any missions.
"That seal was strong. You felt her chakra. She is stronger than anyone I've ever met. I'm sending your team to find Jiraiya. I've been doing research on the seal based on what you described, but haven't found anything yet. " Kakashi nodded. He could tell Tsunade wanted to say more, so he stayed in his place.
"As you know the person she is searching for is in this village. She has found that person, but she wants to know if they are up to her standards before she reveals herself. I'm sure you caught a glimpse of her eyes. She has scars piled on top scars. It looks like people have tried to carve out her eyes over and over again. I can't imagine what she's been through in her 15 years of life. I'm giving you a special S-rank mission. Make sure she wants to stay in the village. We cannot have her siding with someone like Orochimaru" Tsunade said.
"We already know that she has Uchiha blood, but I know Sasuke isn't who she's looking for. Keep that in mind and let her do things her way" Kakashi honestly didn't know what to say. He did see the scars around her eyes and he very well knows that she's looking for someone. It's only natural that the village would want to keep someone like her on our side.
"Dismissed. I want your team to leave in a half an hour." Kakashi bowed and left the room. He walked down to Chikako's hospital room to informe the team of her mission.
A week passed and they still had no leads on Jiraiya. Team seven were all gathered around the table in their room.
"So we're going to write everything we know about Chikako on this scroll?" Naruto asked. Sakura nodded. They all collected bits and pieces of Chikako's personality and past, but they haven't ever talked about it in a group.
"Good idea Sakura. I'll go first" Kakashi said.
"I know both of her parents passed away, but she has a stronger connection to her mother. She had a sharingan eye and she came to the village in search of someone. Also it seems that she grants a person a title and only that person can have that title. She is also very skilled when handling flowers" Kakashi said. Sakura wrote down his words and looked over to Naruto.
"She likes ramen and is addicted to sweets. Oh and she likes to go on walks and look at the clouds. Shikamaru told me that"
"Sasuke?" Sakura asked.
"Her mother was an Uchiha who had sharingan eyes. The clan leaders pushed her mother to fight, so she fled with Chikako and lived somewhere where it snowed a lot." Sasuke finished and Naruto sighed.
"We don't know much about her, huh?" Naruto asked solemnly.
A loud scream made the team jump out the window. They ran towards the sound and found themselves at a bath house. A few girls ran out of the locker room screeching in horror. The males rushed into the locker room to see what happened only to be greeted with Jiraiya laying on the ground behind some bushes with binoculars.
"Pervy sage! We found you!" Naruto yelled. After Naruto finished lecturing the sage, Kakashi informed Jiraiya of the condition that Chikako is in. They headed back towards the village with the upmost of urgency. It took them only three days to arrive back at the village despite their initial week of traveling. Team seven brought Jiraiya to Tsunade and they all made their way to Chikako's hospital room.
Shikamaru and his team were in there visiting her when they arrived. The male had made himself comfortable in the chair next to her bed while Choji and Ino were in the corner just talking. They made room for the new comers when Chikako's team hurried in the room with the two sanin.
Jiraiya stood on one side of Chikako and Tsunade on the other. They both gathered their chakra and used the eight trigrams sealing style to put a eight sign seal on her back to replace the other. Both sages stepped back as Chikako slowly opened her eyes. Her face was covered, so no one noticed her awaking until he started to sit up. Sasuke and Shikamaru grabbed each side of Chikako's body and laid her back down.
"You're hurt. You need to lay down" Shikamaru said.
"Alright Shika" Chikako laid back down and looked around the full room.
"Thank you for taking care of me" She said and bowed her head as much as she could without opening her wound. The group fussed over her for the next few days. Chikako had to steal a crutch just to sneak out of her room. She honestly wasn't even hurt anymore. Tsunade just wanted her to stay in the hospital to keep a watch on her and the newly applied seal.
Chikako used the crutch to move up the stairs that lead up to the Hokage monument. However as she reached the top she found that a boy beat her to it.
He had a green jumpsuit on with a ninja belt wrapped around his hips. His large eyebrows were visible from where she stood. His bowl cut hair style seems to shimmer. She swore she could've seen twinkling in his hair. A man that looked exactly the boy sat down on the stairs next to him. They exchanged a few words.
Chikako didn't want to interrupt them, but her back was burning up and she needed to sit. She hobbled over to where he two males were and sat down next to them. She let out a sigh when they noticed her.
"I see you are injured as well" the younger one said. Chikako nodded and looked between the two. The older one laughed and introduced himself.
"I'm Guy. You may be covered in black but the power of youth is strong within you" he cheered. Guy gave Chikako a thumbs up and a smile. She thought she saw the twinkle in his teeth this time. I must be going crazy.
"I am Rock Lee. Guy-sensei's pupil. It is nice to meet you" Lee spoke and held a thumbs up mimicking his teacher.
"I'm Chikako. Part of team seven" She said.
"Oh? So you know my greatest rival Kakashi." Guy said. Chikako nodded and waited for more information.
"Who's rival now?" A new voice piped in. Chikako sighed. They found me.
"Ah Kakashi. I challenge you and if I loose I will run 300 laps around the village with Chikako on my back!" Guy announced.
"I believe it's my turn to pick the challenge" Kakashi said bored. Guy nodded and let Kakashi think.
"Let's bet on Chikako's actions" Chikako tilted her head.
"I have two types of chocolate pastries in my hand" Chikako's mouth was already watering.
"Well each hold one. Whichever one she takes the pastry from wins" Kakashi held out a freshly baked chocolate muffin and a plate of chocolate tart. Guy chose he chocolate tart and they both stood there. From beside her Lee was cheering on his sensei. Chikako looked back and forth between the two with an absent expression. She snatched both pastries and started nibbling in the chocolate muffin first.
"Alright! I lost" Guy announced. He picked up Chikako carefully and placed her on his back then began his 300 laps. Both Lee and Kakashi sat where they could see Guy every lap. For the first 20 Chikako nibbled on her pastries. When she was out Kakashi reached into his bag and threw another at her as they passed. Kakashi and Lee took turns throwing Chikako muffins until Guy was done with his laps.