Disclaimer:
I don't own Naruto. Kishimoto Does.
Arc 2: Sand Part 2
He could only hear the sound of water dripping in the midst of a complete silence.
Itachi sat on a small rock formation waiting for the other two's so called grand arrival. The news had broken out regarding of the Kazekage's untimely defeat and capture. To him, the truth was pretty much the obvious.
The organization wasn't interested that of the Kazekage himself nor his duties as a leader, but rather than the beast inside of him.
It was fortunate for him that he knew too much of their main goal, yet he couldn't do anything stop it overall, because he was a part of the process of achieving that certain goal.
His thoughts then shifted to his home, Konoha, and a certain raven-haired teen to which he had previously met. He had that feeling that the girl was something different, and when he tried looked into her memories, he saw her story and past.
He saw the whole family and he saw his little brother.
"Hey Itachi!"
His thoughts were finally interrupted as he turned his right side to see a certain blue skinned man." Kisame-san." He mentioned his name.
"You looked gloomy today huh did something happened?" The shark man asked, now donning the organization coat and ready for the next mission.
Itachi simply shook his head." No, I'm fine." He replied." It's just that I-"
"You mean the girl that you've met back in the village?" Kisame clarified first." What about her?"
He nodded back." Well, I needed to go back there if I have the time." He explained." I wanted to know more about-"
As he was going to finish his sentence, which was suddenly cut once again as the doors had finally opened.
He observed the large entrance boulder, which smoothly slide open once more to finally reveal two individuals, one was riding on a giant clay bird and the other one inside his own puppet.
"We're back guys!" The blonde-haired member of the Akatsuki, Deidara, exclaimed as he announced their return from their successful mission."
"And we brought you a present!" He added.
The clay bird then opened his large beak as it spat the unconscious body of the Kazekage towards the ground.
"Be gentle Deidara." Commented by the other member and partner, Sasori of the Sand, that only caused the blonde man to laugh, head tilting back slightly as he grinned.
"Oops, my bad."
The Uchiha secretly showed his disgust of their actions. They treated the person with no respect even though young Kazekage was just an unconscious shell of himself. These two had the worst attitudes amongst the members besides Hidan and Kakazu.
Yet, who could have thought these two would eventually get along. They were the perfect tandem, the blonde man specialized on forbidden explosion jutsu while the other had the skill of a puppet master.
Ironic, with how he himself was always played on a string by their leader.
"Alright Fellas, our mission is finally accomplished!" The arrogant voice of Deidara could be heard all over the cave. This made the man sigh, annoyance building. How he wished he'd never had to recruit him back then.
Itachi could only sigh, how he wanted to stand up and tell them to shut their mouth, but his calmer side prevented him.
"Look at them, man, you'd think they'd think they'd just killed the daimyo with that attitude." Kisame gave his own comment on the situation.
At the same time, the ground suddenly erupted and a giant statue with a face of a hundred eyes, and several giant hands which were attached on the statue emerged from the ground and a few moments later, holograms or silhouettes of the members started to appear one by one.
The extracting ritual was beginning to take shape and later a meeting was to be held.
Itachi watched as another ritual was going to take place.
This organization has so many members from different paths of life and it's only a matter of time before the tailed beast inside of the Jinchurikki will be extracted from him, thus taking away another life in this world.
He could only hope that his beloved village would send a team, stop this cruel violence before life truly got to flourish.
(INTERVIEW)
"Being on this organization is really pain to be honest."
-Itachi
(MEANWHILE)
They stopped walking once they crossed the forest and reached the desert, looking over the dunes of sand.
"Alright," Naruto groaned, sweat sliding down his forehead at the heat, not helped at all by his refusal to take off his jacket. "We finally reached the desert!"
Boruto scanned the mountains of the waste, calculating. By this time tomorrow, they'd be at Suna. Meaning the fight will begin soon after. He glanced at Himawari and Sarada, both a bit tired, but determined.
"Sunagakure is just up ahead," Temari walked forward and then turned to them. People from Suna truly were amazing, withstanding all this heat dressed head to toe in black without breaking a single sweat, they were superhumans. "It's best if I take the lead from here on out."
"Lead on," Kakashi nodded.
They started walking into the desert, their feet sinking a little bit into the sand before they lifted them to take another step. Last time Boruto was in the Wind country's deserts he was on a mission with Sarada and Mitsuki, to deliver an important artifact to the Suna. That felt like a lifetime ago.
(MEANWHILE)
"But Lady Chiyo! You're the only one who can extract the poison from Kankuro!"
Baki pleaded with the elder woman. He was desperate to save the young man, the Kazekage's older brother. Apparently, the brown-haired young man had attempted to save his brother but failed, the Akatsuki were just too much for him to handle.
A tall man with two distinctive red markings on his face. He was a man of good principle. He was very loyal to the sand village and would do everything that he could to save the young man's life. He was the only survivor as the rest of the team that was sent to rescue the Kazekage were wiped out, though they weren't sure that would be the case if they didn't get rid of the vile poison soon.
Lady Chiyo was the only one who had the ability to heal the young man. In fact, he thought that she was the only one who had more medical knowledge than the medics here in the village. He had hoped that she could help extract the lethal poison out of the young man's body, but it seemed selfishness truly never dies, the old coot refused to even glance at Kankuro, as if one look would magically cure him.
"I told you Baki, I don't have any more business with the village's affairs." Chiyo stood by her word. She refused to attend the Kankuro's wounds. Her companion, Ebizo just stood there and watched the whole scene unfold.
Baki could only show his disappointment, face set in a deep frown. Although, he never gave up despite the criticism of the two towards himself. It was the truth that he was not a very efficient leader. Too set in the old ways to lead a whole village of opinionated people to a new age. Baki knew he wasn't much good with poisons, he often left that to people like Kankuro, but he will do whatever he can to help.
"The young man is reckless, he should have never faced the enemy all by himself," Ebizo commented, he was the younger brother of the elder woman herself. He expressed the reckless attitude of the younger generation nowadays, always having something to say but never an action.
Chiyo gave a looked towards the man." That's why the Sand village will never prosper. Their system is too dependent on foreign entities. She expressed her disappointment towards the lack of experience of the Shinobi in this village. Even the Medic-nin were not enough to fully take care of the young man, the last few years since the war had only been a downward spiral for Suna, no longer enough time to give any student of the human body time to fully learn, and it wasn't as if there were many books just lying around that contained all seeing knowledge of Sasori's poison.
"With all due respect, Lady Chiyo, but your grandson was the one responsible for this." Baki finally told the truth, voice tinted with underlining contempt.
Chiyo, who had decided to stay away from the scene, suddenly stopped her tracks. She widened her eyes and turned back around to looked at the man in charge of handling the current situation, with little luck might she mention.
"Sasori." She muttered. She was really surprised when the man mentioned her grandson. All the memories came back to her. As did the regrets.
"Please, Lady Chiyo."
The elderly woman just sighed. She really had no choice. Instead of walking out, she decided to change her mind and walked back to the injured young man's aid. She had really no choice right now.
"Alright, I will do whatever I can to help."
(Interview)
"I usually don't lend a hand to assist on situations such as this nowadays, but if it concerns my grandson, then I am already a part of that situation."
-Chiyo
(MEANWHILE)
The sandstorm was a major problem ahead. Once the group found themselves in the middle of the desert, they were greeted by its usual welcoming glory of strong winds and sands, trying to enter their eyes.
At first, they were confident, especially Temari who was leading the way towards the right direction. Everyone was now covering their eyes, keeping the sand particles away from entering. However, their gear and clothes were not spared since the sand had attached unto them.
"Damn! I wish I had your mask Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto managed to let out a comment amid the sandy chaos, immediately regretting it as the gritty particles found their way into his mouth. "Blergh!".
It was also somewhat a move to lighten up the mood while they were struggling.
For Boruto and the rest of the girls, they were pretty much holding their own during this time. Sarada was assisting the pink haired teen while he was helping his little sister.
Himawari clutched unto her big brother's arms as the two helped each other in the midst of the strong sandstorm. Temari had announced to the rest that she was able to locate a nearby small cave and had instructed the group to head their as fast as possible.
The Uzumaki girl was trying her best to close her eyes and at the same time, opened it to get a better vision of what was happening. It's been so long since she had been into the chaotic desert, it filled her with a sense of nostalgia.
Along the way, the blonde young man kept comforting the girl. Lighting up the mood by telling her small jokes and helping to see the bright side of things in this situation.
And Himawari was grateful, and she knew that she had to be strong as well.
(INTERVIEW)
"For all the things that had happened, it was beginning to help me handle tough situations and I also thank Nii-chan for giving me that courage."
-Himawari
(LATER ON)
In several minutes, the group had finally reached the small cave in one piece, though they were mostly covered in sand, to which they immediately removed once they sheltered in.
The sandstorm that had begun a few hours after they walked in the desert was still going strong, trapping them in the cave longer.
"We got this close to our target and we're just sitting here!" Naruto complained angrily. "I can't stand this waiting!" He was about to go out of the cave before Kakashi stopped him. "Naruto, for the last time, relax." He told him. "There's nothing we can do."
"I know but-" Naruto sounded frustrated.
"Just be patient," Sakura scolded him. "Would you look at Temari? She's the one who's worried the most but she's still keeping a level head."
Temari does seem calm, Himawari noted as she glanced at the blonde girl.
"The cardinal role of traveling in the desert; if you hit a sandstorm, you stay put," Temari recited.
"You lose all your sense of direction in a storm like that," Boruto commented, making them all look at him.
"What?" He asked, confused.
"Have you traveled in the desert before?" Temari asked him.
"A couple of times, yeah," Boruto nodded, and Himawari noticed her brother was choosing his words carefully. "Running errands for my dad and stuff."
"I see," Temari said, relaxing against the cave's wall. "I'm sorry, I don't believe we have been introduced."
"I guess not," He chuckled. "I'm Boruto," he slightly bowed with his head.
"Temari," she answered before turning back to Naruto. "Don't worry, the sandstorms we get this time of year usually don't last very long."
Kakashi removed his hand from Naruto's shoulder and the boy looked out to the sandstorm raging out there. "Well," Naruto said. "I just hope you're right."
A stomach growling broke the silence around the cave.
"Onii-chan," Himawari turned to her brother with a scolding tone. "If you're hungry, you should say so."
"I'm not hungry," Boruto protested, but then his stomach growled again, louder this time. Sarada laughed and Himawari sighed, going through her bag. Taking out some dried meat, she gave it to him. "Eat it, please?"
Boruto tried to resist her but eventually sighed and took the meat, chewing on it.
"Are any of you hungry?" Himawari asked the rest of the group. They shook their heads.
"No," Sakura said. "Thank you though, Himawari-san."
Himawari smiled at her. "Just Himawari is fine," she told the pink-haired girl. "Himawari-san makes me feel old."
Boruto chuckled. "Yeah," he said while chewing some dried meat. "We wouldn't want that."
Himawari blushed. "Onii-chan!" She called out in embarrassment. Sarada punched Boruto's head and sighed. "Idiot Boruto," she mumbled.
"Ow! that hurt, Sarada," Boruto rubbed the place she hit him.
"Don't tease Himawari," Sarada told him.
In front of them, Temari chuckled. "You all seem to have a close relationship." She noted.
"Do we?" Boruto asked, sulking, still rubbing the sore spot on his head.
"You do, actually," Sakura said. "Like a family."
"Well, Boruto and Himawari are siblings," Sarada said, pointing at Himawari who was checking the contents of her bag and Boruto who was sulking and eating the last of his meal. Himawari looked up from her bag and shook her head. "You're our family too, Sarada," she told the Uchiha. "And when we grow up and you and Onii-chan get married, we'll be related for real!"
(INTERVIEW)
"When Hima made that comment, I was laughing at myself and getting embarrassed at the same time."
-Boruto
"Seriously. I have no comment for this topic."
-Sarada
Boruto choked on the meat and started coughing violently, and Sarada blushed ten shades of red. "Himawari!" They both yelled, mortified. She could tell they were slightly angry, so while giggling, she moved away from them and sat between Kakashi and Naruto, to protect herself. The two shinobi must have been surprised she just suddenly sat down between them as they sent her curious looks, but she was too busy laughing. "I'm sorry, Onii-chan, Sarada," she said eventually, having calmed down at last.
Sarada huffed, her cheeks still red. "You have to stop saying stuff like that," she told Himawari scoldingly, Boruto nodding next to her.
The girl had to use everything she had not to comment on something else, giggling again instead. Her giggling was then stopped by a loud yawn that escaped her mouth.
"Are you tired?" Sakura asked her.
"Mhm, a bit," Himawari said, rubbing her eye.
"You should get some rest while you can," Boruto told her, his only eye scanning her features with worry. "Barely rested at all on the breaks."
"Okay," Himawari was tired, so she didn't argue. Leaning against the cave's wall, she adjusted herself to get comfortable and closed her eyes. The storm wailing outside reminded her of the storms she used to listen too when she was younger, only that then she had her parents there with her.
Without her noticing, her head fell onto Naruto's shoulder, making the blonde freeze. But before he could say anything, she had drifted off to sleep.
(MEANWHILE)
Naruto sat still as Himawari slept on his shoulder. It had been around twenty minutes after she fell asleep, and he still didn't know what to do. At first, he glanced at Boruto and Sarada to ask for assistance, but those two just shrugged and went back to waiting for the sandstorm to pass, as if Himawari falling asleep like that was a common happening. Afterward, he tried to relax and just let her sleep. She looked like she was sleeping soundly, which was good.
She must have been really tired, Naruto figured.
A sad worried face swept across the blonde. He had been observing the girl, wondering if she was really alright. There was this strange feeling of concern that rose up.
This was the first time that he had met this girl and yet it felt like he had known her for a long time. A familiar emotion swelling up inside of him.
Another few minutes passed before the sandstorm started to weaken. Temari started moving and getting her stuff together. "It's almost over," she told them, glancing outside cautiously. "We should get going."
"Right," Naruto was about to stand up when Himawari squirmed, making one of the cutest sleepy sounds he had ever heard. "Um..." he looked around at his friends, silently asking for help. What should he do?
Boruto chuckled and got up, walking to them and crouching next to Himawari. "Hima," he nudged her gently. "It's time to move," he told her.
Himawari still didn't open her eyes, making a whining sound and cuddling closer to Naruto. The Uzumaki blinked in surprise. Was his shoulder that comfortable?
"Hima," Boruto touched her shoulder. "Come on, we need to go."
"No," Himawari mumbled in her sleep, turning her body away from Boruto. "No, no." She started to squirm more, her eyelids moving fast, her eyes under them were going all over the place, Boruto frowned and shook her shoulder.
"Mama!" She yelled, shooting up and panting. Looking around, she probably didn't recognize where she was. Her eyes were wide, and her pupils were dilated. Boruto grabbed her shoulders and shushed her, remaining calm unlike Naruto, who was unusually nervous, awkwardly silent as he looked away from the siblings, about the Himawari's sudden outburst.
"It's okay, Hima," Boruto told his sister with a calm tone. "It was just a dream," he said, smoothing her hair. "Just a bad dream."
Himawari's trembling seem to have calmed, and she breathed deep a few times, blinking rapidly. "I-"
"It's okay," Boruto removed his hands from her shoulders and handed her the bag. "We're about to move out. The storm stopped."
"R-right," Himawari drew a shaky breath. She looked around and her shoulders relaxed a little more as she recognized the people around her. She reached out and took her backpack from Boruto, slipping her arms through the straps slowly. "Okay."
They all understood Boruto's behavior as a sign to not mention Himawari's outburst. It must have been a common thing because Boruto didn't even flinch the whole time. They gathered their things and waited for the last remains of the storm to blow out.
Kakashi cleared his throat. "Once we get to Suna, we're going to have to meet with the Council right away and get our instructions," he told the team. "We won't be able to make any moves until we're told so, do you understand, Naruto?" He asked Naruto who huffed.
"Yeah, yeah," he said dismissively. "Now let's go already, -ttebayo!"
And so, they began their final steps to Sunagakure, and to Gaara.
As everyone left the small cave one by one, it was Naruto who had voluntary given them the head start. Being the last one to leave, to which he was already used to.
As he watched the siblings, who were heading out and assisting each other, he felt a slight pain in his head, as he experienced a sudden dizziness. Afterwards, something unexpected flashed before his eyes, he saw a young boy helping his little sister get up from a bad fall.
"It hurts Nii-chan..."
"Don't worry, I'll take you to Auntie."
With that, the memory ended, and the dizziness and pain went away. The blonde finally was able to breath properly and was left wondering in confusion.
"What was that all about?"
(MEANWHILE)
It was a dark day for the village of the sand. Their beloved leader, the Kazekage himself, was captured and possibly on the lines of death right now. The whole place was in a state of either mourning or rage at those who captured their leader, there was an eerily silence that seemed to echo through the whole village.
Lady Chiyo was not one of those mourners. In fact, she refused to mourn or rage with the villagers. She was, even more, disappointed with the fact that how the people here quickly lose hope that their young leader is now gone, how quick others were to succumb to consuming emotions such as hatred. This is one of the reasons why she had lost hope with this village.
The elder puppeteer stared outside one of the windows of the Kazekage building. The sandstorm had receded, and the sun was back in its glory. Just a while ago, she had failed to fully heal the young man. It was impossible and beyond her expertise to extract the poison from the younger's body. Sasori truly had outdone himself this time. She might even be proud if she didn't feel anything but shame at the thought of her grandson.
She could see the disappointment of everybody when she didn't manage to do her job. She could only temporarily relieve the pain from him. She also explained that only the fifth Hokage could heal and extract the poison fully from the young man. She doubted that the leaf village would send someone good of a medic as the great slug princess.
"Will there be hope?" She wondered. She already lost her grandson from the evil of the world and now had come back to put everyone in the village in disarray. Who will solve this current conflict happening right now?
By the time she got back at the infirmary where the young Kankuro was confined, she was greeted by the silent faces of the staff and Baki. She almost looked away from them, she didn't want to see their faces of anguish and failure.
Although, at the same time, sounds of footsteps could be heard heading towards the infirmary. By the time the footsteps reached the room, a group of people from the leaf village suddenly showed and entered the room by themselves.
"A team from the leaf village?" Chiyo wondered and asked. She was surprised and all her doubts were instantly washed away, except... Tsunade wasn't on the team.
(INTERVIEW)
"I wasn't expecting that a Team from that village, will be sent here to assist the situation. It appears a new hope has arrived."
-Chiyo
(LATER ON)
They weren't hoping to receive an unpleasant welcome.
"Kankurō!" Temari, Sakura, and Sarada ran into the room and threw their bags to the floor, rushing straight to the examination table.
Kakashi watched them from the threshold, trying to give them room to work in, when all of a sudden, the old woman who was in the room charged at him, her fists raised. "Damn you!" She yelled at him. "Get ready to defend or die!"
Before he could react, Naruto made a hand seal and created a few clones. One of them had stopped the woman's fist while another tried to catch her leg, only for her to kick him in the face, causing his clone to dispel. She jumped away with surprising agility for her age.
"What do you think you're doing, attacking Kakashi-sensei like that?" Naruto asked her angrily. "You wrinkly old prune!"
"I haven't forgotten what you did," the woman looked at Kakashi with smoldering anger in her eyes. "I have waited for this day, White Fang of Konoha! The day I wreak vengeance on you, for what you did to my son!"
"Eh, no, no!" Kakashi raised his hands to show he was not armed, sweat dripping down the back of his neck as he closed his eye in a sheepish smile, a tactic used to get the enemy to lower their guard and lessen their offence. "You see-"
"That's enough talk!" She didn't listen. She was about to attack when another old man stood in front of her and raised his hand. "Take a closer look at the man, Nee-chan,"
"Huh?" The woman glared at Kakashi, who laughed nervously and tried to look as unthreatening as possible.
"There's indeed a resemblance, but this one is not the White Fang," the old man said.
"Hello," Kakashi waved to the woman.
"Besides, as you know, the White Fang of Konoha died long ago," the man continued, and Kakashi almost winced. "Remember? When you heard the news, you wept in frustration because you wouldn't be able to have your vengeance." The woman narrowed her eyes at Kakashi, examining him. "Isn't that so, Nee-chan?"
"Oh, well," she said in a happy old lady voice, startling all of them with the sudden change of her demeanor. "Never mind." She laughed full-heartedly. Her laugh was cut short, however, when Kankurō started struggling against the medics, sweating profusely.
"Here, let us take a look at him," Sakura said as she tied her hair, baring her neck as she trapped the short pink strands. Sarada nodded and did the same, leaning over Kankurō.
"Yes, please," Temari asked of them, not removing her concerned gaze from her brother.
Sakura turned to the room of people wearing varying expressions of worry and concern while Sarada checked Kankurō's temperature. "Listen, it might help if you all clear out and give us some room."
"You got it, Sakura-chan," Naruto said as they started walking out of the room, leaving the two girls with the young man still suffering in pain.
As the two girls were then led to a certain area, Sarada found herself in the most unexpected but familiar situation. She was somehow pulled into this and she knew what she had to do.
In that very area were medical tools and supplies were stationed just for them and the other medics waiting for any orders. They were immediately thrust into a position as leaders of their own.
"Are you alright, Sarada-san?" Sakura asked, interrupting her thoughts.
Sarada blinked a few times before turning to the pink haired teen." Yeah, I'm fine." She replied.
Sakura simply nodded, although she could sense that the girl was somehow bothered." I might need some assistance, if it's okay with you?" She added.
Taking a deep breath once more, the Uchiha teen was able to gather herself, she would face this situation without hesitation, as she has done many a time before.
"Alright, let's do this."
(INTERVIEW)
"I found myself thrust into a situation that I was not expecting, but I had no choice, and I gotta stay strong."
-Sarada
(CHAPTER END)
AN: Thank you for reading the chapter :)
Edited by ILikeFoxes828