Cherry Blossoms and Chakra Strings

[SleepyKamo]

"Normally traveling to the Land of Rice tales about three days! But I think if we keep a steady pace and conserve our energy, we can make it in three!"

Click to shrink...

Missing something here or mistyped either or.

 

[Sadguychet]

A couple days later, Team 3 walked through the village in which their mission objective was held. Compared to most, the village was large but compared to Konoha, Sakura couldn't help but think it was somewhat underwhelming, both in size as well as interesting things to look at.

Though apparently the villagers didn't agree with that sentiment. Sakura had never felt so many eyes on her in her life, following her every step as every villager they passed decided that Team 3 was the most interesting thing they had ever seen in their lives. It was like they were the main attraction in a carnival, with men, women, and children alike watching them with wide eyes as they made their way to the largest building in town.

When they stepped through the doors and the world outside was closed off by several inches of oak, Sakura almost sighed in relief. Being a ninja brought a lot more attention than being a merchant's daughter.

They walked up to the reception area, and the genin hung back while their sensei spoke to the woman at the desk. They exchanged a short barrage of words that Sakura was too far away to make out, before Iwabi handed over a thick scroll and the woman gave him a green slip of paper in return.

Iwabi held the paper up as he walked back to the rest of the team, "Mission complete, everyone. Good job."

Sakura blinked, "That's it?"

Iwabi nodded, "Our mission was to get the scroll here and we did it. Now all we have to do is take this little slip of paper to the proper place and we'll get paid."

Sakura frowned, "Oh."

"What were you expecting?" Tsu asked, amused at Sakura's clear disappointment..

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know, but this all feels so… anticlimactic, I guess. Business like."

"Well it is business." Hikari chuckled, "Not every mission has to be eventful, you know? Exterminating a bandit camp is about as eventful as it should get."

"And it's better that way." Iwabi said, "Trust me. I know some people who couldn't have a normal mission to save their lives. One thing always goes wrong, one way or another."

"I guess." Sakura relented, "I expected C-Ranks to be a bit more exciting though. We just dealt with some bandits and brought a scroll from one place to another. That's not very ninja-like."

"Well when you become a chunin, you can go on B-Rank assassination missions and if you're lucky, you might even be brought along on an A-Rank or two. Those are a lot more fun." Iwabi chuckled.

Tsu perked up as they exited the building and walked into the streets beyond, "Oh hey, speaking of which, the Chunin Exams are coming up, aren't they? Are you gonna let us enter this time, Iwabi-sensei?"

Iwabi made a conflicted face and Sakura tilted her head in slight confusion, "Chunin exams?" She asked.

"They're exams held bi-annually where genin hopefuls can compete for the chance to become chunin." Hikari explained, "They are formatted differently each time, but the final task is almost always a tournament bracket. They're held in a different village every year, and this year it's Konoha's turn."

"Which is why I think we should totally be allowed to compete!" Tsu said enthusiastically, "Last time we weren't able to because we just became genin and they were in Kusa, but this time they're on our home turf! There's no way we can miss out!"

They all looked to their sensei, even Sakura. A chance to become a chunin so soon after graduation sounded like a great opportunity.

Iwabi didn't answer immediately, visibly debating with himself, "I'm not sure." He finally said, "You three have what it takes, that's for sure, but there's more to bring chunin than just strength. I'd like to bring you guys on a few more missions like this before I make a decision, Sakura especially. You only graduated a few months ago. No need to jump rank so soon."

"Aww come on, sensei!" Tsu whined, "It could be a good lesson for her, for all of us!"

"Tsu's right, we could use the experience, even if we don't make the cut." Hikari agreed.

Iwabi chuckled, "Alright alright, I'll think about it. But that's all you're getting from me." He said, and the team shared silent looks of triumph at his words.

They walked back through the village, though Sakura noticed that instead of heading towards the outskirts of the village, they instead made their way deeper into it. She looked at her sensei, wondering where he was leading her.

"Where are we going, sensei?" Tsu echoed her thoughts.

"We're going to the embassy. That's where we'll get paid and also where we'll be staying for the night." He said as they approached a long building that was much better maintained than the rest around it. Two Konoha Shinobi met them at the door, recognizable by their flak jackets and glinting headbands. They nodded at Team 3 as they walked by and headed inside the building, before returning to their duties.

Iwabi nodded at the receptionist but apparently had no need to speak to him as he walked right past the front desk and down the hall. Coming across a pair of rooms side-by-side, Iwabi pushed the door open, revealing a room with two small beds that were already made up, "Tsuyoka, Sakura, this will be your room. Just put your things anywhere but don't unpack. We aren't staying too long."

As Tsu and Sakura stepped in, Iwabi pulled out the slip of paper he'd gotten from the mission, "Hikari and I are gonna go get our money and take care of some post-mission paperwork. In the meantime you two get comfortable."

He didn't have to tell Tsu twice. The moment the door closed, the Inuzuka practically jumped on her bed, relishing in the soft fabric underneath her instead of the hard ground she had come to know. She groaned loudly, "Oh my god, this feels so much nicer than sleeping on dirt. I feel like an old lady with how much my back's been hurting these last few days."

Tadao barked as he joined his master, running around in circles to get comfortable, before plopping down right beside her head. Sakura rolled her eyes, "It's your fault for forgetting your sleeping bag."

As Tsu and Tadao got comfortable on the bed, Sakura settled into her own space, placing her pack by the foot of the bed. She then reached into her tool pouch, pulling out the scroll that she had taken from the bandit camp. Since they were going to be here for a few more hours, she might as well see what was on it.

She undid the small blue ribbon and set it off to the side, before slowly unfurling the scroll. The moment she did, her eyes locked onto the long, dark strokes of ink that she had come to associate with sealing and as she unfurled it even more, her eyes widened at what she was met with.

The entire scroll was one complicated mess of seals, most of which Sakura couldn't even identify. Along the bottom of the scroll, written in normal ink, was a set of instructions for what seemed like some kind of jutsu, hand seals included.

Ignoring that for now in favor of the much more interesting part of the scroll, Sakura's analytical mind went into overdrive as she tried to parse out the components that were delicately woven into the thick lines of the matrix before her. She could pick out some things that she recognized from her own studies, but most of it was completely unknown to her. The only thing that she could say for certain that she knew was that the seal was blood activated, as she could see the blood recognition matrix linked to the outer rings of the inner chakra lattice.

"Whoever made this really knew what they were doing. I've never seen a style like this before." Sakura muttered as she poured over the delicate inscriptions. She searched for anything that might be dangerous, a trap or alarm that would sound if she messed with it the wrong way, but couldn't find anything. There was something along the outer edges of the seal that she just barely recognized as a modified linking matrix, meant to connect the seal to somewhere else, but she couldn't actually see what it was supposed to be connected to.

"Woah!" Sakura jumped as Tsu's voice sounded right behind her, and she whipped her head around to find the Inuzuka staring at the scroll with wide eyes, "Where in the world did you manage to get your hands on a summoning contract?"

Sakura's eyes widened and she looked back towards the scroll in disbelief.

"I got it from the bandits… You really think it's a summoning contract?"

"Oh yeah. It's definitely a contract, see?" Tsu pointed at a line near the bottom, "Once you make a contract, your name gets written here in blood. Usually, it's permanent even if the contract gets broken, so maybe this one hasn't been used yet?"

Sakura looked at the scroll in a new light, and now that she actually had an idea of what it was for, the seals began to make sense. The reason there wasn't a destination for the linking seal was because it wasn't anywhere nearby! It was meant to summon creatures or people from far away.

Sakura gazed at the empty line where the recipient was supposed to sign, noticeably blank just like Tsu had said. Was it a new contract? Or maybe one that had been remade. Why was it with the bandits? Had they stolen it? Or was it fake?

No, it definitely wasn't fake. Sakura might not recognize most of the seals here, but they were definitely real. There was a consistent pattern and style in each brush stroke, indicating that the sealer had an intent behind what they were doing.

"What contract do you think it is?" Tsu asked as she leaned over Sakura's shoulder, "The scroll was wrapped in blue so maybe it has something to do with water."

Sakura snorted, "Or maybe they just liked the color blue? I'm not sure a ribbon is really a good indicator of what's inside."

"What's inside what?" Hikari asked as they walked in the room, closely followed by their sensei. They gazed curiously at the scroll in Sakura's hand as Iwabi tossed two bundles of cash towards the girls on the bed.

"Sakura apparently nicked a summoning contract from the bandits and we're trying to figure out what it summons."

"Really?" Hikari gave the scroll a surprised look, "That's quite a find, Sakura."

Iwabi also looked surprised, gazing at the scroll with interest, "Hikari's right, those scrolls are extremely rare. Konoha has maybe five and there are probably less than thirty in all the Elemental Nations. If you decided to sell it, you could probably get as much as an A-Rank mission from the village."

Sakura looked down at the scroll, not really all that surprised by how much it was worth. Summoning contracts were insanely rare, just like Iwabi said, and coming across one was basically like coming across a massive uncut diamond if you could find the right buyer. Which wasn't all too hard considering any major village would be stupid to give one up.

The question was, did Sakura want to sell it? Having a summon was basically a requirement for any legendary ninja. The Third Hokage, the Legendary Sannin, Hanzo the Salamander, all of them had a summon backing them up and helping them on their journey. And here was a chance for Sakura to get her own…

"I think I'll keep it." Sakura decides, rolling the scroll back up, "I'm not sure what summon it even is, but any summon is better than none, right? Even if I'll probably never be able to summon anything big with my chakra stores, they could still be useful to have."

Iwabi gave her a proud look, "That's a good call. Always better to have another trick up your sleeve than another zero in your bank account. Ninja don't usually retire, but with an attitude like that, you might be one of the few who do."

"If you don't like the animal you get, can I have the contract?" Tsu asked, only to yelp and jerk her hand off of the bed, rubbing at her stinging wrist tenderly, "Ow, dammit Tadao! I was kidding!"

The ninkin just growled, gnashing his teeth and threatening to bite her again. Sakura giggled, "I don't think your partner would like that very much. From what I heard, ninkin can be pretty jealous."

"Yeah, well you heard right." Tsu gave Tadao the stink eye, "Keep the scroll. I'd probably have to burn it to keep him from chewing my wrists off."

"Alright, you three." Iwabi clapped his hands, "We'll spend the night here and get some rest, and go back to Konoha in the morning. I'd advise actually getting some sleep in a comfy bed while you can. The return trip is never any easier."

~~~

The next morning, the genin of Team 3 raced through the forest towards their home country all by their lonesome. Their sensei had stayed back to take care of something in the village and had professed that he'd simply catch up to them in an hour or so, trusting them to make the relatively short journey to the Rice Country's border by themselves.

They set a steady pace, making sure not to deviate from the path they had approached on so that their sensei would know exactly where they had gone. As always, Hikari was in the lead.

"Do you think we should set up and wait by that waterfall we passed on the way?" Tsu asked from Sakura's left. Tadao was still with Iwabi as the pup had caught a bad case of food poisoning from something he had gotten into the day before and was sleeping it off. Tsu was sure he would be fine in a day or so, but wanted to let him rest a bit before traveling with him.

"We could." Hikari took the suggestion into consideration, "I have a feeling that he's probably right behind us anyway. He didn't tell me what he was doing exactly, but he didn't seem to think it would take long."

"So where are you guys headed?"

"!" "AH!" "HOLY SHIT!"

The voice came from directly behind them, startling everyone present. Sakura whipped around, her hand automatically pulling out a senbon from her tool pouch and chucking it directly at whoever had snuck up on them. It caught the figure in the shoulder, and they grunted, backing away from the group and onto an adjacent tree branch as everyone present came to a halt.

As she and her team formed up, Sakura scrutinized the person that had somehow managed to sneak up on all of them, even Tsu. It was a girl around their age, with straight black hair hanging down to her waist, pale skin, and poisonous purple eyes. There was a sword strapped to their back and they were wearing an open, fur-collar jacket that allowed everyone present a generous view of their low-cut top and ample bust.

Any jealousy that Sakura might have felt was completely wiped away at the gleaming metal band hanging just above her breasts, three gleaming clouds inscribed into the metal. Kumo.

The girl looked down at the senbon embedded into her shoulder, completely nonplussed, "Ow, right in the shoulder blade." She said as she poked it lightly, ignoring the blood spreading across her jacket, "That's some pretty good aim you've got. It's been a while since I've gotten pegged like that and-oh! Is that poison? Nice touch."

Sakura watched with wide eyes as the girl ripped the senbon out of her shoulder like it was a splinter. The poison coursing through her veins should have been making it hard for her to stand without falling over, but it was like she wasn't affected at all!

"Here, you can have this back." She tossed the senbon back at Sakura, who snatched it out of the air, "Guess that's what I get for sneaking up on you guys, but I've never seen ninja from Konoha before so I guess I got a little excited."

Team 3 shared cautious glances with one another. Kumo wasn't Konoha's enemy and hadn't been since the last war, and some could even say relations were improving between them barring a certain incident a few years back, but it wasn't unheard of for groups of their respective villages to find each other in the open and come into conflict.

"Uh, sorry about that. I sorta just reacted on instinct." Sakura apologized to the girl as she stowed her senbon away, "Are you okay? I have the antidote right here."

To her surprise, the girl shook her head, "Nah, don't worry about it. I can't even feel it really. Besides, I'm really excited right now and I don't want to waste any time!"

Her words set off red flags with Sakura's entire team. They shared tense looks, liking this less and less by the second. Who was this girl, and why was she following them? And more importantly, where was the rest of her team?

"Why are you excited?" Sakura hesitantly asked as she stepped closer to Tsu and Hikari.

"Oh, that's simple, but you're probably not going to like the answer." The girl's purple eyes practically glowed as she leaned forward, uttering the next words in an almost calm manner that was undercut by a childish amount of eagerness hidden just below the surface, "I'm excited because if that poison was your go-to, I can't wait to see what else you have in store for me."

Sakura blinked and that was more than enough time for the girl to close the distance between them and slam a fist into her face, knocking her off of the tree and sending her plummeting down to the forest below.

---

Get chapters to this fic and all others early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 21 has just been posted!

 

[Redd123]

I really hope that is the salamander contract, because Nagito probably destroyed the the original when he went scorched earth on Hanzo, and they seemed to be interesting summons that would more than help her in her quest to be a legendary ninja, I mean there last user basically beat up three ninja than said "I like your moxie so I am going to let you live and give you a title." Hanzo may have not been shown much but there was no doubt that he was beyond most ninja exept one like Madara, and those like him with just his posion and weapon usage alone!

 

[Sadguychet]

Since she was a kid, Sakura had always been told she had freakish strength, but she never had anything to equate it to. Now she did. Even though she was shorter than Sakura herself, this girl hit like a mule.

The pinkette's cheek throbbed as she fell backwards towards the forest floor and she was pretty sure she could taste blood in her mouth from how hard her teeth had clacked together. Regaining her bearings with a shake of her head, she flipped herself upright, landing on a soft bed of chakra instead of the hard earth below her. She looked up to the treetops, and her eyes widened before she launched herself out of the way moments before the Kumo ninja came crashing down where she had been kneeling.

The other girl's sandal left an imprint in the packed earth where she had landed, and she wasted no time in launching towards Sakura as she fled, a wild grin on her face as she closed the distance.

Narrowing her eyes and squaring her stance, Sakura met the Kumo nin halfway, engaging her in taijutsu as she waited for her team to come back her up against this maniac.

They met one another and Sakura immediately had to slap aside a fist aimed for her jaw, before ducking under the high kick that the Kumo nin seamlessly transitioned into after her first whiffed attack. Sakura tried to get her with a leg sweep before her other foot returned to the ground, but she jumped over it, using Sakura's head as a springboard to flip over her.

Sakura whirled around and tried to punch the other girl in the face, but her fist was caught by a hand without any effort. She tried to pull away, but the Kumo nin held fast, grabbing her wrist with her other hand.

"And up we go!" She shouted like this was a game, and Sakura's eyes widened as her legs left the ground and she was sent flying. She had just literally thrown Sakura over her shoulder.

She's strong!' Sakura thought as she flipped herself upright. The Kumo nin was approaching her again, though this time it was clear that she wasn't in much of a hurry.

"Come on!" She yelled as she ran towards Sakura, "Show me some more poison! That wasn't all you had, was it?"

"I've got something better than some poison!" Sakura pulled Teashi's scroll from her hip and unsealed the puppet in one deft motion, before sending it soaring through the resulting smoke at the kunoichi standing across from her. Teashi's sickles extended from her arms with a click as she closed the distance, and the Kumo nin's eyes widened.

To Sakura's chagrin, instead of being afraid of the puppet coming towards her, the girl actually seemed excited by it, and she smiled even as she reached towards the sword on her back and unsheathed it,"A puppet user? That's so cool! I've never fought one of you before! This might actually be a challenge now!"

Growling, Sakura swung her arms wide, manipulating Teashi expertly. The Kumo nin blocked the first swipe of her poisoned sickles and dodged the second, before following up with a swipe from her sword. It scored a hit along Teashi's long cloak, luckily missing her actual body, but the strike made Sakura extremely wary. She pulled her puppet back a bit, getting ready to change up her attack strategy, only to balk as the Kumo nin suddenly ran past her creation straight at her.

"From what I recall, you guys are basically sitting ducks while your puppet's out, right?" She yelled as she closed the distance in a second.

Scrambling to defend herself, Sakura bent backwards to dodge a swipe of her sword and blocked the followup kick with her arms, but her guard was immediately broken by the incredible amount of force behind the kick, and her eyes widened as the girl's sandal slammed into her sternum.

"Sakura!" Hikari yelled in shock as they landed in the clearing as well, watching as the pinkette flew across the clearing, slamming against a nearby tree with a crack that echoed through the forest. Teashi fell to the ground as her chakra strings disappeared alongside her concentration, and Sakura groaned, looking up at the girl who had done the damage to find her grinning at her.

"Come on! I know you've got more in you than that!"

"How about you try this on for size!" Tsu yelled out from above her, and the girl's eyes widened as she looked up to find the Inuzuka coming down towards her like a rocket, arms held back and sword poised to lop off her head with a single strike.

Metal flashed and sparks flew as there was suddenly another sword stuck directly in the path of Tsu's odachi. Everyone present stared in shock as the Kumo nin raised up her sword and blocked Tsu's surprise attack with a single arm. She didn't even flinch, and shocked brown eyes stared into purple as Tsu fell to the ground, sword still locked against her opponent's much smaller blade.

"That was pretty cool!" The Kumo nin said, looking excited despite how close she had just come to death, "I didn't even see you coming towards me until you yelled! You're just genin, right? Maybe all that talk about Konoha having the strongest ninja isn't just a myth after all!"

She then held up two fingers in front of her mouth and inhaled deeply, and Tsu only had the opportunity to widen her eyes before the girl suddenly exhaled a stream of white mist directly into her face.

The Inuzuka immediately stumbled backwards, swinging her sword wildly and wiping furiously at her watering eyes, "Shit! My eyes! I can't see!"
"Tsu!" Sakura yelled, horrified as she watched her friend trip over her own feet and fall on the ground. She glared at the girl responsible, "Why are you doing this? I apologized for stabbing you! It was just an accident!"

"This has nothing to do with that! In fact, you stabbing me just made me want to do this even more!" The girl twirled her sword, grinning wildly, "That poison of yours really interested me! Anytime I come across people like you, my blood starts racing and I just have to see what you're made of! It's one of the only reasons I became a ninja in the first place!"

Sakura's jaw dropped. What kind of rationale was that!?
Hikari's eyes narrowed, "You cannot just go around attacking other ninja without provocation. That is how you start a war."

"Nah, it'll be fine, trust me. I do this all the time." The girl said flippantly, clutching her sword and pointing at Hikari, "Now how about you go next? I've never fought a Hyuga before. You guys can shut down chakra networks, right? I wanna see how that feels!"

Hikari shared a look with Sakura, a wordless conversation passing between the two of them in an instant, and both of them came to the realization that this girl was definitely insane. From the way she was talking to the fact that she had attacked Sakura literally out of nowhere, there was no way she was in her right mind and more importantly, she wasn't going to back down if Hikari said no.

Hikari's eyes hardened and they turned back to the girl, "Very well. Prepare yourself, for I will not be holding back."

The Kumo nin bared her teeth, "I wouldn't have it any other way. Come on!"

Hikari took a deep breath, holding a hand in front of their face, before their eyes widened and their chakra flared sharply.

"Byakugan!"

The veins around Hikari's eyes bulged in an almost grotesque manner as they activated their kekkei-genkai, granting them sight far beyond anything Sakura or Tsu were capable of. And then, as they gazed upon the kunoichi that they had been battling, they suddenly went stock-still.

"Hikari?" Sakura called hesitantly, wondering what was going on as Hikari stayed frozen. The other kunoichi seemed to know, as she suddenly frowned.

"Oh, you saw it, didn't you?" The Kumo nin sounded disappointed, "That's not good. I'm gonna get yelled at for that."

"What is that?" Hikari's eyes were glued to the Kumo nin an expression of confusion and slight disgust plastered on their face, "Your chakra… its-"

"Classified." The Kumo nin said cheerfully, though there was a hint of steel behind her tone, "And if you talk about it, I'm gonna have to turn this match from friendly to serious real quick. So what do you say you forget what you saw, come over here, and try to punch my face in. Sound good?"

Hikari's face hardened and they got into a low stance, "Very well. Let's see how you fare against me."

The Hyuga blurred and the girl did the same. They met in the center of the clearing with a thunderous clap and immediately began exchanging blows too fast for Sakura to see. They stopped for a brief moment, long enough for Sakura to catch a flash of red, before Hikari shouted in pain.

They broke apart, and Hikari breathed heavily, clutching onto their right bicep where their sleeve was slowly turning crimson.

"Got you~" The Kumo nin said cheerfully as she twirled her sword to clean the blood from the blade, "You're pretty good, but just coating your hands in chakra won't let you block my sword."

"I realize that now." Hikari said grimly.

"Hikari! Are you alright?" Sakura called out to her friend. The Hyuga nodded slowly, pulling their hand away to reveal a large gash in their arm.

"I'm fine. I just underestimated her." Hikari reached up to their headband, pulling it off of their head and wrapping it tightly around their bleeding bicep. Sakura caught a flash of something on their forehead before it was hidden by their long hair, and Hikari grunted, "It won't happen again."

"That's the spirit! Come at me!"

Hikari attacked again, this time doing their best to set the pace of the battle. The Kumo nin responded in kind, upping the ante of her attacks as she used her sword and body in conjunction to fend off Hikari's much more eager assault.

The Hyuga was doing much better this time and yet it quickly became clear that it wouldn't be enough. Even with Hikari's increased enthusiasm for the battle, the Kumo nin was barely even trying, evident by the smile on her face.

Breaking free of the battle, Hikari leapt back to stand on the side of a nearby tree, weaving hand-seals. Sakura recognized the seals and her eyes widened, before narrowing in realization. She reached out and reeled Teashi in, before sending the puppet high into the treetops, waiting for the right opportunity.

Their opponent wasn't willing to wait, and she rushed forward, blade held aloft as she prepared to stop the Hyuga's jutsu, "Oh no you don't!"

"PAY ATTENTION!" Tsu appeared behind the Kumo nin, her eyes red and full of tears as her odachi whistled towards the enemy ninja's back. Once again, her attack was blocked, but she didn't let up, continuing to swing her sword as she tried her damndest to cut the Kumo nin into pieces. She was moving faster than Sakura had ever seen her, rage fueling her actions as she tried to defeat this ninja who was practically running circles around them all

And yet, it was clear once again that the Kumo nin was barely even trying, that same grin on her face as she dodged and blocked the Inuzuka's assault like it was nothing at all. Tsu on the other hand, wasn't quite as lucky. Even from here, Sakura could see that the Kumo nin managed to score multiple hits on the girl's body every time she lashed out with her own razor-sharp blade. Sakura bit her lip, wishing that she could get in there and help her, but she had to wait for Hikari to get done.

Luckily for both her and Tsu, she didn't have to wait much longer.

"Earth Release: Mobile Core!"
Hikari finally finished their jutsu, and with a loud shout that echoed through the clearing, they jumped down from the tree and slammed their hands against the ground. The earth around Hikari and the Kumo nin rumbled powerfully before suddenly sinking downwards. Tsu, having expected it, was able to jump up and out of the sinkhole before it became too deep. The girl they had been fighting on the other hand, wasn't so lucky, and fell deeply into the pit that had been created.

The trap was set. Teashi swooped from the treetops in a blur, joints clicking loudly as she darted towards the hole Hikari's jutsu made in a blur. As she approached, Sakura activated several hidden mechanisms in the back of the puppet's head and Teashi's eyes came loose and rolled out of her sockets, straight into the hole. Sakura pulled the puppet back towards her as Tsu jumped to her side to watch the fallout.

Teashi's eyes weren't just for decoration or aesthetic. Painstakingly inscribed on the back of each of the wooden orbs was a tiny explosive seal keyed specifically to Sakura's chakra. Sure, their small size made it almost impossible to get the same amount of oomph that you would get from an actual explosive tag, but the fact that there were several of them more than made up for it.

Sakura watched grimly as the sinkhole made by Hikari's jutsu lit up brightly with explosions. The earth rumbled and split apart, before collapsing inwards into a much larger sinkhole, burying the Kumo nin underneath several hundred pounds of dirt and rock.

As the dust settled and their opponent showed no signs of reappearing, Team 3 slowly began to relax. Hikari stood from their kneeling position and Tsu sighed loudly, resting her sword on her shoulder, wincing at her numerous wounds. Sakura gave her a concerned look, but she just waved it off, smiling at the pinkette.

"Nice job, Sakura. I don't think even sensei could come back from that one." She said, staring at the destruction that had been caused, "At least now we don't have to burn the body. I doubt Kumo will find her in the middle of nowhere-"

Hikari made a surprised noise, and the other members of Team 3 glanced over at the Hyuga to find them staring at the hole with wide, bulging eyes, "Hikari? What's wro-!"

Sakura cut herself off as she looked back towards the hole and was met with a sight that curled her spine. Two hands reached out from underneath the mass of rocks, glistening in some sort of slimy substance that Sakura had never seen before. And then a head of dark hair appeared, and then a body as the Kumo nin dragged herself up from her supposed grave in front of the horrified genin.

She stood on shaky feet, her entire body covered in a thin layer of that same slime. It oozed off of her, sizzling the ground where she was standing as she raised her arms high into the air.

"That was pretty good teamwork." She said, groaning as her back cracked in several places. She was covered in dust and bruised to hell and back, but she wwas smiling just as widely as before. She reached down towards the hole, pulling her sword out and shaking the dust off as even more slime sloughed off of her body. She pointed it at them, giving them a smile that made Sakura shiver, "Show me more!"

She burst forward and Hikari and Tsu moved to meet her. The Kumo nin met them with relish, moving just as fast as before despite her injuries as she fought both of them at the same time without any issues.

As they fought, Sakura didn't remain idle. She sent her creation forth towards the battling genin. She maneuvered the puppet to flank around the fighting trio as her teammates kept the girl occupied, coming up behind her so that she might score a solid hit and end this mess. Hikari and Tsu saw what she was doing and upped the intensity of their strikes, trying their best to make sure that the Kumo nin wouldn't have the opportunity to dodge or get away.

She came at the battling pair from her unoccupied side, and suddenly she was surrounded by a three prong assault that she had absolutely no chance of escaping.

Deciding to make sure that was true, Sakura manipulated her puppet once more. Teashi's secondary arms lifted and there was a loud hydraulic hiss, before ninja wire burst from her palms. Because she was preoccupied with the others, the Kumo nin wasn't able to defend herself from the wires which wrapped around her body multiple times before pulling taut, trapping her arms against her torso.

The Kumo nin looked around, taking in Tsu coming from the left, Hikari in front of her, and Teashi coming from the right, and her excited expression finally gave way to shock as she realized that she had been got.

But then she smiled, and Sakura's eyes widened as a flare of strange, almost poisonous chakra leaked into the air. It laid across Sakura skin like a miasma, clogging her throat and raising her hackles as she flinched in surprise.

White foam bubbled up from underneath the Kumo nin's pores, sizzling and steaming in the open air. Sakura watched in shock and horror as the foam burned through her wires in an instant, allowing her to move once more, before continuing to expand even more. Hikari jumped back as their instincts screamed at them to move, and even the headstrong Inuzuka abandoned her assault in favor of fleeing the strange foam.

They landed beside Sakura as the pinkette reeled her puppet back towards her, and all of them watched warily as a veritable wall of white, steaming foam grew larger and larger before slowly coming to a stop well past the point that it would have hit both Hikari and Tsu had they not retreated.

"What the hell is that stuff?" Tsu hissed, staring at the foam as she covered her nose, "It smells like death."

"It looks even worse." Hikari said grimly, and Sakura suddenly realized that the Hyuga's byakugan was still active, "It's like a pulsing mass of malignant chakra. Just looking at it is making me sick."

"You saw something earlier, Hikari. When you looked at her." Sakura said as she eyed the steaming foam, "What was it?"

Hikari hesitated, looking slightly traumatized, "It was-"

"CLASSIFIED!"

The girl burst out of the foam with an angry expression, purple eyes practically glowing. She raised her sword, pointing it at them all as she shook foam out of her hair, "I already told you to keep quiet, but now I'm gonna have to make sure you do. Get ready, cause I'm about to stop holding back."

What? Sakura's eyes widened as the girl suddenly disappeared from sight, not even a blur or shadow to indicate where she had gone. She looked around, trying to find where the Kumo nin had disappeared to buy was completely unsuccessful.

There was a flash and the clanging of steel, and all of them froze as Iwabi appeared in the middle of the clearing, a growling ninkin held in one hand and a sickle held in the other that he used to push against the girl's thin blade. For once, the Kumo nin actually looked like she was struggling, her arms shaking as she did her best to keep the sickles from reaching her body, while Iwabi looked utterly calm.

"I think that's more than enough." He said as he stared at the girl. There was a steely undertone to his otherwise calm demeanor, and everyone present knew that it wasn't a request.

The girl stared at him for a moment, as if weighing her options, before she smiled. "Fine." She said, pulling away from the blade lock and stepping back, "I've had my fun anyway. You guys are pretty good. You almost got me a couple of times."

She backed away, sheathing her sword, and after a moment, Iwabi put his sickles away as well. He stared at the girl with narrowed eyes, "Would you mind explaining to me what you think you're doing fighting my team? Genin or not, attacking without provocation won't look good today if the higher ups."

The girl was utterly unconcerned in the face of his threats and actually put her hands in her pockets as she grinned easily, "What? I was just having a bit of fun! It's so boring in Kumo! Everyone's so straight laced and strict, not to mention I never get to go out anymore! They don't trust me or something…"

"I'm sure that's why." Sakura gave her sensei a confused look at his words, but he didn't make any move to explain. He looked back at them, taking his eyes off of the girl for just a moment, "Tsuyoka, are you alright?"

Tsu's eyes were extremely red, but she nodded anyway, "Just peachy, sensei. Can't see shit and I feel like I've got a million paper cuts but other than that, all good."

Iwabi nodded, turning back to the girl who was suddenly looking extremely disinterested in everything that was going on now. It was like the moment they stopped fighting, she stopped caring about what they had to say. She looked around at the forest around them, before turning back to the team where her eyes met Sakura's.

She grinned, "Hey, girl with the pink hair. You almost killed me a couple of times back there. Are you gonna be in the Exams? They're being held in your village, you know?"

Sakura didn't answer and she shook her head, smiling easily, "Ah well, I'm sure I'll see you again pretty soon either way. Ninja like us always end up knowing each other eventually" She gave them all a cheery wave, "Bye-bye~"

Just as suddenly as she appeared, the girl vanished, the only indication that she had left being the ruffling leaves in the trees high above them. Team 3 remained tense for several moments before slowly relaxing alongside their sensei as he walked back towards them, a deep frown on his face.

"Are you three alright? I'm sorry I couldn't get here sooner." He said as he handed Tadao over to his rightful master. Tsu took her ninkin happily in her arms, and he immediately began licking the cut on her cheek.

"We're fine, sensei." Sakura paused, "Well, not fine but we'll be okay."

"None of us have any serious injuries." Hikari added on, "The worst of us is Tsu."

Iwabi looked at Tsu, taking in her injuries. The Inuzuka's clothes were ripped in several places and she had several cuts from the Kumo nin's sword, but none of them were anywhere near as deep as the one on Hikari's arm. It was almost like she was purposefully not trying to hurt her.

As Sakura stared at the wounds in confusion, Iwabi spoke, "Are you in good enough condition to travel?"

Tsu nodded without hesitation, "I'm good, sensei. These are just scrapes. I can barely feel 'em."

He nodded firmly, "Good. Then come on. We're heading back to Konoha. Double time."

"Yes, sensei!"

They leapt into the treetops, resuming their journey back towards their home at a much faster pace than before. They grouped close together, watching each other's backs just in case another enemy was hiding in the shadows.

"Hey sensei?" Sakura spoke as they began to head back towards Konoha once more. He inclined his head, indicating he was listening, "How was that girl so strong? She didn't look older than me but we could barely keep up with her. It was like we were fighting a jonin!"

"A fucking crazy jonin." Tsu said, "That bitch was smiling the entire time she beat us into the dirt. Even when we buried her she just crawled out of her grave, smiling from ear to ear!"

Iwabi was silent for a long moment before he spoke, his voice solemn, "In this world there are a select few individuals with power that surpass even the kage. They look like any other ninja but each of them are in a league of their own. That girl you just fought was well on her way to becoming one of those people, and you should be glad that she was only toying with you all."

"If that was her toying with us, then I'd hate to see her actually fight." Tsu griped as Tadao snuggled into her collar. Her eyes were still red from whatever that kunoichi had spat into them, but she seemed to be mostly fine despite her wounds. Even still, Sakura strayed closer and unsealed a flask of water, holding it out to her. "Thanks."

As Tsu poured the water in her eyes, Iwabi shook his head, "If she is what I think she is, then even I probably wouldn't have been able to beat her."

That was a horrifying thought. Iwabi was one of the stronger jonin in Konoha, so to hear that someone like him wouldn't be able to beat a teenager was scary to even think about.

"Is that why she didn't care about fighting us?" Sakura asked, "She acted like she wouldn't get in trouble for attacking us like that. Is it because she's so strong?"

"Sort of. People like her are given a certain amount of leeway, at least in Kumo. They're important enough that only the highest ranking personnel are able to directly command them." Iwabi's face was grim, "I never thought they'd let one this far away from their village, though. Usually they keep them close by."

Sakura shared an uneasy grin with Hikari, remembering the sickening feeling of the chakra the foam had been putting out, "What is she?"

Iwabi's face became conflicted, as if he wasn't sure whether or not he should say what he was about to say, before he sighed, "It may be an open secret, but that doesn't mean it isn't still a secret so don't go spreading it around, alright?" They all nodded, "They're called…"

~~~

From the canopy of a tree far away, purple eyes watched as the Konoha contingent disappeared back towards their home village. The owner's body throbbed in pain from the recent battle, but the smile on their face was as bright as ever.

"That was so much fun, wasn't it?" She asked, seemingly into the empty air. She tilted her head, listening to something unheard before shaking her head, "Oh please. I've done worse stuff than this. I'm sure the old man will barely even yell at me."

There was another pause and her face became annoyed, "No, I know using that much of your chakra at once was a bad idea, but it wasn't like I had a choice. It was either be buried alive or melt my way out… Now you're just being unfair! How was I supposed to know that puppet could do that?"

Another pause, then a sigh, "Yeah, I guess I should have expected that. Those guys are tricky. That's basically their whole thing. I'll have to remember that for next time."

There was another pause, "Of course there is going to be a next time." She said, "The old man already plans to put me in the exams so we're definitely going to see them again. Not to mention, the exams themselves are gonna be a great chance to fight some really strong people. Maybe I'll even see some Kiri bastards there."

"That would just make my day." Poisonous eyes glinted like blades, "Wouldn't you agree, Saiken?"

---

Get chapters early at Sadguychet | Patreon Chapter 22 has been posted!

 

[Sadguychet]

It was good to be back in Konoha.

Even though she was tired from traveling, Sakura's stride was full of cheer as she walked through the familiar streets of her neighborhood, and her wallet was fuller than ever before. Full of her hard-earned funds from her very first actual mission. She was clutching a box of mochi in her hands, the expensive variety pack that was made fresh just a few hours ago. After all, she could afford it, and she knew just how much Hanami loved any kind of sweet.

Humming to herself, Sakura walked up the steps to her home and walked inside, calling out for anyone present to hear as she shrugged her shoes off by the door, "I'm home!"

There was the bustle of movement from above her head, and Sakura smiled as she heard the tiny pitter-patter of childish footsteps approach her from the stairs. Hanami practically skidded around the corner, her eyes wide with excitement as a wide, happy smile slid across her face at the sight of Sakura.

"Nee-chan!" She ran towards Sakura like a rushing bull, and Sakura didn't even flinch as she accepted the leaping hug with ease, wrapping one arm around her little sister and twirling her around while the other kept her present hidden just behind her back, "I missed you so much!"

Sakura laughed, "I was only gone for a week, Hanami."

"That's too long! You're not allowed to leave again!" Hanami said petulant. Sakura patted her head, sighing lightly.

"I can't do that, I need to go on missions if I want to keep being a ninja." She said, before a sly smile slid across her face, "Tell you what. If you let me keep going on missions, I'll give you a present."

Hanami tilted her head, green eyes sparkling with curiosity, "What present? Is it a sword?"

Sakura gave her sister a weird look, "What? Why do you want a sword?"

"So I can beat up all the bad guys who try to mess with me when I become caravan master!" The eight-year-old declared, "When I'm the boss, I'm gonna have a big sword so people leave us alone! Nobody will steal from my caravan!"

"Well you have quite a ways to go if you want to become caravan master, honey." Kizashi rounded the corner, smiling at both of his daughters, "You still need to learn the ledger if you want to be in charge, otherwise you'll lose all our money!"

Hanami shook her head, dropping back down to the floor as Sakura let go of her, "No, that's what you guys are here for! I just need to know how to tell people what to do and I'm really good at that."

Kizashi bellowed a laugh, "Ha! Ain't that the truth!"

Sakura shook her head, amused by her sister's antics, "Well I'm afraid I didn't bring you a sword, but I might have gotten you the next best thing." Sakura pulled the box of mochi out from behind her back, showing it off to the two of them. Kizashi smiled eagerly as he saw the sweet treat, while Hanami had a much more visceral reaction.

"MOCHI!" Hanami's eyes practically sparkled as she saw the box and she ran forward, trying to snatch it out of her hands. Sakura held a hand out, holding her sister back with a single arm as she giggled at her reaction. She had expected that Hanami would be excited but this took the cake. It must have been a while since she had something sweet.

"It's not just for you, Hanami, it's for everyone. You can't just eat it all by yourself!"

Hanami wasn't listening, still trying to get at the sweets with a determined and almost frenzied expression on her face. Sakura sighed fondly, before looking to her fad who was watching the sight with a small smile on his face, "Where's Kaa-chan?" She asked, keeping her hungry sister at arms reach.

Taking pity on his daughter, Kizashi leaned down and grabbed Hanami from the floor, putting her on his shoulders. The eight-year-old kicked her legs, still staring at the mochi as he got her comfortable above him, "She's in the kitchen with our guest. We should join them so you can tell us all about your mission!"

'Guest?' Sakura thought in confusion as she followed her dad and sister into the kitchen. Ignoring the little one's constant chant of mochi, she wondered who it could be. And as she entered the room, she paused at who she saw sitting at the table beside her mother, "Ino? What are you doing here?"

The blonde was sitting in her usual seat, clutching a cup of steaming tea in her hands as she stared at Sakura with a similar amount of surprise. Had she not heard her come in? Beside her, Sakura's mom had a small smirk on her face as she looked at her daughter, "Speak of the devil and she shall appear. Welcome home, honey."

As Sakura was left befuddled by her odd words, Ino's face bloomed bright red and she gave the matriarch of the house a fierce look, "Shh!" She hissed, seemingly flustered by something.

Sakura put the box of mochi on the counter, far enough out of reach that Hanami, who her dad had put down for the moment, couldn't snatch it off of the counter and abscond with it, "Wait, were you guys talking about me while I was gone?"

"Don't flatter yourself, Sakura. It wasn't anything important." Ino scoffed, still slightly red in the face as she went to take a sip of her tea, "I was just visiting your parents and you happened to come up. I was wondering when you'd finally be back from that boring mission you went on."

Sakura smirked at the jab, "Aww! So you missed me so much you came to my house to see if I was back yet? I didn't know you cared so much, Ino. Do you want a hug too?"

"Hrk!" Ino choked on her tea, all of her practiced poise disappearing in an instant as she was caught off guard by Sakura's comment. The kitchen was filled with laughter as the Yamanaka struggled to recover with hacking coughs. Sakura giggled as well, enjoying the sight of her friend so flustered as she unboxed the treats, "Well, since you're here you may as well enjoy some mochi too."

"MOCHI!"

As Ino got her breath back, her eyes caught the box and they went wide. She cleared her throat, rubbing her neck as she spoke, her voice slightly scratchy from her mistake, "That's really high quality stuff, Sakura. I didn't know C-Ranks paid enough to splurge like that."

Sakura shrugged as her dad reached into the cabinet, pulling out a set of small plates for her to put the treats on, "They usually don't but we got a little extra on top after we dealt with a bandit camp a few miles off the main road. There were a lot of them and their leader was freaking loaded! We had to split it up between us and still made half on top of what we were originally getting paid."

As Ino stared at her jealousy, Kizashi made a noise of recognition at her description of the bandits, "I know of that group. They've been giving a few of our people quite a bit of trouble. You took care of them all?"

Sakura nodded, "Yep. we ran into the camp on the way to Rice and sensei said we should deal with them so we took care of them and split the loot."

Loading up the plates with even amounts, Sakura and Kizashi brought them to the table, setting them in front of the seats as Mebuk gave her daughter a worried look, "Did you get hurt? Bandits may not be ninja but they can be sneaky and they fight dirty. You need to be careful with them."
"Don't worry, they didn't even have a chance to fight back." Sakura said as she took her seat beside Ino, "I used Teashi to coat the whole camp in a paralytic and they fell almost instantly. We went around and dealt with the ones that were left alive afterwards. They won't hurt anyone ever again."

Mebuki looked slightly conflicted to hear her daughter talk of killing so casually, but Kizashi just nodded firmly as he set some more cups on the table, filling them with tea, "Good riddance. We've lost some good people to low-lifes like those. I'm glad to see our ninja are doing something about it. Good job sweetie."

Sakura smiled happily as the man ruffled her hair proudly, and there was a short lull in conversation as they all indulged in the treats sat before them. Hanami finished hers almost instantly, scarfing them down like she was starving, but luckily it seemed that mostly satisfied her hunger as she didn't immediately demand more, staying mostly silent as she waited for everyone else to finish eating as well.

Wiping her mouth free of powder, Ino looked at Sakura with a raised brow, "Is that all that happened on the mission? No offence, but you look like you tried to take Choji's last bag of BBQ potato chips."

Sakura brought a hand up to her cheek, running two fingers along the bruise covering her jaw, "Oh, that wasn't during the mission. That was when we were coming back."

"What happened?" Ino asked.

"Well, it was a little bit after we left that village in Rice. We were heading back to Konoha, just Hikari, Tsu, and I because Iwabi had to stay back in the village for a little bit. We weren't worried because we figured that he'd meet us along the way, he's a lot faster than any of us so it wouldn't take him long t cover the distance. But then she showed up…"

Sakura explained what happened next, easily recalling the events that were still fresh on her mind even days later. She spoke of the Kumo nin and how she had practically toyed with them the entire time, as well as the weird chakra and techniques she possessed. Ino's face was at first disbelieving, but as her story went on, her face shifted from skeptical to concerned as she realized that Sakura wasn't just embellishing.

"Honestly, if sensei didn't show up when he did, I'm pretty sure I'd have a lot more than just a couple bruises." Sakura scratched her jaw, "Tsu got the worst of it. She's still having trouble seeing clearly."

"That's horrible!" Mebuki cried, holding a hand to her mouth, "Is she alright?" The rest of the table looked similarly distressed after hearing her tale, none of them able to believe that she had come across such a formidable opponent.

Sakura laughed lightly, waving off her concern, "Yeah, she's fine. Hikari healed her up on the way back and she's way too resilient to let a little blindness get to her. Her vision came back eventually, but her griping about not being able to see for a few days made the trip back pretty fun. We didn't run into any more trouble after that."

"Still, what kind of ninja does that!?" Ino was outraged, her blue eyes blazing with anger, "Attacking people out of the blue like that is just crazy!"

She seemed more heated about it than Sakura was, but Sakura could sort of understand. She'd had a few days to come to terms with what had happened, but Ino was only just now hearing about it. It was only understandable that she'd be angry after hearing that her friend could have died on a simple C-Rank.

Holding up a hand, Sakura gave her friend a reassuring smile, "It wasn't all bad. Apart from that, the entire mission went smoothly. I got all of that loot from the bandit camp, plus this."

She held up the scroll with the blue ribbon up for everyone to see, drawing attention to it and away from her tale. Ino stared at it in confusion, not understanding what she was supposed to be looking at. "What is it?"

Sakura smirked, "It's a summoning contract. Though I'm not sure what animal it's bound to."

Ino's eyes bulged like balloons and her hands slammed down on the table hard enough to rattle the china, "WHAT!? How the hell did those bandits have something like that!?

"Language, young lady!" Mebuki rebuked, and Ino's anger immediately lost its heat at the woman's glare. She shrunk back, averting her eyes, "Sorry. But seriously, how did they get something like that? You can't even buy one for the price of a small village. Stealing one would bring so much heat on you that you wouldn't be able to hide anywhere!"

Sakura shrugged, "No clue. But there isn't a name on the contract so my team thinks it's either brand new, or nobody had it before. Either way, I'm the one who found it so I get to keep it. I was actually gonna head to the training ground after I finished my report and sign it there."

One thing that Sakura wasn't very happy to find out about was the amount of paperwork you had to do. From the actual mission report to the incident report she had to file thanks to the bandit camp, as well as the one involving the Kumo nin (which had to be extremely extensive and detailed by nature), she was going to be at her desk for a couple hours at least just writing things down.

Ino perked up slightly at her words, "You're gonna sign it? Can I watch?"
"I don't see why not." Sakura said, clipping the scroll back to her hip, "I was planning on doing it alone but I would appreciate the company."

"Signing a contact alone probably isn't a good idea. What if a giant centipede or something came crawling out of that thing?"

Sakura gasped in exaggerated excitement, "Oh I hope it's a centipede. Do you know how powerful their poisons usually are? A giant one could probably kill a full grown human with a drop! Not to mention their exoskeletons are some of the strongest in the insect kingdom. I bet one the size of a dog could probably shrug off a kunai like it wasn't even there!"

"I'm not so sure about this anymore." Ino groaned and Sakura giggled.

"Just kidding, Ino. It's probably something normal like a badger or a fox or something." She stood, moving to get her sister more mochi since she had been waiting so patiently and looked about ready to pop, "Really, what are the chances that I get a poisonous insect?"

"With my luck, it's almost a guarantee." Ino grumbled.

~~~

Sakura stared at the scroll she had unfurled on the ground, reading over it intently. Ino was standing several feet away, keeping her distance under the prospect of not wanting to be touched by whatever freaky thing was going to come crawling out of that scroll. Sakura didn't mind, her presence was appreciated either way.

From what she was seeing, the scroll seemed to be a standard blood-activated summoning scroll, with the actual activation part being keyed into the line down below where she was supposed to write her name. Once again, there wasn't any indication on what contract this was exactly, so this was going to be luck of the draw.

"Here we go…" Sakura said aloud as she reached into her tool pouch and pulled out one of her non-poisoned blades. She slid it along the pad of her index finger just deep enough to get a good and consistent stream of blood, before placing her finger on the line.

"I guess I should do my full name? First and last name at least." She muttered, signing the scroll with a flourish like she was writing with a pen. Putting her finger in her mouth to suck off the remaining blood she glanced down at the instructions on the scroll, reading the sequence of seals that she had to perform. She frowned lightly at what she saw, "Huh…"

"Something wrong, Sakura?" Ino asked, not stepping an inch closer as she watched her friend squint at the scroll.

Sakura shook her head, "No, nothing's wrong. The sequence is just a bit easier than I thought it would be. It's like the length of a C-rank jutsu. I thought it would be harder."
The instructions said she needed to perform the sequence and then channel chakra directly into the seal to activate the summoning technique. Seemed simple enough. Sakura placed the scroll on the ground and began to run through the sequence at a painstaking pace, making sure that she didn't mess up a single hand sign.

"Uh, maybe you should back up a bit." Ino called, "There's no telling how big that animal is gonna be. I know that some of those summons can be the size of houses and I don't want to have to scrape you off the grass."

"Good point." Sakura admitted, stepping back several feet but still keeping the instructions in view. She ran through the seals again, coming to a stop on the Snake seal. She glanced at Ino who looked at her expectantly, "Think of something awesome, alright? I want a cool summon."

She held out a hand, extending a chakra string towards the scroll to use as a bridge for her chakra. The moment the string touched the paper, the entire array glowed brightly, an odd sensation overcoming Sakura in an instant and making her gasp. Her entire body tingled, an intense feeling of weightlessness filling her limbs, as if she had just jumped from the top of the Hokage Monument but had yet to fall to the hard earth below. And it was only growing stronger by the moment.

Wondering what was going on, Sakura glanced down at the scroll one last time, and her eyes instantly locked onto a crucial detail that she had missed in the inner ring of the matrix, packed tightly among the other seals and glowing brighter than all the rest. Her mind lagged for a moment, before recognizing what it was. It was an inverted summoning seal.

That was why there wasn't a location specified in the linking matrix. It was somewhere else! She wasn't bringing something here, she was being sent somewhere!

"Crap!" Sakura said, trying to cut off the flow of chakra, but it was too late. The seal had already activated and she had supplied just enough chakra for it to follow through on its activation. With one final bright pulse of blue chakra, the seal did its work and Sakura disappeared, leaving behind a thick cloud of smoke and nothing else.

A few feet away, Ino coughed loudly, waving her hand in front of her face as she stepped away from the giant plume of smoke that had engulfed her friend, "Jeez, Sakura! How much chakra did you put in that thing?" She called, squinting her eyes as she tried to look through the thick cloud of chakra smoke. Guess her hopes of the animal being something small and cute like a lemur or an otter hadn't worked at all. Nothing that small would make this much smoke.

"So what did you get?" Ino called into the clearing smoke. She couldn't see the shadow of anything big, nor could she hear the voices of a summon or even Sakura responding to her. Her brow furrowed, "Sakura?" She called again, walking closer. Again no response. She was beginning to get worried, "Sakura? What's going on? I can't see shit through this smoke."

Again nothing. Ino furrowed her brow, squinting into the smoke as it slowly began to disappear. And once it cleared fully enough for her to actually see the grass underneath her feet, Ino froze at what she saw. Or more accurately, didn't see.

Sakura was nowhere to be found and neither was the scroll. Ino had gone from watching her best friend prepare to summon some monstrosity or other, to standing in an empty field. It didn't take a genius to make the connection.

Ino stared blankly at the place that Sakura had once been standing. Her best friend was gone, disappeared to who knows where, and yet only a single thought filled her mind.

"Her mom's gonna kill me."

---

Get chapters early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 23 has been posted!

 

[Dip-switch]

Hahaha, loved the bits with Hanami, lil gremlin.
Really curious what the summons gonna be now, or where Sakura has ended up. Looking forward to next chapter!

 

[Redd123]

I not up-to-date with the patreon buddies, but when the next chapter drops I REALLY hope is the Salamander clan they are the only clan shown for being INFAMOUS for posions, so if Sakura wants to up her posion game they are the best of the best.

 

[Sadguychet]

Shapes and colors whirled past Sakura with no discernible pattern as she was forced to undergo the unique experience of being teleported by a summoning seal. In a single instant that seemed to last longer than an eternity, her body was stretched every which way, her mind contorting and snapping to and fro like a rubber band as her very being was forcefully ejected into another dimension.

It was a uniquely disorienting experience, and even though she only went through it for but a single instant, as Sakura was forced out of the other side, she fell to her knees, doing her best not to pike her guts up on the dirt below.

Now she could see why all the books told her never to try and seal or teleport a human being with her seals. If that was what it was like when it was done correctly, she doubted anyone could ever survive a trip through one that wasn't made properly. They'd probably be ripped to pieces or at the very least exit the deal with less body parts than they entered with. Or more.

Sakura slowly stood up as she finally got her stomach back under control. Wobbling slightly from a keen sense of vertigo, the pinkette groaned, holding a hand to her head, "That was freaking stupid. Next time I get a seal like that, I'm gonna spend at least a week studying it before I even think about activating it. I'm lucky it didn't spit me out above an active volcano or something."

Actually, where did it spit her out? Sakura looked around somewhat nervously, taking in the looming trees around her. She was in some sort of forest, though not any that she recognized.

The trees around her were bigger than anything that she had seen outside of the Forest of Death, with trunks so thick that she could probably carve a perfect replica of her house out of their wooden flesh and still not be halfway through the tree itself. Their bark was dark and dead-looking, and yet their limbs still reached high into the sky, like wooden hands reaching for the moon hanging in the inky black above.

And that was another thing. It was night here instead of early evening. Judging by the height of the moon, it was close to midnight, so either she was on the literal other side of the world, or she was in another dimension which was… unlikely, but not exactly impossible.

She looked around at the forest around her, searching for any signs of life. Could she have been sent to the land that the animals holding the contract came from? If so, what kind of creature could it even be? Something that lived in woods this thick was probably some sort of mammal or even insect, a notion that filled Sakura with an equal amount of excitement and fear. What sort of creature could be lurking in these woods, just out of sight? A pack of ravenous wolves? Scores of giant centipedes, as she had suggested to Ino? Maybe it could even be owls, it was certainly dark enough for it.

Sakura held back the shiver of excitement that wanted to come out. She couldn't wait to try and make a contract with whatever being might be out there waiting for her, but she knew that she had to hold back. There was a not-so-little chance that whatever was out there might also eat her without giving her a chance to even speak. New contracts were notoriously finicky. There was no telling what could go wrong.

"First thing's first," Sakura looked at the thick brush around her, "I need to find some shelter. It's already pretty cold here and I don't want to be trapped out if it starts raining or something."

And so began her trek through the strange forests he had found herself in. Being a Konoha native, forests were no stranger to Sakura, even ones as large as these. The trees may be bigger and the brush thicker but it was still a forest all the same, and out of everyone in the Elemental Nations, they knew places like these the best.

Well, maybe outside of the Land of Forest, but barely anyone lived there outside of bandits and crazy people so they didn't really count.

She walked for what felt like hours, carefully trailing through the woods. She pushed branches out of the way, stepped over fallen logs and rushing streams, and climbed trees to orient herself and hopefully see some kind of end to the seemingly endless jungle she was trapped in. That had been a waste of time. She was utterly surrounded by forest, extending in every direction as far as the eye could see.

She continued on, hoping that she might find a cave or something that she could take shelter in, or even the animal that the contract was supposed to be attached to. As she continued her journey however, and time passed by in a blur, she began to realize something.

There wasn't a single animal inside of this dead forest as far as she could tell. No birds chirped in the trees, no lizards or insects skittered across the floor. There weren't even any mosquitoes! That's how she knew something was wrong.

And yet, even as empty as the forest seemingly was, Sakura couldn't shake off the strangest feeling that she was being watched. As if something was watching her just beyond that curtain of darkness. She looked around and spotted nothing, and the feeling grew even more intense as she stared into the dark around her.

And as she walked into a clearing and that feeling became almost overwhelming, Sakura stopped dead in her tracks, her footsteps softened underneath her to mere shadows of what they had once been. She looked around at the trees looming around her and swallowed dryly, "Well… I guess that clears up what animal the contract belongs to." She said weakly.

The sight before her was something out of Ino's worst nightmares. Thick white webs covered the trees and ground of the clearing so thoroughly that Sakura couldn't even see the dirt below her feet. Thick white sacks were nestled deeply into mounds of webbing pulsing and bulging like they were alive, or at the very least something inside them was.

Sakura eyed the sacks warily, and that feeling of forbidding that she had felt earlier increased a thousand fold the instant her foot landed upon the thick webs covering the forest floor. There wasn't any doubt in her mind now, something was watching her. And that something was not happy that she had intruded upon this place.

Sakura unclipped her scroll from her hip, looking around her with keen eyes as she searched for any movement. Her heart pumped in her chest as she realized that there wasn't a way out of the clearing apart from the way she came in. The webs had been wrapped far too thickly around the trees surrounding her, boxing her in and leaving only one avenue of escape.

A sound from above made her freeze, and a single leaf fluttered down past her face, swaying in the invisible breeze as it was forcibly dislodged from its place of rest. Sakura slowly lifted her head, somehow already knowing what she'd see.

It was a massive spider, furry and more deadly looking than any Sakura had seen in her life. It crawled down from the trees on massive legs, and as it grew closer, Sakura stepped back as she realized just how utterly massive it was. Its body was easily the size of her house, with bristling black fur and thick orange bands wrapping around each of its legs. If it wanted to, it could probably eat her without even noticing her pass through its massive fangs.

Sakura anxiety grew as even more spiders crawled out of the woodwork, joining the other. Thankfully none of them were as large as the big one, but some of them were easily as large as her, if not bigger.

In a poof of smoke, Teashi was standing in front of Sakura, warding off the oncoming hoard, and as the largest spider settled on the trunk of the tree across from her, it tilted its head, making a hissing noise as it observed her chakra strings attached to her puppet.

And then, in a deep, feminine voice wrapped in dark, chittering tones, it spoke.

"This one can make the glowing threads… How curious." The spider spoke, its mandibles moving slowly, "Even more curious, is that you have not fled yet. Tell me, what is a human doing within my forest? Do you have business with my colony?"

Sakura swallowed at the silence that followed, realizing that the spider was waiting for her to speak. Looking around at the arachnids lining the trees, each of them more than large enough to eat her, she did just that.

"I'm Sakura Haruno, and yes, I do.." She spoke clearly, putting her fear behind her, "You see, I recently came across a summoning contract and signed it and it brought me here. I assume that you're the leader of this clan?"

The spider tilted her head curiously, "Indeed. You stand before the Broodmother of this colony."

Sakura smiled, "That's great!" She said, confusing the creatures around her as her tense posture relaxed immediately, "So does that mean that I'm contracted with the spider clan now? I can summon you guys to help me fight and stuff?"

Her smile immediately left her face as rhythmic chittering and hissing came from the trees all around her. They were laughing at her.

"What?" Sakura demanded, uncertainty and embarrassment filling her, "What's funny? I signed the contract, didn't I? That's how it works, right?"

As the laughter died down, the giant spider's fangs twitched in either amusement or agitation. Maybe both. "Contract? I have made no such contract. The Broodmother before me perhaps, but me? No. I am not beholden to whatever contact you have made with the previous colony, and I will not consign myself and my brood into the services of a child just because you found a piece of paper that let you invade our land unannounced."

The spiders lining the trees chittered in agreement, and Sakura's brow furrowed as she stared up at the spider, anxiety filling her chest, "So the contract wasn't with your clan-I mean colony? But I thought that contracts and contractors were passed down through the clan! That's how the toads do it! And the slugs too!"

The Broodmother tilted her head, "Toads? Slugs? I see no such creatures here. My colony does not operate based on your misconceptions. We answer to no tradition except for that of survival. Everything we do is to ensure that the next generation will come to pass, and though the previous mother may have sought to ally with you humans to ensure this, her reign has long since passed and now it is I who commands the clan. Why should my children lay their lives on the line for someone who offers nothing in return?"

It was a genuine question, and Sakura relaxed slightly as she began to understand what was going on and more importantly, why she hadn't been killed and eaten yet. Offerings weren't standard in the summoning world, but it wasn't unheard of for a contractor to ask for something in return for their services. Nobody wanted to go into battle for someone else just because they asked nicely, after all, and this spider seemed especially pragmatic.

"So I need to have something to offer in order to enter a contract with your colony?" She asked hopefully.

"At the very least, an offering that benefits the colony may go a long way in ensuring your survival and escape from my forest." The Broodmother said in a hissing whisper, "My brood has not eaten in a fortnight, and though you may be but skin and bones, you shall be more than adequate food for my youngest."

Sakura scowled at the remark but did her best to ignore it, trying to think of something that she could offer the queen in return for the contract. She thought as hard as she could but unfortunately came up blank. What could a perpetually broke genin with puppets offer a colony of giant spiders?

Wait. Sakura's mind flashed back to her earlier thoughts, remembering how empty and dead the massive forest around her had seemed, as well as the Broodmother's own words. The colony was starving, having not eaten in at least two weeks, and on top of that, they were clearly expecting even more members to join the colony judging by the bulging egg sacks that Sakura could see just behind the Broodmother. How would they sustain those numbers?

Sakura doubted they could, at least not without eating each other which, judging by the Broodmother's words, was probably off the table. They needed a source of food if they wanted to survive the next few generations, and Sakura might be able to help with that.

"I might have something to offer you," Sakura said, looking at the Broodmother, "though it's less of an object and more of a… promise of security, I guess?"

The Broodmother leaned forward, "I am listening."

Sakura swallowed at the sight of those massive fangs, each one as large as her, but she kept her composure, "I know of a place that's just as big as this, with trees and caves and rivers large enough to suit your entire colony. You'll be able to grow and spread to your heart's content there."

"You offer a solution to a problem that does not exist." The Broodmother hissed, displeased by her offer, "My colony has resided in this forest since the Great Sage granted us the will to grow and inhabit it as such. It has held clans far greater than my own and will continue to hold them still. We do not need another place to reside."

"Not even one with food?" Sakura challenged. The Broodmother froze, her fangs twitching as she registered that statement, and Sakura grinned. Got her. "The Forest of Death has enough prey to sustain you all for generations. Prey that is just as big as you are. You could catch a single animal and have enough food to feed your entire brood, including yourself, for a month. As long as you don't spread too widely and too rapidly, and leave our ninja alone, I doubt my village would even care. There's worse things than you in that forest anyway."

The spiders around her chittered curiously, speaking amongst themselves in clicking speech as their queen took in her offer. Sakura continued, "I offer you this place in return for a contract with your clan. It is large enough that your colony could reside within without issue, and most humans avoid the place like the plague. They wouldn't bother you there."

Her offer hung in the air, and thankfully, no laughter followed it as before. The Broodmother stared at her silently, not even twitching as all eight of her eyes remained locked onto Sakura's two.

"It is an interesting offer, and certainly one worthy of considering this contract you are after." The Broodmother finally said, making Sakura breathe a sigh of relief. "However, I will need more than mere words to enter such an agreement with a human. Your kind are notoriously fickle and tricky besides. You could very well be lying to my face, so I will have to ensure you are being truthful."

The spider looked up and something dropped from above Sakura, right onto her shoulder. The pinkette flinched, whipping her head in the object's direction, and was met with a spider the size of a closed fist. Its fur was black and bristly just like the Broodmother's, and it had deep purple stripes running along its legs and abdomen.

"My youngest, Kii, will join you for a time so that you may prove that you are worthy of our contract."

Kii crawled up the side of Sakura's face, making her flinch slightly as he moved into her line of sight. He tilted his head in a way that was eerily reminiscent of his mother, "This one is soft and fleshy, with no armor to protect her against fangs or even cold. She will not last long."

As Sakura processed that statement, the Broodmother continued, "Should he find you lacking, our agreement will be nullified and our contract revoked. For now, you may call upon us as you desire, and Kii will be your companion for a time. He may be young, but his venom is the strongest in generations. He will ensure this place is truly as bountiful as you say it is. Until that time, you will leave this place and not return."

Sakura's grin returned as she realized she had pretty much secured herself a summoning contract with the clan. She sealed Teashi away, bowing low to the Broodmother in thanks, "I promise you'll see that I wasn't lying and I'm worthy of your contract. Thank you for giving me this opportunity."

"We shall see."

Sakura watched curiously as the Broodmother reached a single leg down onto the web-covered forest floor. Glowing lines spread from the spider's leg, and Sakura's eyes widened as the spider's chakra trailed a path through the webs at her feet, twisting and turning in a fashion that raw, unmolded chakra had no business doing.

In a single, an intricate seal had been formed below Sakura with her at the center, and the pinkette gaped at it in shock, moments before the entire array glowed brightly and she was sent hurtling through the abyss once more.

"Goodbye, Sakura Haruno. I pray you do not disappoint me."

---

Get chapters to all of my stories early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 25 has been posted!

 

[Redd123]

So I gues Kidōmaru didn't get the contract this time? Also
FUZZY SPIDERS ARE CUTE ! ! !

 

[Balorak146]

So I gues Kidōmaru didn't get the contract this time? Also
FUZZY SPIDERS ARE CUTE ! ! !

Click to shrink...

I mean, that does kinda suck since it makes Neji's eventual win over him look less badass, but...you know what? Screw that guy.

Tayuya's the only really interesting member of their group, anyway.

 

[Sadguychet]

The second time being sent through a summoning seal was just as disorienting as the first, if not even more. Sakura was literally spat out of the matrix like she was a spoiled piece of meat, ejected into thankfully soft grass so violently that she was sent tumbling over herself.

'She did that on purpose.' The pinkette thought as she came to a stop face down in the dirt. Her face stung from the harsh impact and she groaned, spitting a piece of grass-laden soil out of her mouth as she tried to get her thoughts back in order, only to yelp as a pair of strong arms wrapped around her middle and hauled her off the ground.

"Ah! What-!" Sakura froze as she was brought against someone's chest and the scent of something floral filled her senses. It was like someone had taken a dozen flowers and piled them on top of one another, and then did the same with a dozen more, blending their smells together into a cocktail of delightful and familiar scents, and Sakura relaxed as she recognized it.

"Geez, Ino. Do you think you could tell me before you try and give me a heart attack next time?" Sakura grouched as she hugged her friend back. Ino's arms tightened around her back, going from gentle from almost bruising in an instant, and Sakura let out a strangled gasp as a pair of aqua eyes gave her the death glare.

"Only when you stop trying to give me one just by existing. What the hell happened, Sakura!? You've been gone for hours!"

Sakura flinched back as Ino yelled in her face, "I didn't mean to! I misread something on the seal and didn't realize until it was too late."

"That doesn't make me feel better, Sakura." Ino's voice was angry and scared, and Sakura stared at her as a tremor entered her voice, "I thought you weren't coming back."

Ino was really worried for her, wasn't she? Sakura's annoyed expression softened, and she looked away from Ino as an odd warmth spread throughout her chest at the notion.

"I'm sorry for worrying you." Sakura said softly, "I was just so excited about the contract that I missed things. I shouldn't have activated the seal without running through it more thoroughly.."

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE!" Sakura froze as another voice joined Ino's, one that she hadn't heard in a while. Ino set her down on the grass as she slowly turned, looking at the person who had suddenly shown up with fearful eyes.

"Ah, h-hello, Kushina. What are you doing here?" She asked the irate woman she somehow hadn't noticed before.

The woman's face was set in an expression of rictus anger mixed with intense disappointment. It reminded Sakura so much of her mother that she couldn't help but cringe as the instincts that all children possessed reared up inside of her.

"I brought her here after you disappeared." Ino said as she set Sakura down and stepped back, "I didn't really know what else to do. She's the only one I could think of other than your sensei, and I couldn't find him."

"She found me, though." Sakura jumped as another voice came from behind her, turning to stare at Tsu's fanged grin, "I was practicing my water release when blondie here barged into my training area spewing all sorts of crap about you being gone forever so I just had to check it out. You really are crazy, aren't you, Sakura?"

"Oh she's crazy all right." Kushina agreed as she stomped towards the group. Sakura flinched as the woman reached out, grabbing her ear harshly and pulling her towards her, "What the hell were you thinking, Sakura!? No, don't answer that, you weren't thinking at all! Even the brightest of this generation doesn't have anything but empty air between their ears!"

"The red one is very loud. Bring me closer so that I may sink my fangs into her flesh." All eyes turned to Sakura's head as a small, furry form crawled out of her hair. As Kii revealed himself, Ino let out a shrill shriek that made Sakura worry for any nearby glass windows and shoved the pinkette away.

"What the hell is that thing!?" She said, pointing a trembling finger at the spider as he crawled onto Sakura's shoulder. Sakura glanced at it as Kushina and Tsu leaned closer, staring at him with curiosity and wariness.

"This is Kii." Sakura said, "He's one of the spiders I'm contracted with."

"Spiders?" Ino squeaked, "You got a contract with spiders? No, what am I saying, of course you did. I don't know why I'm even surprised, honestly. This is just par for the course with you!"

'Damnit! I just lost a hundred ryo to Hikari." Tsu groaned as she backed up, "Why couldn't you just get a squirrel or something, Sakura? I bet that you wouldn't get an insect and there you go, making me lose money."

Sakura giggled, "Well if it makes you feel any better, spiders aren't insects."

Tsu blinked, before grinning widely, "Hey, that's true! That means I won!"

"If you can convince Hikari. I'm not sure they'll take an argument like that." Sakura said, giggling as Tsu waved her hand dismissively, "And besides, I don't even technically have the contract yet."

Her words stopped everyone in their tracks, and even Ino stopped shivering theatrically to give her a confused look, "What do you mean? You came back with a summon."

"Kii is here to make sure that I live up to my end of the deal we made." Sakura explained, "The Broodmother needed something in return for putting her children in danger, and since they were starving, I offered them a place where they can eat and grow as much as they wanted."

Kushina instantly connected the dots, "You want to let them set up in the Forest of Death."

Sakura nodded, "That's my current plan. Since it's so big and everything in there is already huge anyway, I doubt anyone would care if a few extra spiders lived there. Especially ones that were allied with Konoha by proxy of me."

Kushina made a thoughtful expression, "Hmm, that could definitely work. You'd have to talk to the Hokage first though."

As they discussed his clan's fate, Kii made his presence known once more, "You humans come in many shapes and sizes. What tactical advantage does such variance offer above your prey? I believe that a more standardized form would be easier to perfect." He said, observing the people held before him with his numerous eyes

All eyes turned to him and Tsu scoffed, "Yeah, well, we don't get to choose what we look like buddy." she said. Kii's head turned to her and his mandibles twitched.

"Evolution has failed you as a species. You have no claws, no fangs, no poison, you would not survive long within the brood." He said, "This one is surprised you managed to make it past your species' infantile stages."

Tsu's eyebrow twitched at the perceived insult, "Oh I've got claws buddy. Why don't I show you how sharp they can get?"

"Tsu, please don't threaten him." Sakura sighed as Tsu drew closer to Kii who reared up on his legs in response, exposing glistening fangs, "He's kind of my only shot at keeping the contract."

"Tch. You got lucky this time, bug." Tsu gave the arachnid the stink eye as she stepped back, "I hope your other summons aren't as rude as this one is, Sakura."

"Rude?" Kii tilted his head, "I was merely making observations that anyone could see even without my many eyes."

Tsu shook her head, "Right. Anyway, I'm glad you're okay, Sakura, but I gotta get back to Tadao before he decides to take a nap while I'm gone. It's a massive pain to wake him up for training without a treat."

"Bye, Tsu. Sorry for worrying you." Sakura said as the Inuzuka walked away, and Tsu gave her a wave over the shoulder as she disappeared back into the forest.

As she left, Kushina put her hands on her hips, remembering why she was here in the first place, "You should count your lucky stars that nobody tampered with that seal, Sakura."

Sakura nodded silently, "I know."

"No, I don't think you do." Kushina said gravely, trying to import the seriousness of this upon the young girl, "Summoning seals aren't just your everyday seals. There are so many different things that go into them that work completely in harmony because they have to. If a single thing was out of place, you would have come out the other side a twitching pile of sentient meat. And you would feel every single second of that until the lack of oxygen to your brain put you out of your misery."

While Ino gagged at the vivid imagery, Sakura gently pressed a sore spot on her shoulder, "I'm pretty sure a few things are already in the wrong places. I hit the ground pretty hard back there."

"It would serve you right." Kushina chided, "Someone taught by Lady Chiyo should know better. She'd be just as disappointed in you as I am if she knew what you did."

As Sakura looked away in shame, the Uzumaki rubbed her forehead with a sigh, "Anyway, you seem fine and I need to get home before my ramen gets cold so you're off the hook for now." She narrowed her eyes at Sakura, "But if you EVER do anything like that again, then I am going to confiscate every single bit of your sealing equipment and take you back to Uzumaki kindergarten! You'll be practicing brush strokes for months before you see a drop of ink, is that understood?"

"Yes ma'am." Sakura squeaked, and Kushina stared at her for another moment to really drive the threat home, before nodding firmly and flickering away, leaving Sakura and Ino alone.

In the wake of that oddly intimidating threat,neither of the girls were sure of what to say. There was a beat as the two of them just stared at the place where Kushina had just disappeared, before Ino slowly turned to look at her friend, "She's scary."

Sakura just nodded, unable to say anything after that. Even Kii had retreated back into her hair, unable to brave the fiery woman's anger.

Ino looked up at the sky and the setting sun, "You should probably go home. I told your parents that you disappeared and your mom was not happy. With me or you, I don't know, but if I was a betting girl…"

Sakura sighed, "Yeah. You're right." She was really not looking forward to getting lectured by her mom though. Kushina had been scary, but she had nothing on Mebuki Haruno on a warpath.

Shivering, Sakura glanced at Ino, "Could you… come with me? Please? To help me explain what happened?"

Ino's pony-tail swayed from side to side as she shook her head vehemently, "Oh no, I'm still mad at you! You can deal with your mom all on your own. It'll teach you not to worry me like that."

"Please Ino!" Sakura grabbed the girl by her shoulders with a pleading expression. She leaned in really close, emerald eyes sparkling earnestly as she imagined what her mom would do to her, "She's gonna ground me for a month! Even if I am a kunoichi! I won't be able to work on my puppets or my poison or anything!"

Ino's face was red but the blonde didn't budge, keeping her expression calm and collected in the face of her friend's pleas, "I don't know… I don't really like worrying about my best friends."

"Please!"

Ino smirked, "Make it worth my while."

"I'll do literally anything." Sakura said, being completely honest. Ino paused for a moment and her brows furrowed, before she turned her face to the side and muttered something that Sakura couldn't hear even this close up.

"What?"

Growling, Ino turned back towards her, staring at Sakura with an odd intensity, "I said, I want you to treat me to dinner."

Sakura blinked, a bit let down by the simple request, "That's it? Sure, we can stop by somewhere on the way home, I guess."

Ino shook her head, "Oh no, it's not gonna be that easy. I don't want some cheap ramen or food stand. I want an actual meal. We're going somewhere nice, one of those places that you actually have to dress up for, and you're gonna be paying for both our meals."

It was an odd request, at least Sakura thought so. Ino usually didn't care for fancy places, always saying that they had no atmosphere and were way too cold for comfort. If that was what she wanted though, Sakura didn't mind acquiescing. It sounded like fun.

"Okay. I've got some extra money anyway so I don't see why not." She agreed easily, "Pick a place and time and I'll pick you up."

Ino smiles brightly, clearly extremely happy that Sakura had agreed. She must have really wanted some fancy food on someone else's dime.

"Don't worry about that now, we can go over it later!" She said in a chopper voice, before grabbing Sakura's hand and pulling her alone, "For now, let's go talk to your mom so that you don't have to cancel on me because you can't leave your house!"

"Wha-hey! Ino, slow down!" Sakura said as she was nearly pulled off her feet by her friend. She stumbled after the blonde, catching up to her so that she was walking beside her instead of being led like a child on a leash.

Sakura gave as she slipped out of the blonde's crushing grip and into something more comfortable, lacing her fingers with her friend's in a smooth gesture, "Do you think you could give me some warning next time you try and rip my arm out of its socket."

"Pfft, don't be a baby." Ino said, grinning unrepentantly, "And by the way you're coming with me to buy a new dress. For you, I mean. I'm not sure I've seen you in anything other than your ninja gear since we turned twelve."

"But-!"

"I wasn't asking, Sakura."

 

[Sadguychet]

Jonin bars were like any other bar when it really came down to it. They were loud, most of them stunk, and if you looked at the right person the wrong way, you were probably going home with less teeth than you arrived with. Despite that, there was a reason that damn near every single jonin in the village could be found at one at one point or another during the day. With a job like theirs, they needed a way to destress that wouldn't end with them in a nice cushy cell before their hangover even had time to set in.

Iwabi tossed back his shot, relishing the warm alcohol slipping down his throat and the warmth that it brought him. The man was sitting at the bar, surrounded by comrades and even more drinks as he slowly tapped his foot to the music playing from the shitty radio just behind the counter. The bar he was in right now wasn't the nicest, but it was the only one that consistently carried the only stuff he drank so he was a bit of a regular here.

"Yo! Is that you, Iwabi?"

He could take or leave the company, though.

Iwabi leaned away from the red-faced man who tried to get into his personal space, pushing him back with one hand while protecting his drink with the other, "What do you want, Shisui? I thought you were out on a mission."

Said drunken Uchiha gave him a massive grin, pale skin tinted red by alcohol and mirth, "I got back yesterday!"

Shisui was what Iwabi would call a circumstantial friend. They didn't run in the same circles and barely saw each other once a week, but on the odd occasion they met up in this particular bar they hit it off like they were best friends. Even though he was pretty sure the man didn't even know his last name.

Iwabi held his drink out of the way as Shisui made a swipe for it. The Uchiha grumbled as he missed and Iwabi smirked, "And your first decision was to come here to drink your ass off, huh?"

"It was a tough mission, I'd say I deserve a reward for all my hard work." Shisui laughed, waving the bartender over as he realized he wasn't going to get his hands on Iwabi's drink, "I asked Itachi to join me, but he's busy with another mission from Hokage-sama. He's been working his butt off here recently."

Iwabi hummed. He has heard much the same. It only made sense that the Hokage would make use of the prodigal Uchiha given his skills, but the frequency with which he called on the man was something to be examined.

"You think he's grooming him for the position?" Iwabi asked idly, only to raise an eyebrow as Shisui nearly choked on his drink as a snort of laughter ripped through his throat.

"Itachi? No way! Could you imagine that guy giving a speech? That would be hilariou!" Shisui laughed, shaking his head, "No, Itachi's not gonna become Hokage any time soon. It probably has something to do with Anbu. Bear's been super irritated lately."

"Is that why he sent you through the Land of Water all by yourself?" Iwabi pried, "With that civil war, I bet things are still pretty rough, especially around Kiri."

Shisui groaned, "You're telling me. It took me two days to get where I needed to be. They've got patrols freaking everywhere all through the country. It's a miracle I didn't cause a diplomatic incident because those documents were time sensitive so I didn't have time to be super careful."

And wasn't that saying something? Shisui was the fastest ninja in the village thanks to his signature body flicker technique. If it took him more than a day just to get to his destination, then that meant things must have really been bad.

Shisui swirled his drink, "Since the failed coup and the dissolution of the rebel faction, things are calming down a bit but it'll be a while before it's actually safe to travel anywhere in that village." He sighed, "It's a damn shame too. I'm pretty sure all of us were hoping that there'd be some change in that country when they won. With the Mizukage still in charge, I sure as hell didn't feel safe lingering anywhere near there."

"Things will stabilize. They always do." Iwabi said, "The question is whether they'll do that in time for the Chunin Exams. Kiri already opted in during the civil war so now that it's over, there's no chance in hell they're gonna be missing out."

Shisui nodded, sipping his beer. He glanced at Iwabi, watching as the man drained his own bottle, "So are you planning to let your team try their luck? You held them back last year, but from what I've heard, they're better than most genin their age."

"I'm not sure." Iwabi admitted, "They're strong, but we both know you need more than strength to be a chunin. I'd like to see how they handle themselves on a high pressure mission or two before I put them up for promotion. The Chunin Exams can be pretty deadly."

Shisui elbowed him, "Aww, come on, they're strong enough! Genin these days are all soft, they won't have any trouble with the crowd that shows up to the exams."

Iwabi frowned, recalling the Kumo kunoichi that his team had faced on the way back from Rice and her words as she departed, "I'm not so sure about that. You never know what kind of people might be out there these days."

"You're such a mother hen." Shisui laughed.

"Maybe." Iwabi agreed, "But I'm not letting what happened to Jin happen again if I can help it."

Shisui's face sobered immediately, "I heard about that. I'm sorry for your loss. He was a good kid."

"He really was. A bit rough around the edges, but he had a good heart. If he were more of a people person, I probably would have made him squad leader."

Iwabi's hand tightened on his drink as he looked down at it, "Too late for that, I guess. The rest of the team is pooling money together to send for a body retrieval. I chipped in too, just a bit. It doesn't sit right with me that we didn't bring him home."

Shisui clapped him on the shoulder, nodding approvingly, "You're a good man, Iwabi."

"I'm not too sure about that but I guess I'll take your word for it." Iwabi said wryly, before glancing at the man, "So tell me, on that last mission, did you-"

His words were cut off as someone blurred into being right between himself and Shisui. The figured resolved into a young man who opened his mouth to speak, but the words were choked dead in his throat as Iwabi's sickle was suddenly held to his neck the moment he appeared. Similarly, Shisui had unveiled a kunai from somewhere on his person and was holding it to the man's ribs, his eyes blazing red as he glared at the idiot who had suddenly appeared.

The bar seemed to pause as all of the patrons took in what was happening. A heavy tension filled the air in an instant as several of them twitched at the possibility of imminent violence, before someone placed their drink down a little too loudly and brought the attention elsewhere.

Iwabi sighed, putting his sickle away as he caught sight of the man's young face and shiny hitai-ate, "Are you an idiot?"

"W-what?" The chunin was shaking like a leaf. Clearly he hadn't had that flak jacket for long.

"You don't shunshin in a building like this unless you want to get stabbed." Shisui said, his kunai disappearing from his hand as he turned back to his drink, "Jonin are a jumpy bunch and we don't like being surprised."

"I-I'm sorry, b-but the Hokage! He requested your presence immediately." He stammered, looking at Iwabi who paused with his bottle halfway to his lips, "He told me to come get you and bring you to him as soon as possible. Apparently, it's urgent and can't wait."

"Urgent, huh?" Shisui said with a thoughtful expression on his face, "Wonder what the old man could want."

While the clearly green chunin gaped at the casual way Shisui spoke about their village leader, Iwabi sighed, "Guess I better go find out. I just hope whatever it is, it pays well."

"Don't we all?"

Iwabi drained the last of his bottle in one big swing and sat it on the table alongside a stackful of Ryo, "Put him on my tab too." He told the bartender. Ignoring Shisui's cheer at the prospect of free booze, he turned to the chunin who was waiting for him anxiously. He raised an eyebrow, clapping the kid on the shoulder as he passed him by, "Chill out and have a drink, kid. Shisui, keep an eye on him and make sure none of these idiots try and mess with him for that stunt he pulled."

"B-but I have to get back to work." The chunin said, fidgeting in place.

Shisui pulled him down into the seat and shoved a bottle in his hands, ignoring his denials as he gave Iwabi a big grin, "Don't worry, I'll make sure they don't mess with him. At least not in a way he won't enjoy. Tell me kid, you ever been with a jonin before? Trust me, the women around here really know how to have a good time. If you don't mind a little roughness and a couple dozen bite marks."

Shisui was clearly joking but the man didn't know that and gaped at him like he was crazy. Iwabi shook his head as he stepped out of the bar, knowing that he didn't want to stick around for the stories that were about to follow.

~~~

Iwabi's lungs itched for a cigarette as he pushed open the door to the Hokage's office. He was immediately greeted by a thick cloud of pipe smoke which did little to alleviate the craving. The Hokage was sitting behind his desk, puffing on his pipe as always, and Iwabi gave the elder a short bow as he closed the door behind him.

"Reporting for duty, Lord Third." He said dutifully, "You asked for me specifically?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi gave him an aged smile as he entered, "Yes, Iwabi. Please come in." Iwabi strode forward, stopping just in front of the man's desk and standing with his arms behind his back in a textbook parade rest. The Hokage saw this and sighed, "Come now, there's no need for that. It's just us in here, my boy. Loosen up a bit"

"As you say, Lord Third." Iwabi's posture immediately relaxed, and he even went so far as to pull a cigarette from his flak jacket and light it up with a small application of fire chakra. The Hokage stared at him with amusement as all of his decorum went out the window, and Iwabi felt no shame as he satisfied his addiction. The man had insisted, after all.

"Did you have need of me, Hokage-sama?" He asked as he burned his cigarette. The Hokage nodded, giving his pipe one last puff before placing it on his desk.

"Yes I do." He said, shifting some paperwork on his desk, "That team of yours, how would you say they are progressing in terms of skill? Where do they stand in your personal opinion?"

Iwabi took a moment to think, briefly wondering where the question had come from, "I'm afraid I don't have many experiences to pull from, but if I had to make an estimate on the spot, I'd put them around the level of an average chunin squad. Maybe a little lower. Sakura's the weak link, but not by much. She's very specialized but she does it well. I'd put her maybe at tokubetsu chunin. Maybe a bit higher thanks to her new summoning contract."

"A rare feat, especially for someone her age." The Hokage praised, leaning back in his chair as he took in his jonin's words, "To tell you the truth, I've had my eye on her for quite a while. I never imagined she would manage to acquire a summoning contract at her age. It gave me quite the shock when she reached out to me for permission to allow the clan to nest in the Forest of Death. I almost fell out of my chair!"

Iwabi chuckled, "She has a way of surprising you when you least expect it."

"She certainly does." Sarutobi agreed, "Of course, I would have been a fool to refuse an ally such as an entirely new summon clan at this time, so I granted her request. I may have to rethink some stages of the upcoming exams but I may leave things as they are. It would make for an interesting variable."

He picked his pipe back up and puffed on it, adding to the smog filling the room, "For a civilian born child to gain strength so quickly… She must be some sort of prodigy to become so skilled in a few short months."

Iwabi's lips turned down at the word, "I wouldn't say that, Hokage-sama. She's been training since she was in the Academy and she had an excellent teacher. It only makes sense she'd be so strong."

"That's true." The Hokage agreed, "Few could ask for a better instructor than Lady Chiyo of Suna. The woman has even sent me several correspondences asking after her apprentice so she clearly saw something in the girl."

Iwabi was surprised at the news, "She's sent you letters? Why haven't you told Sakura about them? I'm sure she'd be thrilled at the news."

The older man shook his head, "I'm afraid Lady Chiyo asked me specifically not to mention her to the girl. It seems she wants to see how she grows without direct guidance." He smiled, "I thought about ignoring her orders and sending them anyway, but from what she told me about the girl, they likely wouldn't have been read once she realized Lady Chiyo expressly forbade her to."

"I see." Iwabi said, still a bit confused. He personally thought it was very strange for a teacher to pretty much abandon their student like that, and especially for the student to be fine with that, but then again puppeteers were a strange bunch in the first place. This was just another quirk he had to get used to alongside his student's affinity for tasting every poison she came across.

Changing the subject, Iwabi decided to get into why he was even here in the first place, "Why did you ask about my team, Hokage-sama? Do you have a mission for us?"

"Ah, yes. I'm sorry, it seems I lost my train of thought in my prattling on." He apologized, "Yes, now that you've given me your opinion, I do have a task for your team. You see, a few days ago, Team 7 was sent to the Land of Waves on a C-Rank mission. It was a simple escort mission and it should have been nearly complete as of now, but a few hours ago I received an urgent message from Kakashi. It seems they've run into hostile missing nin and the mission has since been upgraded."

Iwabi frowned, "So they need extraction? Who could be giving someone like Kakashi enough trouble to call a mission off?"

"You misunderstand. Kakashi hasn't requested extraction, he's requesting reinforcements." Sarutobi puffed on his pipe, " Unfortunately, it seems that he is currently bed-ridden with chakra exhaustion and won't be able to pull himself and his team out safely. He doesn't believe they are in immediate danger because Zabuza also sustained severe injuries as well. His team insisted they continue the mission and he agreed, though he would like another team on standby just in case."

Iwabi nodded slowly, "Who are the nin? If they managed to put Kakashi of all people in a bind like that then they must be dangerous."

The Hokage's face became a bit serious, "According to Kakashi's report, they encountered the Demon Brothers but they were dealt with without issue. The one who put him in his current state however, is a much bigger issue. It seems Zabuza Momochi has left Kiri behind and taken up trade as a mercenary for a business mogul in the area. To what end, I'm unsure. He also apparently has an accomplice, though Kakashi didn't have much to say about them."

As Iwabi digested the information, the man picked up a piece of paper and slid it across the desk, "There is the request so you can read it for yourself. I need to know if you think your team is up to the task. You will be paid for a A-Rank mission."

As Iwabi read the report, he thought about the situation. Reinforcement missions like this were usually safer than normal missions because they had more info going in, but Zabuza Momochi was no joke. You didn't get a moniker like the Demon of the Hidden Mist because you were an average shinobi, and though Iwabi was confident in his skills, he knew he was nowhere near Kakashi's level when it really came down to it.

But Kakashi was already there and by the time they arrived the man would be well on his way to recovery. Between the two of them, they would be able to handle Zabuza. And with both of their teams combined, the mission itself shouldn't be too difficult to complete either.

Not to mention, this was the perfect opportunity to truly gauge if his team was ready for the exams. A mission like this came once in a blue moon, and he would be stupid not to take the opportunity when he had just been talking about needing something like this moments ago.

Still… something about this mission made Iwabi's skin tingle, and he gave the Hokage a serious look, "There's more to this that you're not telling me, isn't there?"

"Perceptive as always, Iwabi." The older man said, "As I'm sure you know, there's been a lot of buzz around a certain shipping mogul who has set up shop in that area. Gato's been growing in power and influence at an incredible rate. He's causing ripples in the pond, so to speak. And if we don't do something soon, those ripples are going to attract the other big fish in the water."

Iwabi read between the lines and nodded slowly, "I see… and I assume that this isn't a spur of the moment decision? This will create waves either way."

"Waves we can redirect as we see fit." The Hokage said, "A rogue element is dangerous, especially one so large. It's best to err on the side of caution, in this case."

Iwabi placed the report on the table, thinking intently, "This is a big step up for my team. Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a team of anbu deal with this one."

"I have faith in your abilities, Iwabi. Teaching or otherwise." The Hokage puffed on his pipe, giving the jonin a shrewd glance, "The goal of your team was always to partake in these sorts of missions. Even moreso with your new addition. I have faith that you'll succeed."

Iwabi knew what the man was really saying. He frowned, glancing down at the report as he warred with himself. This sort of mission was usually saved for older ninja. The stakes were high and the danger was even higher. For a trip of genin with less than two years of experience under their collective belts, there was no telling how it might go.

"Your answer?"

But they couldn't be kids forever. They'd already taken their first steps to surpass their fellow genin. If they could manage this, then maybe the Chunin Exams wouldn't be such a huge challenge.

"...I accept."

---

Get chapters to this fic early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 31 has just been posted!

 

[Sadguychet]

Sakura's hands dug deep into the mechanical guts of her puppets as she fiddled with her creation's internal mechanisms. Her tongue poked out of her mouth as she twisted her tiny screwdriver, tightening a coil of wires that had come loose. If you asked her, this was probably the most boring part of using a puppet, the constant upkeep. It was necessary though if she wanted to keep her baby in working order.

She'd normally be doing this in the privacy of her room, but it was a nice day today, which was why instead of being cooped up in the house, she was lounging beneath a tree on her training ground, listening to the sound of the wind whistling through the branches interspersed with grunts and shouts as one of her closest friends sparred with themselves a few yards away.

She ran into Hikari on the way here. The Hyuga was apparently in need of some stress relief and professed that they would enjoy Sakura's company. They were currently engaging one of their clones in an intense taijutsu battle, and it was clear to Sakura that they were really in a mood because she had only seen Hikari break out the kunai like that when they were particularly nettled. It was a good thing they knew medical ninjutsu.

As she finished tightening the spring, Sakura slid Teashi's chest cavity closed and moved on to the next part of her maintenance. Using a special tool to pry open the panels on the puppet's arms, she pulled the limb from its socket and began to disassemble it as well so that she could inspect the internal components.

As she worked, the presence that had been nestled in her hair crawled down the side of her head. Sakura resisted the urge to shudder as Kii's many legs tapped against her skin as he crawled down to rest on her shoulder, looking over her work with critical eyes, "It fascinates me that you would build a weapon that looks like one of your species. Why not something stronger, to incite fear in your prey?" He asked in his hissing tone.

"It's mostly a preference." Sakura answered, "Some puppeteers do model their puppets after animals, but that requires knowing how those animals move and their bodies' strengths and weaknesses. For your first puppet, it's just easier to go with something more familiar."

As she spoke, Sakura pulled one of the thick cogs in Teashi's arm out of its housing. She examined it keenly, frowning deeply as she realized that it was cracked. Judging by the scrubbed rust on it, this was one of the ones that she got second hand. It was a good thing that she spotted this or else the wire launchers could have completely failed the next time they had to reel in something heavy. She'd have to replace it as soon as possible.

On her shoulder, Kii made a chittering noise, "So you have plans to make another fake creature with which to do battle?"

Sakura nodded, "Of course. No puppet master worth their salt only uses a single puppet. I've drawn up quite a few designs already, though I haven't actually decided on one yet. I need something that would make up for Teashi's weaknesses while at the same time having its own strengths. It would probably be a completely different beast from this one here."

"I suggest you give it the appearance of one of my clan." Kii said as Sakura replaced the cracked cog where she found it, "We are fearsome creatures. Many would and have hesitated at the mere thought of doing battle with us."

Sakura giggled, "So I've heard. How is your clan settling in, by the way? It's been less than a week, but sensei says you guys have already spread quite a bit."

"New nesting ground means new hatcheries. There is no need to stay bundled in one place when there is so much fresh prey around our hunting grounds." Kii said, "We will grow to a size we find comfortable and begin crafting a true nest where all of our spawn will reside. It will likely take some weeks before we are finished."

"You didn't answer my question." Sakura noted as she closed Teashi's chest and transitioned to checking the puppet's head. She still needed to replace the miniature bombs in her eyes. Ugh, it took forever to write those seals. "How is the clan doing? Are they satisfied?"

"More than satisfied. It has been some time since we have had such full stomachs. The Broodmother is beside herself with joy. Our spawn will survive this season and many more to come."

Sakura smiled, "That's good. I'm glad to hear that they're settling nicely. Especially if that means I get to keep my contract."

"The Broodmother will meet with you to discuss soon, once the brood is situated."

"Whenever she's ready, I'll be waiting." Sakura said as she closed Teashi's mouth with a click. She stood up, raising her puppet with her chakra strings and watching as her robes dragged across the ground. She ran through a quick diagnostics check, running through a full checklist of Teashi's functions and how she was operating. After fifteen minutes or so, she was satisfied that her creation was in working condition and sealed it away in her scroll.

Sakura stretched briefly, working out the kinks that always came with sitting in the same place for hours on end. She squinted up at the sun, taking in the glare that was beginning to fall over the treeline, dying the world a smouldering orange. It had to be around five or six by now. She should probably get going if she wanted to be ready in time for dinner with Ino.

Turning to where Hikari was practicing, Sakura called out to her teammate, "I've gotta run, Hikari! I'll see you tomorrow!"

Hikari glanced over at her as she put Teashi's scroll on her hip, "Huh? You're leaving already? I was hoping to spar a bit after you finished working on your puppet."

Sakura smiled apologetically as the Hyuga walked over, "Sorry, I'd love to but I've got something lined up right now. Besides, we've been here a few hours already, why didn't you just ask me to spar before?"

"I believe you're underestimating just how intensely focused you become when you are working, Sakura. I tried calling you several times but you were hypnotised by your puppet."

Hikari said wryly, making Sakura blink. The Hyuga gave Sakura an imploring look, "Can we just have a quick spar? Burning off steam with a clone isn't nearly as effective as doing it with someone who can actually take your hits."

"Quick? It's never quick with the two of us, Hikari. You know that." Sakura giggled, shaking her head as she turned to leave, "I'll spar with you tomorrow as much as you want, but if I miss dinner with Ino, then she is actually going to kill me so I need to go put on my dress before she somehow senses that I'm not ready from all the way across the village."

"Ino?" Hikari made an odd face, "You're having dinner with her?"

"Yeah, I promised her I'd take her out to this fancy place tonight because I scared her so bad the other day." Sakura shrugged, "It's not super fancy, but it's nice enough that it should make her happy, you know?"

"I see." Hikari said, staring off into the distance for a long moment before shaking their head to snap out of it. They gave Sakura a soft grin, "Well then don't let me keep you. I'm sure I can just make another clone or two to work out the stress."

"Don't overdo it, Hikari." Sakura chided, "If you give yourself chakra exhaustion, then I swear I'll spar with Tsu instead just to spite you. I'll let her know too, so she can rub it in your face while we're at it."

"Duly noted." Hikari said dryly and Sakura eyed her friend for another moment before nodding and turning away.

"Good. I'll see you tomorrow then."

As she left, Sakura heard the telltale sound of clones popping into being and she glanced back, sighing in slight exasperation as she saw three extra Hyuga on top of the two that were already present. Hikari was already going at it, fighting with a ferocity born of someone who had bitten off more than they could chew but was determined to see it through.

It looked like Hikari would be in no condition to spar tomorrow. Sakura would be sure to make fun of them as much as possible for it too.

~~~

An hour and a half later, Sakura was fully dressed and prepared for her fancy dinner. It had been a while since she had dressed up like this and as far as she could remember, it was never for a particularly nice occasion. Though this dress was much nicer than the funeral gown she wore last time. Prettier too. Ino definitely knew what she was doing when she picked it out for Sakura.

Sakura's hair tickled her ears as she approached the Yamanaka compound. She was wearing her hair down for what felt like the first time in forever and she wasn't really sure how to feel about it. Her mother insisted that it was proper, but it honestly just felt weird not tying it up. She wasn't sure how people lived like this.

She could also do without the way it kept falling in her face. Blowing a stray strand of pink out of her face, Sakura walked up the familiar steps to her friend's front door and knocked softly. She only got one in before the door suddenly swung open and she was staring at a green flak jacket and a pair of arms crossed in front of it.

She slowly looked up, gulping as she came face to face with Inoichi Yamanaka's stern expression, "Hello sir. I'm… here to pick up Ino?"

Inoichi's expression didn't change. The man stood there, staring down at Sakura with the most intense expression that she had ever seen on his normally laid-back face. Was this what the people he interrogated had to go through? This was awful, and Sakura had no idea what she even did to deserve it.

The tense standoff lasted for an eternity before it was suddenly broken as the Yamanaka patriarch finally spoke in a voice that Sakura was almost positive was designed to intimidate prisoners, "What are your intentions with my daughter?"

Sakura was blindsided by the question and left reeling mentally, "I-uh… Dinner?" She tried to string together a proper sentence, "I'm here to take her to dinner?"

Inoichi's eyes narrowed and Sakura wondered what she did wrong. He took a step forward, opening his mouth to ask another question, but an elbow slammed into his ribs from behind him, stopping him in his tracks.

Ino stepped into view, her eyebrow visibly twitching as she ground her elbow into her father's gut, "Dad, it's Sakura. Stop reading her the riot act and go hang out with mom or something or I'm going to tell Shikaku-san about the incident."

Inoichi paled, "R-right away honey! Enjoy your dinner! Sakura, it was nice to see you again."

The man retreated into his house, leaving one annoyed blonde and an utterly befuddled Sakura behind. She watched as he left before turning to her friend, "What was that about?"

Ino rolled her eyes, "Just dad's being stupid, don't worry about it." She said as she stepped out and closed the door behind her. She looked Sakura up and down, taking in her attire, "You look good, Sakura. That dress I picked really suits you, just like I knew it would."

Though the pinkette could tell that Ino's compliment was more to herself than Sakura, she smiled regardless, feeling a warm feeling welling up inside of her at her friend's words, "Thank you. You look good too, Ino."

And Sakura wasn't lying either. Ino's normal purple outfit had been traded out for a dress that was a light shade of blue that complimented the earrings she was wearing. The dress was sleeveless and sported a small slit down the side starting around the girl's lower thigh to allow for better range of movement.

It also let Sakura get a good look at the progress of her training. Sakura knew that Ino had gained some muscle since she started leaning into taijutsu, but she didn't realize just how much. She wasn't super muscly, but there was definitely some definition there that Sakura hadn't seen on any girl her age outside of Tsu.

Unlike Tsu though, Sakura had a hard time looking away from Ino's muscles for some reason. Why didn't she have arms like that? She was probably just as strong as Ino, physically at least, but Ino's looked so much better than hers… Maybe she should start lifting or something.

Sakura shook her head as her friend said something she didn't catch, "Huh? What'd you say?"

Ino was grinning at her, blue eyes twinkling with mischief, "I said if you're done staring at my arms, we should probably get going. Even if you have a reservation, most places don't hold your table for more than thirty minutes."

Sakura blushed slightly as she was caught, "I wasn't staring. Do you think I'd spend thirty minutes staring at your arms?"

"I wouldn't put it past you. Your head may be big, Sakura, but I feel like it's mostly full of empty space some days." Ino giggled, before reaching out and grabbing Sakura's hand, "Come on. I haven't eaten all day to prepare for this. I hope this place you picked is good."

Sakura led Ino away from her home with a growing smile, enjoying the warmth of her hand in the cool night, "I'll do my best not to disappoint. I've never had it either."

~~~

The restaurant that Sakura decided to bring Ino to wasn't anything extremely fancy. It was a nice seafood restaurant in the merchant district, a really nice place that definitely warranted dressing up, but hopefully wouldn't break Sakura's wallet in two.

Their reservation was accepted and they were seated promptly, cozying up in a nice booth near the back of the building that would give them both privacy and a view of the restaurant's decor.

Ino was clearly happy with her choices, smiling brightly as she looked around them, "I'm impressed, Sakura. You actually managed to pick a nice place for us."

"It's what you wanted, wasn't it?" Sakura asked rhetorically as she perused the menu, "I pass this place every time I come back from training and I've been wanting to try it. This was a good opportunity."

"You've got good taste." Ino complimented as she looked over her own menu, "Everything here sounds so delicious."

And expensive. Sakura's hopes that she'd have a little bit of money left over after this died a painful death as she took in the prices. As the daughter of merchants, she understood fish was expensive because of how far they had to transport it, but this was crazy! She picked something cheap that also sounded good, knowing that Ino wasn't going to hold back just for the sake of her wallet.

"So Sakura…" Ino said leadingly, staring at the pinkette from across the table as she placed her own menu down, "How have things been with your team? You don't really talk about them much when we hang out."

"There's not really much to talk about." Sakura shrugged, "I knew them even when we were in the Academy, remember? The only thing that changed really is that now I see them every day. Well, most of them…"

Ino frowned, "That's right, you were put on the team to fill a vacancy. I forgot about that, sorry."

"It's fine. I didn't really know him that well anyway. The others miss him though. Tsu especially." Sakura took a sip of her complementary water, "Let's not bring the mood down. How are things going with your team? Have you managed to whip the slackers into shape yet?"

Ino huffed, "By the skin of my teeth! I swear, it's like the idea of doing literally anything strenuous will actually kill the three of them. I finally managed to convince Asuma-sensei to at least consider a C-Rank so we can get a little bit of extra pay. Even though I know I'll be the one doing all the work."

"You should negotiate for better pay. Ask Hokage-sama to give you chunin level pay at least for having to wrangle three ninja all by yourself." Sakura joked, though judging by the wide-eyed look on Ino's face, the girl was actually considering it.

"You think he'd go for that? I'm sure I could make a convincing argument and I could use the extra money to buy stuff to bribe Choji with!" She said, only half joking.

Sakura shrugged, "Only one way to find out."
"You're right! Tomorrow, I'll march right up to his desk, knock all of his paperwork to the floor to assert my dominance, and ask for a raise!" Ino declared, making Sakura giggle.

"Oh, I'm sure that'll work out. Totally won't get you thrown down into T&I for being a suspected imposter or something."

"Please, that'd be the least of the charges." Ino laughed, "Speaking of T&I, did you ever figure out that poison that the snake lady gave you?"

"Her name's Anko. I have a feeling calling her snake lady to her face wouldn't end very well." Sakura said dryly and Ino shrugged, "And mostly. I've managed to isolate the main component as an extremely rare plant that only grows along rivers in the Land of Water, but there's still some stuff missing. I'm pretty sure she's using a mix of plants and animals, alongside a healthy amount of manufactured chemicals, to make it pretty much untraceable."

"Well clearly not untraceable if you've managed to figure that out, right?"

Sakura smiled smugly, "I guess I'm just that good."
Ino snorted, "Careful or you're gonna have to tie that giant forehead to something to keep yourself from flying away. Ego is the number one killer of all ninja, haven't you heard?"

"Funny, I thought that would be kunai or something."

"Touche."

Their conversation was interrupted by a dark-haired server walking up to their table, notepad in hand. He gave them a charming smile, showing off white teeth framed by picturesque dimples, "Good evening, ladies. Are you ready to order?"

They listed off what they wanted to eat. As Sakura suspected, Ino spared no expense on her behalf, ordering literally the third most expensive thing on the menu. The disparity between their orders was almost embarrassing, and Sakura was glad the server didn't say anything about it as he stowed his pen and pad away in his apron, giving them one last smile before disappearing with a vague approximation of how long they would have to wait for the food to arrive.

As he left, Sakura glanced in his direction, "He was cute, wasn't he? If his skin was a shade paler, I could almost mistake him for an Uchiha."

"I guess." Ino said noncommittally, making Sakura raise an eyebrow.

"Really? A few years ago you'd be all over someone like that. He was our age too. You'd probably have a chance."

Ino shrugged, taking a sip of water, "He was nice, I guess. If you ask me though, he was trying a little too hard. Did you see the way he winked at me when I told him my order? I know he's just fishing for a tip, but I got total creep energy from that."

Sakura did see that. She also felt the way that something in her stomach curdled like milk when Ino reciprocated with a smile of her own. Unable to understand the feeling, she pressed on, leaning forward a bit as she eyed her blonde companion, "So you didn't like him? I figured someone like him was totally your type."

"I didn't say that. Like I said, he was nice. I guess my type has changed a bit." Ino flashed Sakura a smile, "These days I prefer them a bit more challenging. Sweet, maybe a little annoying sometimes, and denser than a rock."

It was weird but definitely not the weirdest that Sakura had heard of. Of course someone as good looking as Ino would have such specific qualifications. The girl could probably have anyone their age and probably quite a few who were older if she wanted. Why wouldn't she be picky? Still…

"Good luck with that." Sakura said, picking up her own drink, "With qualifiers like that, you're gonna have a pretty hard time finding a guy who fits them and is into you."

Ino stared at Sakura over the lip of her cup, and as the pinkette looked up and met her gaze, she almost flinched. There was something predatory in those eyes, like a lion eyeing a gazelle just before pouncing. And then the look was gone, and Ino smiled as she placed her drink back on the table, "I actually have my eyes on someone right now. Though I'm not really sure they've even noticed. Like I said, super dense."

Sakura nodded, happy for her friend. She ignored the strange feeling in the pit of her stomach as she gave Ino a smile, "I hope it goes well then. If it doesn't, you know where to find me if you wanna talk or just try and use my face as a punching bag or something."

Ino giggled, "That's sweet, Sakura, but I wouldn't want to ruin that pretty face of yours. Corrective surgery hasn't come far enough to fix what I'd do to you."

"Funny, that doesn't stop you from trying to rearrange my face any time we spar." Sakura said wryly, and Ino rolled her eyes.

"Shut up and take the compliment, Sakura."

Their conversation soon strayed away from training and their ninja life into something much more civilian. They spoke about inane things like new restaurants they had tried, new hobbies to try between missions, or even books they had read recently. Sakura was surprised to learn that Ino had taken up painting of all things, professing that she had been feeling so brutish thanks to her taijutsu training and the muscle mass she had gained as a result.

Sakura completely disagreed with the very notion of Ino being brutish and was more than happy to tell the girl that in no uncertain terms.

"I actually like the muscles." She said as Ino tried to brush her words off as shallow reassurances. The blonde paused at her words, one step away from taking a sip of her drink as she stared at Sakura like she didn't believe a word she said, "I'm serious! They're nice. They make me think that you could like, protect me from stuff or something. I'm not really sure how to explain it. They look good on you though, and they definitely aren't bulky."

"So you really were staring at my arms earlier!" Ino accused, and Sakura blushed.

"It was hard to take my eyes off of them, alright? You're normally wearing those bands so barely anything is visible. I couldn't help but look!" Sakura defended, and Ino's face turned pink, before she looked away with a fond smile.

"I really do have my work cut out for me." She muttered softly and Sakura blinked, tilting her head, "What?"

Ino shook her head, glancing up at Sakura with a small smile, "Nothing, Sakura. Let's order dessert. I think I've earned a cheat day, and it wouldn't be a real date without something sweet."

That was true. Places like this usually went all out with the desert. Sakura picked up her menu, glancing towards the back where such items were usually held. She was pretty sure she saw some sort of neapolitan lava cake. She didn't even know those existed but it sounded amazing.

…

…

Wait, date!?

Get chapters to this fic early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 33 has just been posted!

 

[Sadguychet]

Hikari's morning had always been one of routine. Since they were a child, discipline and etiquette had been pounded into their head. Do this. Don't do that. Only do this when that happens or that time comes. Rules to follow and faux pas to shy away from, that was what Hikari's so called family had done their best to beat into the young Hyuga.

Such treatment at a young age was bound to leave scars and while many of them were written on the canvas of Hikari's body, many more were ingrained into their very soul. They changed the way that the Hyuga saw the world, fractured the rose colored glasses that kept all children safe from the horrors that surrounded them. Fun became synonymous with wrong and the pains of intense training became right, and though it was never said, Hikari knew that all of this was in the efforts to mold them into the perfect tool to replace the one that was lost so many years ago.

And yet despite their father's wishes and their mother's unwillingness to get in his way, few of the lessons actually stuck. At least, not the important ones. Hikari learned from a young age that their individuality was something to be cherished, and one part of that was the routine. It was something to cling to between the gruelling lessons and beatings. Something that was Hikari's and Hikari's alone. Something that he couldn't take away like he took so much else.

Pale scars and paler skin were covered as bandages were wound tightly across Hikari's chest, winding down their abdomen before disappearing under the folds of their clothes. Dark strands of hair were bound tightly in even more bandages, trapping the silken strands and keeping them from swaying freely. If they were left to do as they pleased, they would surely cause problems. That had been a lesson learned the hard way.

Pale, baggy eyes stared back at Hikari in the mirror as the Hyuga finished their strict ritual getting ready for the day. The stripe of green seals tattooed into their skin, always there in the back of their mind, was thankfully hidden from sight by the headband that had always been employed for the purpose.

Hikari stared at themselves in the mirror for a moment, taking in the person that they had become despite others wishes. They weren't sure they liked what they saw but it was them. And that was all that mattered.

A sound from another part of the house made Hikari flinch. Taking a deep breath, they finished the rest of their routine quickly, getting dressed and packed for the journey ahead. Hopefully it would be a long one.

Sneaking through the house had become second nature to Hikari by now. They knew exactly which places in the layered mats squeaked and which ones would support their weight without making a sound. The shoji screens were always tricky, but there was a trick to them that Hikari had long since learned. The Hyuga snuck through their home like a ghost, all the whole hoping to stay just as unnoticed as one.

Unfortunately, as usual, hoping only leads to disappointment.

As Hikari stepped into the main room, they froze, their throat going dry as they were met with a tall, slender man in fine robes sitting in the center of the room. A tea set sat in front of him, incense burning in its holder off to one side as he clasped his hands together in ritualistic prayer, before his eyes opened as he registered the interruption.

His lips thinned as he saw Hikari standing there, "Daughter." He said curtly, and Hikari almost flinched at his tone, averting their eyes from his piercing gaze, "You are leaving again. A mission?"

Hikari's throat tightened, "Yes, Tou-sama. We are reinforcing a team in the Land of Waves. I expect to be gone for at least a week. Possibly more."

"Reinforcing?" He repeated, sounding displeased as he snuffed his incense, "They are sending a genin squad to handle whatever situation calls for immediate reinforcements? They should be sending someone more qualified."

His words could be misconstrued as concern were they spoken any other way, but Hikari had long since come to know what the man actually meant when he said that. He didn't think that Hikari was strong enough.

Hikari kept their head down, refusing to meet his eyes, "I am under the impression that no other teams were available. According to sensei and Lord Third, Team 3 is considered one of the more effective genin squads. We are cleared for chunin level missions which this constitutes."

The man clearly wasn't happy to hear that. Then again, when had he ever been happy as far as Hikari had been involved? They couldn't remember.

"I see. I did not realize that standards had fallen so far." He poured himself some tea, keeping his eyes off of his daughter and deliberately not seeing the reaction his words had provoked, "An Inuzuka with a dead teammate's sword and not an inkling of traditional kenjutsu knowledge, a rogue puppeteer taught by one of our greatest enemies, and a man who couldn't even keep his students alive during a standard mission. A squad such as yours would have been considered canon fodder at best during the last war."

Hikari's teeth ground together but they kept their composure as best as they could, "My team has overcome more than our fair share of trials. We are strong, even if you do not think so."

The man's eyes slid over to Hikari, full of dispassion and borderline apathy, "Am I supposed to take your word for it? You are a disappointment in and of yourself, my daughter. Your potential was once great, but time and time again you waste it by spoiling my teachings with inferior techniques."

Hikari's desire to learn other fighting styles and more importantly, their comparatively large repertoire of ninjutsu, had been a point of contention between the two of them for some time. While their father wished for Hikari to stay true to Hyuga tradition and use techniques only born of the Gentle Fist school, they were members of the Branch Family which meant that the techniques they had access to were few and far between.

"The Hyuga have been prominent in every war since Konoha's inception, Tou-sama." Hikari explained fruitlessly, "Our enemies know every technique that our clan can bring to the table. I am only doing what is required to survive."

"And your Gentle Fist has suffered for it. When was the last time you practiced your palm strikes, or any of the Eight Trigrams techniques. Do not lie, I could see the sloppiness in your forms the last time we sparred. You have not been keeping up with your training outside of this house."

Hikari remained silent as the man slowly stood, favoring his right side as he got to his feet. The shoji screen behind Hikari slid open and closed, and they didn't have to look behind them to know that their mother had decided to make a quiet appearance, no doubt hearing the argument from across the silent house.

Hikari bowed as their father turned to them, "My other duties have kept me busy."

"Your duty is to the clan, first and foremost." The man didn't even let Hikari speak their thoughts, bursting into a rant at the drop of a hat, "Our way of life is built on staunch discipline and tradition. We may be members of the Branch Family, but our clan is still the strongest in all of Konoha and we have to uphold that status! Straying from the path set before you undermines everything the Elders do, everything this clan stands for!"

Hikari didn't even know what the clan stood for. They didn't even know what their father stood for, most of the time.

As Hikari went to explain their reasoning, to try in vain to make the man see that they knew what they were doing, the older Hyuga went a step too far in his anger. Giving his daughter a disgusted look the man said the one thing he shouldn't have.

"Hiroki would be ashamed of you."

The words pierced through the deliberate calm that Hikari always applied in the man's presence, and with that single sentence, Hikari's carefully bound control snapped. Years of anger came crashing down on their shoulders, drowning the young Hyuga in emotions so intense, they could barely see straight, and what they did next was not a conscious action in the slightest.

Porcelain shattered and ashes spread across the floor. When Hikari came back into themselves, their ears were ringing and they were holding a kunai that they didn't remember pulling out directly to their father's throat.

Time seemed to stand still as the cold length of metal pressed into the man's neck, and their gazes were drawn onto one another inextricably, one shocked and somewhat fearful while the other carried that same shock, but it was completely drowned by an exhausting amount of anger.

Hikari's voice shook as they stared their father down, holding his life in their hands, "You do not get to tell me that my brother would be ashamed. Hiroki was the only good thing to come from this family, and you are the one who got him killed. He had no business being on that mission, but you pushed him to take it in some vague attempt at earning 'glory' for our family. Well, he's certainly glorified now–with his name on a headstone and his eyes in the hands of some bloodline thief!"

Tears pricked Hikari's eyes, "I did my best to be what you wanted, but I will never be him and I don't want to anymore. I am not some faceless doll you can plaster your own perfect version of me on. I am a person, and you are going to learn that or I am going to make you."

There was a tense standoff as Hikari's father registered her threat and Hikari could see the man's mind working behind his eyes, trying to figure out how to get out of this suddenly deadly situation. The man has been a shinobi for a short time, but despite his lambasting of his daughter, he himself had never made it past genin before enduring an injury that sent his career to an early grave. In truth, Hikari was more than likely stronger than him, but years of trauma and negative-reinforcement had made them hesitant to try anything like this.

"Hikari…" Yet another first. Hikari slowly looked behind them at the hand on their shoulder, before following the arm all the way to the worried face that looked so much like their own.

Hikari's mother was a passive woman, the picture perfect definition of seen and not heard. In the years since Hiroki's death, that had only become worse. Hikari couldn't remember the last time the woman spoke without being addressed first, much less directly to them.

Hearing their mother's voice address them directly for the first time in what felt like years snapped Hikari out of their rage. They stared at the woman, completely baffled, before slowly shifting their attention to the kunai in their hand, still held against their father's neck.

The weapon dropped from their grip like it had burned them, clattering to the floor beside the remnants of the broken tea set as the Hyuga realized what they had done.

They stared at their father, watching with wide eyes as the man slowly climbed to his feet, "I…I didnt–"

"Get out of my house." Hikari flinched as the man glared at them, stumbling only to be helped by his wife, "A child who raises her hand against her own father is no child of mine. As of today, both of my children are dead and I am a failure."

"Tou-sama… I'm sor–"

"OUT!" He gestured wildly, shooing Hikari away under some vague threat. The tears in the young Hyuga's eyes rolled down their cheeks as they stared at the man, his chest heaving with anger. Their mother was refusing to look at them, staring at the floor with a blank expression as she helped her husband stand on his own two feet. She would not be going against her husband's wishes, even now.

Which meant that Hikari had no choice but to leave.

The Hyuga stared their parents in the eyes, trying to find anything to indicate that they would change their minds, any hint of the familial love that they had always been told should be there. There was none to be found. Perhaps there never was.

Faced with the realization that they were losing the only home they had ever known, Hikari did exactly as years of cruel training had taught them. They buried every single iota of emotion deep inside the growing out in their chest, locking it away as their face became carefully blank.

They bowed low at the waist, their voice a dull monotone, "I understand, Tou-sama. May I have a moment to collect my things?"

The man, seeing some semblance of the power he had lost drifting his way, had mercy on his one and only daughter even as he tossed her away, "You may. I expect your presence to be completely stripped from my home by the time your mother finishes cleaning up the mess you made."

"Thank you." Hikari said simply, turning to leave the room. Their mother didn't meet their eyes even as Hikari reached down to pick up her discarded kunai while the woman cleaned up the mess. The woman kept her eyes downcast, completely busying herself with the menial task.

Hikari didn't say a word as she left the room back to the one that was once theirs. The seals that Sakura gave them would fit their meager belongings so there was no worry of leaving anything behind. Nor were they truly worried about where they would be staying now that their family has abandoned them completely. They weren't the first Branch Family member to be basically ousted from their home. There were measures in place for such unfortunate occasions.

Hikari still wasn't sure they would take them though. After all, how could one stay in a house where their presence was no longer even begrudgingly tolerated, much less an entire compound?

~~~

Hikari arrived at the training ground only a few minutes later, their tears having been wiped away by the wind as they raced across the village at dangerous speeds so they could put as much distance between themselves and their former home as physically possible.

The rest of Team 3 was already present and waiting when Hikari arrived, each of them ready to get on the road and only waiting for the Hyuga to arrive. Hikari plastered an apologetic smile on their face as they approached, "I apologize for the delay everyone, I got a bit held up."

Hikari did their best not to let the situation at home be a burden on their team. While it wasn't ideal, they knew that it could be far worse than it already was. Yet despite the fact that the Hyuga had never explicitly told any of them what was going on, each member of Team 3 managed to find out one way or another.

It was possible that Iwabi knew from the start, and Jin always had a habit of finding things out when he wasn't supposed to. Tsu had taken a bit longer to catch on, but she eventually figured it out. The Inuzuka clan was fiercely loyal and could always be counted on to sniff out anything wrong with those they thought of as such.

It had taken quite a bit of convincing to keep Tsu from trying to barge into the clan compound and start an inter-clan incident, but the Hikari had managed it. If just barely.

Since they already had some sort of idea what Hikari was alluding to, Tsu and Iwabi got their meaning immediately and accepted the explanation without question. Sakura, having no clue whatsoever, did not.

"Is everything alright, Hikari?" The girl asked, emerald eyes filled with earnest concern.

Hikari's feelings for Sakura were complicated, though certainly not in a bad way. More… confusing. From the day they met, something about the pinkette interested them though they weren't sure what. To be honest, they still weren't. What they were sure of, was that even though they had only known each other for a couple years, Hikari would count Sakura among her closest friends. Just as close as Tsu was or Jin had been, and though they dared not speak the thought aloud, there was a chance that they could grow even closer.

But if that were to come, it would be in the future. As it stood, she knew little about Hikari's family, yet despite that she showed a great deal of concern, likely knowing something was wrong without even being told. Just like Jin.

It was touching, but Hikari wouldn't willingly burden her friend with the knowledge. Ignoring the clenching in their chest as Sakura stared at them, Hikari gave their friend a gentle smile that they hoped wasn't as plastic as it felt, "I'll be fine, Sakura."

As always, it was mostly true.

---

Get chapters to this fic early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 33 has just been posted!

 

[Miriallia]

Yikes, the Hyuuga are being assholes like always huh? But yeah, not a good headspace for this mission, though hopefully Hikari survives and ditches her genetic donors for good.

 

[Sadguychet]

The Land of Waves was much closer to Konoha than Rice. It was so close in fact, that it didn't even take Team 3 more than a day and a half to get to their destination: a small village bordering the Land of a Fire, separated from its sister country by a large river. There were the beginnings of a large bridge seeking to close the gap between the two, but it was unfinished and clearly still under construction, though no workers could be seen. Gato had scared them all off.

When Sakura had read the mission brief, she had been a bit shocked to learn that the shipping
mogul was responsible for practically holding an entire country hostage. When she had been a child, riding on the back of her parents' wagon, she had heard stories of the man. An up-and-comer in the shipping industry and someone to look out for. Since the Haruno family were land based merchants, his activities didn't really affect them much so they didn't pay him any mind.

Maybe they should have.

Team 3 walked through the town with trepidation, examining their surroundings with morbid curiosity. The town was rundown and almost ramshackle and a grey haze of despair hung heavy in the air, filling the streets and driving away any sense of hope.

The civilians they passed stared at them like they were some sort of bad omen, averting their eyes any time the members of Team 3 tried to meet them. Their faces were gaunt and many of them dirty, with frowns etched from stone and sunken eyes. Sakura recognized the look from her childhood, when her family's caravan passed through villages in the more lawless parts of the Elemental Nations where no ninja villages resided. Someone had stolen these people's hope.

Normally, that wouldn't make any sense. The Land of Waves may have not had a ninja village, at least not as far as Sakura was aware, but they were close enough to Konoha to enjoy the benefits of having one nonetheless. Combined with the fact that this place was situated right on a pretty major trade route and this village should be absolutely thriving, not seemingly on the edge of falling apart. But it was. And it was all thanks to one man.

"I knew things were bad but… Damn. This is awful." Tsu said quietly as they passed by another derelict dwelling. Tadao whined on her shoulder and she scratched his ear, doing her best to calm the pup.

"Gato did all this?" Sakura asked quietly, watching a little girl cower behind her mother's ratty dress as they passed. Her heart clenched at the fear in the child's eyes, "What a monster."

"This is what happens when huge amounts of power and greed are left unchecked." Iwabi said, leading them through the town, "While Gato uses Wave as a base of operations to further his own shipping empire, innocent people suffer. This place is just one of the many villages that have fallen under his thumb in the past several years."

"Why haven't the hidden villages done anything about it?" Tsu asked.

"Who could?" Iwabi responded, "Kiri would usually be the one to handle something like this but they've been in a civil war while Gato consolidated power. Konoha and Wave are trade allies but sending a team of shinobi in to eliminate a hostile power without permission would definitely cause an international incident, one that the other villages would be sure to jump on. Everyone else likely believes the issue doesn't concern them. At least so far."

Sakura connected the dots almost immediately, "But if Gato keeps growing his empire, he'll draw their attention and they'll send people to deal with him." She realized, "And when they do, they'll have access to his entire empire and a base of operations right on Konoha's borders."

Iwabi nodded, "Which is another reason to nip this in the bud while we still can. If Gato catches the attention of Kumo or Iwa, things could spiral out of control extremely quickly."

"We're not really here to back up Team 7." Hikari said more than asked.

"We'll provide support to them where we can, but our real goal lies elsewhere." Iwabi confirmed, "Gato is a thorn in our side that has been digging deeper and deeper. While officially we're here to reinforce Team 7, unofficially, the Hokage wants us to pull out that thorn before it becomes infected."

An assassination mission, then. They were here to take Gato's head. Sakura tried not to look too excited by the prospect of freeing the country from the tyrant's grasp. She didn't do very well.

"Let's pick up the pace, we're nearly there." Iwabi said, speeding up slightly as his students followed obediently, leaving the ruined town behind them.

~~~

Their destination was a little away from the village, a large house built on a dock surrounded by water in three directions. It was nice, at least when compared to the houses they had seen earlier, but Gato's rotten touch was still clear on the place, present in the peeling paint and chipped wood.

A comely woman with raven hair answered the door, gazing at them warily from the crack, "May I help you?"

Iwabi stepped forward flashing his hitai-ate, "Konoha's Team 3, here go assist our comrades in keeping you folks safe."

The woman's expression lightened at the sight of the lead insignia on his headband. She opened the door further, wariness giving way to relief, "Oh! You're the team Kakashi-san mentioned! I'm sorry, please come in."

"There's nothing to apologize for." Iwabi said as he stepped inside, "Considering the state of this place, I'm sure you've had all sorts of people walking up to your front door."

They filed inside of the house, following the woman as she led them along, "I'm Tsunami. My father is the one who hired your other team to protect him while he finished the bridge. They're in the kitchen, right over here."

They filed into the kitchen and were met with an interesting sight. Though the room was far from full, it definitely didn't feel that way thanks to the individuals present, and while the rest of her team continued forward, Sakura just had to stop and gape at the chaos unfolding in front of her.

The members of Team 7 must have gotten into a huge fight or something because when Team 3 walked in, they were seemingly in the middle of trying to kill each other. Ami had Naruto in a headlock and was trying to suffocate him to death while the boy pulled on a handful of her hair in defence. The reason for her aggression was apparent as Naruto was sitting on top of their third teammate, fist held midair as he prepared to slam it into the Uchiha's already bruised cheek while Sasuke fended him off with one of his own.

They were all dirty and for some reason, dripping wet, but clearly still full of energy. An old man was sitting at the head of the nearby table clutching a bottle of sake, and their sensei was watching the entire scene with dull amusement in his visible eye, clearly having no intention to intervene. He looked up at their team as they entered the room, and his eye turned upwards in a smile, "Good morning, Iwabi. Did you have a safe trip over?"

"Safer than yours, I'm sure.." Sakura's sensei said, causing the fighting genin on the floor to finally take notice of their presence.

Ami was the first to react, jumping off of Naruto like he had scalded her, while the boy himself stayed where he was, squinting at them suspiciously, "Who are they, Kaka-sensei?"

"We're your backup, Naruto." Sakura answered for the man as she got over her shock, "What are you guys doing down there? Why are you trying to beat up Sasuke?"

Naruto finally noticed her standing there and his suspicion melted away, replaced with a large smile instead.

"Sakura! Long time no see!" He said cheerfully. His arm shuddered in Sasuke's grip and the Uchiha grunted, pushing him back even harder, making Naruto growl, "I'm trying to kick this bastard's ass because he stiffed me on a bet and won't pay up!"

"Because you didn't win, idiot." Sasuke growled with a scowl on his face, "We agreed on water walking only! You jumped those last few feet so it doesn't count as you beating me!"

"You're the idiot! I was in the lead the whole way there!" Naruto shouted back, making Sasuke wince at the volume, "That was basically a victory lap! You're just jealous that I got the hang of water walking faster than you!"

Sasuke's eyes flashed at the words, "As if!"

Sakura watched as the two of them rolled around on the ground, collecting dirt and dust bunnies as they went, and a deep sense of exasperation mixed with nostalgia filled her. Looks like these two hadn't changed a bit.

A loud clap brought the two of them to a screeching halt as the white-haired man with the eye patch finally decided to intervene, "I'd say that's enough for now, Naruto, Sasuke. Let's save that energy for when Zabuza comes back."

"So you really didn't finish him off, huh?" Iwabi asked as the two boys reluctantly detached, "That's surprising. Whatever happened to the famed Copy Ninja, Kakashi?"

"He got rusty and found his match in the Demon of the Mist, I suppose." Kakashi responded. Iwabi clicked his teeth.

"You've gone soft, Hatake. Bear would be disappointed in you." He said, but the words held no weight to them as he joked with his old friend.

"If disappointment is as far as it gets, then I'll happily take it." Kakashi chuckled.

His eye then slid towards Team 3, taking them all in, "So this is your team, huh? Quite the spread you've got here. A Hyuga that uses ninjutsu, an Inuzuka with a sword, and the only puppeteer in Konoha. I was expecting a team of chunin that I could have fun ordering around."

"The Hokage chose them for the job specifically." Iwabi responded, "Their skills are especially suited for the task that lies ahead."

Kakashi's eye sharpened, "The task… I see. And you think they're up for it?"

"I have faith in them." Iwabi said, causing his team to smile proudly.

Naruto jogged up to them, his hair slick with water from whatever contest he and Sasuke had been having, "So you guys are here to help us beat Zabuza? Well you better be ready to just kick back and relax the whole trip, cause he's mine!"

"You believe you'll be able to handle the likes of Zabuza Momochi all by yourself?" Hikari asked almost incredulously, and Naruto nodded fiercely.

"That's right! I'm gonna kick that guy's ass for what he did! He's gonna get the Naruto Uzumaki special straight from its original creator!"

Tsu barked with laughter, grinning widely at the boy's spunk, "You're pretty full of yourself, aren't you pipsqueak?" She asked, causing Naruto's face to flare with immediate outrage

"What'd you do to calm me!?" He demanded, causing Tsu to laugh louder. Sakura sighed, already feeling a headache coming on from all the screaming.

"Please don't call him short, Tsu. He has a complex."

"It's not complex at all." Ami said as she walked up, "Naruto's just an idiot with a temper. He just happens to be short too."

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself!" Ami shot right back, kicking him in the leg, "You nearly drowned me earlier with that chakra jump or whatever, and if you keep shouting I swear I will smother you in your sleep! I already have a headache from ingesting whatever crap is in the water around here."

As Naruto hopped around, clutching his injured calf in pain, Sakura took a moment to examine Ami, noting the muscle she had gained, visible through the short sleeves of her dress, as well as her shorter hairstyle. It seemed she was taking ninja life seriously. Or a little more seriously than she had in the academy at least.

They all convened at the kitchen table so that the newly-arrived team could be caught up on the current situation. Tsunami tried to offer them food, apologizing for the meager amount that she was able to give them but Sakura fixed that easily with a couple of scrolls.

Now, as the two teams chowed down alongside Tazuna and his daughter, Ami gave Sakura an incredulous look around a mouthful of crispy bread, "Since when could you put hot food in those tiny seals you make?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "I learned how to make food storage seals in the Academy. Don't you remember trying to take my lunch and then wondering where it went?"

Ami's face went bright red from the looks she received from Sakura's team, "Oh yeah, heh… I didn't think you could put hot food in them though. You usually ate cold meals or bento."

"I couldn't before, but I got better at seals and improved the design." Sakura took a bite of rice, still steaming like she just cooked it, "Preservation seals are one thing, but stasis seals are another thing entirely. Figuring out how to combine them both without causing the whole thing to fizzle took me a while. I managed it eventually though."

"Well I'm glad you did, girl." Tazuna laughed loudly, ripping a chunk of chicken straight off the skewer, "I haven't had food like this since that bastard Gato took over! Do you know how hard it is to build a bridge on an empty stomach? It's not easy, let me tell you!"

"That bridge is rather impressive either way." Hikari commented.

"Impressive!?" Tazuna slammed his hand on the table, rattling the cutlery, "It's more than impressive kid; it's a miracle! Once it's finished, it'll save this country and put that damn Gato in his place."

"I'd say finishing it will be the real miracle." Tsu said, feeding a piece of meat to her ninkin who devoured it eagerly, "If I had Zabuza Momochi of all people gunning for my head, I would be in the next country over before the rumors had a chance to settle."

Tasuna's face became nervous, "Eh, you think so? You got a pretty big sword too, don't you? You don't think you can take the guy?"

"Pfft-No!" Tsu laughed loudly, resting one hand on Tadao's back, "That guy would cut me and my sword in half in one swing! I'd be lucky to clash blades once before Kubikiribōchō finished me off for good."

As Tazuna paled, Hikari gave their friend a look, "You almost sound like you want that to happen."

"There are definitely worse ways to go than dying to the Zabuza Momochi." Tsu shrugged, "I studied that guy like crazy, trying to get used to Jin's sword and even I gotta admit he's pretty cool. "

"Didn't he kill his entire graduating class just because he could?" Sakura asked. Tazuna let out a wheezing sound as Tsu shrugged.

"It's Kiri. They were probably all pricks anyway."

Nobody could argue her point, at least those who knew what she was talking about. Killing your best friend and partner at the end of your school curriculum didn't exactly make for the most stable shinobi force.

"Don't be too eager, Tsu. Even if Zabuza does show up, you aren't to engage him under any circumstances." Iwabi chimed in from across the tale, "That man was a member of the most deadly group of swordsmen to ever exist in the Elemental Nations, and it wasn't because of nepotism. If you find yourself in a situation where you are left alone with him, run in the opposite direction. Preferably towards Kakashi or me."

"You're such a party pooper, sensei." Tsu groaned, and Hikari and Sakura giggled at their teammate's antics, and even Tsunami joined in, the tense woman unwinding slightly as they ate.

Sakura took another bite of her food, glancing at Team 7. The three of them were arguing with one another, though it was impossible to tell who started it. Despite that, it was clear to see that none of them were actually serious about it. Ami's glare barely had any heat to it and even Sasuke's shoulders weren't as tense as they usually would be when he got sick of Naruto's crap and actually lost his temper with the blonde..

Naruto was Naruto. Loud, proud, and earnest. Sakura wasn't sure if she missed him or wanted to strangle him for the headache brewing in the back of her skull.

All in all though, they looked like an actual team, which was surprising. Sakura half expected them to explode the moment Ami started fawning over Sasuke but looking at them now, they almost reminded her of Team 3 back before Jin died.

As she watched Ami flick Sasuke on the forehead for a sideways remark, something that she could have never imagined the girl doing less than an hour ago, Sakura resolved not to let their fate play out the same way.

---

Get chapters to this fic early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 34 has just been posted!

 

[drake_azathoth]

LOL. Clearly, the solution to team 7's internal politics was for Sakura to beat up Naruto more and give Sasuke a good kick or two every so often while she's at it. It's realistic, I'll give it that.

 

[Sadguychet]

The forests in the Land of Waves were different from those in the Land of Fire. They were damper, darker almost, with low hanging banks of must that drove away the heat and hid all sorts of creatures in their clutches. Sakura's clothes stuck uncomfortably to her skin in a way they normally would after a harsh workout, and she had to keep herself from pulling the clinging cloth away knowing that it would accomplish nothing.

Her teammate didn't seem to notice the difference from the norm. Tsu seemed to be embracing the change in temperature, practically skipping through the mist alongside her faithful partner without a care. Tadao ran in and out of the fog, chasing after things only he could see or sense and making a spectacle of himself that unfortunately did little to distract Sakura from her discomfort.

At least she wasn't completely alone. The genin turned her eyes towards the other member of their little group. Ami's gait was unchanged, but her grimacing face and constant adjustment of the hair sticking to her forehead and neck were big indicators of how she was feeling. Clearly the humid climate agreed with her just as much as it did with Sakura.

As Iwabi and Kakashi deliberated on what to do now that Team 3 had arrived, the two squads had decided to make themselves scarce and scout out the area a bit. Tsunami had been worried about some of Gato's thugs lurking in the forest around their property so to put her at ease, the six genin had put themselves to the task of making sure the area was safe.

They split into two teams of three: Naruto, Sasuke, and Hikari on one team, and Sakura, Ami, and Tsu on the other. Ami was sick of her teammates' shenanigans and Hikari was magnanimous enough to take her place in the lineup, effectively mixing the teams.

Though it hadn't been thought of at the time, in hindsight, it turned out to be a pretty smart decision. With Hikari's Byakugan alongside Tsu and Tadao's noses, they'd be able to find anyone who was hiding around the forest without any issue. They hadn't found anyone yet but they weren't exactly being quiet, strolling through the forest without any of the subtlety usually inherent with their titles. If any of Gato's men were still around with all of the noise they were making then they'd find them eventually.

As they walked, Sakura cast another sidelong glance towards Ami and received a small smile of acknowledgement in return. Throughout the Academy, the two of them hadn't been anything close to friends, with Ami's constant bullying attempts and Sakura's general disdain for the girl driving away any possibility of friendship between them. She hadn't seen hide nor hair of the girl after they graduated and didn't really want to, knowing exactly how a conversation between the two of them would go.

Or at least she thought she did. Sakura had changed quite a bit since she had graduated and it seemed like she wasn't the only one. The memory of the girl pulling her aside after dinner was still fresh in her mind, alongside all of the confusing feelings that came alongside it.

Sakura had been preparing to join her team in scouting out the area around the bridge, just in case any of Gato's men decided to lay traps for the bridge builder and his unsuspecting crew, but Ami had stopped her before she could leave, resting a hand on her shoulder and giving her a hesitant look that seemed extremely out of place on the caustic girl's face.

"Hey, Sakura," She had said, her voice quiet so as not to be overheard by the others nearby, "can we talk?"

Sakura, of course, had been wary of having anything to do with Ami, remembering just how mean and otherwise just downright rude the girl had been to her just a few short months ago, but something in her eyes gave the pinkette pause and made her reconsider. Normally all that was present in those purple orbs was anger and childish annoyance, but all Sakura could see right then was sincerity and… regret?

Spurred by curiosity, Sakura nodded against her better judgement, "Alright. What is it?"

Ami's eyes lightened at Sakura's agreement. She let go of Sakura's shoulder and seemed to gather herself, averting her eyes to the floor as a frown crossed over her lips, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For how I treated you while we were at the Academy. I shouldn't have picked on you all the time."

Sakura blinked. She hadn't expected this, or anything close to it really. Ami's apology was sincere and her face was regretful. She really meant it, which was confusing for several reasons. One, because she could never see Ami having an apologetic bone in her entire body, especially when it came to her prepubescent bullying, and two, after she left the Academy, the girl's treatment of her literally hadn't crossed her mind a single time. It felt unimportant, like an annoying buzz in the background of her training or other things she was really focused on. Apparently not for Ami though, especially if the girl was so torn up about it she sought Sakura out to apologize at literally the first opportunity.

"Uh… apology accepted, I guess?" Sakura said, her face shifting unsurely as the other girl's eyes lit up, "Honestly you didn't make that much of an impact; so much has happened in the past few months that stuff that happened in the Academy feels like forever ago."

Ami looked past Sakura towards her team and a strange flash emotion crossed her face, "Yeah… I guess you're right. After you get out of the Academy, it's like everything that happened back then doesn't really matter at all, doesn't it? When you're worried about whether you're gonna drop dead from training or an enemy nin… pulling someone's hair and calling them names doesn't really even register anymore."

She shook her head, "Still, I wanted to apologize. I saw you and everything just came rushing back and… I was kind of a bitch, wasn't I?"

"As much as the rest of the girls our age." Sakura shrugged, "I didn't really pay attention to all of that; I was busy training."

"Yeah, I noticed that. I think that's why I went after you specifically. You just seemed to not care about anything and that pissed me off I guess."

"I cared about a lot of stuff, but the Academy wasn't really one of them." Sakura giggled and Ami smiled alongside her as she did, relieved that her apology had been accepted.

After that, things were different between the two of them. They weren't best friends or anything, but Sakura no longer had to worry about ribbing or ridicule that wasn't coming. A refreshing change of pace around the girl.

Back in the present, Sakura stopped in her tracks as Tsu came to a halt in front of her, raising her nose high into the air and inhaling deeply. Beside her, Tadao was doing the same as his master, catching a scent in the air that the rest of them couldn't even detect.

Ai looked at Sakura in confusion and the girl shook her head, her expression serious as she watched Tsu try and sniff out the disturbance. After a moment, the Inuzuka opened her eyes, pointing her nose just off to the side of the trail they were walking.

"Come out!" She called to the bushes, her voice a rough growl as her hand crept to her sword, "You can't hide from my nose."

There was a tense moment where nothing happened before the bushes around them rustled and several figures stepped into the light. Sakura stepped backwards, one hand coming to her hip where her puppet's scroll lay as six rough looking men made themselves known. They were wearing an assortment of tattered, scavenged armor and each of them were brandishing smirks as jagged as their disheveled weaponry.

"You've got pretty good eyes, kid. We were hidden pretty well." One of them, a balding man with devilish eyes, spoke. He had a tattered bandana around his head and his clothes looked cleaner than the rest, perhaps as some mark of status amongst the rest of the unwashed mercenaries.

"You can't hide from my nose. Your smell is stinking up the entire forest." Tsu retorted. Her hand dropped back down to her side as she saw the clearly civilian men, "Why are you skulking around here in the empty forest? Did Gato send you?"

The man looked around at his companions, shrugging his shoulders. Every movement was filled with smug confidence. He didn't think they were a threat.

"No, of course not. Me and my boys were just out hunting. It's been a tough world to live in recently, you know? Markets are dry, prices are high; you gotta make ends meet somehow, am I right?"

His smarmy grin did nothing to endear any of the genin to him. Tsu sneered, "If you're going to hunt, do it somewhere else. There's miles of country around to fuck off to that wouldn't get you on our shit-list. Go there."

The man frowned at Tsu's confidence, glancing back at the men around him and then back to her, suddenly unsure, "Look kid, I don't think you know what you're up against here. You're one of them ninjas, ain't you? Mercenaries like us?"

"No, we're nothing like you. We work to protect people, not just for money."

The man chuckled, "Kid, one day you'll figure out that there ain't much difference. We're all trying to live out here, but most of us don't have that fancy chakra you folk in the village are born with. We gotta make due with numbers."

He looked around at his men to back him up and received cheers and sinister smiles all around. Sakura looked at the group, taking in their number and the weapons among them, before a shadow in the treeline caught her eye.

She strayed a bit closer to Ami as Tsu threatened the leading bandit, leaning in close to the girl, "There's an archer in the tree. Two o'clock."

Ami's eyes followed her direction, locking onto the man she had seen after just a moment. He was well camouflaged for a civilian, but they had been trained to spot such a thing and he wasn't doing a thing to hide the glint of the blade on his hip or the arrows in his threadbare quiver.

"When things kick off, I need you to take care of him." Sakura said, keeping her voice low. In front of her, there was a subtle flare of chakra and Tsu's nails lengthened as she activated her clan's signature technique, a sign that she was preparing for things to come.

Ami's head twitched in her direction but the girl didn't turn to look at her, "Me? Why can't you do it?"

"I'm gonna take care of their weapons. They aren't much of a threat, but it's better not to take any chances just in case." Sakura tensed as the lead bandit shouted angrily in response to something Tsu said, "Get ready. Here they come."

The bandit leader raised a hand and a sharp whistle came from his pursed lips. There was a twang and a burst of movement from the treeline behind him as the archer fired on signal, and that's when everyone burst into action.

Ami's kunai met the arrow in mid-air, knocking off course and sending it careening out of the sky. As Tsu rushed forward alongside Tadao, Sakura jumped into the air and sent her threads forth towards the group. The glowing bands of chakra flew through the air, latching onto the bandits' weapons and holding fast as Sakura yanked her arms backwards, pulling the weapons from their grips with the barest effort.

Suddenly finding themselves without their swords, the men had no defence against Tsu and Tadao's claws as the Inuzuka and her partner tore their way through their ranks. Bloody shreds of clothing fell to the forest floor alongside the morning dew as screams of pain shook the trees above them. Tsu held nothing back, tearing through flesh and muscle alike with her nails. She and Tadao made quick work of the entire group, so quick in fact that by the time Ami had dealt with the archer with another well-placed kunai, the rest of the bandits were dead or dying on the forest floor.

As the archer fell out of the tree to join his comrades, Tsu used a dead bandits' clothes to wipe the blood off of her hands, "That was quick and easy. Ugh, but I hate when their skin gets under my nails. It takes forever to pick it all out."

"You wouldn't have to if you just used your sword or a kunai." Sakura chastised, pulling a senbon from her pouch as she made her way over to the fallen bandits. Tsu tore most of their throats out but a few of them were still clinging to life, suffering needlessly as they tried to crawl away.

The Inuzuka shook her head as Sakura stuck her poison senbon into the first bandit's neck, "That'd be such a waste of energy. There were only like eight of them."

"Six." Sakura corrected, kicking a bandit's hand as he tried to grab her ankle to stop her from sticking him, "Well, seven. There was an archer in the tree. Ami got him while I took care of the weapons."

Tsu looked up from her nails in slight surprise, "Really?" Sakura nodded and she turned a grin Ami's way, "I thought you got that one, Sakura. Good shit, Ami."

"T-thanks." Ami stuttered, staring at the gruesome sight before her, as it suddenly occurred to Sakura that this might be the first time the girl had ever seen someone die. At the very least, it was definitely her first kill.

Tadao trotted up to his master, chewing happily on something wet and fleshy, and Sakura watched as Ami's pale face became even more pallid and the girl turned away, holding a hand to her mouth in an effort to keep her lunch down. Yeah, it was definitely her first time.

Sakura abandoned her task of granting a swift end to the remaining bandits, leaving them to bleed out naturally as she walked over and put a hand on Ami's shoulder, leading her away from the dead bandits, "Give us a minute, Tsu. Can you send a clone back to the house to tell sensei what happened?"

"Sure thing, Sakura." Tsu's voice was understanding as she watched the pinkette lead the other girl away, "I'll clean up over here. Take as long as you need."

"Thanks." Sakura pulled Ami with her, putting a couple dozen yards worth of forest between them and the blood and gore.

They stopped in a clearing a little ways away, the smell of iron wafted away on a breeze smelling of morning dew and hydrangeas growing through the bushes and grass around them.

Ami's hands shook as she stared off into space, barely breathing as she reconciled with the fact that she had taken her first life. Sakura wished she could commiserate with the girl in her trauma, but she knew she was a special case when it came to her peers. She wasn't spurred on by tales of rescuing princesses or being the hero who defeated the bad guy and saved the day. Lady Chiyo made sure she knew exactly what she was getting into when she took her on as her disciple.

But Ami didn't have that luxury. And so Sakura waited. She waited until the girl's hands stopped shaking and her breathing returned to normal, and only when Ami's eyes moved downwards to watch a beetle climb onto the thick leaf of a weed, did Sakura finally break the silence.

"Are you okay?" She asked, her voice soft and understanding. Ami didn't answer at first but after a moment, she nodded her head, purple strands brushing pale skin with the movement.

"Yeah. I'm okay. I'm just…" She swallowed, "Yeah."

Sakura patted her on the shoulder, "You were going to have to do it eventually. At least this way you can deal with it on your own time instead of having to compartmentalize it in the heat of the moment. Ninja therapists are a different kind of expensive."

Sakura's joke fell flat as Ami laughed humorlessly, her lips making an attempt to rise into a smile but ultimately falling down into a line as the girl's flat laughter petered off. There was another long moment of silence before she looked at Sakura.

"How'd you deal with it?" She asked quietly, "You've already had your first kill, right? Did you regret it?"

"No." Sakura said honestly, "The people I killed were preying on people like my parents. Merchants just trying to make a living. I did a good thing ridding the world of people like them, just like you did a good thing helping us kill those bandits or mercenaries or whatever they were. If they were willing to work for someone like Gato, especially after seeing what he did to this country, then they weren't good people, end of story."

Ami seemed a bit shocked at Sakura's rationale. Salura guessed that she was having trouble imagining that the girl she bullied in the Academy had taken so well to the more gruesome aspects of their profession.

The pinkette stepped forward, replacing her hand on the girl's shoulder, "Look, I came to terms with all this a long time ago. My sensei beat it into my head when I first started training, but Iruka-sensei didn't really focus on what being a ninja really meant. You should talk with your sensei when you get the chance and definitely see someone when we get back to Konoha. I'm not exactly a licensed therapist."

Ami gave her a crooked smirk, showing a bit of her usual fire as she regarded her friend, "You're really not. But thanks anyway. I'm not sure why but… this helped. I feel a lot better now."

"Talking always helps, even if what you're talking about isn't really–uh, helpful." Sakura giggled as she glanced back the way they came. She mentally checked the time, calculating how long they had been away, "Tsu's probably still cleaning up back there so if you want, you can go back to the house. Without my scrolls, she'll have to do it the old fashion way and I doubt you want to see that."

To her surprise, Ami shook her head, "No, it's fine. I'm gonna have to do it eventually, right? Might as well knock out two firsts while I'm out here."

She grinned, her eyes lighting up as she thought of something, "Naruto and Sasuke-kun are going to be surprised when they learn I'm the one to get her first kill. I'm gonna rub it in their faces so hard when we get back–"

Ami's speech cut off with an abrupt jerk and the sound of something soft being struck through. As Sakura watched, the girl's eyes drooped before rolling into the back of her head. Her limbs went slack and her knees buckled before she suddenly pitched forward, falling towards the ground as she lost consciousness.

Sakura was underneath her before she could hit the ground, wrapping her arms around d the girl automatically, "Ami!? What happened!?"

As she turned the girl's head, her eyes caught on the two, gleaming lengths of metal hitting from the side of her friend's neck. Her eyes widened, her mind whirling behind her eyes as she stared in shock at the cause of her friend's apparent death.

No, not dead. Sakura realized instantly, years worth of training and preparation to properly utilize her chosen art revealing the truth of the situation. She studied the art of senbon when she was a child and knew about what a carefully applied one could do to the human body. There were all sorts of pressure points that could only be hit with the thinnest needle, ones that could induce strokes, aneurysms, and even temporarily stop your heart if you were careful or skilled enough. Ami wasn't dead, at least not truly, but she was close enough to it that the point would be moot unless Sakura could get her some help.

Unfortunately, she had more pressing matters. Sakura's eyes caught a flicker of movement behind Ami's head, a glint in the canopy of fresh leaves that wasn't just shifting dew. Her arms wrapped around Ami's waist as she launched them both away, narrowly avoiding the six, expertly thrown senbon that slammed into the ground in their wake.

Sakura threw Ami behind her as she landed, silently apologizing to the girl as she shielded her with her own body, interposing herself between the girl and their mysterious assailant. A glance in the direction the senbon had come from revealed nothing and sharp emerald eyes scanned the forest around them, catching on every errant leaf and broken branch as Sakura searched for them in the trees surrounding her.

A flash of white made Sakura's eye twitch. Her hand blurred as she sent a handful of shuriken spinning through the air towards the only thing that didn't fit in her picturesque surroundings. Sparks and molten metal shavings reflected off the morning mist as her shurikens were intercepted by several senbon. The hardened needles sent the metal stars spinning sporadically into the forest around her, but Sakura had her target now. They had revealed themselves in their counterattack.

Sakura sent more shuriken towards them while her other hand started towards Teashi's scroll to combat this new threat. She would show this enemy in that they had made a mistake hurting her friend!

Unfortunately, just before Sakura could retrieve her creation, the enemy acted first. Pain, white-hot and all-consuming, flared from the tips of her fingers to the curve of her shoulder as several senbon shot from the foliage faster than she could even see and pierced her cleanly and thoroughly, sinking into the meat of her arm and even the bone itself. One of them even slotted neatly in her wrist, sliding directly in the joint made by the bones of her hand and forearm, pushing them apart in the process.

The precision was almost surgical, even from such a great distance, and Sakura's fingers twitched as she clutched her forearm in heart-stopping pain. The nerves in her wrist had been severed, at least most of the important ones, and the act of even trying to move her thumb proved to be an agonizingly futile action.

Somewhere in the back of Sakura's mind, a deep seed of horror was laid. Her hand, one of the most important tools in a puppet user's arsenal, was basically ruined. She had maybe an hour or two before the severed nerves in her fingers died completely, and after that even medical ninjutsu wouldn't be able to save them. Unless she managed to find Hikari or someone else with healing capabilities, she would be crippled forever, forced to use only a single hand instead of the two she had known her whole life.

It was a fate worse than death for someone like her, so reliant on her hands that they may as well have been a vital organ.

A figure burst from the foliage, landing in a tree just across from Sakura as the pinkette took in deep, heaving breaths.She was wearing a green haori over a pinstripe outfit with baggy pants. A white mask emblazoned with red stripes and a Kirigakure symbol etched into the forehead was worn proudly on her face, slitted eyes staring at Sakura as she kneeled in the canopy of the tree.

Sakura bared her teeth, trying to look intimidating despite the tears rolling down her face. The figure was unimpressed.

"Please do not struggle." The masked nin said in a cool voice, brandishing three glistening senbon between her knuckles, "The end outcome is inevitable either way. You are coming with me."

---

Get chapters to this fic early at Sadguychet | Patreon! Chapter 36 has just been posted!