Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ After the Dream ❯ Bless the Broken Road II ( Chapter 30 )

Agent's Spiel: Here's the second part of Chapter 29.

 

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.

Bless the Broken Road (pt. 2)

“So what does Itachi want?” Sakura asked. Kakashi had left that morning and all four of them had been kept occupied for the entire day. They had finally gotten back to their rooms - the door to the common area had thankfully been fixed while they were out - and were lounging about in various states of exhaustion.

“Oh yeah, the scroll,” Sasuke muttered, getting up to retrieve it from his room.

“You mean you didn't even read it last night. What if we were supposed to send an answer back with Kakashi-sensei?” Naruto called after him.

“We were a bit distracted last night,” Sakura intoned, giving Naruto a pointed look.

“So what does he say?” Naruto asked Sasuke as he walked back into the common room. Sakura turned towards Sasuke with a scowl, knowing that Naruto was purposely ignoring her unvoiced question.

“Shit,” Sasuke muttered, reading through the scroll. “He's gonna be at Rin's in about a month with his team. He knows one or two of us will be there, so whoever's going needs to be ready to show Rishito the finished jutsu.”

“A month? How are you guys supposed to finish it in a month with all your other training sessions?” Takara asked, speaking for the first time that day.

“Oh it gets better; he has another project he wants us to start working on. He wants to give his team a slight advantage in the Chuunin exam. We need to find a way to seal a bunch of jutsu like Rin taught us so that the three of them will be able to use them without straining their chakra reserves,” Sasuke added.

“Do we have to have that ready by the beginning of the Chuunin Exams or the final round?” Sakura asked.

“It doesn't say, but probably for the beginning,” he answered.

“What are we supposed to seal them into, scrolls?” Naruto asked.

“It doesn't say; he just says to be creative. This is all a sick joke to him,” Sasuke growled.

“Well then you should do what he says, be creative. If you really want to give them an advantage, make it something people wouldn't expect, that way opponents will be less likely to take it if they're in a bind,” Takara told them.

“Like what?” Naruto asked.

“I don't know, but Reiko wraps those chains she uses in red chords. They end up looking like accessories. No one would realize what they really are unless they picked them up and felt the weight or actually saw her use them in a fight. If you can hide these seals or whatever in something normal or nondescript then their opponents won't think of it as a weapon. That way they can pull it out even if they appear unarmed,” Takara told him.

“We'll have to give it some thought then. I've known all three of them, still know Rishito, but we'll have to figure out what will seem normal for them,” Sakura said.

“Can I help?” Takara asked eagerly. “I know I can't do much to help you guys with all the jutsu stuff, but I can look for something that will be nondescript on a couple of eleven year olds,” she added.

“It'll free up our time,” Naruto assented, shrugging in his cousin's direction.

“We all learned how to do the seals, so the real problem will be the amount of chakra we'll have to put into this so that they don't have to rely on their own to fuel the jutsu,” Sasuke told them.

“We'll have to split it up. Did he give us a list of jutsu he wants them to have?” Sakura asked.

“He listed seven that he wants each of them to have. He also says to pick three more for each; he'll pay us if we pick well,” Sasuke said, glaring at the scroll his brother had sent; Takara's laughter didn't make it any better.

“Yeah, but when we do that we can't choose any of the ones that could be identified as our own. Those ones Sakura made a few years back were an exception,” Naruto said.

“Maybe we should divide up the ones he gave us. If you two take the more chakra consuming ones you'll be able to put more into each of them than I would and it wouldn't really be fair to give them a weakened jutsu. Once we have those seven done we can try to figure out what other ones we can give them,” Sakura added, moving the topic away from the `mistakes' she had made; she blamed Sasuke for bringing them up after he had run into Ayame in Konoha.

“This next month is gonna be hell,” Naruto muttered, imagining all the painful classes he would have to sit through on top of the tiring training sessions with Reiko.

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“Be gentle,” Suzu cautioned as Sakura slowly repositioned the broken bone of the child sitting in front of her. “Good, I'll check the cast when you're done,” she said, nodding and walking away to check on her next patient.

Sakura smiled kindly at the boy in front of her as he held onto his teacher's hand. She would have liked to use chakra to mend the bone, but Suzu warned that not all civilians reacted well to chakra healing so it was safer to do the things the normal way - and by normal she of course meant non-shinobi. “Just about done,” Sakura told him, gaining a brave nod as the boy tried to ignore the tears that occasionally spilled out of his eyes.

“Eh, what happened here?” Naruto asked, skidding up to her.

“Scram Kyokki; I'm busy,” Sakura muttered, turning back to the child and ignoring his teacher's amused look.

“Bah, as much as I love ya Hana-chan, I'm here to see Raiko,” Naruto informed her, pointing at the boy. “Ookami wanted to come too, but I didn't think it would be smart to bring a dog into a hospital wing,” he said, turning to the younger boy.

The six year old laughed as Naruto continued to talk; his mind completely ignorant as Sakura continued to set his arm in the cast. So much so that he was completely shocked when Naruto looked over at Sakura and then turned back to grin at him saying, “Hey look, she's done!”

Raiko turned to Sakura in surprise, but she nodded and pointed down at the set cast. “Make sure to pester everyone on the grounds into signing this, alright. And I do mean pester, Reiko could use some good pestering,” Sakura encouraged, gaining an exasperated sigh from the boy's teacher.

“And say hi to your little sister for us,” Naruto added.

“You kids are horrible influences,” she muttered, trying to hide the smile that was threatening to break out on her face.

“Of course they are.” Sakura heard a woman intone as large thump indicated something being dropped onto the floor.

“Rin!” Naruto practically squealed, launching himself at the woman.

“It's only been like three months,” Rin told him, gently pushing him out to arms length. “Wait a minute…you were shorter than me three months ago,” Rin stated, looking at Naruto with a slight scowl on her face.

He grinned back at her and slowly raised a hand to his head and drawing over towards her. His hand left a gap of several centimeters. “Wait until you see Eiki,” Naruto told her.

Rin leaned around Naruto's suddenly obtrusive form to get a good look at Sakura. “You're still shorter than me, right?” she asked.

“Not sure, I've been wearing heels the whole time I've been here so I don't know how tall I am anymore,” Sakura told her, leaning down to help Raiko off the bed.

“I'm going to assume that's your way of nicely telling me I'm shorter than you now,” Rin stated, walking over to her. She glanced down at the shoes Sakura was wearing and quickly compared them to her own, cursing when she realized that even though they appeared to be the same height her own shoes were giving her a slight advantage.

“Chiyu-san, please!” the young teacher muttered, covering her charges ears against Rin's language.

Rin grinned at her apologetically and shouted to Suzu, “I'm taking Kyokki and Hana with me for the day.”

Suzu poked her head out of her office and waved, grinning at Rin. “I'll stop by and see all of you tonight. When do you leave again?”

“Probably not for two or three days,” Rin told her, leading Naruto and Sakura away.

“Where's Nakera,” Sakura asked as Rin bent over to grab her bag.

“I ran into Takara when I got here. She was heading back towards your rooms, so she offered to take her back with her while I went to speak with the Daimyo,” Rin told them.

“So what were you doing back in Yasumido?”

“Yasumido is under the control of one of the lesser nobles in Fire Country. He's currently suspected of working with Orochimaru and a few of the nobles from around Sound. I was just making sure they hadn't encroached too much of the Daimyo's power,” Rin told them.

“How bad is it?” Naruto asked.

“Not as bad as it could be. There's definitely illegal trade going on with Otogakure and Rice Field Country, but aside from that they aren't doing much else. That might not last much longer, but at least for now interference isn't necessary,” Rin told them.

They reached the foursome's room and opened the door allowing the delighted giggles from inside to float out. As the three walked in, Sasuke and Nakera paused in their game to turn identical looks of innocence towards them. “Yo,” Sasuke said, leaning back slightly.

Takara snickered from the door to her own room as he attempted to regain some of his dignity. “You know Sasuke it is okay to admit that just like everyone else you find Nakera undeniably adorable,” Rin told him, as Naruto shut the door.

Sasuke scowled and rolled his eyes as Naruto and Takara broke down laughing. “How have your studies been going?” Rin asked, taking pity on him and changing the subject.

“Fine,” all four answered simultaneously.

“That's it?”

“We've been kept really busy the whole time, but it's been fun,” Takara told her sitting down next to Sakura on the couch. Naruto sat down near Nakera and began tickling the little girl, attempting it seemed to see just what Sasuke had been doing earlier.

“The Daimyo wants me to spar against each of you to see how good you've gotten. He'll probably come watch since he hasn't had the chance to see much of your training,” she told them.

“That doesn't include me, right?” Takara asked.

Rin smirked at her before turning to Naruto as if she hadn't heard the question. “So were you just up at the hospital earlier to annoy Sakura?” she asked.

“She didn't mean me too, right?” Takara asked, turning to Sakura.

“Sasuke and I were outside when Raiko got hurt. We had to take his friends home so his nurse or whatever could bring him up to Suzu and Sakura. I went up to check on him when we were done, but Sasuke was too lazy to come with me,” Naruto added, sticking his tongue out at Sasuke.

Sasuke rolled his eyes and sat back against the chair behind him. “How long are you guys gonna be back in Kumoma?” he asked.

“We leave in about two days, but we won't be meeting with whoever's coming out of Konoha until the end of the week. They'll probably be back in two weeks or so,” Rin answered.

“You're not coming back with them?” Naruto asked, pouting falsely.

“I'm going down to Anraku for a bit. I'll be back here in about a month and a half, so that we can talk to the Daimyo before the Chuunin Exams,” Rin told him.

“They'll be gone for two weeks?” Sasuke repeated.

“Yeah,” Rin answered again.

“Wait, that means Sakura'll be gone on her birthday,” Naruto whined. Sakura's eyes widened when she realized they were right; she hadn't even begun to think about her birthday.

“Don't worry, you can use the time we're gone to plan her party,” Rin told him smiling.

Sakura was about to object and say she didn't need a party, but a knock at the door stopped her. “Come in,” Takara invited, not bothering to get up off the couch.

Lian entered with a grin on his face. “If you're all not too busy, Lord Shijimi doesn't have any appointments for the next two hours and he'd like to see how much they've improved,” he told them.

Naruto and Sasuke grinned fiercely, turning to Rin for an answer. “Sure, why not?” she said, shrugging as she stood up. She leaned down to pick Nakera up and asked, “Where are we doing this?”

“You can use the main dojo,” Lian responded.

“Fine with me,” Rin said, turning to follow Naruto and Sasuke's eager forms as they were already heading towards the dojo.

“I'll just come to keep an eye on Nakera,” Takara muttered, trying to hide her excitement. She may not have wanted to fight Rin personally, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to enjoy watching the others get their asses kicked.

Sakura trailed out after the rest shaking her head at their enthusiasm. Normally by this time of day Naruto and Sasuke were too tired to do anything but complain about being in pain and normally she was too tired to listen to them so one of them ended up injured.

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They reached the dojo and Sakura walked in; still lost in her own thoughts, she didn't see Takara stop dead in her tracks and ran straight into the other girl's back. “I think you're gonna have an audience,” Takara muttered, turning to smirk at Sakura.

“No meeting for two hours, huh?” Rin said, turning from Lian to the Daimyo and his guests.

“Isamu-dono and his son would like to witness the boys' improvement. He would like to see how the new training methods the guards are implementing have worked out,” the Daimyo explained.

Rin frowned slightly and turned to Naruto and Sasuke. “Kyokki, Eiki you're up first then. I'll take both of you at the same time,” she told them.

“Rin, maybe you should just do one at a time,” Lian suggested, looking at the twin grins Naruto and Sasuke had spouted.

“Neh, we'll have more fun this way,” Rin assured him, returning the boys' grin.

Sakura fought the urge to shudder and slowly moved back, dragging Takara and the baby with her as she did. “This could get ugly,” she whispered.

“Why? I thought they all got along,” Takara said in confusion.

“They get along just fine, like siblings actually. But most siblings I grew up watching liked to occasionally kick each others asses and Rin isn't about to let those two think they can beat her,” Sakura explained.

“But can't they beat her if they work together? I mean Itachi said-”

Takara was cut off when she saw a grin spread onto Sakura's face. She was beginning to think that shinobi had mental problems. “They can beat her if they work together, but that doesn't mean she'll let them win,” Sakura explained.

Takara didn't think it was much of an explanation, but she shrugged it off and turned back to the floor of the dojo that had been vacated by the Daimyo, Isamu, and Lian to make room for the staring match that was taking place between Rin, Sasuke, and Naruto.

“For now I'll cut out ninjutsu,” Rin told the boys moments before Naruto lunged forward, flipping over Rin and landing behind her.

She managed to jump over the staff that was suddenly swiped at her feet. “Where'd you pull that from, your ass?” she quipped back, quickly bending over backwards to avoid the strike from Sasuke's sheathed katana. Her grin quickly faded away as she began to focus more on the fight. Naruto and Sasuke teamed up were enough to counter most of the more powerful shinobi they had faced. Even when they were only twelve they had been able to read each other well enough that they had forced Zabuza's hand; now that they were older and more focused, fighting them would not be easy.

Naruto broke through her guard and almost landed a solid punch to her stomach. Rin moved to block him and opened up another hole for Sasuke to attack, allowing the boys to land the first hit of the match. She flipped away from them and withdrew two kunai. Sasuke's eyes shown with excitement and he unsheathed his sword to counter them.

“Those aren't normal for a shinobi to use, are they?” Isamu asked, turning to the Daimyo.

“Rin is no longer an active shinobi; she rarely still uses the same tools as she did when she worked for Konoha,” the daimyo answered.

“Her sensei taught her to use those. They're better for combat against non-shinobi especially against someone like Eiki. The two smaller blades on the side help block his sword. Using a typical kunai, she would have to use two just to properly catch the blade. This way she can catch the blade with one and still have the other kunai open to attack with,” Lian continued.

“What exactly is the training regiment like for these boys? Some of their skills are similar to the other guards I've seen training, but their style is different,” Isamu stated.

“Kyokki and Eiki trained with Rin for a bit before they began attending classes here and training with Lian and Reiko. Some of their basic is style is closer to that of shinobi because of that,” the Daimyo explained. “Most of what they are learning here is focused on weapons; they won't be joining the guard, at least not permanently, so it isn't necessary for them to be disciplined as much as our guards are.”

“Then what was the purpose of training them at all?” Isamu asked.

“The Nami family requested that all four of the Nami children attending classes here receive some training in this area. It will bolster the law enforcement in that area so that they don't have to rely as heavily on Shinobi or on extra aid from the Daimyo's troops,” Lian explained. “These four were prime candidates, partially because three of them had already trained a bit with Rin.”

“Well damn,” Takara muttered, catching their attention and focusing it back on Rin, Naruto, and Sasuke. Rin was holding a kunai poised over the jugular vein of each boy; however, she wasn't in much of a better position: Naruto's staff was gravitating towards her knees, ready to sweep them out from under her and Sasuke's sword had been forced from his hand and was lying several feet away on the floor allowing him to use both arms ready to block her kunai.

“Awesome,” Sakura stated, watching the three as they tried to decide whether or not they could conceivably win the match without getting themselves killed.

“I think that's enough for now; it was certainly an impressive fight to see,” the daimyo said, applauding them. They relaxed and Naruto and Rin lowered their weapons while Sasuke moved to retrieve his sword.

The Daimyo nodded once to them before walking off as he turned to converse with Isamu. “I'll wait to test Sakura and Takara until we're in Kumoma,” Rin stated when she was sure Lian was the only other person in the room with her and the teens.

Takara nodded happily in anticipation of watching Rin and Sakura spar…before she realized that Rin had included her in the equation as well. “Wait…I thought I didn't have to face you. Why do I have to spar against you?” she despaired.

Rin simply grinned at her as they turned to leave the dojo. “So what have you four been up to with Itachi? We figure you're scheming something considering the amount of correspondence that Kakashi's noticed,” she told them.

“It's nothing; he's just keeping us posted on everything going on in Konoha,” Sakura replied; after all, Rin had been the one to teach them that the best excuses were half truths anyways. Like explaining to a teacher that you would be missing class because of a death in the family - there was no need to explain that it was the hamster that died.

“Right…and I'm gonna return to Konoha as Tsunade's right hand,” Rin replied. When she left two days later her question still hadn't been answered, but her spirits were high enough that she really didn't care…as long as it didn't eventually cause trouble, which she of course knew it inevitably would…but she would ignore that for as long as possible. Besides without Naruto and Sasuke in Kumoma with them, Sakura and Takara were much more likely to give in and tell her everything.