Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Forgotten Ties ❯ Where It All Begins Again ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: RedAngel
Time has passed and everyone is craving new moments of their lives. But time has stopped for Sakura, who was dead four years ago. But one day, she returned. And with her, she brings forgotten ties. Forgotten ties that… kill. And a legacy that will leave everyone devastated – The Kyuubi.
Fic is set eight years after Sasuke left Konoha at the age of twelve, which means that the Naruto crew is twenty now and which means Sakura died at the age of sixteen.
Pairings: NaruSakuSasu and many many more that I can't decide now. Final pairings will be settled as story progresses.

Note: Thoughts from characters are in brackets & italics.

Anime/Manga: Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance / Adventure | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 07.03.2005 | Updated On: 07.04.2005 | Pages: 6 | Words: 11.4K | Visits: 829 | Status: Completed

Chapter 1: Where It All Started Again
The wind is blowing.
The eminent woman whom everyone in the Hidden Village of the Leaf addressed as the Fifth Hokage stood at the Hokage platform, overlooking the whole village.
Strands of her blonde hair got into her way and she carelessly brushed it aside, lifting her gaze up the sky, letting the soft breeze caress her tired face.
(How many years has it been…? Five? Six..?)
At the corners, stood Shizune, checking on her Tsunade-sama.
She would always find her standing there at the exact spot around the same time everyday. Years have passed, yet Shizune knew the incident still bugged Tsunade. After all, Sa…
"Tsunade-obachan!"
Tsunade squinched her brows as she instantly recognized the owner of this over-spirited voice. She gazed across the crowd and fixed her brown eyes where a blonde boy with a silly grin smugly stood, waving at her. As expected, it was the Number One loud ninja of Konoha - Uzumaki Naruto.
"I saw SaAAHH!" Naruto received a deliberate push from someone behind him before he managed to finish what he enthusiastically wanted to announce, in which he landed hard on the ground.
"Ero Sennin! What was the push for!" spat Naruto, as he jumped up with accusing fingers pointing at Jiraya.
"Accident! Accident! It was an accident, Naruto!" said Jiraya cheerfully, before reminding Naruto the one thing he hated him calling, "And stop calling me ERO SENNIN!"
Naruto retorted something and soon the two could be seen arguing in the middle of the streets, drawing stares from everyone around them.
Tsunade, who witnessed the whole scene, cocked an eyebrow. Although she felt utterly exasperated with the two idiots, she couldn't help but noticed Naruto has grown up be quite a fine young man. He was as tall as Jiraya and his blue eyes sparkled charmingly as he moved around yapping with those excessive hand gestures. His features were sharpened now, though he still possessed his twelve years old boyishness in him. His golden locks have reached his neck and he tucked them under his forehead protector, which he fashioned it into a bandana.
(Eight years. It's been eight years since I became the Hokage of Konoha. )
"Looks like our peaceful days are over again." Shizune remarked with a smile, appearing alongside Tsunade with TonTon in her arms, who gave a snort in reply.
The argument got to the point where Naruto suddenly recalled about his interrupted announcement a while ago. He whirled around and was glad that Tsunade was still looking at them.
"Tsunade-obachan! SaHHMM!"
This time, Jiraya gagged him with his arm. But Naruto was quick to dive his teeth right into his arm, causing the saninin to yelp the pain out loud. Riled, Jiraya shoved Naruto near, whispering hot on his ears, "Some things are meant to be said in private, baka!"
“…” Naruto blinked his eyes "Like what?"
FELL(-_-lll)
(It's been a few years since he came under me! Why didn't he pick up any of my wits?)
"LIKE WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO ANNOUNCE, YOU BAKA!" shouted Jiraya at the top of his lungs.
Naruto scratched his head in puzzlement. "What I'm going to announce…” Then ding! “Oh that… right…" He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly as he flashed his trademark grin. “I guess my excitement got into me. I'm just overjoyed that Sa-"
"Hmm!" Jiraya coughed, in which Naruto knew better and shut his gap.
Out of the corners of his eyes, Jiraya saw Tsunade walking away from the platform. As if on cue, Jiraya started for the Hokage's office. "Let's go."
-+-+-+-+-
The wind is blowing.
The girl whom everyone in this fortress addressed as Sakuya stood at the balcony of her bedroom, overlooking the vast greenery in front of her.
Strands of her cherry hair got into her way and she carelessly brushed it aside, lifting her gaze up to meet the soft breeze that whoosh by at that moment.
"A penny for your thoughts?"
Sakuya knew who it was before she felt the slender arm wrapping her around the neck.
Sakuya tensed, feeling a blush creeping up to her cheeks. "Yuya…"
Yuya rested her head on Sakuya's shoulder as she hummed a randomly soft tune. Her lips then trailed across Sakuya's neck, taking in the faint rose scent that lingered around her neck. Sakuya stood still, undecided the reaction she should produced.
"The cool guy said you were troubled." Yuya said in her usual light voice.
Sakuya suddenly found herself staring at a pair of violet eyes, not knowing what to say.
Yuya has been her kin for four years, yet most of the time, she found it hard to reveal her innermost thoughts to her.
In contrast to herself, Yuya has silvery long hair that reached passed her shoulders. But she braided it into an overlapping ponytail. She had a red crescent mark on her porcelain forehead, which was as wide as hers. Yuya's eyes were actually green, as she was told. But her advanced bloodline limit has turned it violet ever since.
Yes. Yuya came from an advanced bloodline clan. She was cheerful all the time, smiling all the time, yet Sakuya found it scary to be alone with her despite her friendliness. Sakuya mentally chided herself for thinking that way. Because if not for Yuya, she might have died in the blistering cold that night. In other words, Yuya was her saviour. She had given her everything. Power… Strength and a sense of worthiness. She was also her sensei. Teaching her everything she should knew. From taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu to healing, Sakuya was now an all-rounder expert, with her genjutsu excelling among her other skills.
But still, Sakuya couldn't help but harbored negative thoughts about her. She felt all that she has now was not what she wanted. There was something more… something more she felt missing and more important…
"Well?" Yuya murmured huskily, snapping Sakuya out of her stupor as she stroked her blushed cheeks with her slender fingers, her violet eyes seemingly savoring her.
After a quick mental debate, Sakuya decided not to disclose her encounter with the blonde boy she met while on her way back after her mission. She needed to figure out the strong confusing emotions she felt for the boy first. But first thing first, Yuya was not someone whom you can brush off with mere easy words. She has to think up a clever excuse quick to cover up for her distracted behavior.
She pried Yuya's hands away from her and ran her hands through her rather tousled cherry locks. The confusing emotions bugged her more than she expected it to.
"I'm just exhausted. We didn't expect to encounter so many opponents on our way back and I guess I was reckless to use up too much chakra than I was supposed to."
Sakuya then looked away in a daze. (Not clever enough.)
Yuya kept his intent stare on Sakuya. (Liar.)
-Flashback-
"I see you're back." Said Yuya smoothly, sliding into her fuzzy white couch with her usual sadistic smile.
"Ah." Came a cold reply.
"So how's the mission?" asked Yuya, changing into a slight tensing tone as she already knew the answer.
"Accomplished." came a terse one-word answer again.
"Good." Yuya broadened her smile into a soft chuckle. She stood up and in a slick saunter, approached the man with crimson eyes and took a tattered scroll from his outstretched hand. She then embraced him, drawing his face close to hers. The cool Uchiha averted his gaze on Yuya, but his eyes were devoid of emotions.
"I know I can always trust you…How was her performance?" Yuya started to whirl her fingers on the muscular chest she's resting on.
"She met Naruto." Uchiha Itachi got straight to the point as he thought that Yuya should already know the heights her apprentice has reached.
The whirling of the fingers stopped and Itachi felt her stiffened. Then a sardonic laugh was heard. She languidly broke herself free from Itachi and turned herself around, hiding her face from Itachi's view.
"And?"
The tone was different now. It was stingingly caustic, totally different from her usual teasing tone of voice. Itachi was sort of used to her drastic change in temperament after all these years. She was a weirdo in her own ways, in Itachi's opinion. Not that he cared anyway, for the Akatsuki were never normal.
"They fought but both of them held back."
"They fought…?" Yuya turned her face slightly to her sides, posing the question more like a comment than a question.
"Interesting." A curve was formed at the corners of her lips. "It's about time anyway."
-End of Flashback-
"That's too bad as I have another mission for you." said Yuya, recovering her usual grin.
"Huh?" Sakuya was annoyed yet surprised. And she made no effort to conceal it. It's unlike Yuya to rush missions one after another like one two three.
Yuya emited a soft chuckle. "I'm so sorry but I'm running out of cash to sustain my lavish expenditures."
"Isn't anyone free right now?" Sakuya whined, resting her gloved hands on her hips. How she wished she could scream now, for the face of the blonde boy flashing across her mind repeatedly was just so…
"There is. But I only trust you to do it." Yuya replied as a matter of fact. "After all, you're my family. Who else but you can have my complete trust?"
Sakuya signed. "Shoot."
Yuya straightened herself and stared into the pair of green eyes now looking seriously at her.
"Remember this pet I had?"
-+-+-+-+-
"Impossible!" exclaimed Shizune. Her voice echoed down the halls of the Hokage's office and Naruto and Jiraya quivered at the firm tone of her voice. They both turned to Tsunade for help who was sitting casually behind her desk resting her head on one of her hands.
"It couldn't be her!" continued Shizune, throwing her hands up into the air.
"Quiet down, Shizune! You're making me deaf." Stated Tsunade nonchalantly, rubbing her ears.
"You already knew about this?" asked Jiraya, eyeing Tsunade suspiciously across the desk while Shizune displayed a look of surprise.
"Sort of." Replied Tsunade in a bored voice.
Naruto stepped forward and banged his fists hard on the desk, causing some scrolls and documents to fall from the desk. "How could you, Tsunade-obachan! You should have told me about it!"
"And what can you do?" yelled Tsunade as she stood up abruptly and grabbed Naruto by his collar. “You better learn some manners or I will make some decisions that YOU will regret.”
The two hissed murderously at each other. Jiraya and Shizune face-faulted.
Some things just never changed.
The distraction came when they heard a knock on the door. With permission; an ANBU captain stepped into the room. He removed his mask and revealed Hyuuga Neji. He was still wearing the typical ANBU combat attire, Naruto noticed, and it soon registered in his mind that Neji just came back from a mission - expected to be a S-A rank type, for the Hyuuga's attire was soiled from dry blood and accumulated dust.
“Greetings, Hokaga-sama and Jiraya-sama, Shizune-san and Naruto-kun.” Neji greeted with a slight bow.
Tsunade gave Naruto a `this-is-what-I-called-manners' look. But the blonde chap dared to give a humph and turned away with folded arms.
Tsunade flinched at his behavior but Jiraya was quick to offer placatory words. With a sigh, she turned to Neji. "So how was it?"
Naruto cocked a furtive eyebrow at Neji, and the Hyuuga stared back with hesitation of his own. Tsunade caught the hint immediately and said, "Just spill the beans."
Neji nodded in understanding. "They are on the move again."
Naruto cocked a questioning brow.
Tsunade closed her eyes as she tried her best to digest this piece of irritating information calmly within her.
"And…" Neji hesitated, unsure of how he should break the news out to the Fifth, especially now that Naruto was present. She was his teammate after all.
"Well?" prompted Tsunade, her brows furrowing into a frown as she already guessed as much.
Neji decided to be blunt. "It's confirmed. Haruno Sakura is still alive but-"
“That was no news, Neji.” Naruto interrupted with a finger waving smugly at him. “We already know. So where is she now? Tsunade-obachan, you got to issue an order for me to fetch her back.”
Jiraya, however has his doubts. There was a `but' that Naruto failed to notice. “He's not finished, Naruto. Why don't you listen quietly?”
“I'm afraid that things were more complicated that you think, Naruto-kun.” Neji simply stated. "Some of us sparred with her and it was believed she was with the Akatsuki.”
“What?” Naruto all but barked the word out.
Tsunade was unexpectedly quiet when her eyes were closed with her head low. When she opened her eyes and looked at Naruto, the chap was trying to keep his cool. For once, she doesn't mind about Naruto's outburst, for it was evident that Sakura still meant a lot to him.
It always has been.
"Go on." Tsunade probed.
"Uchiha Itachi was with her. We believed they were on a mission to recover an ancient scroll buried in the Hidden Village of The Sand.”
Naruto was about to interrupt again when they heard a knock on the door. With Tsunade's permission, Yamanaka Ino stepped in with a weary-looking messenger from the Hidden Village of The Sand.
When Ino saw Neji present as the captain of his ANBU team, she reckoned they must be in the midst of an important discussion and she wondered if she had interrupted at the right time.
"Sensei, the Hidden Village of The Sand had requested our assistance." Ino spoke professionally, brushing off thousands of questions running through her head. The first was, why, of all people, was Naruto doing in the room? Wasn't anything supposed to be confidential whenever an ANBU is around?
"I shall take my leave." Ino gave a polite bow before starting out for the door but she was stopped by Tsunade.
"No, Ino. Stay."
Ino nodded, cleverly figuring out that it must have something to do with her, if not involving her. If Konoha agrees to send assistance, which most probably it will, she would definitely be on the list. After all, she's one of the Four.
Four… Ino's heart sank to the bottom of the sea whenever this thought came back to her. They have been strong as a team, meeting up Tsunade's expectations and accomplishing dangerous missions that no other kunoichis has ever had in the history of Konoha, or perhaps the whole country.
Tsunade purposefully coughed to remind her pupil from spacing out at this critical point of time, in which Ino caught the hint and have her eyes downcast to show her remorsefulness.
Tsunade then gave the Sand messenger an once-over, before motioning him to sit right across her.
"Hokage-sama! We desperately need Konoha's assistance in rebuilding our village!" The messenger started breathlessly.
"What happened?" Shizune asked.
"Our village was… annihilated. Almost… no difference anyway. The Akatsuki intruded into our village, Uchiha Itachi was one of them." The messenger choked on his words. Shizune gave an assuring pat on his shoulders.
"Then?” Naruto stepped forward. “What about Garaa and his siblings?"
Over the years, he has established a sort of friendship with the amnesic guy and he knew Uchiha Itachi's power as well as his ruthlessness. Although years have passed since he had encountered him, Naruto still remembered the set of crimson eyes that looked straight through anyone.
"Temari-sama was physically… and Kankuro-sama…” The messenger shook his head, unable to hold back the tears that flowed down his flushed cheeks.
Ino thought he was the most emotional messenger she ever met in her whole 20 years.
"I don't know how much longer they can hold on.. We were totally caught off guard!"
"WHAT ABOUT GARAA?" Naruto shouted, grabbing the messenger by the collar. The feeble messenger gulped in sweat. "He went missing. We believed he went after the annihilators."
"TEME!" Naruto all but dropped the messenger. "The UCHIHAs are such bastards! I swear I'm going to kill them! I'm going after Garaa!"
Naruto started for the door but Jiraya grabbed him by the arms. Naruto flung it away and Tsunade's commanding voice stopped him.
"STAND RIGHT THERE, NARUTO!"
Naruto paused in his tracks but before long, he started for the door again, in which Tsunade shouted, "THIS IS AN ORDER!"
Grudgingly, Naruto stormed right before her and folded his arms, fuming to himself.
Tsunade, after taking a deep breath, turned to the messenger and said, "We will definitely send assistance. We will get the details from you after you are settled. Two days from now, we will dispatch two teams to your village to check up the situation first before deciding whether to send more aid later."
The messenger said his thanks and was led away by a Chunin to a restroom prepared for him.
Tsunade then summoned for Tenten and Hinata. When the two arrived in a puff of smoke, Ino unwittingly stood next to them. Tsunade studied all three of them carefully, before motioning Neji to recite the news again to the trio.
When Neji stopped where he was interrupted a while ago, all three of them had her own set of shocked expressions.
Ino shook her head furiously, uttering, "No, it can't be her. Impossible…"
Shizune squeezed her shoulders and found that the blonde lass was shivering.
Tsunade gave it a thought. She couldn't believe it either. "Two years after we thought she was dead, I actually received reports from our ANBU that a kunoichi who fitted the description of Sakura was spotted somewhere near the hidden village of Bamboos."
Naruto, Hinata, Tenten and Ino widened their eyes, unable to believe that the news was kept from them that long. After all, Sakura was their comrade; they have the right to know.
As if reading their minds, Tsunade continued, "I didn't want to raise false hopes before confirming she was indeed alive. But as the reports I've gathered over the years goes to show, it seems that Sakura is indeed alive."
"She has changed." Naruto finally admitted, remembering the fight he had with her a while back.
So, they had really fought each other and what was most heartbreaking was the fact she had showed no mercy when dueling with him. Every move, every action was aimed for his death.
-Flashback-
Naruto and Jiraya were passing by the border of the hidden village of the Sands when they decided to freshen up by the river.
It was then they realized the river was dyed red.
"Huh?"
"Something is happening upfront." Jiraya stated, already setting his sights ahead of the river.
"Let's go find out!"
His enthusiastic disciple disappeared before the white-haired man could stop him. He twitched an exasperated eyebrow at that. "That KID!"
Upfront, there was a fight. Three Sand shinobis were fighting one masked figure. Judging from the curves of the figure and the delicate moves it executed, Naruto reckoned the gender to be of a female. Not to say that the hair was an extreme giveaway. It was of lustrous pink that reached to her waist but she tied it up in high ponytail separated by two braids.
By the time Naruto reached, concealing himself on one of the most shadowed tree branch of all the trees nearby, the last of the three Sands had already collapsed to the ground, their blood flowing ceaselessly down the river.
Sakuya smirked (How naïve of them…)
As she tied her headband around her ponytail, which was the reason why she headed back to the village she and Itachi had just wiped out, she sensed someone nearby.
(There is another one… no.. two. At five o' clock.)
"Are you too scared to come out?" Sakuya mocked, turning her body to the direction where Naruto and Jiraya, who just reached, were hiding.
Naruto gritted his teeth and leaped off the branch, where Jiraya was again too slow in grabbing him.
Jiraya was shaking… shaking with fury as he raised a shaky fist filled with exasperation.
(Why does he always fall to obvious traps?)
Naruto frowned, shooting killer looks at the masked kunoichi in front of him. Most of her face was veiled, with the exception of her green eyes.
"Who are you?" Naruto asked, finding the pink-haired masked kunoichi disturbingly familiar. "And what do you want with the Sands?"
(A shinobi from the hidden village of the Leaf… oh right, they are allies, I almost forgot.) Sakuya thought as she saw the leaf symbol on Naruto's forehead protector.
"I'm not obliged to answer that." Sakuya said instead in a slick manner, deciding to play around for a while.
(Her voice.. Sounds like… could it be…? Impossible. )
Naruto hesitated his moves, unsure of what to do first time ever since he got stronger. Sakuya saw his weakness and began her attacks by throwing poisonous needles at him, which Naruto dodged it smoothly. But one of them managed to slip past his neck, sending his blood surging out from his bruised flesh.
Naruto flinched. It was just a scratch. So why does it hurt so much? He touched his wound and found that his blood turned purple black. Soon after, unknown numbness crept up his body. He looked at the spot where she stood and found that she was gone…
(No!) Inner Naruto reminded himself of the imminent danger as he felt someone… (Above!)
He leaped away as fast as his body allowed and Sakuya landed adroitly on the spot where Naruto was, causing a deep hole underneath.
"I'm impressed honestly. Not many can even move after they received my poisonous needles." remarked Sakuya as she slowly raised herself up.
(That was…) Jiraya dilated his eyes with surprise (Tsunade's…) as he leaped swiftly off the branch, which received three poisonous needles on his behalf. (Skill.)
The tree branch corroded shortly after his departure.
He came face to face with Sakuya with Naruto beside him, bending on his knees.
Sakuya gave a snort.
"Who you are and what you want with the Sands…" Jiraya began. "are none of our concern."
"Ero sennin! How could you say that? The Sands are our ally!"
Jiraya shot Naruto a knowing look but he failed to catch the hint. Instead, he focused on the damned kunoichi upfront.
"No matter what, I'm going to bring her down! Kage Bunshin no jutsu!"
"Wait…" Again, Jiraya was late in stopping Naruto as hundreds of them appeared right before him. He signed and dodged aside to see how it goes.
"Eh?" Naruto looked around. She was nowhere in sight. She was neither up the sky nor down in the ground.
(Clever.) Jiraya thought. As much as he hated to admit, he was surprised at the depth of her genjutsu. Even he, one of the revered legendary Sannin, needed a few moments to figure out her exact location. She moved pretty fast too. She was four clones behind Naruto now.
(Naruto let's see how much you have improved after this training. I hope the poison doesn't pose much of a problem though…)
Naruto gulped as he felt his heartbeat rumbling hard against his own breathing.
(She must be among them then… the question is.. which one?)
His eyes darted around, looking for any giveaway from his clones.
There were none.
He couldn't dispel them now. His body condition might not allow him to move fast against her attacks. Besides, he doesn't want to spoil the excitement surging within his body right now. He couldn't care if his neck was shouting vehemently for his attention. If he was to tap his skills, now would be the perfect chance.
It would be his turn to launch his attack.
"What shall we do?" One of the clones asked.
"How the hell am I supposed to know?" Another one answered.
"SHUT UP!" Naruto ordered.
Silence engulfed them as all of them stood still.
Sakuya decided to wait. She was curious as to what this man with blonde spikes would do. She was actually surprised at the extent of her patience towards this hotheaded blonde. Usually, her opponents would be silenced within seconds once she was provoked. So she couldn't understand the suppression she had for him. Her previous attacks at him were calculated. Not too light for him to think she was weaker, nor was it too harsh to end his life with one blow. Somehow, she felt a sense of familiarity seeing him. It's as though she knew him…
Sakuya felt a stinging pain at the back of her head at this instant. She cursed silently, casting Naruto a cautious look and was glad she was still undiscovered. But Naruto was certainly facing her now.
Whenever she tried to associate with her past, something like this would happen. The stinging pain at the back of her head would stop her from probing anything from her past.
(Hm! My headband!) Oblivious that her precious headband had dropped, Sakuya silently prayed that the clone, whose feet was barely inches away from her headband, would stand still. When the clone unwittingly moved and was about to step on it, Sakuya shouted, "Don't!"
It was then Naruto discovered her and began charging at her in full speed.
Sakuya couldn't care. She would worry later. Her headband is more important, perhaps more than her own life. It's the only thing left of her past and she wouldn't allow anything or anyone to ruin it.
As she clutched the headband tightly in her hands, which she used it to shield her face, she landed hard on the ground, prepared for the worst outcome.
Naruto smirked, generating a whirlpool of chakra in one of his hands as he continued charging at Sakuya.
(Girls will be girls...)
Though he couldn't show off his new skills, he was still glad that he got the last laugh.
(But wait, that was…!)
Naruto noticed the green headband that she held dearly in her hands. It was the same green headband he had given to Sakura. He had bought it for her while on his way back on one of his missions in one of the towns his team was passing by.
He quickly withdrew his deadly Rasengan and instead came crashing down, landing on top of her.
Jiraya slapped his forehead. (What the hell was that idiot thinking?)
Sakuya stiffened as she breathed in Naruto's scent, not moving an inch of her muscles. Naruto slowly lifted his body and stared down at her, his two arms pinned down against the ground beside her head as his blue eyes pierced into her green ones.
Naruto's heartbeat banged hard within him as he slowly attempted to unveil the mask his pink-haired opponent was wearing. He knew she was nervous too, for her quick uprising of her chest gave her emotions away.
But she does nothing to stop his act.
Naruto flung the veil away and was caught in total shock.
There she was… a grown-up Haruno Sakura lying with wide eyes beneath him as she tried to read his expressions.
"Sa.. Sakura-chan…" Naruto barely made out a whisper.
He was glad.. and the same time shocked that Sakura was alive all these years.
Suddenly, before Naruto could recover from the shock, he felt an acute pain somewhere on the lower part of his body.
Sakura had stabbed him in his abdomen and pushed him away.
She quickly got up, grabbed her veil and was about to leap off when Jiraya appeared in front of her.
She eyed Jiraya closely.
(He's a bit too strong for me now.) Sakuya concluded.
She averted her gaze to Naruto, who looked at her longingly with an outstretched hand.
"Sakura… don't go…"
Sakuya hesitated. (Move, Sakuya! Move! )
She dropped a vial on the ground, which Jiraya surmised was the antidote of her poison, shot Jiraya another cautious look and disappeared in a gush of wind.
It was then Naruto finally passed out and Jiraya kept whining having to carry him all the way back to Konoha.
-End of Flashback-
Tsunade eyed Naruto carefully, and was somewhat glad that the chap has finally come to terms that the Sakura now was no longer the Sakura they knew. His head were hung low and his fists were clenched. Tsunade then realized that all the acts he pulled a while ago was just a form of denial that his Sakura-chan was no longer…
"Hokage-sama?" Neji interrupted her thoughts. "I haven't finished my report."
"Oh.. sorry. But before that, what did you find out with this Yuya figure?
It has been years since the Fifth tried to track her down, but she always managed to give it a slip. And it was only recently that the Akatsuki was active again that they managed to gather more information about this shadowy figure in the organization.
Neji cleared his throat. "She is known as Yuya to most but her full name is Mizu Yuya."
(Mizu...) Tsunade was shocked and she made no effort to conceal it. Now she understood why she failed to track her down after all these years...
She leaned against her desk and rubbed her chin, urging Neji to say more with her set of intent brown eyes.
"And it seemed she is not a member of the Akatsuki…"
Tsunade frowned, not liking the open-ended tone of Neji. She breathed deeply to prepare herself for this certain bad news that was about to reveal from his lips.
The rest tried to keep their breathing steady as they waited for Neji to continue.
"She is the leader."