Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Sin Eater ❯ Chapter 7

Sin Eater: Sin and Gaara of the Sand

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

It was a few days since the almost disastrous mission at Wave Country. Hokage had been rather furious at a lot of things. One was Tazuna who had lied and broken the trust that had come with contractual jobs like these, and another was Kakashi, who should have shown better judgment, and should have at least asked more reinforcements. Moreover, he was angry with himself, for not noticing anything odd about Wave Country, which was relatively near the Hidden Village.

 

Gatou was a well-known name. Deriving a conclusion wasn't remotely mind stressing. The Hokage was meant as a leader, protector of its village and its people, yet he sent two untrained genin and a retired ANBU captain who hadn't been to any serious fights into battle an A-Class missing nin, who had an apprentice along with him.

 

The Hokage was glad he had sent Sin along with them. A lucky break, one would say. The boy was indeed powerful… a regret he'd have to keep peace with him, knowing he just let go an individual who could help protect the village, if only to protect the boy from hating the village completely.

 

“I'm very thankful,” the Hokage declared towards Sin and his teacher, Undertaker, who sat in front of him in his office. “It would have been a disaster without you.”

 

“I'm sure Team Seven would have gotten out just fine,” Sin replied modestly. “Kakashi-san was able to subdue Zabuza-san in the end, and Sasuke-san was able to unlock his Sharingan and could have taken down the apprentice himself.”

 

“Still,” the Hokage interjected, “I am glad you went with them. I first thought it was to give them a pass at the Chuunin Exams, but you played a role in their survival. You have my deepest thanks, Sin.”

 

Sin gave a somewhat small smile, maybe an honest one, but no one would know. He was used to getting thanks, and curses at the same time, something he learned to grow up with as an Order member with the ability to give peace or conflict to any dying man. However, this was the first time he was given thanks by an alive, albeit old, but still alive, man. And this time, it wasn't for doing his regular job.

 

“With this done, Team Seven has an A-Class Mission under its belt,” the Hokage said. “That is more than enough to approve them entrance to the exam.”

 

“I shall continue to join them in the exam as well,” Sin declared.

 

“Thank you again, Sin.”

 

“It's my job… Hokage-sama.”

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

At another part of Konoha, the thriving Yamanaka Flower Shop was being managed by Ino, who was given a day off by their jounin-sensei. Being the only daughter of the family, when she didn't train, she would run the shop.

 

It was a slow day. Only a handful of people came in, some only looking around, and only one had bought flowers. So, it was a surprise when suddenly, walking in her store, was Ino's former best friend and number one rival for Sasuke's heart: Haruno Sakura.

 

“Hey, Forehead-girl,” Ino began to tease. “What brings you here?”

 

“Hey… Ino…”

 

The declaration seemed to make the blonde girl stop her train of thoughts. That wasn't supposed to be the reply! Ino-pig, or Piglet, hell, the classically antique Miss Piggy would have been more appropriate, but just… Ino?

 

“Oi, what's wrong, Forehead?” the blonde declared. “Finally admitting my superiority and admitting your defeat?”

 

“No… it's just…” and Sakura sighed.

 

Ino then knew something was wrong.

 

“Hey… what's wrong Sakura?”

 

Sakura then told Ino everything… Sin, and the mission at Wave. It was probably the most interesting story Ino would hear for a while, to say the least.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Uchiha Sasuke seethed as he launched multiple projectiles to the practice dummy he was using, his mind was on one thing… Sin's powers. The young boy was no older than him, yet he faced off with an A-Rank missing-nin so easily… and that masked boy, who he had so much trouble with, and won both bouts so easily!

 

Plus the fact he had died, and came back from the grave… Sasuke had checked the vitals! It was no death-induced state, but a completely lethal blow, and he showed up like it was nothing! He also remembered what he and Sakura were talking about… apparently, he can eat `sins' and he wondered if that was the thing that is what is giving him his powers.

 

The youngest Uchiha paused on his training. He could ask Sin about it… he would gladly help him, right?

 

He'd find out later. Kakashi had called in another meeting, and Sin himself said he would be there. He'd ask him then.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

Back at the Hokage's office, after Sin and Undertaker had left, the Third Hokage had called in all the jounin-senseis in the office. The Chuunin Exam was just around the corner, and the foreign ninjas were coming in droves. It was now or never…

 

“As you can recall, Konoha is now the host of this year's second Chuunin Exam,” the old man Hokage declared. “Are there any of you who'd like to nominate your teams into the exam?”

 

The first one who stepped forward was a man in a bowl cut, wearing a green spandex body suit. He grinned so brightly his teeth sparkled, and raised arm to give a thumb's-up.

 

“I nominate Rock Lee, Hyuuga Neji and Tenten, my youthful genins of Team Gai!” the man declared. The other jounins just groaned at the display, but the Hokage could only chuckle. Gai was entertaining, most of the time.

 

“I nominate Team Seven,” Kakashi suddenly declared, turning the rather relaxed affair into an uproar. Umino Iruka, the scarred and relatively handsome Academy Instructor, ranked chuunin, was the first to get on the lazy jounin's case.

 

“What the hell are on, Kakashi?” Iruka demanded. “You can't nominate your team because--”

 

“Because my team is incomplete, or hasn't taken a C-Rank mission, yes?” Kakashi finished the sentence before the Chunnin did. “Well, I have to say, Iruka, you're a bit slow. My team is indeed now at full capacity. Hokage has provided us with a third teammate, and we have successfully completed a C-Rank mission. In fact… the mission itself was actually an A-Rank.”

 

“Is that true, sir?” one of the jounins looked towards the Hokage, who just nodded.

 

“I have personally found a suitable member for Team Seven. He was actually an essential part in finishing the said mission,” the Hokage declared.

 

Kakashi felt somewhat miffed. Essential? The boy was the one who single-handedly made it so that Team Seven would succeed in their ill-fated mission.

 

“I want to meet this third member of Team Seven then,” Iruka declared. “I want to ensure my former students have someone trustworthy.”

 

“Iruka, I appreciate the concern, but you're overstepping your boundaries a bit,” Kakashi declared, looking at the chuunin. “Sin was hand-picked by the Hokage himself. Doubt on his choice means doubt on the Hokage himself.”

 

“Hey, no need to go that far, Hatake!”

 

“True, but its still a valid point,” Kakashi replied easily. “Plus, they aren't your students anymore. They are my soldiers.”

 

Iruka backed away, somewhat embarrassed that Kakashi had blocked him so easily, but not deterred in wanting to meet the mysterious third member of the former two-cell Team Seven. In fact, he wasn't the only one… many other jounins had looked interested in meeting this so called… Sin? Yes, that was the name Kakashi had given.

 

Not to be outdone, Yuuhi Kurenai, an attractive jounin took a bold step forward as well.

 

“I nominate Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino of Team Eight to participate in the Chuunin Exam.”

 

“Well, if that's how it goes, I too nominate Yamanaka Ino, Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji of Team Ten,” Sarutobi Asuma, the jounin-sensei of Team Ten also went into the festive mood.

 

The whole room was in an uproar. Three rookie teams entering the exam? It was rather unheard of since before the last great Shinobi War! It took the Hokage's well placed slam on the table with his hand to calm things down.

 

“Quiet! All of you!” the old man Hokage declared, taking a deep breathe. He looked towards the three jounins and asked, “Are you sure of this?”

 

“Yes,” all three replied easily.

 

“So be it.”

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

The town was abuzz. Rumors spread quickly, and it was no surprise that the civilians were talking about it. Three rookie teams in this year's bi-annual Chuunin Exam? Team Seven, team of the great Uchiha Sasuke had a third member, and they have already have a B-rank mission under their belt? Speculations ran, all wondering how well their youngest surviving and loyal Uchiha performed, some stating he was the key factor in making the mission a success, but another party emerged… this time, curious about one thing...

 

The identity of the third member of Team Seven.

 

All of this, surprisingly, Haruno Sakura ignored. She just came out of a fight with her on-and-off friend, Ino. The pink-haired kunoichi had tried to explain her misgivings… her talk with Sin had raised a few doubts of her ability to be a ninja, and his words seemed sound. Sasuke had pointedly ignored her advances, only interested in training… so training herself to gain his respect was logical, right?

 

Then Ino suddenly attacked, like a savage dog, feeling confident her enemy had cornered herself. She called on Sakura, claiming she was weakening, giving up on Sasuke, their target of affection, and she wouldn't listen to reason. Sakura was left with no choice but to leave the shop before she exploded in her rage.

 

“Yappo!”

 

The greeting surprised her. Stopping on her tracks, she spotted Sin eating in a ramen stand, having a small smile on his face. On his left was a stack of bowls. Each bowl was large enough to have been a hearty meal, yet the stack indicated that Sin had been eating a meal for ten people.

 

“Where'd you put all that!?” she blurted out, and then, on reflex, caught herself. By then it was too late. Sin, though, didn't look offended, but his smile grew.

 

“I have fast metabolism!”

 

Sakura approached him, sitting down on the stool beside him. The owner, an old man was cooking the ramen, so a young woman came up to her instead, asking what she wanted.

 

“Um, no thanks… I'm on a diet,” Sakura stated quietly.

 

“Eat up,” Sin declared, nudging Sakura slightly. “You'll burn those calories when you train harder anyway.”

 

Still in doubt, Sakura ordered a small bowl of Miso Ramen. To make sure, she said to make it a really small bowl. The young woman smiled, and gave the order to the owner, who apparently was her dad, and Sakura just waited for her food to come.

 

“I only eat once a day, but I must say, Ramen is great,” Sin declared, grabbing one of the condiments, a bottle of chili powder, and to Sakura's shock and amazement, poured a whole lot on his bowl, which already looked red! She also spotted five similar bottles, with a few specks of red, empty!

 

“Wha!! How can you eat that stuff!?”

 

“Well… I can't exactly taste my food well, so I try to spice them up. It works,” Sin shrugged.

 

“A whole bottle!?”

 

“Yeah… if Tsunami had this much chili, I'd prolly have eaten more of her food… maybe then she wouldn't have been that uncomfortable around me,” the boy declared, looking in front of him busily. Sakura guessed he was looking back at the time they were at Wave, and then, she looked down.

 

“What is it?” Sin asked, seemingly reading her mood.

 

“Oh… it's…” her thoughts wavered towards herself in Wave Country. “… it's nothing.”

 

“It's something, but I'm sure you'll figure it out,” Sin declared, now going back to his red bowl of ramen. “My teacher once said… if you're unsure of yourself, keep fighting until you get your answer.”

 

“Um… have you?” Sakura asked, looking quite nervous, knowing full well she was asking a personal question.

 

“Have I what, Sakura-san?”

 

“Doubted yourself?”

 

“Of course, multiple times!” Sin declared rather jovially, surprising the kunoichi. “Okay, not really…”

 

Sakura felt an urge to slam her fist on Sin's face. A really strong urge. Thankfully, her order came, and saved Sin from the wrath of her female teammate and the two ate in peace. Sin finished his bowl first, but waited for Sakura to be done with hers, which was only a few minutes afterwards. Paying their meals, the young woman of the stall told them politely and somewhat honestly for them to come back.

 

“I think I will,” Sin replied courteously. The two stood up and left the stand, and the boy looked at the name of the stall before they left.

 

“Ichiraku Ramen, eh?” he whispered. “Nice place. I should go back there.”

 

“Yeah… it was good,” Sakura agreed, though she was beginning to count the calories, and pounds she would gain by eating her very small bowl of noodles. Before she could even imagine the ramifications, which included a Sakurazilla puffed like a balloon in her red dress stepping and destroying Konoha with her weight, a boy's shout caused her to break her train of thoughts.

 

“Hey! Let me go!” the boy's voice shouted.

 

“Stupid runt! That hurt!” another voice rang, an older one, male.

 

Rushing towards the area, Sakura was surprised to see foreign ninjas. A girl with sandy blonde hair cropped in four ponytails with a big fan on her back, and a boy covered completely in black garb, his hood pointed like ears and with facial marks on his face. He had a rather large bundle at his back.

 

Both had hourglass shaped forehead protectors, indicating they were from, if Sakura remembered from her Academy days, the Hidden Sand village of Wind Country.

 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Sakura demanded, getting involved. It was suspicious enough that there were foreign ninjas around Konoha, they were also picking on a young civilian boy!

 

“I'm teaching this little punk a lesson!” the male Sand ninja declared.

 

“For a ninja… you're pretty immature…”

 

Sin's voice came from behind the Sand ninja, who gasped, surprised to suddenly find someone behind him, almost letting go of the boy he was holding up. Sakura felt a bit stiff to see her new teammate in action once more, doing the same trick he did to Gatou… she wondered if he was going to do that face pull.

 

She hoped not.

 

“How'd you get behind me!?” the young ninja demanded, and looked down, only slightly, less than a second even to pull a weapon out only for Sin to disappear once more. He looked around, and spotted that the boy he was holding was now a scarecrow.

 

“Hey, kid… you alright?” Sin asked, and the Sand ninja turned, and spotted him with the pink-haired ninja, and the kid. Sin was patting him on the head.

 

“Um… thanks… mister…” the boy replied slowly, if not shyly. Even he had no idea what had happened.

 

“Heh, don't call me mister… makes me sound old. I'm Sin…”

 

A soft thud was heard, and the Sand ninja who had been bullying the boy seemed took down the bundle he had been carrying on his back. The female Sand ninja looked a bit apprehensive.

 

“Wait, you're using Karasu!?” she demanded.

 

“Shut it Temari… I'm gonna teach these tree-huggers some respect!”

 

“Damn it, stop it Kankuro,” the female Sand ninja, Temari declared. “We're supposed to keep a low cover. If Gaara hears this…”

 

“Don't worry… it'll all be over soon.”

 

“Now, now,” Sin stood up, his head turned somewhat, his blue cold eyes behind his shades now finally seen at the angle as he looked at the male Sand ninja. “You should just stop there, unless you want the Sand Village losing one of their ninjas because he bullied the Third Hokage's grandson.”

 

“Hah… like that'll put me off, you creepy bastard!” Kanuro declared, but before he could even make a move, he was suddenly hit by a stone on top of his hooded head.

 

Up in the tree, Uchiha Sasuke looked down on the Sand ninjas, one of his hands playing a small stone.

 

“They just keep coming out eh?” Kankuro muttered, looking more excited.

 

“Damnit, Kankuro, stop it already!” Temari demanded.

 

“Leave,” Sasuke declared in his steady voice, a voice which Sakura had fallen in love with.

 

“Uh… how about… no?” Kankuro replied, and his hands shot out. Sasuke looked ready to counterattack when another voice made itself known… right above the young Uchiha.

 

“Kankuro!”

 

The voice stopped the Sand ninja on his tracks, his face paling suddenly. Temari also looked nervous, while Sasuke looked above him, quite surprised to see another boy with red hair and a gourd on his back.

 

Kakashi was the only ninja so far that could sneak up behind him like that… plus he didn't like how the red-headed boy looked. The most peculiar thing about him was the `love' symbol etched on his forehead, but it was the bags under his sickly green eyes that bothered him. It was as if the boy hadn't gone to sleep in a long while…

 

“G-Gaara!” Kankuro yelped slightly. “Look, they started it…”

 

“You're a disgrace to our village…” Gaara, the red-headed boy, muttered. His voice was soft, yet hard, and very deadly; something similar to Sin when he talked to his enemies, both Sakura and Sasuke would note. “Stop this nonsense, or I'll kill you.”

 

Flinching, Kankuro took one last angry look at Sin, and probably wanted to look at Sasuke as well, but didn't because he didn't want Gaara, who was standing only slightly above the Uchiha, to get the wrong message. He stood down.

 

Gaara suddenly disappeared when a small sand tornado warped around his body, and reappeared with the other Sand ninjas, looking at Team Seven. Sasuke jumped down and joined Sakura, Sin and the boy, and stared down at the red-head, not intimidated by him.

 

“I'm sorry if my brother offended you,” he stated, and then turned around. “Let's go…”

 

“Wait!” Sasuke declared, stopping the trio of Sand ninjas. “Tell me your name!”

 

“Who… me?” Temari asked, blushing slightly.

 

Sakura suddenly felt the urge to hit her too.

 

“No, not you!” Sasuke declared. Temari looked slightly hurt, but he ignored that. “The one with the gourd.”

 

“Subaku no Gaara,” the red-haired boy responded easily. “Yours?”

 

“Uchiha Sasuke.”

 

“Very well. You… the one in black?” Gaara asked again.

 

“You can call me… Sin,” Sin replied easily, giving a neutral smile.

 

There was a slight pause, and Gaara's eyes then went towards them. He gave a slight demonic smile… “I want to fight you both.”

 

Sakura had expected a fight… the announcement was like a declaration of war, but the three Sand ninjas just quietly left the area, making her wonder why they were here in the first place.

 

“You could have ran out after I got you down, you know,” Sin said towards the boy, who stood there the whole time while the words were spoken.

 

“I just wanted to tell you my name's Konohomaru, not the Hokage's grandson!” the boy declared, and sped away, making Sin smirk at his antics.

 

“Cute…” he muttered, still smiling. He then looked towards where the Sand ninjas disappeared, his face going serious. “Well… it seems its finally starting.”

 

“What is?” Sasuke asked, looking at the boy.

 

“Oh, you don't know?” Sin looked at both Sakura and Sasuke. “The Chuunin Exams. Konoha is hosting it this coming week.”

 

“Chuunin Exams, eh?” the young Uchiha looked somewhat thoughtful. “Wonder if Kakashi's entering us.”

 

Sakura didn't want to voice it, as she didn't want her crush to think she was weak, but she hoped not. What would she do if she met that creepy red-haired boy? She had imagined Sasuke would come to her rescue every time they would get into trouble, but Wave was an eye-opening experience, to say the least.

 

“If you want, Sasuke-san, I'll mentally convince Kakashi to enter us in the exam,” Sin suddenly declared, making his two other teammates blink.

 

“Wha... excuse me?” Sakura asked. “You can do that?”

 

“Sure!” and Sin suddenly grunted, his face exaggerated as if he was trying to force something out.

 

Sakura was convinced it was another of his jokes. Sasuke rolled his eyes, wondering whether to stop the boy from acting silly… people were staring at them again.

 

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

 

“Sorry I'm late,” Kakashi declared. “But I've entered you guys to the Chunnin Exams…”

 

Sakura and Sasuke suddenly stared at Sin who looked back at them innocently.

 

“What?” he asked.

 

Sakura suddenly blanched, whispering how the hell Sin had done that, while Sasuke looked torn between believing the whole thing was just a coincidence, or Sin had actually convinced Kakashi with some sort of mental message. Kakashi was the odd man out, not getting their references.

 

“Did… did I miss something?” the jounin asked.

 

“Nothing to worry about, Kakashi-san,” Sin smiled. “Chunnin Exams, eh? Sounds fun.”

 

“Well, here are you're Examination forms,” Kakashi said, giving each of his students a piece of paper with instructions telling them to go towards the Konoha Academy at a certain time. “If you want to enter, show up. That's all.”

 

With that, the man disappeared on them, leaving Team Seven to look at their newly acquired documents. Sakura was the most depressed, her confidence a bit ragged as she wondered if she was good enough to even enter the exam.

 

“Well, that was useless… calling us here for just one thing,” Sin said neutrally. “I guess I'll see you both tomorrow, eh? Later.”

 

The young Uchiha watched as Sin walked away from them. He still wanted to talk to the boy, but alone, mostly. Ignoring Sakura's somewhat repetitive request to go on a date (this time she disguised it with the word `training' though he saw right through it), he slowly followed Sin in the direction where the boy was walking.

 

He was going to have a talk with the odd boy. He could be the instrument on giving him the power he needed to take vengeance.

 

To Be Continued…