"Sasuke?" asked Sakura in a whisper.
"Hnn," agreed Sasuke.
"What's wrong, your watch isn't for -" Sakura considered the position of the moon. "Three hours yet."
"Secrets?" asked Sasuke. "You know how the dead-last managed to learn his 'hijutsu'?"
Sakura made a face in the dark. No, he couldn't possibly be spending time with her because of anything to do with HER could he? "I read some of the details. Watched his test for mage ranking on a mission he had when we were both in the hospital. Saw... a few things that I want to discuss with him first before I talk to anyone else."
"So, what CAN you tell now that our 'client' is asleep?" asked Sasuke.
Sakura paused as she looked over the campsite briefly, wondering if Kakashi-sensei was going to abruptly get up if she revealed anything that was likely an S-Class secret. "Naruto tested for level as a mage, moving to B+ Rank. He has two friends, one of whom beat him pretty severely in the test. Nanoha Takamichi, who is rated S-Rank and is up for testing to S+ Rank. Apparently she's to the TSAB what Kakashi-sensei is to Konoha - reputation as being among the most powerful."
"So, 'B+ Rank' is what - chunin?" asked Sasuke.
"Something like that," admitted Sakura. "The notes indicated that he was considered for A-Rank except that with his loyalty to Konohagakure and status as a provisional associate - he's not going to be given full access to their full range of jutsu or other information."
"Where is he getting all that chakra?" asked Sasuke, frowning. He'd seen some massive jutsu going off, when he hadn't expected Naruto to be able to do any of that.
"Part of that's what I think is secret, part of it's genetic," said Sakura. "They did some testing of him there. Apparently his family line has some special chakra properties - including that they've got lots of it."
"Naruto has a friend who's jonin-rank with these other guys?" asked Sasuke thoughtfully.
"More than one, and I think Nanoha is more Kage-rank," said Nanoha. "Fate Testarossa. She's AAA but the notes indicated that she's simply refused to test higher until she's worked out some difficulties in her homelife. She's possibly Kage-rank herself. Hayate Yagami. Yuuno Scrya, he's sort of a chunin, I guess. Shamal, Signum, Vita, Zafira. I only saw enough to know Vita's a violent maniac. A few others I didn't have time to research at all."
"So this 'other world' stuff is real," mused Sasuke, staring off into the darkness.
"Yeah, that's where they rebuilt me," said Sakura. "Where they're rebuilding my body."
"Hnn," said Sasuke softly.
On their own mission, Tenten awoke to realize Rock Lee was nearby and stared at him for a moment before she could recognize him.
Which wasn't that unusual. Lots of people who'd known Lee tended to stare at him after his facial reconstruction.
She'd expected Rock Lee with new scars, not unusual in a ninja village. She hadn't expected this.
As Sakura went into something approximating sleep, and Sasuke took up the watch, Kakashi just reviewed the situation. Sakura had avoided any S-Class Secrets that Sasuke didn't already know about, so no harm there. Unless you counted a bunch of names, which Kakashi didn't count.
He'd sent Pakkun to get some retrieval nin from Konoha for the two Demon Brothers, who'd been forthcoming with some details as long as he kept Sakura and Naruto away from them.
Which annoyed Sasuke, but that was simply the way things went. Sakura's mechanical body had a number of useful features, Naruto was a mage who could fly and throw thunderbolts, and Sasuke... was feeling a bit overshadowed.
He could tell from Naruto's reaction that he REALLY wanted to find out more about his family with that tantalizing little glimpse he'd gotten. Gee, an orphan who had been shunned by nearly everyone his entire life wanted details about his family - what a shock and surprise that was. Full sarcasm intended.
Still, it might be time to give a few details now that the subject had been broached.
The Demon Brothers on the other hand, had spilled the beans. Not that uncommon really, among the smarter ninja. Holding out briefly was typical, but as skilled interrogation offices could dig out all the details and leave the victim a drooling idiot or worse - the 'three day rule' usually applied. At the end of three days, if your team was going to accomplish the mission - they had. Then you could sing like a canary. Missing-nin had even less reason to last three days. Especially with an Uzumaki, a cat who was comparing notes on famous torture techniques with a jonin, and a mechanical girl who broke their weapon into two dozen pieces and was angry at them for shredding her outfit.
Not that she hadn't trimmed it so it was now a midriff-baring top and shorts. Her hands and face looked mostly normal, her face especially. Her arms and now-exposed belly definitely showed the seams and lines and metal that showed her nature.
Sakura was self-conscious about that too, tending to shift around to try to hide those bits around Sasuke. Naruto, on the other hand, was verbally using every opportunity to expound on her still being human and Sakura.
Odd that Naruto was picking up on Sakura being self-conscious about it all, feeling nonhuman or monstrous... oh. Well, that DID explain why he was so sympathetic to her current situation, didn't it?
Hmph. Back to the Demon Brothers. Apparently they were after Tazuna. Not after Naruto, or Sasuke, or more likely - himself. No, they were one of several hired to go after Tazuna and kill him so that the shipping magnate Gato could finish subjugating Wave and setting himself up as daimyo.
He could have turned back. Should have turned back. Everyone had been ready to go. Naruto wanted details on his family and now on Whirlpool. Sasuke didn't want to have a failed or incomplete mission on his record. Sakura went along with Sasuke.
Well, it should be interesting at least.
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(Posted Thu, 02 Sep 2010 18:09)
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らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
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