At first, she'd been grateful. Ino had found something to interest her and that just left Sasuke open. Right?
Except that she'd seen the looks Ino had given Sasuke. So Ino was still interested in Sasuke. When questioned on why she hadn't done anything with a homework assignment, Ino had stated "clan business" and that it was secret.
Which, in turn, led to Sakura putting two and two together. Ino was still interested in Sasuke. Ino was busy with something secret. Ino was therefore doing something secret that she thought would give her an edge with Sasuke! It was so obvious to her!
After all, every time she thought about it not making sense - she got this horrible headache.
Spotting that Ino was NOT going in the direction of the Yamanaka clan compound, Sakura knew a moment of vindication. This was followed by her going to a warehouse.
Unfortunately, while trying to find a place to listen and find out what was going on with Sasuke - she found herself very securely pinned in place by some kind of booby trap!
So here she was, trapped with her legs mostly sticking out of the air duct - in front of her empty air duct with a grill in the floor. Right at waist level was the bar or whatever it was that was pressing down and pinning her in place.
"Help?" asked Sakura, not very loudly.
A woman's voice, though with an odd accent spoke. "Name: Sakura Haruno. Academy Student. No kekkei genkai detected. Parents are Mebuki Haruno and Kizashi Haruno. No Security Clearance. Previous background check clear."
"'Security Clearance'?" asked Sakura.
"This facility," said the voice without any change of tone, "is Security Clearance 8. Even mentioning that this facility is secret is a secret. Your concern for a classmate is commendable, and your desire to risk life and limb for a rival is also noteworthy."
Sakura kept her mouth shut.
"Indeed," said a deeper voice, sounding faintly amused. "Sleep well, Sakura Haruno. Do not return unless you become a genin and are under orders."
"'Sleep'?" asked Sakura before hearing a hiss and everything faded to black.
Sakura blinked, realizing she was in her bed at home.
"So that's it?" asked Anko. "Is she usually the snooping type? That can be pretty dangerous in a ninja village."
"Says one 'snooping type'," noted Ibiki, tapping a glass-covered map of Konoha on the wall.
"That new?" asked Anko.
"Display current position - Sakura Haruno," said Ibiki.
A bright pink dot pulsed on the map.
Anko blinked. "That's some sort of tracking device? What if she goes outside the village?"
"Hmph," said Ibiki with a smirk.
"I thought you thought she was just a little girl doing normal little girl things," said Anko, musing momentarily over the fact that she had zero experience with 'normal' when she'd been a little girl.
"Ino Yamanaka thought it possible but unlikely. Haruno had apparently broken up their friendship over a young boy and wasn't the sort to go sneaking around and spying. In fact, she thought this was unusually subtle for Haruno who tends to be more brash," said Ibiki.
Anko frowned at that. "Gotta take that with a grain of salt. If they're rivals of any kind, that can turn ugly. So, just to be safe, you put a tracker on her. Anyone else?"
"The tracker itself emits no chakra and will break down on its own over the course of six months," said Ibiki. "Like that prisoner restraint system - one of the little projects I've suggested. Occasionally we get missing-nin or others trying to move here and some method of keeping an eye on them without them knowing about it sounded intriguing."
"Sneaky, but then we ARE ninja," agreed Anko. "If she HAS been compromised, how would we know?"
"If she is the recipient of any jutsu over a low-C such as the False Persona jutsu - there will be a signal," said Ibiki. He smiled that crooked smile again. "What can I say? I love some of these new toys."
Naruto twirled the ratchet around a couple of times as he considered. "Yeah. Actually. I got to get permission though. I might have something like that. Taijutsu only, huh?"
"'Permission'?" asked Tenten, aka Batgirl.
"You said that your sensei and this guy are wearing similar warm-up suits?" asked Naruto, motioning to another Naruto to approach. "Need to ask Ibiki if we can modify that prisoner-restraint system. Maybe build it into a vest and bracer and armored legging thing."
"I don't see how something like that can help," said Tenten. "Unless you're looking to put gadgets into it. After that extendable chainsaw..."
"No, once was quite enough of THAT," Naruto hastened to assure her.
Rock Lee would normally have stuck to orange legwarmers that concealed training weights, a green bodysuit that was similar to that his sensei wore, and bandages for his hands.
"I'm willing to see this through for evaluation purposes," admitted Gai-sensei as Tenten pulled out the various devices. "Can you explain exactly what they do?"
"I don't understand the whole thing," said Tenten as she snapped a thick metal cuff onto Lee's arm. "This apparently is something originally developed to protect a ship from various kinds of stress."
"Like when a ship is beset by a storm?" asked Gai, having had missions take place on ships. Not that he was fond of such missions, just that he HAD done them before.
"Something like that," said Tenten. "Well, these were worked at to restrain prisoners. When you turn them on, it makes any kind of movement difficult - like the air turning really thick or something."
"So that, unlike with weights, any movement at all becomes more of a strain?" asked Gai.
"That's basically it," said Tenten. "The belt contains a switch that changes how much resistance the field puts up. I had to tell him repeatedly NOT to add weapon systems. He wanted SO bad to put in a plasma ejector when I told him about you two going on about 'flames of youth' yesterday."
"Maybe something to check into later," said Gai, thinking that DID sound intriguing but he DID want Lee to focus on taijutsu for now.
Neji watched until the last piece was put into place and then the device was activated. "Byakugan." This brought a frown onto his face. It looked like Rock Lee was wearing a coat of paint, and it was difficult to see his chakra pathways or tenketsu through that layer.
His Byakugan still activated, he turned his gaze back to his other team-mate. Her helmet contained lenses that gleamed to his sight, and her armored suit contained pathways of that odd raiton chakra. How many surprises did it contain?
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(Posted Sat, 16 Aug 2014 17:30)
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