Chapter 89
"There is another organization out there. You think maybe they are in cahoots?" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes before speaking with a slight frown, "Akatsuki." I nodded in affirmation. "What exactly do you know?" He queried.
"A mercenary group. From what I gathered they used to be a resistance group and "Hero" kind of group; helping out during the times of war when the salamander, Hanzo, was in power. However, things seemed to change following the alleged death of Hanzo; They now take on everything from assassinations to bounty hunting, and from what I gather, they seem to be prepping for something big as well. Just don't know what. They pop up here and there, but that is all. They are like ghosts" I most definitely knew what they were planning. For what I had planned, I needed everything to go on just like it did in canon. I did not need any mishaps. Well, maybe not everything; But the most important parts, yes.
He nodded "It seems you have gathered just as much as I. It might be unlikely, but we can't rule out the possibility of their collaboration. I will continue to keep an eye out. You have quite the talent for espionage." He spoke with admiration which made my head swell a bit.
"Well, that old hag would not shut up about it. She made sure to drill it into me." Mebuki really did teach me extensively. Including Liberation, I really did research on Akatsuki and found that most of their origin was same as canon. Would have been problematic if I was dealing with 'Road to Ninja' type Akatsuki.
"Which old hag?" He looked confused.
"My mother. Haruno Mebuki." His eyes widened slightly before he broke out into laughter.
"Me-chan?! Me-chan is your mother? Hahaha! That explains a few things. How is she?" His eyes betraying the nostalgia he was in; reminiscing about who knew what. Ew, hope I not about both of them together.
"Me-chan? Haha. Wait, you know my mother?" I asked. Maybe this was a chance for me to find out about Mebuki. During the year spent training, she never spoke about her past, no matter how I tried. I know I said some cheesy line back then about not caring about her past, but who wouldn't? The civilian mother we knew as 'Sakura's mom' turned out to be some crazy spartan expert ninja; Who wouldn't want to know about her past?
"Mm. Amazing talent. We did a lot of missions together. Orochimaru felt her talents would have been much suited for Danzo's Root. The old man Third made sure to keep her away from there; Good thing too. She and Tsunade were like sisters. One day she suddenly changed. Her relationship towards the old man became strained, then she just quit. Next thing we heard, she was married and living a simple life. Regardless of what happened back then, I was happy for her. She looked genuinely happy with her marriage." He paused and looked at me. "Seems she had a daughter who inherited her talents as well."
'Well, that explains her medical-nin expertise. To think she was actually friends with Tsunade.' I was a little lost in thought when Jiraiya's voice brought me out once more, "Don't worry too much…" He stood up and stretched before continuing, "Your mother is a great woman"
"I wasn't worried. I'm glad I found out something about her. Her past is her past though. She is still my mother regardless; That is all that matters." Here I go saying the same cheesy line again. Well, this time I meant it. At least this time I had found out a little something about her. But now I wanted to know what happened to make her act the way she did with the Hokage. I knew she was strong but definitely not at the level of the old man. Yet with the way she acted with him; It was like he just allowed it, or more like he could not or did not complain.
Jiraiya nodded his head while continuing to have that reminiscing look. After a short while he snapped himself out of it, shaking his head. "How is Naruto? The chunin exam should be coming up; Is he prepared?" Jiraiya turned to Kakashi and inquired. This caused me to raised a brow slightly. "As prepared as he could be. He should ace the exam easy." Jiraiya nodded his head with a smile. It looked like he had already introduced himself to Naruto. Not that it mattered particularly; But it was best I asked Naruto when it happened.
I bade them both farewell when I saw their conversation turning into a "Family" one. "I will communicate with you if I find anything else." I spoke to them to which they nodded in return. I walked away thinking how things seemed a little too different. I had already come to terms with the world I lived in being an AU of sorts, but I was really hoping things did not change too much; At least the major events.
I walked to the Hatake/Might/Uzumaki residence. After knocking on the door a few times, Guy finally answered the door sweaty and topless. "Oh Sakura. Come for round two?" He spoke with fervor as he pumped his fists at me.
"Not this time, Guy-san…" I chuckled at his antics before I continued, "Is Naruto around?" Although I did enjoy our little bout earlier and would have loved nothing more than to go again, I had other things I needed to take care of first.
"Sure. They in the back. Come on in." Guy ushered me in and took me to the back. The backyard was large with a leafless tree towering over the wall; Leafless. Almost forgot it was that time of the year already. The two young boys, Sasuke and Naruto were sparing under the tree. They pulled no punches as each of their attacks were sent in full force, yet there was no kill intent behind their attacks; It was like a well-practiced dance. Although a bad dance, well-practiced none the less.
Standing there watching them, I could not help but wonder if that was what I had been missing all this while. 'Do I need to think of it as a spar?' I looked at the boys for a while and pulled two kunais from myself and thought of throwing it at them. I was completely in the zone and had drowned out my surroundings.
***
The two boys who were sparing suddenly stopped and shivered. They had suddenly felt a subtle dread; It was not the usual killing intent they had felt before, no, it was much more a gut feeling. They felt like they were standing in a mine of traps, and one wrong move and they could die. Even more so, the source was faint, but they knew where it was coming from. They both turned to the new arrival who was just staring at them with a straight face.
Back to Sakura, she was continuously changing her mindset over and over since the thought and the feeling were not right for her, completely unaware of the eyes that were on her at the moment; She was completely zoned out. She mumbled a few times and shook her head a few times until she finally sighed in disappointment.