184Chapter 2 The Plan
"Ero-Sennin! Are you gonna to teach me an awesome jutsu today?"
Jiraiya of the Sennin slowly blinked awake as the constant headache that was his apprentice literally buzzed around his head.
"Naruto, shut up." Unfortunately, quiet did not descend as the blond whirlwind continued to pester him for training.
It had been a year since Jiraiya had taken Naruto on his journeying and in that time, Jiraiya had learned there was one sure-fire way to get the blonde quiet.
"I said, SHUT UP!" And with the bong of a fist meeting a particularly hard head, there was blessed silence. For all of three seconds.
"Hey, Ero-Sennin, why don't you ever train me?"
Jiraiya sighed and gave up on his post-binge lie-in. Turning over, he pinned the blonde with one eye. "What do you mean, gaki? I'm constantly training you!"
"Pfft! Yeah right! You call that training? Yesterday you had me think of ways to get into the women's baths!"
"Tactical training!"
"Pervert!"
"Super Pervert!"
"GYA!"
Satisfied that he had payed his student back for the annoying wake-up call, Jiraiya got up and stretched, ignoring Naruto's complaints. Freezing for a moment as a shadow caught his attention, Jiraiya turned to his hyperactive apprentice.
"Ok Naruto, you want to learn something super cool?"
Naruto's blue eyes practically lit up with his fervor as he leaned forward and exclaimed, "Yes, YES!"
Jiraiya smirked at his student's enthusiasm, and leaned forward, lowering his voice conspiratorially. "Ok, now this is a super-secret technique to build your chakra control."
Naruto's growing grin immediately died. Leaning back, crossing his arms, and pouting, he whined, "Ero-Sennin! I thought I already had enough chakra control! I mastered the Rasengan!"
Jiraiya snorted, "Mastered? You call that mastered? Besides gaki, you need better chakra control to learn the really big jutsu."
Naruto still looked skeptical, but he assented with a, "Che, fine."
Jiraiya eyed him for another moment before outlining the chakra control exercise. Inwardly, he grudgingly admitted that he needed to teach Naruto some jutsu. But the kid learned new jutsu too fast, and he needed to guarantee his nosy apprentice wasn't poking around this morning.
With Naruto safely out of the way, Jiraiya opened the window, and sent out a bird call in a specific pattern. In a few moments a raven alighted on the windowsill, settling down and eyeing Jiraiya up with one beady, black eye. Only one of his spy contacts used raven summons.
Eagerly, Jiraiya stripped the bird of its burden and, after removing the safety measures, began to decipher the coded message.
A moment later, Jiraiya was cursing "that man" and his "scheming" as he prepared a message to forward to Tsunade. This couldn't wait for his yearly report.
Sakura pushed open the door to the Hokage's office only to blink in surprise. Her old Jonin sensei, Kakashi was already in the room, giving her a crinkle-eyed smile from where he slouched in front of the Hokage's desk.
Immediately jumping to the conclusion that she was interrupting a mission report, Sakura bowed in apology, "Excuse me, Shishou. I will wait until you are fini-"
Tsunade interrupted her with a lazy wave and a wry grin, "Come in Sakura, Kakashi is actually here on time for once."
Surprised, Sakura entered the room, and gave Kakashi a suspicious glance. Kakashi was never on time. The only exception to that fact of life was when he was reporting for an important mission. She managed to catch his eye; but even after years of knowing the man, she was unable to read his expression. Then again, ever since Sakura apprenticed herself to Tsunade, she hadn't seen much of Kakashi outside of chance meetings on the street and in the hospital.
"This mission is of a very delicate nature." Tsunade had switched into what Naruto had dubbed her "Hokage Mode," golden brown eyes observing Sakura and Kakashi with the utmost seriousness as she continued, "What you are about to be told is an S-class secret." She paused and looked at Sakura meaningfully, "You know what that means, correct?"
Sakura knew. Revealing an S-class secret could result in anything from painless to a violent death, depending on the severity. She answered with a firm, "Hai, Tsunade-shishou."
Tsunade nodded, "Good, so I'll skip the warnings. I have recently received intel from one of our most trusted sources within the organization known as Akatsuki."
Sakura stiffened at the name. She was intimately familiar with the organization that contributed to the breaking-up of Team Seven, but had no idea that Konoha had a spy within their ranks. She bit her tongue to prevent further reaction.
Tsunade continued, "We have known for quite some time that the missing nin known as Uchiha Itachi has been on a personal mission for several weeks; but now we know his objective. Uchiha Itachi has been searching for other survivors of the Uchiha Massacre; and according to our intel, he has found one."
Sakura felt as if she had been hit over the head with a heavy, blunt object. She stood there, stunned for a few moments, blinking rapidly, before her mind reeled with the possibilities. Hope, horrible, painful, wonderful hope burst to life in her chest. She wanted to shake Tsunade until she had every detail before rushing off to find this surviving Uchiha, this stranger that could mean something, when for so long she had nothing; and suddenly Sakura dearly wished Naruto was there with her. He would have immediately started barraging the Hokage with the questions she dared not ask due to protocol. Somehow, the rules just never applied to Naruto.
Tsunade waited until Sakura composed herself again before continuing. It was hard to tell whether Kakashi was affected by the news; but judging by his obvious non-reaction; he was probably told before she arrived.
"Kakashi, you are familiar with the Outer World, correct?"
Kakashi raised his eyebrow, but answered with a firm, "Hai."
Tsunade nodded, expecting this, "Good, you can answer Sakura's questions later; for now I don't have time to give a thorough information session." She turned to speak directly to Sakura, "Summed up, there is a world beyond that of the Hidden Villages; and hundreds of years ago an extremely powerful barrier was put up to separate us. As far as I know, no one currently living knows exactly how it was done; however, the means to cross the barrier has survived. The village places the seal used to cross the barrier in our ANBU tattoos, just in case of emergency. So, naturally, it has become protocol to give ANBU members a basic overview." Tsunade's eyes flickered to Kakashi briefly before focusing back on Sakura. "However, what only a very few know, is that every couple of years we send a single ANBU past the barrier to conduct a reconnaissance mission on the situation in the Outer World." She paused, observing Sakura's expression as she absorbed one shocking revelation after another, then she shifted slightly to include Kakashi on the rest of the briefing. "Thirty years ago ANBU captain, Uchiha Hana, went rogue after spending an extended amount of time on one such reconnaissance mission. According to records, it was later discovered that she made some emotional connections on the other side of the barrier; and it was most likely that she defected to the Outer World. However, we had neither the means nor the inclination to conduct a proper investigation at the time."
Tsunade paused, her eyes glazing in remembrance. Probably remembering the situation of the time, thought Sakura, absently, as she internally fought to fit these new revelations into her current view of the world. She found it was easier to just memorize the facts without trying to believe. She could worry about thinking later.
Snapping out of her brief foray into the past, Tsunade's continued, seriously, "Our intelligence indicates that Uchiha Hana reached the Outer World, and started a family, that was subsequently wiped out, except for one boy. He is currently five years old, and is known to the Outer World as Harry Potter; they place their surname last. This mission is a race against time. We know that Itachi is on this boy's trail; but we don't know how close he is. So, your mission is to recover the boy and bring him here before Itachi finds him. The boy is only twenty-five percent Uchiha; but the possibility of the bloodline limit manifesting is still there. He must be recovered at all costs." She paused, eyeing them meaningfully before adding, "Dead or alive."
Sakura grimaced, she knew of course, why the dead body could be useful. While not preferable to having a sharingan user on their side; they may be able to figure out the eye's weaknesses through examination of an Uchiha body; and considering their current "enemies," that information could prove invaluable. She understood; but she didn't have to like it.
After that last order, Tsunade's whole countenance softened, "I know that Chuunin are not usually sent on S-class retrieval missions, Sakura; but with our village resources stretched the way they are, I could not spare my ANBU. However, if you feel that you will not be able to accomplish this mission, speak up now."
Put on the spot, Sakura reflexively glanced at her former sensei for guidance, only to receive a raised eyebrow. It seemed she had to decide for herself. But really, the choice was obvious. Banishing her shock and bewilderment to the back of her mind, Sakura straitened, found her resolve, and answered, "I will see this mission through Shishou." She hesitated, then pushed on, "But if I may, I would like to know how Potter-san is related to Sasu… to Uchiha Sasuke."
Tsunade quirked her lips and asked, wryly, "Do you really need to know that information for the mission?" She didn't wait for an answer, "Uchiha Hana was Fugaku's sister, so I suppose Harry would be the boy's cousin." She considered for a moment, then added, "Hana had a son named James, who then had Harry."
Sakura blinked in surprise at the close relation, then met Kakashi's eye in mutual understanding. This Harry Potter could mean Sasuke's salvation. They would retrieve him even at the cost of their lives.
"The other mission details are in the mission scroll, including a storage seal containing books on the culture and language you will be encountering. You will have an hour to prepare, then report to the mission center where a sealing expert will explain the transportation scroll you will be using. Good luck. Dismissed!"
Once her office was empty once again, Tsunade pulled out a blank sheet of paper and began writing, muttering to herself, "I hope you know what you're doing, Jiraiya."
Sakura's mind worked furiously as she packed her supplies for the extended mission, her hands going through the familiar motions as she pondered the numerous revelations of the day.
Somehow, the idea of an entire world outside the Hidden Villages made perfect sense. When she had learned about the Hidden Villages in the Academy, she had been more concerned with memorizing facts and getting perfect scores than thinking about common sense. Really, who ever heard of an ocean going on forever? It had to end somewhere. Then again, the immediate threat of the other Villages was far more compelling than some unknown land that may or may not exist.
She could take this in stride, memorize the information on the culture and language and move on.
It was the objective of her mission that was making her mind reel.
Sasuke had family! Of course it wasn't the family he had lost, but family nonetheless; and not some distant relative either, but a direct cousin! This could be just what they needed to convince Sasuke to come back home.
Sakura understood to an extent the reason why Sasuke left. Naruto had recounted some of what happened at the Valley of the End. She knew Naruto kept a lot of it to himself; and she wasn't sure she really wanted to know it all; but he did tell her about Itachi, and the way the man manipulated Sasuke into seeking revenge. Her hands clenched at the very thought, crumpling a shirt she was about to pack. The sick bastard! But after finding out, she understood what went wrong. Sasuke left because that damn seal Orochimaru gave him brought out the hunger for power Itachi drove into his psyche at the tender age of seven. Sasuke had always been competitive, always needed to be the best; but more than anything else, Sasuke wanted to be part of a family again.
Sakura hadn't truly understood that at the time. During that first meeting as Team Seven, when Sasuke professed to wanting to revive his clan in addition to killing "a certain man," all she had thought of was how much she wanted to help him accomplish the former. In her blind infatuation, she hadn't been able to see the darkness in him until it was too late. Sakura smiled to herself without humor. In the end, it had been Naruto who had understood, Naruto that saw the darkness in their friend and tried to bring him to the light; and it had been to Naruto that Sasuke confided his dark past.
Truly, she was such a fool. What was she to Sasuke? An annoyance? A useless teammate? While it was true that they had grown closer as a team; personally, Sasuke never knew her past her crush. Yet, she felt his absence like a dull ache in her heart. It pained her to think that he probably hadn't even thought of her since he left.
Before now, she had firmly believed that it would be Naruto who would convince Sasuke to return. The most she could have hoped for would be to help Naruto beat some sense into him. Now, she was given the responsibility of bringing Sasuke's cousin safely home. She could only pray that they got there in time; and that the knowledge of a living cousin was enough to wrest Sasuke from Orochimaru's clutches.
Slipping her pack onto her shoulders, Sakura made an internal vow; she would not fail, could not fail. A year ago she promised herself that she would become strong, would cease to the be the weak link of Team Seven. Now was her chance to prove how far she had come. She could not fail.