Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Ask No Questions and Hear No Lies ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

I'm hoping I can do a good job on this one. I'm actually very unhappy with my writing style. It seems flat. Well, anyway, I guess I'm at least happy I can put the idea into words. Enjoy.

To answer a question: This is set somewhere in Shipuuden but I don't plan on following the original story other than clothing and such. It's no in any particular chapter of the Naruto series, just somewhere in Shipuuden.

Summary: Orochimaru has proposed Sasuke go to Konoha to deliver some special packages. Has Orochimaru lost it and is Sasuke really going to follow through with it?

Ask No Questions and Hear No Lies
Chapter 2
By Setryochi


Sakura rose yawning. She clumsily felt the little beeping box on her night stand until it became quiet. Rubbing her eyes she started scooting out of bed. Smacking her tongue against the roof of her mouth she wondered if other girls, more perfect girls, awoke with rancid morning breath. She grimaced scratching her head before finally getting up to head to the bathroom.

"Oh that's nice," she cooed splashing water onto her face. Every morning she made sure to wash her face, brush her teeth, and put a light conditioner in her hair. Even if it was short and she wasn't as interested in being exceptionally beautiful, she still wanted to be cute.

Her outfit was simple, her shirt was still maroon but was now sleeveless and she continued to wear black shorts covered by a pink four way split loin cloth. She slide on black opened toed boots, then tugged up her pink elbow guards, and finally tightened the fit of her black leather gloves. Adjusting her forehead protector she gave one last look in the mirror before heading out to meet Kakashi-sensei and Naruto.


"Kakashi-sensei is late," Naruto whined kicking a rock.

"What do you expect? He's always late, it's time to accept that, Naruto." Sakura's voice was strong and commanding. She was so much more comfortable with herself. She rarely had to scream and rant in her head, she could say how she felt now. The kunoichi was confident and no longer self conscience about her forehead.

Silently appearing with a cloud of disrupted dust under his feet Hatake Kakashi stood with his hand behind his head, "Aa, sorry I'm late, there was a little old woman-"

"We've heard this one before! Give it up already!" Naruto ranted.

Kakashi sighed, "Let's get going." With that they all left to the Hokage's office.


"What?!" Naruto stomped, "You've got to be kidding me! These missions are all kid missions!"

Kakashi sighed and slumped slightly knowing he would catch hell for Naruto's out burst.

Sakura rubbed her head, "Shut up Naruto! I'm so sorry Tsunade-sama" she bowed with her hands out emphasizing her sincerity.

"Naruto!" Tsunade stood slamming her hands into her desk making the room shake a little. "These are the only missions available. As a ninja you will accept, or I will give them to everyone else and you can go without being paid!"

Naruto quieted and dejectedly put his arms behind his head, "Fine..."

"Naruto, as shinobi we must accept and carry out our missions to the fullest of our ability. Even the most insignificant ones. If you want to become Hokage, you must understand that." Kakashi took the scroll and the three set off to complete their many tasks.

Kakashi scratched his head, "Let's see... First we have to help weed Yoshigo-san's fields."

Both Sakura and Naruto sighed, this was going to be a long day.

Naruto grimaced looking at his hands, dirty and red with blisters. Sakura glanced over and noticed, she was suddenly very thankful of her own leather gloves. She bent over to pull another weed and drop the waste into the bucket strapped to her back.

"Be careful! If you pick those up the wrong way spores will fall and they'll just regrow back by the hundreds!" Yoshigo-san shouted from his seated position on the porch. "Damn kids these days..." He mumbled.

"Aa, sorry!" Sakura waved a little embarrassed that she hadn't done it the right way.

The sun was beating down hard, it was already almost noon and they still had three more missions. Because Naruto had complained Tsunade thought that if they were too easy, than Team Kakashi could finish twice as many small missions, so she piled them on. Even Kakashi was a little irritated, but the simple missions allowed him to focus on the latest Icha Icha Paradise.

When they finished the field, which wasn't just some backyard garden by the way, they stopped for some riceballs and Sakura administered some simple first aid to Naruto's worn hands. "Naruto, you should be more careful, these cuts from all the spurs could get infected."

Naruto grinned, "Thank you." He was more than a little happy to technically hold hands with Sakura. She smiled, "it's my job."


It had been a long day for sure. Even if the jobs were small and not dangerous in the least they were back breaking real jobs that people did everyday. Farming, helping run a local hot spot restaurant that was short staffed for the day. Being a ninja was kind of like working for a temp agency sometimes.

Naruto grinned, "I'll see you tomorrow, Sakura-chan."

Sakura nodded, "Mm."

Naruto, still with energy, ran home to eat some Bowl Ramen. Sakura walked with less enthusiasm and headed in the direction of her new apartment. She wanted to clean up and refresh herself before going to the forest for some special training. Tsunade-sama had ordered Sakura to go find several different medicinal herbs, including some that could only be found after the sun went down. The training was to teach her to find necessary herbs even in darkness. And while this wasn't a dangerous situation, it would make it a little easier to recognize. Part of this mission was to bring back the herbs, and successfully preserve them for use later, these would make up a sort of utility belt for missions.

Sakura massaged her right shoulder feeling stiff, a trip to the local salon would be nice. She sighed seemingly hopeless with lack of time. Her shower would be quick tonight.

She was quick to stipe down peeling her shirt over her head and dropping it on the floor. Her bra stuck to her breasts, even after she unfastened the back, she peeled that away as well. Her clothes piled on the floor one by one until all that was left was her forehead protector. Untying it she rubbed her head vigorously with her fingers ruffling her hair. She looked in the mirror, forever fascinated by the red lines and perfect imprints of the lining of her clothing left on her cream colored skin. She twisted to look at her back side, the perfect print of a thong stared back at her. She mused over it before finally stepping into the shower.

The water was warm and tickled as it soaked her hair. She could feel drizzles of water running down her scalp which gave her goose-bumps. Her nipples hardened also and she shivered. She rubbed away the little bumps and reached for her favorite shampoo. It was mango scented and made her hair soft and shiny. She lathered her hair and scrubbed making sure to clean every inch before rinsing it all out leaving her hair smelling citrus-ee. She lathered up a poof and cleansed her body scrubbing her face and behind her ears, she didn't miss a single spot.

Finishing her shower it was a record ten minutes (on average it would have been 15 to 20). Her hair was wrapped in a towel and her body had already been dried. She dropped her towel and wrapped herself in a soft pink yukata, it fell to her knees and the hem was lined in maroon flowers. She tied it closed with a maroon sash. She rubbed her arms and felt comfortable, her mother had made this for her before she left home. It was made for summer, it was light and airy.
She hummed a tune while she undid her towel letting damp locks fall over her face. She discarded the towel and began brushing her hair. It was so short it didn't have an knots so she just brushed it smooth, she then clipped her hair out of her face with some simple white butterfly clips. She smiled at how the side part she combed in made her look smart and more mature. Her smile faltered briefly, it had been years and everyone was older now.

Sakura waved to the guards at the gate as she passed by into the darkness outside. Tsunade had already informed the guards for the night that Sakura would be going outside of the village walls for a few hours so they let her pass with not problem. Tsunade also planned to check the logs to see how much time Sakura would take getting the list of herbs.

The further away from the village gates she got, the darker her surroundings became. She hefted her woven basket on her side and continued. While she didn't expect to run into anything dangerous, she still packed a few kunai just in case.

The night was cool and the moon was only half full. It was especially dark because of it and so finding the herbs required knowing enough to find them with smell and touch. She could of course make out shadows and could see which plants were lighter in color, but for deeper parts of the forest she would rely on touch and smell alone.

Along the main road she knew Agrimonia parviflora was common. Agrimony was tall and slender, light green with yellow flowers up it's stalk. It was easily spotted and she soon cut a bundle and wrapped it in string before placing the lemony scented plant in her basket.

Next on her list was a herb called pokeweed. Even if the name sounded harmless, Sakura knew better. Un-cooked and this innocent looking plant was poisonous causing vomiting and diarrhea. Sakura headed further towards the brush, the deeper in she got the harder it was to see. She began to feel around for a tall stalky plant. She was expecting large 5 x 3 inch leaves with a stalk full of berries. Crouched down she waddled a little placing her hands on various brush. Finding a wide smooth leaf she followed it to it's base where she found a thick stalk, climbing her fingers upward she could feel little miniature berries and almost jumped for joy.

Sakura was finding this easier than she originally thought it would be. She ripped a leaf and sniffed taking in it's scent. "This is it!" She cut some stalks and tied them together before putting them in her basket.

Placing her finger on her cheek she thought about the next herb: Xia Ku Cao. This special herb was treated like a heal-all. Sakura found this one to be the most interesting because it is so versatile. Sakura was about to begin the search for the purple flowered herb but a faint presents startled her. She stood still, her heart was pounding in her ears.

"Stay calm, it may not be dangerous at all." She told herself in her mind. "Wait it out, pick some more herbs and concentrate on finding their location." Sakura faked casual searching as her mind wrapped itself around the possibility that she should get back to the village quickly. She began to head in the direction of Konoha gates all the while placing her hands in the bushes around her blindly, no longer looking for medicinal herbs.

It felt like something was creeping up on her. She was shivering as if the forest had suddenly grown cold with frost. This person wasn't a friend she assumed and with one hand still holding the basket her other hand crept up her thigh to the kunai pouch attached.

It seemed like it was darker now and she cursed herself for feeling so panicked. She couldn't remember the last time she had been alone like this. She turned to her left quickly, she could have sworn she heard her name. She looked around but all she could see was shadows upon shadows of trees and foliage.

"Hah!" She huff-ed dropping her basket and grabbing the wrist of whoever put their hand on her shoulder. At the same time she pulled out a kunai and slashed at the figure. Her kunai connected but the figure vanished and a log fell to the ground. She looked around trying to see again, "Who are you?" She couldn't help but think about making a mad dash to the village.

There was silence except for a low chuckle. Sakura held her breath, the figure was male. From the sound of it he was standing nearby, maybe ten feet behind her.

Sakura began to concentrate chakra to her right fist. "I said, who are you? What do you want?" She was frustrated and still not calming down from her panic.

There was another low sound, something of a "hm" just before Sakura felt it. She turned quickly as the air around her moved alerting her. She dodged an attack and counter by swinger her fist in an upper cut that she turned and swung to her left. The attacker leapt away just in time for Sakura to hit a tree and smash the trunk in. Had it been her full strength the tree would no longer be in Konoha Forest anymore.

Recovering from the shock of hitting the tree Sakura's breath hitched. A warm body pressed against her back and cold, thin steel against her throat. She didn't dare breath.

"Sakura..." His voice was so deep, it was so calm, so monotone. It was soothing in her ear.

"Who.. Who are you?"


End of chapter two! Woot, I kind of had fun with this one. I was a little upset though. In the middle the power went out and I lost a half a page of work. Don't worry though, everything intended to be here is here. Stay tuned for the next chapter!.