Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Combined Elements ❯ Different Thoughts ( Chapter 10 )

Combined Elements

 

Chapter 10: Different Thoughts

After a well deserved rest at the hotel, the group set out again. They had decided the night before, that they would retrace their steps partly before continuing in a new direction. The only thing they could do was search and wait for Orochimaru to attack again.

 

On the first day, everybody picked up the daily routine again. Saara continued to cook all the meals with the new supplies, Sakura took care of the rest of the camp, Naruto spent his time training and switching guard duties with Gaara and Kakashi. In the evening, Saara would go out for a walk with either Naruto or Gaara to accompany her. The weather had cleared up slightly as well. There were fewer blizzards as they travelled and the sky was clear of clouds almost everyday. The only stable element was the temperature, and even under the heavy clothing they wore, none of the travellers could suppress a shiver every now and then.

 

Saara had gotten her fighting clothes fixed in the village, so there was no longer a gash in her shirt sleeve. Along with that, she used some money from Kakashi to buy her own coat, boots, gloves, and hat. Sakura had shown particular interest in the style of Saara's fighting clothes, so Saara offered to let her examine them one night.

 

Sakura accepted the offer gladly. First she inspected the vest. There was nothing special about it except for the design on the back. Her fingers traced the blue water droplet that adorned the back in the middle of a brown circle. Saara explained, “That is my `family' symbol. Actually, I no longer remember who my family was, so an old man in the village where I stayed was kind enough to create an unofficial symbol for me. It is simple, but I like it anyway.” The vest itself was a light purple color to give some variation with the rest of the blue clothes. Sakura nodded in understanding. She didn't ask any questions about Saara's past anymore, since they were never answered. Saara chose herself when to reveal more about herself, and this suited Sakura just fine. She had come to enjoy Saara's company. The other girl was silent, had intelligence that matched Gaara, and her kindness almost matched Naruto.

 

Next Sakura inspected the pants. The legs fanned out, coming back together at the ankles. They were light blue in color, the same color as the sleeves on Saara's shirt. The shirt was what intrigued Sakura most. The main body was dark blue, and it only reached to right above the belly button. The sleeves were slightly transparent and fanned out like petals starting at the wrist. To keep the sleeves close to the arm, a small blue triangle reached out to wrap around the middle finger. It was a strange design that Sakura had never seen before, but it looked nice and she decided to look into the style when they were back in Konoha.

 

In the evening, Sakura settled down to read while Naruto and Kakashi stood guard. Saara stood up, put on her gloves and hat and went out for her usual walk. She knew that either Gaara or Naruto would follow, hopefully Gaara because she was in no mood to talk. Showing Sakura her clothes had brought Saara to ponder about her family. She knew that she was born in the hidden village of Mist, but after the Bijou had been sealed into her body, the village had kicked her out. She was still so young when they had brought her to a small fishing village far into Water country that she had no idea who her original parents were. The people of the village nicknamed her Saara Mizu, which she had used as a family name ever since.

 

At that point in thought, she felt a hand tap her shoulder. Gaara stood behind her, and when she was about to ask what was wrong, he held a finger over his mouth to indicate silence. Saara looked at her surroundings and realized they had gone much further than usual. Her ears picked up the sound of loud voices not too far away, and she understood why Gaara had interrupted her thoughts. Looking back at him, she nodded and they sneaked closer to where the voices came from.

 

Both of them reached the edge of the cliff they stood on without making any noise. A narrow valley stretched out below, its base covered in snow and ice. Some brush grew at the edges of the valley, protected from the harsh northern wind.

 

While Saara examined the surroundings more closely, Gaara was interested in the three men at one end of the valley. It was impossible to see any features since they were still far away and covered in immense, thick clothing. He could see that the men were huge both in height and weight. Gaara didn't spot any forehead protectors, but it was obvious that these three were ninjas from their graceful and careful movements.

 

“Let's get closer and spy on them for a short while. I'd like to know what they're up to. They might even give a clue as to the location of Orochimaru's village.” Gaara suggested. Saara nodded in response, and he noticed she was deep in thought.

 

Gaara shrugged and started moving down the cliff, to some thick bushes in the valley, near the men. They would have to make a large detour to get there without being noticed. Saara would probably follow as long as he didn't bother her line of thought. When he looked over his shoulder, it turned out he was right.

 

When they reached the bushes, both of them crouched and listened. The wind carried the whole conversation to their ears as if the three men were standing right next to them.

 

“Should we really do this?” A high-pitched voice whined. Saara flinched. It was hard to believe that one of those huge men could have a voice like that. “Kyu is right. We can still turn back without the boss noticing.” This voice was much lower than the last one. It seemed to belong to the biggest man of the three, but she couldn't tell for sure. “We came this far now didn't we? What is the point of turning back? Besides, think of the reward if we come back with three Jinchuuriki and tell the boss that we killed the other two?” It seemed this prospect brightened up the other two as they nodded. “You're right! Orochimaru will be proud!” The high voice rang out again. This time, Saara's fingers itched to apply some ice to that mouth. Gaara noticed it and smiled.

 

His mind had already been racing to figure out a plan. Saara had told them all that she didn't fight, and he wasn't about to force her. There was no doubt that he could handle the men, unless they were water users, which he hoped they weren't. Still, maybe he could get Saara to help out. “If I take them out, would you be willing to be handle our defence? I'm not asking you to fight, just protect us from harm.” He watched her expression slowly, hoping for a favourable answer.

 

Saara was rather surprised by his inquiry. She thought that people like these Leaf ninjas and Gaara were too good to be true. Everybody had always forced her to fight, or at least expected it from her. Now Gaara was actually asking nicely and twisting it in a way that she wouldn't have to attack. She supposed it was still fighting, but the way Gaara put it, defence sounded alright. After a slight hesitation, she nodded.

 

Without realizing it, Gaara breathed a sigh of relief. He turned back to the enemy, who were still hesitating and arguing. Slowly, so he wouldn't alert the enemy, Gaara's hand reached over his shoulder to pull out the cork in his gourd. Normally, he would force it out with sand, but now it was important to remain quiet. Some sand leaked out and spread apart. As individual grains, so as to remain unseen, they floated over to the three men.

 

Saara watched closely what Gaara did with the sand. For her, the grains were easily visible in the air, but the three men weren't paying much attention, so she wasn't worried. The sand disappeared again behind a bush on the other side of the men. After a few seconds, a life-like replication of both Saara and Gaara emerged from the bushes. Saara's eyes widened. She had never seen anything like this before. Could he actually make things so real from only sand? Either way, she resolved to try it with water the next evening.

 

The fake Gaara moved his hands in exactly the same way that Gaara was doing next to her. A large amount of sand emerged from the fake gourd to speed towards the three men. They had noticed the two fakes by now and were already in a position of defence. As the sand approached with amazing speed, Saara could hear one of them laugh. Both her and Gaara frowned, wondering what was so funny. Right before the sand reached them, the biggest of the group formed several seals. The snow behind the enemies melted, forming a giant snake. It wasn't nearly as powerful as Saara could make it, but it was water, and Gaara cursed under his breath as he saw it.

 

The snake shot forward, its mouth wide open, and seemed to swallow all the sand. While passing through the mouth, the sand fell to the ground useless. The high pitched voice sounded again. “You can't win from us! We know your weakness, and the girl is useless. She wouldn't fight to save herself!”

 

Gaara decided that he couldn't win this without the help of Kakashi or Naruto. Three water ninjas was too much in an environment made completely of ice and snow. He still remembered the last time he got stuck in the ice and was in no way willing to repeat it. The sand clones would last until they got back up the cliff, so retreating was the best option.

 

As soon as he stepped back, Saara put a hand on his shoulder, signalling him to stop. He looked up, confused, and then saw her eyes. They were alight with fury. She flicked her hand, and soon afterwards, one of the men stumbled over the ice. It was the one with the strange voice, and Gaara could see him tugging at the ice firmly plastered over his mouth. “I thought you didn't fight.”

 

Saara shrugged and responded. “That voice can make anybody want to fight, and I'm not useless.” She said the last part firmly, as if confirming it with herself as much as Gaara. The fake sand dolls collapsed, and useable sand shot back to Gaara. The two remaining enemies seemed rather surprised, but quickly resumed their fighting stance. This time, both of them created snakes, while their third partner was still attempting to remove ice from his mouth in the background.

 

Both Saara and Gaara stepped out of the bushes. The anger in her eyes had been so deep, that Gaara decided to stay out of the fight. Besides, there wasn't much he could do. Saara would probably finish this quickly, and that feeling was confirmed as she raised an eyebrow at the two snakes. “Is that all you can do?” Without any hand movements, a huge water dragon formed before her. Gaara instantly recognized it as a slightly smaller version of the dragon they had fought on the boat. Only this time, the eyes weren't shining with a bright blue light. It took only five minutes for Saara's dragon to defeat both snakes. She ended up choking the three men by sending a small amount of water down the wrong tube.

 

Evening was falling quickly by now and it was almost too dark to see properly. Gaara and Saara ran the rest of the way back to camp, where Saara went straight to bed, and Gaara told the other about the fight.

 

Neither of them were in a very talkative mood. Gaara was frustrated. At last he had taken the chance to do a mission, instead of the constant paperwork. Finally he was able to battle again, and now he was completely useless. Orochimaru simply had to send a mass of water ninjas to fight, and his sand would be worth nothing anymore. Normally, water ninjas were still relatively easy to defeat, but in these surroundings, it became impossible. He never liked to rely on others, and this wasn't easy for him.

 

Saara on the other hand was confused. That night she simply tossed and turned, rethinking all of her morals and ideas. Fighting to protect herself and Gaara wasn't so bad. She actually liked Gaara and considered him almost to be a friend. Certainly, her actions would have been no different with Sakura, Naruto, or Kakashi. They had been kind to her and Gaara hadn't even expected her to fight. Sakura had taken care of her every time Saara's stomach acted up. Kakashi had even trusted her to borrow money. Everything she had believed now turned out to be wrong. Naruto had been right when he said that people should fight to protect those important to them. From now on, she wasn't going to be useless to anybody.

 

 

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this FanFic except Saara Mizu and some of the minor enemies. The rest belong to Masashi Kishimoto.