Out of Place

Chapter2

Sakura had been meditating for about five hours when she heard something in the bushes. She threw a kunai towards the bush hoping to lure out whatever creature was hiding there. Her emerald orbs picked up on what looked like a deer running away.  Her sharp eyes softened slightly as she watched the animal disappear. She retrieved her kunai before leaping back into the tree she had previously been in. Sakura would have to conserve as many of her weapons and supplies as she could, after all, if she wasn't in the shinobi nations she had no idea if she'd be able to get the same equipment here that she could back home. Leaning against the trunk of the tree, Sakura went back to meditating hoping to recover as much of her chakra as she could.

After another hour and a half, Sakura became restless and ended up scouting the area. She hopped from one branch to another, flying through the trees, doing flips as she flew through the air, reaching for the next branch. Just before the sun began to rise Sakura sensed the man wake up. She stopped on the branch she had just landed on and watched as the man sat up. 

He grabbed the food he hadn't eaten the night before and started to eat the left overs. Sakura had to avert her eyes until he had finished, she may have been trained to go days without food but it didn't help that she had been in a war and was now stuck in a foreign land with only an incredibly loud and incredibly annoying voice in her head for company- she didn't count the mysterious stranger as company since he didn't know of her presence. Really, she should be let off the hook. She had been exerting herself for days without sleep because she was constantly on guard, ready for an attack at any moment. The closest thing she had had to sleep was the several hours of unconsciousness that she had the previous day. Although even after she awoke from being unconscious she still felt exhausted.

After a few minutes the man finished his food and got rid of any evidence of his stay. Sakura had to admit he was pretty skilled at covering his tracks, although he was definitely not at the level of a well trained shinobi. 

'Maybe he's trained in hunting?' The ninja wondered as she watched him hoist his backpack onto his shoulders. He tied the sheath around his waist, making sure his sword was secured before he started walking. After a moment of hesitation, Sakura made sure he was far enough that he wouldn't hear or see her before she followed silently behind him.

He travels all day and Sakura notices that he was extremely paranoid, he kept on doubling back and checking his surroundings, the kunoichi knew that this wasn't a bad trait, in fact, it was an incredibly useful trait to have, except it made her job of following him more challenging and Sakura took a moment to be thankful for the cover that the trees provided. After several hours Sakura began to get bored. She created a shadow clone who used a henge to turn into a replica of a squirrel that was roaming around on a nearby branch. The clone then scampered off after the hooded man. 

'Now that my clone is keeping up with that man I need to make a game plan..' After several moments of thinking through what she should do Sakura decided that the Hiraishin might help her get around this unknown land. Thanks to being Tsunade's student she had access to many of the Nidaime's techniques and jutsus. She had spent hours studying all his different techniques and their uses but she had never had time to test out the Hiraishin.

She settled into the branch of the tree she was perched on and took out a scroll from her pouch. She summoned the plain tags from inside the scroll as well as writing utensils. Then she put away the scroll and took out four kunai.

'Dang it, why didn't I think this through? There's nowhere near enough room to make Hiraishin seals in a tree.' She face palmed internally as she tried to stop her writing utensils from falling off the branch. The medic-nin watched in shock as the tree shifted to provide more room for her. A branched from the tree next door reached out in front of her acting as a table for her to make her seals on. Sakura blinked once, twice, thrice.

"Err, thank you?" Sakura said hesitantly before placing the writing utensils as well as the plain tags and several kunai on the branch. She carefully took the ink board, dripping some water. Then she rubbed the stick in smooth circles to prepare the ink. Once it was thick the pink haired kunoichi put the stick away to pep her brushes. She had studied the two designs by the Nidaime and Yondaime Hokage; in energy output and design Senju Tobirama had the upper hand. So she used a thicker brush to draw the Nidaime's simple yet elegant design. She bit into her thumb and let the wound hover over the ink, only letting one drop fall into the ink. The wound healed without Sakura paying it any attention. With a steady hand, she dipped the bush into the ink, swirling it around to make sure the consistency was perfect for the application of the technique. Her chakra glowed warmly in the special ink, it flared and she smirked as she eyed it. It was ready. So, with delicate strokes and a carful, precise movements she drew the two circles and the various lines that make up for the variations for the Hiraishin's activation seal on each tag.

She laid out each tag as she completed them, letting them dry off before she pushed her chakra into the seals. f she activated the technique before the ink dried the space-time warp would inexact. She put small stones that she had found nearby over each tag, keeping them in place as she moved onto the next one. She finally completed all eight and couldn't help but smile fondly at the thought of Naruto when he started learning Fuinjutsu. When the topic was brought up he would talk nonstop about all the different types of seals and what they were used for. Shaking her head she focused back on the papers before her. She placed both of her hands over the tag she completed first, creating a line between herself and the ink. With hand signals that weren't visible to naked eye Sakura grit her teeth and had to hold in a gasp as the seal glowed brightly. It reaches out, ready, and Sakura breathes deeply. 

Sakura pockets the first and moves onto the next one. She repeated the process over and over again until she started to feel slightly dizzy from the large amount of chakra she had used. She had managed to finish six of them and decided that she wouldn't push her reserves anymore then she had. Giving the activation a rest, she decided to focus on prepping her kunai with the tags. Taking out her scroll from her pouch she takes out a set of special glue and brushes, specifically for the tags. 

The glue was easy to use and she had no problem with dipping a brush in water and then glue before she proceeded to spread it over all six recently activated tags. She blew on the tag adding a bit of chakra to activate the glue, then she wrapped it carefully around the handle of one of her kunai. If she allowed for even a single crease to mess up the design then the jutsu wouldn't work. With a surgeon's care, she spread all six tags on kunai's hilt, managing for all of them to wind up perfectly spread and even.

'Guess I have my role as a medic-nin to thank for that.' She thought as she rubbed her eyes tiredly. Activating the seal took nearly all of her attention so she was grateful for the tree's protection. If any enemies from back home had been nearby then they definitely would have noticed her.

She turned her attention to packing away her possessions, putting the kunai with the newly made Hiraishin seals wrapped round them in a special department in her weapons pouch. She patted the branch that had been acting as her table in thanks and watched as it went back to where it was originally. 

'Maybe the trees here are sentient?' She wondered. The pink haired kunoichi stood up and stretched before looking up at the sky. She had spent a few hours working on the Hiraishin seals but she knew that it would be worth it. She zoned in on her clone's presence and was rather impressed to see how far the mysterious man had travelled. After several missions of escorting civilians to various places, Sakura had a pretty good idea of how slowly they travelled. This man, however, appeared to be quite quick.

'I guess that's for the best since I shall be tagging along with him.'  She had decided whilst she was meditating that it would be a good idea to get more information on where she was and having a guide would probably be a good idea. However, she had also decided that she would be following him from the shadows. After all, that was what ninjas were best at.

A/N: I used a lot of Hiei's Cute Girl's description of Sakura creating the Hiraishin seals but I did change things here and there. 

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