Ascension (Sequel to Ruination)

[16] Reconnaissance

Sai.

That name. It seemed so familiar to her. Like it was in a distant memory that she had pushed out of her mind.

Yuzuki pushed away from him, landing a few feet away, her eyes narrowed on him. He wore ninja gear, and a Leaf Headband around his forehead. If he was Leaf shinobi then why would he attack them? She wondered. Her comrades soon found their location and appeared next to her.

"Who are you?!" Shouted Naruto.

"My name is Sai," said boy spoke, his lips stretching into that eerily fake smile once again.

"What are you doing here?" Yuzuki snapped, tired of his obvious stalling.

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

Yuzuki clenched her fists, her teeth grinding together. It took all of her to hold Naruto back from attacking the mysterious new arrival. After all, he was a leaf shinobi and she couldn't let something like this make the rest of the village distrust her even more.

"Leave now before we change our minds about letting you off easy," the Hatake ordered.

"Very well," there was that creepy, forced smile again.

He disappeared without a trace in the next moment. Fast, very much like Shisui of the Body Flicker Technique. The girl turned to her comrades, seeing the lingering suspicion of Sai in their eyes.

"It's okay guys, we'll get our answers soon, I'm sure."

~

For days Yuzuki's mind was reeling from the sudden appearance of the mysterious ninja. Supposedly, he was a Leaf Ninja. But, she had never seen the boy before.

In her free time, between visiting her father and training, she would follow him around. It was extremely difficult, seeing as how he was a highly trained ninja.

She had figured out that he was no ANBU member. He was ANBU Root, an organization that should have been disbanded a long time ago.

It explained his sudden appearance in their lives, even most knew the identities of ANBU members. Root members were always kept hidden, only emerging from the shadows when Danzo Shimura needed something that he could not get from the Council of Elders.

Village officials despised the man, he was always involved in suspicious or unethical activities. Collaborating with Orochimaru and influencing the Third Hokage to order Itachi and Shisui Uchiha to betray their clan, to name a few.

He was the same man that kidnapped her and tortured her, all to steal the Teruo Clan's secret weapons—the two demons made from nature chakra sealed inside of her.

One day, when she had lost track of Sai, she realized she had become to confident and must have given her presence away. She was getting rusty, she figured.

It had been at least six months since she had tailed someone for the Akatsuki. What was worse was that she didn't have Itachi there to help her. He had a sharp intuition unlike anyone she had ever met. He could read people really well, and as a result, was always a step ahead of their target.

The Hatake grumbled to herself as she kicked a stone on her path to the Hospital. Even after tailing Sai all that time, she could not figure out how she knew that name.

It was a drag. A memory of him must have been pushed deep into her psyche. Somewhere she probably should not go digging into. That was not going to stop her though.

She was going to find out why he was so familiar.

~

When Yuzuki entered her father's hospital room, she was met with a string of questions on if she'd made up with Neji yet and if they were together yet. The answer was the same. It was a hard 'No'.