Reanimation

Chapter Seventeen

He knew he should of given himself more time to think before acting hastily. He had acted impulsively, way too impulsively. But hell, he had always been impulsive. Can't change that now, can he?

Now his thoughts could not quite keep up; his attacker was just too quick. He had however, two arms while his attacker only had one. Naruto snickered to himself. Nevertheless, with the determination his opponent was showing, he knew a split-second distraction would send him crashing to the ground.

"Damn it, Sasuke," he groaned right after he had barely blocked yet another of the dark-haired man's several attempts at aiming on his face. "Let me speak first!"

"You can speak now," Sasuke muttered between gritted teeth, his face so hot he could almost feel his ears burning.

Naruto just hissed in disbelief at the sarcasm.

Standing just several feet away from them was another chakra signature which he recognized immediately. He wondered how much this mischievous little boy had grown now. If only he could reach out...

Naruto's side suddenly hit a huge boulder as he was thrown back forcefully. The split-second distraction did send him crashing to the ground. It took him a few seconds to realize where the blow made contact — the throbbing first started from the left side of his jaw, but soon enough the whole side of his face was numb. I was lucky, he thought. Sasuke hit him with just a playful blow.

He looked at his rival who was already straightening himself. Where Naruto had expected to see either rage or an absence of emotion, he saw the look of remorse and sadness within Sasuke's eyes, which refuse to meet his. However, this did not last long. The expression on his face seemed to light up as he fixed the creases of his dark cloak.

"Finally, I got that out. I never thought that moment would come," Sasuke confidently uttered, inhaling deeply with a small but noticeable smile on his face. "Welcome back, dead last," he said, stretching out his only arm toward his blonde friend.

Overcome with feelings of familiarity that could be traced back to his genin days, Naruto grinned as he reached for his teammate's hand.

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Traveling alongside two people who possessed the Byakugan made Sakura feel safe.

Behind them, Hinata constantly checked their surroundings and kept an eye out on anyone who would possibly follow them. So far there had been none, but she wasn't going to let her guard down.

Sakura was thankful Hinata was not the type of person inclined to ask questions. The young girl behind her though, was an entirely different story.

Himawari, with her purple hair flowing gracefully over her shoulders, followed Sakura closely. Sakura hardly looked behind her, but she knew the girl was glancing at her every now and then with curious eyes. She was sure that if she looked back, she would be met with pleading eyes, asking for answers, or at least a reassurance about the young girl's brother. Sakura kept her eyes on the track. She could not guarantee them anything, so she had better remain quiet and unsuspecting... at least for now.

"Six miles, two on our right," Hinata suddenly remarked.

Sakura immediately knew what she meant. Hinata just sensed two shinobis near their path.

"Moving?" Sakura asked.

"No," Hinata replied.

Sakura sighed in relief. "Best ignore them now, unless they follow," she said, knowing that getting involved in a fight would just be an utter waste of time and energy. Hinata silently agreed.