The Predator and the Prey (Naruto)

Chapter Eleven: Kidnapped

Kidnapped

***

     "Good job, Sasuke." A silver-haired man suddenly appeared beside them, wearing his usual eye smile. Naruto let out a surprised gasp as his chest pounded furiously.

"Sensei, we have to tell you something." Sasuke found the right words even before the blond could speak. Kakashi's face turned serious as the second match commenced, however his attention was drawn to his students while the audience watched the battle.

"Something wrong?" he asked as his uncovered eye observed the students' expressions.

   Almost in a whisper but still audible, the Uchiha spoke. "Sakura is... missing, Kakashi-sensei. She's been kidnapped." He confessed as his breathing became heavy in absolute worry and fear.

     But instead of having their teacher burst in panic and anger, he simply averted his attention to the match while placing his hands inside his pockets.

He looked calm, to say the least.

Naruto frowned at that rather than to get pleased. "Kakashi-sensei, don't you understand what Sasuke just said? We need your help, our teammate is missing!" He said through gritted teeth.

Sasuke didn't want the blond to lose his cool. Not here with this match on-going, not now wherein a lot of people are with them, and not in front of their respective teacher. He was still older and was still part of the group so there still must be, at least, a tiny ounce of respectfulness in his words.

Still, he'd be lying if he said that he's not annoyed or irritated. He was masking his confusion with the usual calm and collected composure, however, he too had his eyebrows scrunched towards their teacher's actions.

"Kakashi-sensei..."

Naruto's second attempt to speak was cut off when Kakashi pointed downwards, referring to the battle on-going. The match was between two girls from different villages.

"Look at them," he said. "Doesn't that make you satisfied?"

With a small crease on their foreheads and a confusion-filled face, they averted their eyes to the two ladies. A brown-haired girl was currently getting beated to a pulp by her opponent, a black-haired girl. The brunette showed no special techniques, she only had clever strategies hiding underneath her sleeves. Meanwhile, the other performed a lot of handseals, making the former fall back.

The brown-headed female charged towards her opponent with a kunai, jumping backwards whenever the latter would attempt to blow fire towards her. The next thing happened so fast; the brunette fell on her back, groaning in pain while the darker haired girl approached her. The black headed lady's hands suddenly turned to a shade of red, colliding them to the brunette's small wrists who only screamed in total pain and heat. She felt her wrists burning with the other girl's touch; she was indeed a powerful fire-user.

The brunette hung her head low, a few strands of her hair and bangs covering her pale face. The raising and lowering of her chest was barely noticeable, her wrists stayed behind her back while she was on her knees. The girl was numb.

With a satisfied smirk, the black-haired girl walked to her, palms still red like fire. She kneeled in front of the other, grabbing her face harshly. She ran her heated index finger across her face, living marks. She wanted her opponent to suffer, she was enjoying herself.

However, in a blink of an eye, a kunai charged against her from the back. Through her pheriperal vision, she saw the brunette's copy from her Kage Bunshin Jutsu. Blood dripped from her slightly opened mouth as she distanced herself from the brunette. A collison of pain roamed around her system. She was already tired due to the techniqued she performed and her energy was totally drained the moment she received a deep bruise from the sharp kunai.

The black-haired girl fell back while the other stood up. Hayate announced her as the winner of the match.

Sasuke and Naruto's eyes widened a fraction at the intense scene. Kakashi folded his arms without turning to look at them.

"Listen, the two of you," he said after reassuring himself that it was only his students who would hear him. "Do not think lowly of Sakura. She is your teammate. Your friend. She is strong. The moment you said that she is missing, I already knew who is capable of taking her away, and as much as I want to escape this level and find her--I can't. As a teacher and your leader, I am incharge of you in any circumstances but right now--I am not just your sensei. I am one of Konoha's teachers and everyone in here is my student. It's our responsibility to keep you all safe. Besides, I am guessing that you have no track. We can't go after her recklessly. I need to protect her from Orochimaru, but I need to protect the two of you from him, too."

"Sometimes we just can't see people's abilities because we overpower them... but sometimes, they can beat us in the most simple and easiest way." He added.

      The two didn't know how Kakashi knew Orochimaru but his words lit a fire inside them. There was hope to bring her back--just have faith.

    Next up, Hayate announced the third battle. "Next battle is between Shino Aburame and Zaku Abumi! Please go down here at the center."

      Zaku was apparently a sound nin. He actually just had one functional arm, but he bet he could win regardless. "Begin!" Hayate coughed. And so, the match began.

***

      Her breathing hitched and became heavier with each second passing. Her hands were behind her back and she could barely move her body. The memory was still crystal clear inside her mind--she was kidnapped.

         "Finally awake, I see." An unfamiliar voice greeted her and she tilted her head. The male pushed his glasses up to the bridge of his nose, "you don't have to worry so much though, we're still here in the forest of Death."

         "I have no intention of chatting with you. Just tell me why tied up! Who are you and where's that snake man?!" She fumed in anger despite having a nervous feeling on the pit of her stomach. She was close to the area of the preliminaries, but was hidden so that people wouldn't see her.

        "This is an order from Orochimaru-sama. I must obey." Kabuto Yakushi replied, as he stared down at Sakura. He was confused, truth to be told. Why would Orochimaru kidnap a girl? A girl who looks useless and weak. Powerless. He should've just kidnap Sasuke or Naruto, that would be mote understandable in his perspective.

         "What's your name?" Sakura asked in a calmer tone.

         "Kabuto. Kabuto Yakushi." he replied. "You're Sakura Haruno, right?"

        This time, she didn't respond. As much as possible, she didn't want him to know more of her especially since he was working under Orochimaru.

        While Kabuto and the sound nins are exceptions, no one knew that Orochimaru was watching the preliminaries in a disguise. What exactly was he thinking? Why would he go for Sakura Haruno?

***

      Back at the match, Shino commanded a multitude of insects to attack Zaku from behind. Zaku then reveals that he actually can use both of his hands. Unfortunately, it was too late. The insects had blocked the tubes in Zaku's arms, making Shino the winner of the round.

      "Shino Aburame is the winner!" Hayate announced. And that didn't even caused the former to sweat.

      Naruto sighed as he anticipated for the preliminaries to be over. He wanted to save Sakura already...

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published++ may 2014

edited / revised++ feb 12, 2016, 4:18PM