夢

Chapter Seventeen

team sakura

...---...

[FlashBack to six months ago]

Akira jolted awake. Remnants of the dream were recollected inside her head, playing over and over again.

Sai.

Ino.

Neji.

Hinata.

Kiba.

TenTen.

Lee.

They were all dead--they passed during the two years of the war. Neji died first, then Sai, then Ino, Kiba, TenTen, Lee, and lastly, Shino.

Hinata Hyuuga was still alive then.

"I promise Naruto, I will stay by your side until this war is over," the Hyuuga had vowed. "I will not give up on you. I will keep living."

Sometimes promises had to be broken.

Sometime in her dream, three people had been added to the list of dead people: the three chunin on her new team. While unconscious, her mind went back--as far as her genin days.

She remembered it. There was a funeral. The biggest coffin there was of the Third's. Others were surrounding it.

She remembered walking around the maze of coffins, gazing at the names. She remembered feeling the engraved letters on the stone--wondering, if she had been stronger, could at least one of them had been alive?

And then there was the name. Hiroki Hyuuga. She passed by his coffin. Tatsuya Aburame. Mireya--the girl's coffin sparked interest in her.

What was the girl's clan? Did she have one? What was she like?

Too bad the dead couldn't answer questions.

But maybe this time was the exception.

...---...

"Akira-sensei," Mireya spoke up once the jounin arrived at the training grounds (somehow, the trio managed to get there before she did). "You look a bit pale. Did you sleep well?"

Akira was surprised her student cared about her health--why wouldn't she? She never asked that about Kakashi when they first met, but of course, he had a horrible impression--but answered nonetheless. "Just a little jet lag. I recently got back from a long mission."

That peaked Mireya's interest. "Oh? You went on missions before? Why did you become a sensei?"

Akira struggled to find an excuse. "That? After that long mission, I just decided that doing...those missions...are not fit for me. So I decided to teach." The three of them nodded.

Akira clapped her hands to clear the subject. "Lets get to the test. I will get right to it. Here, in this forest, I will make five clones to go inside it. Your goal is to get from this end of the forest, to the other end, by the next morning."

As Akira described the test, she watched in amusement as the chunin were frozen. When she clapped her hands again, they slightly flinched. "How many missions have you been on?"

"Ninety D-Ranks, forty C-Ranks, and three B-Ranks." Sakura nodded at Tatsuya's response.

"Then you should be able to get through this test by the deadline." Akira created five clones before turning to them. "I'll be waiting on the other side." With that, she shun-shinned away.

"...Well..."

...---...