Woot! Woot! New story that popped into my head! I will still continue my other ones, just at a much slower pace. Thanks for reading!
Summary: After a mission, Sasuke, Neji, Naruto, Shikamru, Sakura, Tenten, Hinata and Ino are given mysterious powers. What they find out later is that they are reliving a legend that happened thousands of years ago. Their entire world changes after a single secret is revealed. The destiny of shinobi is up to them. Rated T for Teen. Usual pairings.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. Why would anyone think I would? I know I deserve it though… KIDDING!
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Blessings or Curses
Chapter 1
8 of Konoha's best Anbu stumbled through the gates to the Hokage's tower. Only a moment ago they retrieved a scroll from a strange temple in the north of Konoha's border.
They had fought many missing-nin on the way there and back, but once the stepped into the temple, each shinobi felt refreshed with a strange sense of power. The power was drained from them once they left for Konoha, yet there was an odd throbbing feeling in their stomachs that sapped all their energy.
The Anbu members stood strong and reported their mission to Tsunade, but every hour a shinobi who went to the temple fell unconscious and by now they were all in a coma.
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Tsunade eyed the profiles of the fallen shinobi carefully. Although she was the best medic-nin in Konoha, she couldn't figure out why or how this had happened.
She flipped through the first folder once again and reviewed it cautiously.
Name: Uchiha Sasuke
Age: 20
Height: 6'2
Weight: 140 lbs.
Shinobi Status: Konoha ANBU Captain
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Sharingan, Chidori, Adept at Katon Jutsus
Past Records: Betrayed Konoha, Killed Orochimaru, returned 3 years ago
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Name: Hyuuga Neji
Age: 21
Height: 6'3
Weight: 145 lbs.
Shinobi Status: Konoha ANBU Captain, heir to Hyuuga Clan
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Byakugan, Adept at Jyuken Jutsu
Past Records: Snuck into kunoichi Tenten's apartment (pardoned)
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Name: Uzumaki Naruto
Age: 20
Height: 6'1
Weight: 137 lbs
Shinobi Status: Konoha ANBU Captain
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Rasengan, Nine-tailed fox sealed inside him.
Past Records: Was sued by Ichiraku for eating all the ramen
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Name: Nara Shikamaru
Age: 20
Height: 6'1
Weight: 130 lbs
Shinobi Status: Konoha ANBU Captain, Konoha Lead Tactician
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Shadow Possession Jutsu, Nara Clan Jutsus
Past Records: Arrested by Tsunade for being too lazy
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Name: Haruno Sakura
Age: 20
Height: 5'8
Weight: 115 lbs
Shinobi Status: Konoha Anbu, Konoha Lead medic-nin
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Super Strength, Very Adept at Healing
Past Records: None
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Name: (Hyuuga) Tenten
Age: 21
Height: 5'8. 5
Weight: 115 lbs
Shinobi Status: Konoha Anbu Co-Captain
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Adept in Weaponry
Past Records: None
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Name: Hyuuga/(Uzumaki) Hinata
Age: 20
Height: 5'7
Weight: 110 lbs
Shinobi Status: Konoha Anbu, heir to Hyuuga Clan
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Byakugan, Jyuken Jutsus
Past Records: None
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Name: Yamanaka/(Nara) Ino
Age: 20
Height: 5'8
Weight: 115 lbs
Shinobi Status: Konoha Anbu, Konoha Medic-nin, Interrogation Unit
Special Abilities/Bloodline Limit: Yamanaka Clan Jutsus
Past Records: None
Status: Hospitalized in a coma due to unusual visit to Shinshiri Temple
Tsunade thought over the situation for the final time and was about to make a conclusion when Shizune burst through the door.
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"Tsunade-sama! They're waking up!" Shizune stopped to catch her breath. "Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Neji, Uzumaki Naruto, Nara Shikamaru, Haruno Sakura, Tenten, Hyuuga Hinata and Yamanaka Ino have woken up!"
Tsunade stood up immediately.
"Where are they? Take me to them!"
Tsunade and Shizune burst through the room of the awaiting Anbu. The whispering amongst them stopped at once, given that the Hokage had just walked in.
"What the hell happened to you?!" Tsunade's bellowing voice demanded. "You are supposed to be the strongest shinobi in Konoha! What did you guys do?!"
At once everyone, except Shikamaru, Sasuke and Neji, started explaining.
"ENOUGH! One at a time. You'd think that Anbu would have enough common sense to know that they can't all talk at the same time. Geez." She pointed at Sakura.
"Start at the beginning."
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Flashback
They were jumping at full speed toward Shinshiri Temple when missing-nin attacked them. At best, there were at least 3 jonin-leveled shinobi, while the rest were chunin.
Of course Konoha Anbu were able to defeat them easily, but there were so many, the 8 of them came out victorious, but exhausted.
"Sasuke-taichou, can we take a rest?" the obnoxious blonde suggested.
She, meaning Ino, not Naruto, looked to the others, only to see them battered up. Choruses of voices agreed with the blonde and Sasuke was forced to stop. Being the captain of this mission, he circled the place they were to camp. Satisfied, he went to catch some fish with Naruto.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted!" Tenten began to fall back into the makeshift bed, when someone caught her.
"Tenten, you should know better than to fall back onto a sheet on hard dirt," Neji scolded as he picked her up bridal-style.
Tenten looked up and smiled sheepishly. "I only did it 'cuz I knew you'd catch me," she teased. Neji smirked and carried her off to his own bed.
Hinata watched Tenten in envy; Naruto was busy fishing with Sasuke. She looked longingly at the spot where he disappeared, only to see a fish.
Wait, a fish in the air? Hinata looked up from her spot on a log to see Naruto's bright smiling face.
"Here, Hinata-chan! I caught the biggest fish for you! We can share now!" he laughed childishly and started to gather wood for the fire.
Naruto threw the slimy fish at Shikamaru, who was looking at a map. The fish would have smacked him square in the face if Ino hadn't caught it.
"Shika-kun! You should have been watching! This stinky fish almost hit you!" Shikamaru looked up lazily. He smiled slightly and pulled Ino into his lap. She cuddled into his chest and thoughtlessly threw the fish behind her.
The fish was headed right toward Sakura's face. She shrieked and dropped all the wood she was holding and caught the fish before it hit her.
"INO! Watch where you're throwing things, especially when it's alive!" The fish flopped desperately as if to prove her point.
Sasuke walked up next to her and scooped up the fish from her grasp.
"It's just a fish, Sakura. Don't tell me you're afraid of them," he mocked teasingly.
Nonetheless, Sakura became angry and attempted to whack him on the head. She just missed as he sidestepped.
"I'm the captain of this mission, Sakura. I'd advise you to not hit me." He was ignored however when a chunk of wood flew through the air and hit him on the shoulder. Sakura stuck out her tongue and exclaimed:
"I'm the medic of this mission, Sasuke. I'd advise you not to piss me off. I might not heal you."
Sasuke glared slightly and turned around to start the fire where Naruto had gathered wood. Sakura was smirking when yet another fish was thrown at her.
"Since you're not healing me, you don't get to use the fire that I made."
Sakura gaped in surprise. "That is so not fair! It wastes chakra to heal something as little as a bruise!"
"It wastes chakra to start a fire too," Sasuke replied smugly, thinking he had won the argument when the fish he was eating was snatched out of his hands.
Sakura quickly replaced her own raw fish on his stick. She stuck out her tongue childishly and took a bite out of his fish mockingly.
The rest of the team laughed quietly at their silly antics, enjoying the show the bickering oair had unintentionally made.
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After a good night of rest, the team carried on their mission. They were to retrieve a scroll said to have secret jutsus hidden in a temple north of Konoha.
At mid-afternoon the shinobi had finally arrived at Shinshiri Temple without any problems. The temple was said to have many ninja guarding the place, so they planned carefully before venturing inside. The team of Anbu had decided to attack at midnight to catch the shinobi off guard while they were sleeping.
Midnight came and the Anbu ambushed the temple. Once they were inside, each one felt refreshed and replenished with chakra, but there was also a strange source of power that seemed to suddenly burst inside of them.
It was as if they were given double the amount of chakra they had.
"Neji-niisan, do you see it too?" whispered a frightened Hinata. The two had activated their byakugan and were watching the others' chakra networks. The reserve of chakra had expanded and another source of energy flowed through it freely.
"Hai, Hinata-sama. It's as if we've received more chakra just from straying in this temple."
"If that's so, we have to get the scroll and leave immediately. Where is it?" Sasuke's calm voice interrupted everyone's frantic thoughts. They followed Neji instructions and found the precious item quickly.
Naruto grabbed it and they departed for Konoha immediately.
"Sasuke-taichou! There are shinobi outside the temple awaiting us," Hinata announced.
"Don't do anything rash, just make a path through the ninja and escape immediately. Do not kill unnecessarily." A chorus of 'hai' was heard as everyone left the temple to meet the waiting shinobi.
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Surprisingly, the extra energy had helped the fellow Anbu members. It acted as another source of chakra, but it was much more effective. Within 5 minutes the team members were running home without anyone chasing after them.
They all felt refreshed at first, but the additional chakra was starting to take its toll. Each one was drained of the little chakra they had left and fainted on the spot.
They awoke nearly at the same time, 3 o'clock precisely. The next day they all felt completely drained of all energy. Even soldier pills didn't help them regain their chakra.
Afraid to be pursued by missing-nins, the Anbu members left for Konoha at a much slower pace than when they started. When they finally arrived at the Hokage Tower, they all collapsed one by one.
Yet no one noticed how the scroll glowed lighter ominously the deeper the shinobi went into unconsciousness.
End Flashback
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"Hmm, that sounds suspiciously like the legend mentioned in the scroll you guys retrieved for me," Tsunade pondered aloud, as her brow creased. "It also mentioned something about mystical powers. Do you still feel the strange force received at the Shinshiri Temple?"
Naruto nodded enthusiastically and said:
"Yeah, Tsunade-obaachan. It's as if it's throbbing in my stomach, dattebayo! I think it's making me crave Ichiraku ramen!"
Tsunade pointed at Sakura, ignoring Naruto's last comment.
"Since you have the best chakra control out of all of the affected shinobi, focus the other source of energy into your palm."
Sakura nodded and proceeded to focus the odd chakra-like substance into her hand. She frowned when nothing happened when, suddenly, something small sparked into her palm.
As the seconds grew longer, the spark became bigger until it burst into a flame that rested in her delicate hand.
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Reviews are appreciated! Criticism is fine as long as it will help improve my writing, but no flames please!