Chapter 1: I'd watched and could not save her,
Summary:
And yet, being face to face with what she could only describe as deterioration in the human body and mind was something that Sakura could only describe as debilitating.
Notes:
Trigger Warnings: Graphic Description of Rape Scene, Mental Breakdown, Violence(?)
The title is inspired by the song Labour by Paris Paloma.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Shinobi Villages were unforgiving. They were ruled with an iron fist and it was warranted that they created what could only be written off as usable. It wasn't about being the best. Only beneficial. To lack usefulness was to die. To lack strength was to be killed.
To these shinobi, all that mattered was that you were strong enough to come home and take missions that were harder than the last. To be weak was to die. And it was the weak that had to be kind, for there was no strength to back any sort of pride.
However, Konohagakure was strong. It was brimming with some of the strongest shinobi known to mankind. And yet they were still known as the kindest village of them all.
Their gates were opened to those who needed homes- but they locked just as quickly and as soon as the pleasantries were over- you were on your own.
Konohagakure was kind, never sincere. Sincerity was honesty, and Konohagakure was anything but honest.
.
Haruno Sakura was an unnerving child. Her hair was a desaturated red, her eyes a sickly green and her skin a light brown, as if sunburnt. Saddled in a class filled to the brim with civilians and immigrant children alike, Sakura's appearance assured she was treated like the latter- bullied and outcasted. The civilian children were quick to mock the rest- a sense of security in the idea that they could never truly be at the bottom of the hierarchy.
The immigrant children took strong offence to these assumptions, but their anger was met with dismissive attitude and later, being ostracised. They learned to keep their mouths shut.
Imika Meiko was an immigrant child. Her hair was an ash brown and her eyes an amber yellow. Her sepia coloured skin was littered with filthy scars, and she was a heavy target. The first time Sakura had even spoken to the girl was when they'd found eachother in the woody area of the play grounds.
Meiko sat on a tree stump, hacked down months ago by some old academy graduate, and on her lap her bento box opened to reveal a fish stir fry with chunks of sail fishs combined in a deep red sauce. There were other ingredients, but she knew she couldn't keep her gaze averted till the end of break. So, with a deep breath, she forced her gaze to flick back to the girls freckled face.
Sakura could only stare at the girl, her heart beating out of her chest. Meiko made no move to acknowledge her other than a minute nod- eyes nothing but calculating, before going back to her lunch.
Sakura, shy as she was, took the notion for what it was and hesitantly sat down by the stump, the grass an ever discomforting seat even when she knew not what to compare it to.
.
From then they were attached at the hip. Sakura learned that Meiko was from Kumo, having travelled from there to Konoha due to the disgrace her father had brought upon her mother once she was with child. Her mother had died shortly after their escapade, rendering her an orphan. Sakura refused to press any further than that, the look in Meiko's eyes cold and withdrawn.
Sakura in turn told Meiko what she knew of her own home land. It wasn't much, but she told her of the Great Swordsmen, their own traditions, and how even in a new home, her mother and father still strongly represented the harsh seas.
Meiko always listened with an open ear, however contributed little to nothing in the terms of discussion. Sakura was fine with it though- Meiko tolerated her, and the comfort it brought outweighed anything that would've pushed Sakura away.
Death was a concept that Sakura had fundamentally understood, despite having never come into contact with the actual thing happening. She'd studied it, been taught about what it meant to people of her own descent, and even been forced to write about it. And yet, being face to face with what she could only describe as deterioration in the human body and mind was something that Sakura could only describe as debilitating.
Watching as Meiko lost the muscle she had gained through harsh training, watching her equipment dwindle close to nothing, and staring with nothing but distraught eyes as her clothes began to hang off her body and her lunches became nothing but plain rice and the occasional fish.
Sakura had asked her mother about what was happening, about what she could do- but her mother had swiftly disengaged from the conversation with a swift hacking of her kitchen knife, the rabbits blood seemingly dripping down the counter.
Sakura had never been afraid of her mother. But in that moment, as her mother had turned around, sickly yellow eyes narrowed and teeth sharper than she had remembered, Sakura cowered.
She never brought up Meiko to her mother again. Especially when her mother had declared Meiko dead meat.
Sakura had tried to help Meiko- she had shared her lunches with her, she'd asked her if Meiko wanted her to sew her clothes tighter- and yet Meiko continued to get worse. Her jutsu's became useless in the eyes of her deteriorating chakra and her training dwindled to barely throwing a kunai before she simply seemed to collapse.
Sakura had tried. It was never enough.
On a rainy day in May, Sakura found Meiko after a two week dissapearance.
Meiko was dead.
And not just dead- she was mutilated. Her neck was twisted in such a way that her head seemed to look the wrong way. Hands- large, dominating, harsh - had found their way to her neck, had twisted and squeezed until their wasn't space for Meiko to breath and she had died.
Sakura could not stay on two feet. She'd dropped to her knees. Meiko didn't even look human like this. She was spread open, her arms tied and God's Sakura could see it all.
Sakura had studied human anatomy. It was necessary for any ninja to know every and any part of the human body to make murder and decapitation easier.
But nothing could have led her mind to this. Meiko was a girl, and girls had different private parts to boys. Her mother had told her they were sacred-
So why was Meiko's vagina opened in such a way?
Her brain felt numbed as she stared at the violated body. Meiko wasn't just opened, she was torn. She could not think. Could not breathe. Only stare. Stare at what had been Meiko- Meiko, the one person Sakura had felt had actually cared for her existence other than her mother. And now, watching as the rain washed away the red and everything else from her lower regions, Sakura screamed.
In just under a year in the Academy, Sakura had made and lost her first friend to Konohagakure.
.
Sakura had told no one of what she had seen. She had walked away, dazed and disgusted, and even as she slept, all that she could see was Meiko- torn and open, her clothes astray and her neck- Mangled and manhandled.
Afterwards, Sakura never stepped foot into that part of the District again. Atleast not willingly anway.
It was almost in a daze that she lived after that, every moment she thought about her. About how her body must've nearly rotted by now, how that alley was probably closed off or straight up ignored due to human preservation, and how justice would never be served.
1 day became 10. 10 became 25. 25 became 68. 68 became 194 to 1075 and it just kept going!-
Initially, her class was taught by a woman of the name Humera Imeimi, a woman from Sunagakure. The civilian kids blatantly insulted and mocked her for her lack of Konoha heritage, and Sakura could only watch from the back of the class with a distant gaze and watch as Imeimi-sensei lost her spark and eventually became a husk of the once animated and joyful woman she was.
The woman resigned before the end of the school year. In her stead came Shinsei Mizuki.
.
It took two lessons for Sakura to learn the odd harshness of their new teacher and his teaching techniques. He was unforgivingly fast paced, and if you couldn't catch up, you were as good as dead to him and would recieve no further tutelage. Likewise, if you preened under his tutelage, it was almost like having an apprenticeship.
He'd slip you extra material, put more effort into guiding your skills in the right direction, and overall working harder in pushing you past your limits and working to make sure you survive.
In hindsight, Sakura understood and even praised this teaching method. They weren't clan kids, and they wouldn't be given the attention of clan kids unless they proved that they truly deserved it; and even in that Mizuki-sensei was lenient. Those who could keep up were acknowledged and those who couldn't were not. Sakura knew that the standards in being recognised in a clan classroom would be higher and harsher than in Mizuki-sensei's classroom.
Sakura bathed in his attention as a result. She ignored the dwindling number of students, the rising tensions between civilian and immigrant, and continued to work even harder to ensure her survival. After all, she had not become a Konoha shinobi by choice.
(He'd shown up to their door quietly. Handed her mother a pamphlet and disappeared as quick as he came. She remembered how her mother had snarled at his blatant disrespect.)
It wasn't taijutsu that was hard for Sakura. In fact, she was perfect at it- her katas were crisp, neat and picture book perfect. But that was it, no? She'd lost every spar.
Initially, it frustrated her and confused her. She didn't know what she was doing wrong. She'd learnt the katas, and practiced it to perfection. So why was she still losing?
She'd learnt, after a strong kick to the face, that it was her predictability. She was so perfect at it that there was nothing left to the unexpected- essentially, making her the easiest to beat.
Mizuki-sensei noticed almost immediately that she wasn't doing as well in spars as she should have been with her intellect, but he made no move to help. Sakura understood and expected such a thing from him- he only helped when the student themselves figured out was wrong- he was there to help them correct themselves, not show them what they'd done wrong.
She knew her guess was right when she'd begun her katas training and Mizuki-sensei had slid up beside her and begun to instruct her thoroughly and quickly.
Sakura, now a 7 year old with mahogony red hair plaited down her back, dressed in a black turtleneck and dark blue khaki pants with black ninja sandals, had no idea just how to get things for genin and above. But Sakura was smart and Sakura was determined.
By the time Sakura was 10 she'd thieved 13 books from the Konoha library, and now knew 2 other katas, poisons beyond her age group, and the basics behind healing. Mizuki-sensei didn't comment on her rapid progression. By the time the year had ended, there was only 4 civilian kids left. 3 of them were immigrant kids, including Sakura.
She moved into the class with the clan kids under the tutelage of Nanamura Himeki. Himeki-sensei was strict and unforgiving- to the civilian kids. She gave them the bare minimum of what they truly needed, and didn't even glance at them when they inevitably failed. This made them a close knit group, no matter how wary they felt of Sakura and her intellect far outclassing their own. She noted that the boys, whilst consistently getting physical with eachother, had a desperate yearning for a closeness only the other could provide.
She did not comment on it.
Being an immigrant kid meant that you were desensitised to many things that civilian kids were not. In the wake of the death of Himemi's mother, they found a new closeness that encouraged them to stick together through thick and thin. They helped eachother with the exercises and shared amongst eachother what references they could find.
Mizuki-sensei had been assigned a new batch of kids, however he still tried to help them with what he could- they were his appraised best students, and he wasn't keen on letting his tutelage go to waste.
Sakura tried not to feel envious of the newer civilian kids.
.
The clan children, to say the least, were horribly haughty. No matter what dispute or bullying occurred amongst them, the civilian kids would always get it worse. They'd destroy their books, aim for them in kunai practice, get them in trouble, and Himeki-Sensei simply watched.
She learned quickly that it was so bad that it even occured amongst themselves- those of lower birth were treated only slightly better than the civillians. They rubbed it in their faces as much as they could, but at the end of the day it was obvious it didn't do much for their ego's.
She also learned that they were extremely materialistic when it came to relations. Uchiha Sasuke, the seemingly last of his clan, was a target of many girls in the class- if they were to repopulate his clan, their status would be increased.
Similarly, Ino Yamanaka was the girl everyone wanted in some way- be it as a friend, a political lover, whatever- the other kids bathed in her presence. Sakura did not. The girl treated Sakura like she was a baby who had yet to develop the ability to speak or make decisions- needless to say, she got tired of it in a mere two days. Especially when the girl had tried to enter her mind. Luckily Mizuki-sensei had noticed and demanded she stopped, but the violated feeling in Sakura's chest would never dissapear.
The Yamanaka clan soon became a clan Sakura hated.
Himeki-sensei didn't do anything to punish Ino. If anything she congratulated her for being able to use the technique, and Sakura's throat burned at the blatant favouritism.
Even when Himemi, the only other girl between the civillians, was announced dead after being kidnapped, Himeki-sensei didn't show any ounce of care.
When the other child that was kidnapped- the heiress to the Shimura clan- returned, Sakura's heart burned with dissatisfaction and she found that it was the first time she prayed for the death of another.
.
Sakura graduated age 12 to Team 7 with dead eyes, and six years of rage buried beneath rank to set free.
Notes:
13/01/24- I'm not changing the story from being off hiatus until all chapters are edited and I get back to posting new ones. I've created a spine for the story, so now it's just to create more and flesh it out into a beautiful thing.
Chapter 2: I know there's a blade where your heart is,
Summary:
The Uchiha had opted to take a seperate route from hers, one she knew was longer but also passed by his apartment, so she decided he must have something to do back there. Walking to the grounds gave her time to think and reflect, most specifically to the man assigned to teach them.
Hatake Kakashi.
Notes:
Trigger Warnings: None.
The title is from Consume
by Chase Atlantic, GOON DES GARCONS*
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Sakura was told to meet her team on training ground seven alongside the Uchiha heir. Their teammate was someone who had recently been allowed to be brought back into 'official ranks'. Sakura did not question what that meant. Especially after seeing the severe look of disdain wash over Himeki-sensei's face as she uttered their teammates name- Namikaze Naruto.
She walked in silence, pondering her team assignment. The Uchiha had opted to take a seperate route from hers, one she knew was longer but also passed by his apartment, so she decided he must have something to do back there. Walking to the grounds gave her time to think and reflect, most specifically to the man assigned to teach them.
Hatake Kakashi Notorious for his reputation of fallen teammates and friends alike, she was naturally wary of him on a whole- would she even survive his tutelage?
(It wasn't by choice her mother had signed her up. She'd sighed, rubbed at her eyes, signed her acceptance letter, and sent it off. But not without a righteous glare to the crow that took it back to the Hokage.)
She glanced up to the sky, and reminisced the days when she didn't have calloused hands and training scars.
.
Upon arriving at training ground seven, Sakura noticed her third teammate. Immediately after, she noticed a man there with him, patting him on the head and sporting a rather kind smile. She noted his appearance down for later reference- dark brown hair, tied into a high pony and reaching his mid back, with an earring on his left ear and standard uniform for a jounin.
He turned right around when he'd noticed her, eyes sparking with recognition before turning back to the boy infront of him, words shared that she didn't quite catch from just outside the training field. With that, he gave the boy what appeared to be a weapons pouch, and flickered away.
She remembered the golden brown of his eyes and the deep brown of his skin, and instead turned her attention to the boy in the middle of the field.
She noted down the sunburnt look to his own skin, and let a light smirk form on her lips at the similarity. She noted he was staring at her with startling blue eyes, which widened and immediately looked elsewhere upon the realisation that she too was staring at him, assessing him even. He donned a simple black shirt and standard blue shinobi pants, his weapons pouch over the bandages on his left thigh and the second pouch at his waist, strung to a belt. He had a full head of wavy blonde hair, and the whisker marks on his cheeks enraptured her in a way she didn't quite understand.
She let her smirk fall into a smile.
.
By the time Uchiha Sasuke had arrived, it was an hour past their initial meet up time. He'd spared the two not even a glance, heading straight into the wildlife surrounding the training grounds and seemingly slumping against a tree, pulling out a whetstone and dumping his gear to the grass. The sharp grinding of metal on metal was drowned out to Sakura, and she went back to her meditation, blatantly ignoring the blonde running through his katas infront of her.
Sakura was almost asleep by the time their sensei had shown up. They had waited a solid three and a half hours before he finally, finally arrived. All he had to offer for his lateness was a false smile beneath a black mask and hitai ate, despite the blatant awkwardness in the air.
"You're... three hours late." The blonde commented, a blank note to his tone that she noted down in her mind as her sensei only ignored the boys comment.
"Ah, so you'll be my students I'm assuming?" The man questioned, posture seemingly loose as he clapped his hands infront of his chest.
He donned shaggy grey hair that was most obviously in a bed head and very barely brushed down, uniform clean and face covered by a mask and hitai-ate leaving only an eye and part of an eyebrow exposed. His eye was a steel blue, and Sakura couldn't tell if she should bow in greeting or nod her head in assent to his question. She opted for the latter.
"A quiet lot you are, perfect. Introduce yourselves. Age, Names, specialties, chakra nature's if you know them, and anything else you deem important I guess" He shrugged, seemingly unbothered about just how this would go so long as he got what he asked for.
"Uchiha Sasuke. Aged 12, I specialise in Ninjutsu and Genjutsu. My chakra nature's would be fire and lightning, I've developed the lowest stage of my sharingan." His voice range out to the left of Sakura, somewhere within the forest, and she trampled on the urge to roll her eyes.
"Namikaze Naruto. 15, Taijutsu and Ninjutsu, air and fire nature's. I've only recently joined official ranks."
"I'm Haruno Sakura, a 12 year old Academy graduate with a specialty for Genjutsu and proficiency with weaponry. My natures are Earth and Water. Pleasure to meet you, Sensei." She'd bowed at the end.
"Alright, well let's get to work with some simple evaluating lessons, yeah?"
.
By the end of it, Sakura felt as though she couldn't breathe. Her chest was tight and her limbs trembled as she laid flat on her back, the wind knocked out of her.
For the evaluation they had done a pacer test, an obstacle course, Intel gathering, and then ended with spars. Sakura was not only the slowest, but the weakest too. She wasn't even the smartest, Naruto had won that. The quiz had mainly been on tactics and mission strategies and Naruto hadn't failed even one question. Sakura had failed one and Sasuke three. He had silently seethed at that.
The sparring wasn't horrible- she was pretty evenly matched with Sasuke in terms of proficiency but he was faster and his fists packed heavier blows than her own, not to mention the odd katas he had pulled out rsndomly midway that had pushed her back and allowed him to push her out of the ring. Losing against Naruto was so fast she didn't even have a chance.
Between the boys, Naruto had come out on top, but that was to be expected with his muscle and obvious experience. Overall, Naruto and Sasuke were better suited to the field than Sakura was. She silently seethed at the blatant disadvantages that had made her this weak, clenching her fists to stop her trembling.
"Alright, so Naruto is the strongest and Sakura's the weakest. Not an unexpected outcome. Sakura," She startled at the use of her name, "Since your library clearance should be higher, try to read up on some tactics and genjutsu. If you can't find much, let me know and I'll figure something out. Naruto, I'll have a side regime set for you, Sasuke, work on your knowledge in strategies, and polish up your katas a little more. Same for you Sakura. Next time we meet, let's reassess your chakra natures, alright? I'll see you guys next week, missions and such." She deflated at the lack of guidance put into their training. Everything would be done out of her own willpower it seemed, so she peeled herself off the ground with a sigh as he randomly dissapeared in a swirl of leaves.
The blonde, Naruto, stalked off immediately after his dismissal, and the Uchiha did the same a few minutes after. Sat up, Sakura contemplated her next course of action. Just what should she look for exactly? She knew just where she'd have to look to find new genjutsu books, but how would she figure out how to apply the instructions to real life? She simply prayed her knowledge was enough to get her through the hell that was Team Seven.
It was only till after she left the training grounds that she realised her teacher hadn't exactly set s specific date for when they would meet next.
.
Sakura had gone home after their lesson, intent on showering before going to the library. She'd greeted her mother, asked if she needed anything, and then had gone up the creaky steps to shower.
Houses in the Red Light District varied in their complexity. For starters, Sakura and her mother had scored a house in the better parts of the Red Light District, further away from the brothels and orphanages on the East Side. They lived in the West Side, so it was as good as it got.
After a quick shower, she'd gotten out and dried off, creamed and dressed in her usual- now a black turtleneck with a deep red fluff jacket that was cropped to hit her waist and had no sleeves to cover her turtleneck, with black shorts over some mesh leggings.
She again braided her hair, revelling in the way it had finally grown down to her waist. With a smile on her lips, she got up and was ready to head off to the library.
"I'm headed to the library! I'll be back before 10PM, latest!" She announced, slipping on her ninja sandals.
"I'm expecting you back in four hours, Sak!" Her mother called back, and Sakura resisted the urge to sigh at her mother's over protectiveness.
"Alright, mum!"
.
Sakura breezed through the library books on D-rank genjutsu quite quickly. She noted down the basics in her notebook, alongside instructions and the names of the techniques.
She'd picked up a multitude of books, determined to learn the most that she could. But in the midst of that, she allowed herself a littke treat and had taken a book about a kunoichi's journey- completely falsified, but it was endearing and eye opening to her. It also inspired her to make some changes to her uniform- more so in regards to her hair. She'd read about many kunoichi weaving weapons through their hair in the past, and found it interesting and overall worth a shot.
If she was going to be a shinobi, she'd damned well survive it.
Sakura thought for a moment. Did she even have what it takes to become Chuunin? Did she want to be a Chuunin? She decided that for now, her main goal should remain as survival until she could figure out what she wanted.
Being a civilian immigrant meant a lot of things- one, that Sakura would not be a priority underneath her sensei's tutelage. She'd been taught this in the Academy- no civilian born child will ever be more important than the clan kids. To be on a team with them was a blatant death sentence.
Despite her mothers jounin status from her own village, it had been stripped from her the moment she made allegiance to Konoha- and she never tried for that path again.
(Her mother's hands shook, but nothing appeared on her face. In her hands, a weapon pouch. Her hands shook and as Sakura took the offered bag, her mother's eyes welled with unshed tears and she turned away from her daughter, unable to look her in the eyes.
She understood now, just a little bit, why her mother had reacted that way.)
Sakura believed that she understood the simplicities of her role on the team; cannon fodder. The phrase left a bitter taste on her tongue, but it was the truth. Sakura was the daughter of a civillian woman who did not originate from Konoha. It had put a target on her back and now she had to live with the consequences. However, she never once loathed her heritage. Just what awaited her as a result of it.
Death took people away with little discrimination. If it was your time, you couldn't do anything about it. Sakura simply prayed her time would come much later than anybody else's.
.
Studying the genjutsu had been the easy part. What she struggled with now, was learning them and applying them. It would be easier if someone was there with her, but there wasn't much she could do when her sensei was gone for the next six days, and her mother couldn't even look at a kunai.
(She'd dropped the knife like it had burned her. When her face turned back to Sakura's, it was ghostly pale and she couldn't even breathe. All she could tell her, were few stilted words.
"Don't. Don't you ever... hold that thing to my back. Ever."
She didn't bring kunai near her mother again.)
She resolved to ask her sensei the next time she saw him, and instead did some meditation for the next two hours and a half that she had.
Tapping into her chakra pool was something she always did through visualisation; she imagined a little pool, and directed that through her system. She didn't know the specifics, but Mizuki-sensei had said that this was a good way to build up her chakra.
Her pool was slightly larger than before the Academy, but Sakura knew she was still far below average and she needed a way to get better. She'd done some research but every bit of material said the same thing- meditation. It was boring and time consuming, but it allowed her time to think and reevaluate her approach to things.
Enforcing a sense of calm over her body, she began to circle chakra through her system at a quick pace and tried not to look upset at the fact she hadn't even lasted 20 minutes. She slowed back down, taking this as a break, and let her thoughts wonder again.
Sakura had never thought about what she wanted to be. Her thoughts were only plagued with being strong enough to get back to her mother in one piece, and eventually, high ranked enough she would be able to find relative safety in the village. Sakura knew it wouldn't make her untouchable- far from it- but it would allow her to defend herself. Give her the ability to decline things she couldn't now, and give her a stronger sense of security.
As she sped up the cycling of her chakra, her mind wandered to how it could even be used. It didn't really matter anyway; She would pretty much have to rely on being a shinobi without chakra, and the thought saddened her more than she thought it would. Little chakra didn't mean no chakra; but it didn't mean a lot either.
She reeled in her temper when she felt her hot headed nature begin to arise.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she began to again, evaluate her team placement. Her team was mostly quiet, and her teacher wanted just as much of their input in their own learning as he would also put in. It made sense when she thought about it, nudging them in the right direction but overall letting them pick their own paths.
Letting her mind wander again, she remembered that she didn't actually know much about her own heritage, having been forbidden of learning about it. But she knew that to her mother, her heritage was something she both cherished and despised enough to run away from. She swathed those thoughts away and reminded herself of her initial thought process.
(Her mother would smile everytime she passed the photo on her bedroom drawer, but would frown at anything from that time of her life. The contrast between her attitudes stayed with Sakura, and she observed the same attitude- cherish the memories, not the actual preserved pieces.
She wished that wasn't the case.)
They'd touched on fuuinjutsu, but Mizuki-sensei wasn't an expert, though he'd mentioned being close with one- Sakura wondered if she could find a way to contact them, maybe ask for an apprenticeship?
Fuuinjutsu was a dying art- Sakura herself had no clue what exactly it did but she knew some symbols and explosion tags thanks to her only friend, Rukio. Sakura didn't think she had the patience for it, though that might change, or even the skill needed to learn in time- being on a more field adept team meant being sent out on more missions, and dangerous ones.
She went back to cycling her chakra faster than she was doing before, and continued long into the night.
.
The next day, Sakura noticed one of her teammates around the village. He was sat in a ramen stand, and people seemed to maneuver themselves away from him, almost in disgust. Sakura knew it was better to not get involved. She'd walked past and acted as if she was none the wiser, ignoring the piercing gaze on her back.
Sakura was a twelve year old immigrant civilian. She was not a saviour of any kind.
Notes:
2/11/23- I've edited the chapter to adhere to the new route I want it to take. I wasn't happy with the world building, it feels so flat right now with all I know is going on in the background but it's from Sakura's pov, so I have to move it along slowly.
13/01/24- edited again. The first edit was honestly not as good as it should've been. It was almost disappointing to read it.
Chapter 3: The way things are made, Live on the Lies that Fabricate.
Summary:
He poofed out a clone at the end of his order, "This clone will watch over you two. Sakura, you're with me. Let's take a look at this new katas you've found."
Notes:
Trigger Warnings: Violence
Title is from the song phony by Will Stetson. [I'm not sure if this is a cover or his own song.]
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
On the fourth day of the week, Sakura sought one of her classmates. His name was Akihito Rukio, an immigrant kid from a fallen land, Uzushio. Being the last two left, she found it funny that they both had some correlation to water.
Sakura had researched what she could on Uzushio; it had fallen sometime during the Second Shinobi War, and Konoha bore their symbol as a result. There was never enough detail but she did know that Uzushio was renowned for their fuuinjutsu, being the only nation able to create the seals they did.
Afterwards, the land was claimed by Kiri and Konoha. She tried not to think about that too much; how people could decimate a country and take over as quickly as Kiri did. Her stomach lurched and again, she remembered her own mother, but she stamped it down and thought rationaly. They were both shinobi nations respectively, and Uzushio was a threat.
She tried not to think about how that thought process left her feeling worse than before.
.
Sat in the ramen stand, a steaming bowl of noodles in fron of her, Sakura felt relieved when Rukio finally entered; sunnia brown skin and curly brown hair, eyes a blazing red with a simple high collared short sleeved black shirt and black khaki pants with the standard blue shinobi sandals.
She smiled and waved at him from the far right corner of the stall, a smile dancing on her lips. He waved right back, the calm expression on his face twitching as he fought back a smile.
"Hello, Sakura. It's been a while, how are you?" He asked, settling onto the stool next to hers and ordering a ramen bowl with some pork and extra broth.
"I'm as good as it gets I guess; my teammates are a quiet bunch." She relayed to him, studying his face for any discomfort on the topic. He'd been placed on the same team as the other civillian boy, and she didn't know how that had turned out just yet.
"Ah, that's nice. They suit you, then." The snarky remark was acknowledged with a roll of her eyes and a soft smile at the banter, and he continued, "My teammates are.. something. I'm happy that I'm on the same team as Nayato, it's nice." He refused to elaborate further, but the deep pink on his ears informed Sakura of everything she needed to know.
And whilst it was undeniably cute, that wasn't her main issue. The main issue here, was his other teammate. She sighed and turned to have some of her meal, watching from the corner of her eye as his own arrived.
"So, what of your other teammate? I wasn't exactly paying attention." She lied, to which he replied,
"My sensei would be Hōki Tsuruyi and my teammates are Nayato and Shimura Ami. It's a little awkward working with them." She inwardly sighed at that. Back in the Academy, Ami not only encouraged others, but initiated the bullying.
Furthermore, the Shimura clan was one of the most important clans in Konohagakure. Not only was the head of the clan very close to the Hokage, having been on his genin team, he was the most trusted man on the council. And Ami was his granddaughter. She was also the only one to survive the kidnapping.
Sakura felt more than saw his disturbed heart at his situation. She felt the urge to pat him on his back but resisted, instead shifting topics to her own team instead, hoping to ease the pressure on him.
"Ah, that's cool. I'm teammates with some blonde and Uchiha Sasuke." She decided against using the boys name, incase the people around her reacted the way they'd reacted to him when he entered the stall. It was a common thing; if you're close to a bad person, you may as well be one.
Rukio nodded his head in understanding, and went onto a tangent about his latest interests as a distraction. She was content to simply zone out until she heard him mention fuuinjutsu. She snapped back to attention immediately, tuning back into his rambling.
"-and I remastered an explosion tag. The normal ones sold at the shops were good, but they didn't have much flexibility in usage. I was able to add a timer and make the explosion more concentrated, making a more potent weapon. There actually is a seals master in Konoha, but when I asked Tsuruyi-sensei, she told me that to get an apprenticeship would literally be impossible because he has really high standards for an apprentice, and he himself doesn't want to teach an apprentice. Apparently he keeps himself holed up in T&I just to avoid budding seals masters, a real asshole. To be honest, I don't think I have the guts to go in there just yet." He scratched the back of his head at his final statement, a light blush of embarrassment darkening his cheeks.
He rambled alot, but Sakura took what information she found useful and stored it at the back of her head.
"Maybe next time we could meet in some training fields and I could see your remastered explosion tags? They sound really useful. Also, I'll ask my sensei about that seals master too. You should try asking Mizuki-sensei, he did say they were close."
And with that, Sakura paid for her finished noodles and left the stand after saying goodbye. She had some planning to do and a seals master to catch.
.
The following week, Sakura arrived to the training fields an hour late. She had bet that her teacher would be late again today, so she busied herself fully checking out the books on Genjutsu and rereading the book on basic healing. She'd also had a full breakfast with her mother that morning, despite the heavy training they'd experience later today. She didn't feel very apologetic.
Upon her arrival, the quiet acknowledgement of the Uchiha and the simple glance of the blonde sent a spark of annoyance right into her head.
"You're later than you were yesterday." Hesring the blonde speak up shocked Sakura, but she reeled it in quickly and responded after clearing her throat quickly.
"Things came up. Besides, I believe our teacher will be late. He did say he had a mission that apparently had to have lasted a week, so he will probably be late due to recuperation." She realised it sounded sort of like a recital, and she bit her tongue to stop any further elaboration and instead settled down to check in on the books she had found again before getting into lotus position to meditate, ignoring the piercing gaze of the blonde. She'd ask her teacher for further guidance when he too came to the training fields.
.
It was another hour and a half before the man finally appeared, a poof of smoke the only sign of the jutsu he had used to do so, his eyes even more droopy than last time.
"Alright, my little genin, what've we got from what I set you off to do? Minus Naruto, I've got your mini schedule ready after some consultations."
"I've done what I can to look up 'battle strategies', or whatever you'd said. The main library had close to nothing in the genin section, only what was taught in the Academy and a few more basic formations I was taught before." She assumed he was referring to before the clan massacre, and she inwardly winced.
"I've found some genjutsu I'd like some help perfecting, but my situation with battle strategies is the same as Sasuke. There were only a select few I didn't know, to which are very similar to the Academy three." Her ears burned red in shame at that admission; she'd gone to the same academy as Sasuke, and still he knew more than her, be it from specialised training or just being a clan kid.
"Alright, good enough for a start. Sasuke, I'll get you some books of chuunin clearance. Sakura, I'll get you chuunin and jonin to test your intellect, and Naruto, I'm expecting you to learn standard field sign language and more basic strategies before our next meeting in four days. I'm going to hand out some sheets of chakra paper. Afterwards, Naruto and Sasuke, head off to spar, three rounds, five minute breaks in between."
He took out four peices of chakra paper, and gave one each to the genin, keeping one for himself.
"Alright, look." At that statement, he seemed to pour chakra into the paper, and it first wrinkled as if burned by lightning before turning into dirt and crumbling into dust.
"My chakra nature's are Earth and Lightning. However, this does not restrict me to those elements alone. It just means those elements will come to me the easiest, and elements like water or fire will take more effort as my pathways are not attuned to those nature's. Though now, it's easier after having done it as many times as I have. I may as well be a jack of all trades when it comes to the nature's." Nodding silently, the Uchiha channelled chakra into his own piece of paper, watching as it wrinkled and turned into ash. He looked up at Kakashi-sensei expectantly, almost mockingly. As if to say, I told you so, you old fart. Maybe without the insult though.
"Fire and Lightning. Not bad kid, I've got an entire arsenal of those. You're lucky."
Sakura decided to go next, and watched as her paper became damp before becoming wet dirt and crumbling away.
"Water and Earth. Water isn't an element I'm very acquainted with, be it because I'm more of a heavy hitter than is required for that element, but I do have some stolen suiton jutsu I can show you. Earth is one of my chakra nature's so you'll be fine with that at least."
Sakura found she was satisfied with that response, having been expecting a lot worse for her water element. Due to it's fluidity, she suspected it'd be her strongest element. But Sakura didn’t view it like that; it was a gift from her home water's, as if to say that she was with her in spirit. She hoped to soon be able to make an offering to the oceans that had so openly accepted her despite her current residence in Konohagakure.
Naruto went last, his own paper simply splitting in half before turning to ash. He let out a silent breath, glancing up at their sensei for his deduction of what Naruto would be able to learn after this assessment.
"Wind isn't an element I know much about I'm afraid. I've got a good amount of stolen jutsu but I haven't really had an opportunity to use it, so we'll probably focus more on your fire element for a while as I get in some practice with some fuuton jutsu's." He nodded in response, calm and collected.
He watched them for a while before seemingly being happy enough with their reaction and popped out a clone the smoke almost chocking Sakura with it's odd chakra density. "This clone will watch over the boys as they spar. Sakura, you'll be with me. Let's take a look at these genjutsu you've found."
.
By the end of it, Sakura's chakra coils were screaming for mercy. Turns out having a teacher adept on genjutsu meant he could work you to the absolute bone until you were up to par with his standards.
The lacing of her chakra had to be thin, but not so thin the genjutsu had barely any effect. She had to do it quickly, but also thoroughly so an opponent would be unsuspecting.
She wasn't perfect, but she wasn't as terrible now.
It was during their cooldown time that Sakura had opted to ask the questions that had been on her mind for some time now. They were both sat on the grass, Sakura with her bottle on her lap and her teacher had his book propped open, though not in a way in which Sakura could see the contents. She considered the front cover sexual enough that the book would probably spark little to no interest.
"Kakashi-sensei," she'd been told to address him with his first name instead of his clan name during the hell that was learning her katas properly, "have you heard of Konoha's seals master?" She noticed that he seemed to become more interested than he was before, and he'd begun to actually look at her.
"What of him?" He'd asked, and Sakura found that he sounded more attentive, and she stored that information away for later.
"I have a.. a family friend who's also a genin. He's looking for an apprenticeship and I would like to be able to help him ask; he's too shy to approach the man who's apparently a 'notorious asshole' according to his sensei. I don't think she's actually met him though."
"Well, wherever you got that information from, it's just an assumption. A petty one," she noted the light frown he took in his contemplation, "he's a pretty social guy. He's out and about a lot and when he's holed up at T&I it's probably because he pulled a stunt and now Ibiki's gone ahead and put him in what he calls 'time out'. Though I doubt you'll be able to score your friend an apprenticeship. He's pretty adamant about not taking one for a while more, atleast."
"So what should I do?"
He donned a contemplating look for a few seconds, before he settled on a solution.
"Well, you can't exactly force his hand on the matter. Beat thing is to try get your friend to meet him- I guess I could put in a good word. But I'm not going to guarantee anything- he's most likely going to say no. And it's not for the reasons you'd think."
She frowned at the vagueness of his final answer, finding a lack of security in not understanding the reasons to the man's answers.
"By the way, his names Umino Iruka. Would do good for your friend to remember that."
She blinked, then gave a subtle nod and began trying to remember when next they'd meet-
"Right, back to those genjutsu!" Nevermind. Sakura wanted to go to bed and never wake up instead.
Notes:
13/01/24- first edit. This chapter feels pretty short to me for some reason, I might have to go back and edit some more.
Chapter 4: It's getting harder to breathe out,
Summary:
In that way, him and- Sakura felt herself bodily stop.
Meiko. 2211 days. Rotting in the alley.
Maggots?
Openedinthat way-
Sakura breathed. Sakura breathed again. Sakura stopped.
Notes:
Trigger Warnings: Violence, Death & Rape Scene/mention(?)
The title is from Meddle About by Chase Atlantic.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
To Sakura, the library was a place of refuge where she didn't have to think about the world around her- simply read until her mind stopped processing words and she retreated into herself for a semblance of inner peace.
She remembered how dead she'd looked, that day. Himemi was gone, and she stumbled right into the Library hours after her sensei had announced it to them all. Exhaustion weighed deep on her bones, and she sunk down into a table near the back of the unrestricted area- an inconspicuous little spot where nobody would question a little girl being all alone.
And she'd cried. Quiet, ugly and sorrowful, she had cried. It didn't ease the pain, but the aching in her bones dulled to something akin to a light throbbing as she lay her head down, eventually passing out.
Now, sat at that exact table, she let out a calming exhale as she sat infront of three genjutsu scrolls and a scroll on the human mind. Kakashi-sensei had recommended she further familiarise herself with the basics to genjutsu- that being how it was applied and where in the mind was the most vulnerable.
It was true that Sakura had studied these things many times running up to her learning more of genjutsu, but it never hurt to refresh your memory. It was almost comforting, in a sense. Surrounded by a familiar space she regarded to be the safest in Konoha, she let out a comforted sigh, even as she scoured through the scrolls and old notes.
She had been told many times that genjutsu was a very general skill, and with the Uchiha being known masterminds of it, there wasn't any way for anybody outside of the clan to specialise in it better than them. But Sakura disagreed. Whilst she didn't know how exactly the Uchiha doujutsu worked, she didn't believe that their proficiency in genjutsu relied solely on that.
It was useful, yes, but Kakashi-sensei had said it took a good understanding of just what you wanted to convey to create string genjutsu- you didn't get that from fancy eyes.
Besides, she knew that brute force would never be her true calling. Whilst Sakura was from a land of sweeping waves countered by the clashing of swords weald by people so strong they were feared throughout all the nations, Sakura wasn't physically advanced. Her hits were hard, but they weren't the quickest and easy to counter.
Regardless, Sakura resolved that she would not simply hide behind her genjutsu. She would use it as a defense and her mastery over the sword as an attack. Be it if she found someone good enough at the sword to properly teach her.
Kakashi-sensei was a jack of all trades. Due to his Sharingan, a poorly covered up state secret, he was the master of over a thousand jutsu. He was not as adept at genjutsu, but he knew more than her and that was enough for Sakura to be content learning from him.
So, currently, he was her best bet at genjutsu and kenjutsu. Kenjutsu was a rare art here in Konohagakure, and Sakura felt inclined to atleast try to find a willing teacher.
On a whim, she decided to get up and check for some more medical scrolls, specifically on the body's tenketsu points and inner organs.
Genjutsu itself was the art of subtly weaving your chakra into someone's system, made easier for the Uchiha through their doujutsu, but otherwise it was initiated easiest by physical contact or through speech. Other ways were by creating a string of chakra to touch the opponents body and insert some of your own chakra, however this way was trickier and easiest to notice, as many shinobi were taught to be in tune with their body's chakra more than that of the outer world, unless they were sensors.
Once your chakra was in the opponents system, you simply took charge of parts of their brain to form a type if illusion, or to trigger physical reactions from your opponent.
It was a very hard art to learn, and a dangerous one too. If done incorrectly it could kill or paralyse the opponent, and at times even the caster if the opponent knows what their doing.
This was why the Academy didn't outright teach any genjutsu- they only taught what it was and one simple type that changed the victim's surroundings slightly.
The consequeneces to it however did not outweigh the benefits. And for someone with as little chakra as Sakura, it was the best type of jutsu she had at her disposal.
To know and understand just how the brain works was a large part of genjutsu, and Sakura decided to actually borrow the medical scrolls to memorise them and be aware of the entire bodily system.
The brain was a nimble, feeble thing. It was easily moldable and could be used in many ways that left Sakura fascinated for days on end.
It took her about 3 days to completely memorise what she needed to be able to safely cast simple genjutsu. She'd studied animal brains, more specifically rabbits, and then continued to study human brains and other parts of the human body she could utilise in her illusions.
Sakura didn't want to create horrific illusions, for those were too obvious and wouldn't hold long enough for what she wanted- those types were more likely to be used by the Uchiha. She instead wanted to create genjutsu that targeted the senses; specifically hearing, sight and smell. Touch was one she wanted to work towards slowly and safely; it was a major part of the human mind and if she fiddled with it too much it may become obvious what she's doing.
Overall, genjutsu was a lot of work. Even if she'd finished her study of the brain and just how genjutsu worked, she still had to study how things felt, what things smelt like or sounded like, and how things tasted.
Targeting the five senses would take years for her to learn, and considering she would be working with poisons most likely, she'd have to know what those were like too. Which meant building immunity.
Sakura thought she might die before she learned how to perfect genjutsu. If Kakashi-sensei didn't kill her with his training first.
.
It took two days for Sakura to take all the notes she wanted from the six scrolls and memorise them. She was only given about 4 hours free time a day, the rest were spent doing chores or meditating or memorising and reading the books on battle strategies Kakashi-sensei had delivered to her home a day after the last training session.
Sakura had set up a meeting with Rukio for next week Saturday, as his schedule was quite frankly packed to the brim. Between team D-ranks, working extra jobs and training, Rukio had a pretty tough life. Sakura hoped that if everything went well, he'd walk away with an apprenticeship and she'd feel like she'd actually helped Rukio instead of simply supporting him.
Rukio was an orphan, his clan having spread to other villages due to their distrust in Konoha and his parents having been slaughtered by enemy nin in their rush to bring him here. In that way, him and- Sakura felt herself bodily stop.
Meiko. 852 days. Rotting in the alley.
Maggots?
Openedinthat way-
Sakura breathed. Sakura breathed again. Sakura stopped. Sakura breathed through ppain. Sakuraa let the tears fall. Sakura opened her eyES.[where were Meiko's eyes? Eaten? MAggots..]
-Rukio was a friend that Sakura valued above almost everything. Having been together through thick and thin, you could even call it love. But that love could never be romantic. Not for Sakura, and not for Rukio.
Sakura didn't forget the way he looked at Nayato. Nor did she forget his confession of his own romantic interests.
("I don't think I'm into girls." He'd blurted out, and she stopped midway through kunai practice and turned to face him.
"What?"
"I don't think I'm into girls. I think I like boys." He'd repeated with more clarity.
All Sakura could do was tilt her head before laughing, even when Rukio went red in the face and became so embarrassed he'd stuttered and yelled at her.
"You look so worried over this! So what if you like boys, what difference is that to me?")
.
Their next training session was not as productive as it started out as more of a lesson, based on memorisation and education. Kakashi-sensei had thought that today they could focus on genjutsu as a team- not how to cast, but how to detect and dismantle it. He also decided to add in a lesson on fuuinjutsu and political relations between villages.
Sakura found it odd that her team didn't take D-ranks like the other teams. Whilst she didn't question, she suspected it had something to do with her teammate- the blonde in particular.
With the obvious dislike of the village, it was most likely that they wouldn't be given D-ranks with him on their team, as they were centered around human interaction and aiding the civilians of the village. Well, the rich and important civilians.
Sakura found that she couldn't even be angry at herself for genuinely feeling glad about that fact.
Civilians were the same people who left her friends to die. Children, left to fend for themselves in a world that did not intend to help them survive in the slightest.
She remembered the dead look in Himemi's eyes before her dissapearance. A resigned, hopeless look, one of acceptance and an inkling of a wish for something better.
Bringing herself back to reality, she zoned back in on their recap of the strategies her and Uchiha had researched. The team was pretty much split up without any real want or better yet a need for team work, and Sakura preened at the fact that she had done the best in their recent assignments; seemed the Uchiha wasn't as far ahead as she had thought. She tried not to let it show on her face when the boy in question levelled her with a withering glare.
Once Kakashi-sensei had deemed what they had remembered to be as good as he would get, he'd set the blonde boy onto her.
It wasn't enough that he was taller than her, he had muscle too. Being hit by him would almost definitely bruise if not break something, and he was fast enough to make it hurt worse.
Their spar seemed to have barely lasted even 2 minutes before Sakura was face planted into the ground with her hands behind her back and a kunai to the throat.
"Ok, round over! Remember I'm not doing this for one of you to win, but for you to learn from eachother. I want the battles to be slower, and I want to see more of that genjutsu training being put to use, Sakura. Naruto needs to be as fsmiliar with them as possible." Sakura nodded to his instructions.
She had lasted only marginally less than her other teammate, to which he was subtly eyeing her from across the field, haughty and pleased. She pretended not to notice.
Sasuke was learning something akin to the Uchiha katas; mainly corrections and also beginning to be given lessons on the different kinds of swords he could learn kenjutsu for.
It reminded her to find time to ask him to teach her, or atleast help her find a kenjutsu teacher after she perfected the two genjutsu he'd taught her.
When they went at eachother again, Sakura immediately leaped back, watching carefully as Naruto immediately gave chase; he knew it was best to crowd her space so she had no time to cast the genjutsu- and Sakura thought over this.
They had been given half of the training grounds for their spar, which technically included the forest area as well. Naruto's fighting style was wide, fast and hit hard. But if he was surrounded by trees, he wouldn't be able to make such wide movements, would he?
With this in mind, she carefully guided the blonde into the forest area, only stopping when Kakashi-sensei called for a halt.
"I told you, ease up Naruto. You need to actually experience the genjutsu to know how to counter it," and at that, he'd walked over and was grabbing Naruto's shoulder to pull him off for a private talk as Sakura lightly panted- she'd had to move fast and dodged his hits just barely, to the point a few had scraped her arms and she winced lightly.
By the time they came back over, Naruto looked thoroughly cowed and simply avoided her gaze, his hands in his pockets.
"Alright, now here's the plan to your spar. Sakura, you'll have a five minute headstart into the forests to find a spot to hide. Naruto will wait her, in the middle of the shrubs and things alike, and when five minutes pass, Naruto will give chase. You'll be in this little simulation for ten minutes. Try to keep Naruto away with the genjutsu you already know. Don't try anything we haven't practised together or at the Academy. You can move places, but be careful with that. Naruto's got pretty good ears." He'd hinted at her, and she stored that away for later.
When he begun her timer, she'd booked it for the woods. As she ran, she thought over his words. Naruto's got pretty good ears. Should she use an auditory genjutsu? Something to muffle his hearing?
If she lightly tampered with his eighth cranial nerve, tricking his mind into believing it was injured, his hearing would suffer for it. Then, an outer genjutsu of darkness inside the forest. It would be hard to layer the two at the same time- but this was an excersize in him learning to deflect genjutsu, what was wrong with her benefitting too? She'd focus more on the internal genjutsu, making sure she didn't accidentally damage his ears.
Then, she'd play with his hearing issues and lead him in circles for the ten minutes they were in the forest.
Nodding to herself, she chambered up a random tree just close enough to the treeline that she had a good enough view of the blonde. Then, Kakashi-sensei was announcing her time was up and the blonde bounded into the woods, giving her barely any time to set up her genjutsu in Naruto's general area.
"Tekunikku yami no hikari." She whispered, her hands forming the signs of the hare, ram and the rat. With this, her chakra wound around Naruto's form, and with this, she slipped just a little out of it and snuck it right into his chakra system. Slowly and carefully, she let it work its way alongside the back of spine, mindful of the way he shivered as he came to a sudden stop. His eyes glanced and scanned around carefully, but Sakura paid it no mind and continued to slowly trail her drip of chakra up into his mind, her hands constantly flipping between the signs of ram and monkey to further hone her concentration.
When she finally reached his mind, she slowly slunk over to the eighth cranial nerve, and surrounded it with her chakra, silently reciting to herself the making of the mind as she set her chakra to a light buzz in his mind, feeling her control strain at being split between two seperste genjutsu, and she let out a silent gasp as he began moving. He had made no attempt to dispell her genjutsu, and had begun to scour the woods for her, not even the slightest reaction to the loss of hearing.
Now, she had to stay calm and begin the real aim of the game- distract his senses through his unsure hearing.
She jumped out of her tree slowly, stopping on multiple branches so as to mute her falls, even as sweat beaded on her brow and her breathing came out in light puffs as she strained herself to keep her concentration up. She couldn't keep both up forever- one or both would have to eventually come up, and so she planned to use it to her advantage.
As she moved throughout the forest, she created a trail and poorly hid another, snapping little branches and scuffing up dirt as she played with Naruto's range of hearing. It exhausted her quicker, but it was better than keeping it up forever and him noticing when it quivered and fell.
The genjutsu surrounding him weakened the further in he got, to paint the illusion that he was getting further out and confuse his sense of direction. Whether it actually worked or not was another thing.
And then he'd stopped moving, and one of her genjutsu's broke- the one over his hearing. She let out a gasp and immediately took off deeper into the woods, knowing soon enough he'd give chase even through the dark.
She couldn't beat him in a head on fight- all she had was genjutsu and the forest limiting his movements slightly.
With a deep breath, she let the genjutsu drop entirely, hoping to blind him with the sudden change in brightness, however he simply powered through it and Sakura almost shrieked when she came face to face with him- and then Kakashi-sensei was calling them out of the woods and Sakura was laden with sweat and panting like crazy.
Naruto simply stared at her, assessing and honestly a little wild looking.
"You did something to my ears. What was it?" He'd asked, and she realised this was there first actual conversation. Swallowing her fear, she made to answer.
"It- it was a genjutsu. I made your mind believe you'd gone deaf, so you couldn't hear. Atleast not properly."
The blonde nodded in acceptance of her answer before he made his way through the forest, and Sakura numbly followed after him at a more sedate pace.
.
At the end of their training session, Kakashi-sensei informed them that he'd be with them next week Tuesday, and had decided not to assign any extracurricular work seeing as how he was happy with their current progress. He did however, have a few things to comment on in regards to the skill set she'd shown in the forests.
"Do you know how to tree walk?" He'd asked, and Sakura blinked before she answered.
"No, but I can climb them pretty quickly." Ami's bullying wasn't entirely useless in building her skill set.
He nodded in assent before up and disappearing into a swirl of leaves, leaving Sakura shocked and confused before shaking it off. She had wanted to talk to Naruto, but decided against it in the event that the boy didn't want to talk at all- he barely interacted with anyone.
So, she left the grounds and went home- maybe her mother would let her stay out late again.
Notes:
Hi! I'm really sorry about how late into the story this note is, but I'm pretty sure you've noticed how far I've deviated from canon, especially concerning Team 7's ages and dynamic.
Well, the quickest explanation for this is that this is a more realistic version of what Naruto could've been in my opinion with my own head canon's sprinkled in. So yes, Naruto is the oldest of the trio because I never understood how he had failed the genin exam like what 3 or so times and was somehow still twelve like his peers. It just made ZERO sense so here I've adapted his age, however his reasons for being so old are different.
Also, yes, Iruka is NOT an official sensei here. Why? Because in this AU most if not all the sensei's are training the students in a corrupt fashion, to build them into child soldiers and i just dont think it aligns with what the show painted Iruka's morals to be. So yes. He's Konoha's seals master because HOW can the village just NOT HAVE ONE IN THE VILLAGE??? Jiraiya being their seals master and literally always across the world was another thing that made me feel strangely discomforted. Another part of Naruto's plot I severely dislike.
So yes, that is all the explanation I can give WITHOUT spoiling too much. [I put it in the tags that Iruka was a seals master so not much of a shocker that he's the mystery man talked about in these chapters]
13/01/24- switched up some things, edited and probably will look over it again. These last two chapters are really disappointing in story telling. I'll probably have to rewrite the whole thing.
14/01/24- yeah I changed the entire fight scene. I don't know why I gave Sakura so much knowledge, I was clearly rushing her development. Sometimes knowing the end to a story is too exciting for a writer🤦🏿♀️
ArcanaVitae on Chapter 1 Mon 07 Aug 2023 03:46AM UTC
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ArcanaVitae on Chapter 2 Mon 07 Aug 2023 03:50AM UTC
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Magikalreader on Chapter 4 Tue 19 Sep 2023 11:56PM UTC
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