Tug of War

by AfricanFire

Summary:

You didn't need to be a ninja to start a war. She was going to prove how she could control all the hidden villages despite being a civilian, using law and business. Sakura-centric. AU. AfricanFire.

Notes:

Here I go with another story, I still have many more unfinished. I'll get them done soon.

Chapter 1: How it started

Growing up in a civilian society had its perks. For one, you did not attend the Ninja Academy hence you were free from being in a constant state of fear of losing your life every time you go on a mission or even during training. The downside of it was not being able to protect yourself from various sources of danger. Another perk was being able to enjoy your childhood since most clan children started their ninja training at early ages. Taking Sasuke Uchiha as an example, she heard the adults talking about how he was a prodigy just like his older brother yet he was only five years old. The same was said for Neji Hyuga though he might not get to reach his full potential as a branch member.

Sakura Haruno was a civilian just like her parents. None of them had any ninja training, instead they ran a supermarket which was enough to sustain their small family of three. For Sakura, it was a blessing to be a civilian. Why? Because she had all the love she ever wanted. She had everything she ever wanted. She never went out of the village and her parents only left once when she was seven years old to visit her grandparents. During that time, the Uchiha clan had been massacred, leaving only one child as the survivor. Another thing she was grateful for being a civilian. But she had secretly gone to the clans' graveyard and put flowers on at least five hundred graves as soon as she heard the news.

She wasn't a very social person due to some insecurities pertaining to her oversized forehead. Amy and her friends made it a point to remind her everyday of her life. There was one time a blonde girl had defended her but she ran away thinking it was a prank. She didn't trust anyone except for her parents. Though, she regretted doing that. She discovered that the girl was called Ino and came from one of the prestigious clans in the village, the Yamanaka clan. She went to her family's flower shop sometimes but made it a point to cover her head so that the blonde never knew who she was. She was the only person with pink hair in the Land of Fire whilst her father's was a faded lilac. Her mother had ginger hair. The entire family sported green eyes. The females had tempers which rivalled each other without a winner.

At twelve years old, she was taller than most girls her age but shorter than most boys too. She was taller than Naruto by at least an inch so that counted as something. The blonde was a genin who had a huge crush on her, that seemed to grow even if she avoided him at all costs. They had talked only once, when they were ten years old. Naruto had strutted up to her confidently and asked for her name. She replied with a hint of unease. He asked her out and she sucker punched him there and there. She ignored the shocked faces of his two companions as she walked away from him, she had mentally dubbed them as Pineapple and Chubs only to find out they were the heirs to their clans, the Nara and Akimichi respectively.

She tried by all means to avoid ninjas as much as possible, whether it be a lowly genin or a fully fleshed out jounin.

She did great in school. She was top of her class in every aspect except the physical one. She had once heard the old lady from the civilian council say that her intelligence rivaled that of a Nara. She didn't dare ask what she meant by that because it could get her hopes up over nothing. She wanted to be a ninja but what did she have? An oversized forehead and pink hair, nothing worth noticing about that. And so she didn't bother trying to be one.

She spent most of her time in the library pouring over any and anything. Law, medicine, business, mathematics, philosophy, politics, ninjutsu, as long as it was ink on a paper. If she wasn't at the library, she was at home lounging around with her cat Yowai. A very odd name considering it meant weak. But that's what she wanted. No one was going to tell her otherwise, not even her parents.

 

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It was a Thursday and she was coming from school when she passed by Ichiraku's ramen stand. She hadn't visited the old man in nearly two weeks. She decided to stop there for a late lunch. Maybe she could catch up with Ayame on the latest gossip, not that she wanted to hear it but she was the closest thing to a friend she had hence she wasn't going to take any chances. "To what do we owe this wonderful surprise?" Ayame asked as Sakura took her seat. "Is it that surprising to find me here?" the civilian replied as she placed her order. A simple miso ramen with a lot of fishcake. Ayame had once teased how she liked a lot of 'Naruto' in her food. It was at that exact moment that Naruto also arrived. She ran away before the blonde could utter a single syllable.

"Good afternoon Ichiraku-san," the pinkette greeted as the older man came into view. "How's my favourite cherry blossom in the world doing?" he asked with a smile. His eyes were so narrow that it was almost as if they were closed all the time. "I'm doing fine, thank you. And you?" she replied as Ayame placed her order in front of her. She broke her chopsticks and dug into her food just as the brunette perched herself on the table. "So any juicy details to share?" she asked. "Nothing on my end," she replied with a slurp, though she knew more than anyone in this village when it came to civilians. Ayame's brown eyes twinkled with mischief. She regretted her decision there and then as the older girl recited all the facts she knew for the next half an hour. Eijirou was dating Mina, Tezuko was missing for over a month, Yamada joined a gang, the Yamamoto family was about to disintegrate and so on.

Her ears perked up as she caught the faintest sounds of footsteps, telling her that a group of ninja was approaching. She didn't how but she could discern footsteps. And right now, she needed to leave. "I just remembered I forgot something back at school," she said as she stood up. "You can't leave just yet, I was getting to the good part," Ayame replied as she pushed her back into her seat. "It's really important," she said in a frantic voice as the footsteps edged closer. The brunette stared at her with uncertainty in her eyes before finally relenting. "Okay but don't make me hunt you down," she said. Sakura shot out of her seat as she nodded in agreement. She was about to rush out of the stand when she slammed into a hard body.

She staggered backwards as she saw stars. Clearly, this person worked out hard to have a chest hard enough to make her forehead throb. She looked up into dark eyes with an equally dark look. Standing before her was Sasuke Uchiha and looked anything but pissed. "Sorry," she ducked around him only to crash into another figure. "Sakura-chan, long time no see," the blonde greeted with a smile as she took a few steps back. "Hey," she said awkwardly as she averted her eyes. If Naruto and Sasuke were then it meant only one thing. Amy Wasabi was also here.

Somehow, Amy had managed to attend Konoha's Ninja Academy and come out as the best kunoichi in their grade hence she was placed on Team 7. "Billboard brow, I see you're as flat as ever," she said as a way of greeting. At thirteen, Amy had the body of a sixteen year old. Though she was the same height as Sakura but the difference was visible. The Haruno civilian opted to remain quiet and instead bid farewell to the team, muttering a hurried apology. As soon as she was out of their sight, she ran until she reached her house. Her parents were still at the supermarket and she had the house all to herself.

She took a deep breath as she opened the fridge and took out a bottle of water. She gulped down the contents in three successive gulps. Yowai meowed as she came into view. She was a Cheshire cat. Sakura rubbed her head a few times before she went to her room and took a quick shower. She paid particular attention to her hair. After towelling off, she wore her red qipao dress with green biker tights. She tied her long hair into a bun then wore white sunhat on top. Not exactly her idea of fashionable but it'd do for now. After thirty minutes of walking, she found herself at the Yamanaka flower shop.

She purchased a large bouquet of snowdrops. She avoided talking much and was out of the shop in a matter of minutes. She overhead Ino complaining about customers with an ego as big as their foreheads. She didn't know whether she was talking about her. Soon, she was at the Uchiha graveyard which was at the edge of the Uchiha district. No one really walked around here especially at night as she was doing, not even the last Uchiha himself. She last saw him here three years ago.

She placed a snowdrop on every grave until her bouquet was finished. She had covered two rows. She had been here yesterday, and the day before, and the day before that. It was a ritual that she placed flowers on their graves everyday for the past two years. It was calming in a way. That was the only thing that made her feel worthy. No one seemed to remember the Uchiha and so she gave herself the mantle of having them in her memory, even if she didn't know any of them. She made her way to Fugaku and Mikoto's graves. She found out that they were Sasuke's parents after digging around.

Talking inside her head, she told them that she had seen Sasuke. He was very fit and healthy. He had a team and trained very hard. He was top of his class in every aspect. He never smiled anymore. He didn't have any friends. He always had a dark look on his face. Soon enough, she was crying. She was crying on behalf of Sasuke as she felt that no amount of crying could ease the pain in his heart, no amount of crying was ever enough to mourn for the hundreds of lives lost during that fateful night. She was also crying for the things that they never got to experience. Of course, they were dead and didn't hear or see anything but it was therapeutic in a way.

 

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It had been two months later that she heard a jounin at the hospital retell the story of the genin team which went on a simple C-rank mission turned A-rank. And it was all because of a business tycoon called Gato. She read about him briefly in the newspaper that he had been killed by one of the Seven Swordman of the Mist. She had gone there for a dental check-up but it was soon forgotten as she digested this information. She quickly turned and headed to her best friend, the library. She read every book she could find which had information about the Land of Waves. The place put a new definition to the word poverty. It was like a warzone yet there wasn't any war. Just that Gato had destroyed all means of communication to other lands and had goons to control the village. He ran the economy as he liked to, if it meant people died under his watch then so be it. No one was interested in helping the people there.

It got gears in her head spinning. Economy, village, ninja, goons, poverty, control. If she had enough resources to control an economy, she might as well have the power to control a hidden village. The Daimyo wasn't a ninja by all means but he had power more than a Kage. Whatever he ordered was what was done. He had access to trade routes, supply chains, etc. And if she could get her hands on all that, she would be unstoppable. But what did she have? She had brains and a pretty face which would both work in her favor. Her background was undistinguished but it was perfect that way because it would mean more effort and more joy when she finally conquered all the hidden villages. Wars could start because of economical mishaps. She could either bring peace or bring destruction if she wanted.

Her mind was made up. She was going to control the hidden villages and she would do it all the while being a civilian. With that thought in mind, she went to the business section and took five thick books and began accumulating information on the current state of affairs in Konoha.

Notes:

I'm back again with yet another story! It's a little late to update since I'm already fours chapters ahead but I created a discord server so please join.

https://discord.gg/g6VMyXBZ

Chapter 2: This is how I do it!

Notes:

Like guys, wait! Can I just urgh! I can't express myself! Let me just say...

KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

The reception for this story touched me. You don't know how much I appreciate your comments and kudos. Thank you so much. I hope I write up to your expectations. I have a lot of things planned for this one.

Here's chapter 2! Quicker than you expected, am I right? I first posted this story on FF.net before coming to AO3. So I updated the second chapters at once. You can check out my other stories under the same username.

Sakura was a night owl and not a morning person. Six a.m seemed too early for her and she turned off her alarm clock before going back to sleep. But her mind told her that she wouldn't accomplish her goal if she didn't start learning how to wake up early hence she forced herself out of her warm cocoon of blankets roughly five minutes later. The pinkette went to the bathroom and took a long cold shower to remove any lingering sleep before turning off the knob and drying herself. She went back to her room to change and doned her usual attire. Though she wasn't a ninja but she certainly dressed like one, her mother told her one day. An impractical ninja, she had added as an afterthought. She combed her hair meticulously and religiously, there was no question about how much she loved her hair.

A red ribbon lay on her vanity, one she had been gifted by Ayame on her seventh birthday, saying she didn't need to hide her forehead and should wear it proudly. She had been hesitant and insecure. She still was now but she didn't want the brunette to feel bad hence she swallowed down her fear and tied the ribbon on top of her head, leaving her massive forehead exposed to the world with pink bangs framing either sides of her face. She cringed at her reflection in the mirror.

The Haruno took her sling bag and left the house. Her parents hadn't come home yesterday. They were probably held up with arranging the new stock at their supermarket. She decided to pay a visit to the Hokage Tower. Though she wanted nothing to do with ninjas but if she was going to control them, then at least she had know them. She hoped that she could get the Hokage to give her access to some information about the budget of their resources and what ninjas were in need of. She could start from there.

 

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Sakura went to the reception and put on her best smile. "Good morning ma'am." The woman looked up from her scroll and peered at her through small squinted eyes behind large framed glasses. "What do you want missy?" Her voice was rude and cranky, reflecting her emotions clearly with a large frown. Sakura took a mental note that one of the things she would venture into as a businessperson was hospitality services. This woman left a very bad taste in her mouth, she wondered how a shinobi who had gone through a hard mission would react if they had been treated like scum by a mere receptionist.

"I want to request an audience with the Hokage," she said confidently with her posture straight. Dark eyes sized her up with barely concealed spite. "Who are you?" the cranky woman asked. For someone in her midthirties, she sure acted like the old croons at her civilian district. "I'm Sakura Haruno-" "Are you a civilian?" Sakura bit back a snarky remark and nodded her head dutifully. "Then you have no business with the Hokage. If you have any problems, take it up with the Civilian Council," she spoke as she turned back to her scroll. "But-" "Missy, I'm going to call security if you don't leave within the next second. Now hurry along, some of us have way bigger problems than your forehead."

Sakura could only gape at the lady. She was so, so....urgh!

Deciding she had enough of the snobby attitude, she frog marched out of the tower in a blaze of anger. She bumped into a random ninja and mumbled a quick apology without turning to look them.

'Fine, if she isn't going to give me the information I want. Then I'll just have to get it myself,' she thought with a dark look on her face.

 

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Sakura found herself yet again at the library. This time, she was browsing through the ninjutsu section. There had to be a jutsu which could alter one's appearance. She found the book in less than five minutes and went to sit at her secluded corner. Opening it, the pinkette perused the pages quickly before she found exactly what she was looking for: the Transformation Jutsu. She studied the hand seals, they were only three. But could she do it? She had never used chakra before, as in never.

She hesitated as she stared hard at the book. She promised herself that she was going to achieve her goal without being a ninja. If she used chakra, it would be going against her word. With firm resolution, she closed the book and returned it to its shelf before exiting the library and making her way to the clothing stores. There were more than enough ways to change one's appearance without using ninjutsu.

 

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It was late at night and the pinkette found herself staring at her attire which lay on her bed. She had decided that if she wanted information, she would have to find out from the shinobi themselves. If she was going to start a business, she would have to hear from the horse's mouth what she should establish.
Her parents had arrived a few hours ago and quickly retired to bed. She doubted they would notice if she was gone for a few hours. Plus it's not like she was planning to spend whole night at the bar. Buying the clothes had taken a large chunk out of her savings but it was worth it. If she was stingy enough to spend a few ryo to get what she wanted then she wasn't fit to become a business tycoon.

The attire was simple but to Sakura, it went against her moral code. She had tried to buy that which wasn't too revealing and could be seen wearing by typical kunoichi. She had taken inspiration from Ino and another kunoichi with a weird fetish for snakes called Anko. She decided to put the clothes on. When she was done, she could hardly believe that she was looking at herself in the mirror.

Her attire consisted of a red sleeveless crop top which was open all the way except held by a button at the collar with white lining around her collar and the hem. The garment left her entire midriff exposed but was covered in a black fishnet top. She wore a black sports bra to cover her nonexistent chest. Black fingerless gloves reaching all the way to her elbows covered her arms. She wore a pair of red loose shorts which reached midthigh with dark grey tights covering her legs entirely. To top of it off, she wore a pair of black high heeled boots with open toes which reached just below her knees. The boots gave her an extra four inches in height. She thanked her mother for forcing her to take those damned walking lessons when she was nine otherwise she would've immediately toppled over with the heels.

She had asked her family's seamstress to stitch the Konoha symbol on the back of her top like a clan symbol. Since she didn't have a headband, she hoped the stitching would be fine.

To say she looked different would be the understatement of the year. She looked so mature, so grown up. Even though she didn't have the curves like Amy but her body wasn't entirely flat as she thought. And the boots made her legs seemed longer, despite her short stature. She looked almost sexy.

"Get yourself together," Sakura told herself as she went to her vanity. The civilian took out her makeup set and dusted light compact powder which seemed almost nonexistent on her face. Since there would be poor lighting at the bar, she needed to at least look like she belonged there than to melt with the shadows. She added golden highlight powder to her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. She was supposed to have put some on her forehead too but she didn't want her large forehead to be the first thing anyone noticed about her. She added dark kohl around her eyes and mascara to make them pop out more. She put light pink eyeshadow which matched with her hair. Her hair was swept to one side and braided the other side. She put on a metallic hair clip which resembled a kunai so her hair didn't fall in her face. All in all, she looked the part she was trying to go with. Ayame would be so pleased with her right now.

She glanced at the clock on her bedside drawer. It read 2239. It was perfect for her as she had discovered that the night truly started at midnight for most shinobi. She draped a large cream trench coat on top and left her house as quietly as possible.

 

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Sakura's legs trembled as she made her way to Asuna's Pub. Her nerves were wreck but she forced herself to calm down as she neared her destination. 'If you're gonna be a weak ass before even starting this journey, why even bother with the effort?' Inner spoke snarkily in her head. She didn't reply her inner persona as she had spoken the truth. One thing she had learned about Inner Sakura, about herself, was not to argue when she could avoid it. And right now, she didn't want herself shouting in her ear when she was going to be surrounded by beings she wasn't too fond of.

She stopped just a few feet away from the entrance. Surprisingly, there was no bouncer as she had been expecting. Well, good for her. She took several deep breaths as she cleared her mind and connected with Inner Sakura. When she was finished, her eyes were like hardened steel. Tossing away all thoughts of the meek Sakura who was polite to everyone, she strutted confidently into the bar. She could feel all eyes on her as she made her way to the bartender. She could even hear a few whistles but she paid them no mind. She knew that she looked good, she had been trained by the best diva in all of Konoha for eight years straight.

Sakura took a seat and crossed her leg over her knee in a way that was careless yet appealing, inviting. She slammed a couple of ryo onto the counter and ordered a Martini. She didn't turn to look as the bartender took her money and began preparing her drink. Instead, she was looking for someone she could talk to and get the information she wanted. A ninja with a headband working as a bandana to cover the top of his head whilst chewing a senbon caught her attention. As if feeling eyes on him, her target turned around and caught her eye. The two had a face off for a moment before he beckoned her to come over with a nod of his head. Sakura allowed a smirk to grace her features. He was perfect.

She turned back to the bartender and gave him a wink before taking her Martini gracefully and stride towards the table. Her steps were slow and deliberate, she could feel the man's eyes roaming over her figure in an assessing manner. She hoped she met his standards as she didn't want him to have his guard up just because her assets were a little too small. She took a seat opposite from him, draping her trench coat over the chair as she placed her drink on the table.

The pinkette flipped her hair casually as she became comfortable in her seat. Nursing her drink, she gave him a cool look as she regarded him. "Hey there sweetheart. I've never seen you around here," he started as he flashed what Makima called the sexy look. He was pretty good at it, she noted. "I've never seen you either," she replied, her voice a tad bit deeper than her usual tone. "Well, it's not like I want to have a hangover every day of the week," he replied with a grin. "I guess so," she replied nonchalantly as she took a sip out of her drink.

"What's your name?" he asked her smoothly. "It's a bit rude to ask for someone's name without giving your own first," she told him as she looked at him dead in the eye with a blank face. The man was taken aback as he blinked at her expression. She could hear Inner cheering in her mind. "The name's Genma," he told her as he eased back into his flirtatious attitude. "Mizuho," she replied. "Isn't that a boy's name?" he asked as her gave her a once over, eyes staring a second too longer at her forehead. She hoped a vein didn't tick on her forehead as she looked at him in annoyance.

"I didn't mean to offend you. I mean, with the pink hair and all, I figured your parents would name you Sakura or something," he cleared his throat and took a large gulp of his beer. "Maybe they weren't very creative," she snorted as she finished her drink in one go. Genma chuckled at her antics. "I can guess why they didn't name you after something so fragile," he said as he leaned back in his chair. "And that is?" she asked as she raised a pink eye brow. "You don't take anybody's shit," the ninja grinned at her. "Glad to see we're on the same page," she said as she popped her shoulders.

Again, she thanked Makima for making her, scratch that, forcing her to take gymnastics lessons every week since she was five. Her body was very flexible and she could see the older shinobi watching her every movement almost hungrily.

The civilian felt an immensely overwhelming presence behind and before she could react, she felt a calloused hand on her bare shoulders.

"Man, I was beginning to think that you had ditched me!" Genma grinned at the person behind her.
Sakura didn't react, instead she remained perfectly still as the man took a seat beside, shivering unconsciously as the warmth of his hand left her. She turned to regard him with a curious face. He had a shock of silver spiky hair on his head with a headband wrapped around his forehead and over his eye. He was dressed in a black form fitting shirt which left his arms exposed and connected with the mask that covered over half of his face. A single black pupil stared back, assessing her as she did to him.

"Aren't you a little too young to be here?" he asked monotonously as his eyes strayed to her almost flat chest. "Aren't you a little old to be here?" she replied with a pointed look at his hair. "Sukea," he said as he stretched out his hand towards her. "Mizuho," she retorted, though she didn't dare take his hand, opting to look at him dead in the eye with blank expression.

Notes:

So did you guys like Sukea? *chuckles mischievously*

Stay tuned to this story to see what happens.

Also if there are any ideas on the prediction of how this fic will turn out or just suggestions on what to do with my fic, I'm all ears.

Sorry for any grammatical errors. I don't have a Beta reader.

Tozoonana

AfricanFire

Chapter 3: Gotta get a job, sooner or later....

Summary:

Things start to become solid....

Notes:

So to those who had been following this story, I'm now continuing....

Genma flashed an unimpressed look at his long time friend. Sukea? What kind of dumb ass name was that? But most importantly, why was he introducing himself under a fake name? He doubted Mizuho was that much of a threat considering her lack of muscles and an almost non-existent chakra pool. Plus the pink hair? Definitely nonthreatening as it was such as impractical hair color. Like seriously, what kind of ninja would have pink hair? And judging by how glossy it looked, she paid a good amount of attention to her hair. That was another point down in being a threat.

If he were honest with himself, which he usually was, she was just a wannabe genin whom he was entertaining because he thought she was easy on the eyes and passed off well enough as eye candy. If Kakashi had any reason to believe that the girl was any indication to impending danger on Konoha then he'd believe him if he said that she was going to break a lot of hearts because she was dangerously pretty. Her age was hard to guess especially with the makeup but she was probably in her late teens or something, albeit a very short teen who hadn't reached her growth spurt yet judging by the lack of curves.

It wasn't like Kakashi's identity was a secret considering he had entered the Bingo book at the tender age of 16 and has since been known as Copy Cat Kakashi for over a decade. Surely, he couldn't think telling a measly genin like her his name would tip off Orochimaru any useful information against the village.
He could see that Mizuho wasn't comfortable around Kakashi, despite trying to put up a tough front. Well, he couldn't blame her. The man's entire existence could set just about anyone on edge.

A pair of green eyes were looking at him, a single pink eyebrow raised as if expecting an explanation. "This is Sukea, my best friend since we were in diapers," he said as he flashed her a smirk.

Mizuho looked back at Sukea and his outstretched hand which was still waiting to be shaken. "Can you hold your liquor?" she asked, ignoring the hand gesture. Whoever dolled up her face knew her shit, Genma noted. "Can you?" Kakashi asked in return, his lone eye curled up in a smile as he withdrew his hand. Mizuho rolled her eyes in exasperation. "I'll take that as a yes," she muttered in annoyance as she stood up and headed to the bartender.

Before he knew it, their table was full of different assortments of alcohol that would bankrupt his wallet.

"You're officially my new best friend," Genma grinned at her as he chugged down a particularly strong whiskey. Mizuho laughed, he could tell it was genuine because of the way her eyes lit up and the corners of her mouth which stretched a little too widely. Being in T&I under Ibiki for a year made you notice some things. "I can buy your friendship with just a few drinks?" she asked in a slightly incredulous tone. "Yes, even Sukea here. He just won't admit it," the senbon user commented as he eyed Kakashi sipping on a tequila. "Hmmm, that's interesting," she hummed.

"Why aren't you drinking?" Kakashi asked, eyeing Mizuho over the rim of his glass. "I didn't say I was buying for myself," she grumbled as she nursed her glass of water. "I just thought a shinobi of your kind would be onto something more stronger than a glass of water," he stated. Every shinobi knew that they had to be able to hold their liquor, even for a little bit. It did good for relaxing after a particularly long mission. It wouldn't do well to pass out before beginning the first round or drinking something tame whilst the others were drunk shits. "Well, some of us care about our health a lot more than you," she replied with an indignant huff. "What are you, a medic?" Genma snickered. "Something like that," the pinkette replied offhandedly. "You should stick around more so that I can drag my idiot friend's ass to the hospital after a mission. He acts as if the hospital is plague," the brown haired shinobi spoke.

"Who wouldn't want to go to the hospital? Does he wanna die?" Mizuho questioned. "Apparently he does," Genma replied. "The hospital smells like shit and the food is just as bad. Not to mention that the nurses aren't very polite and lack common sense in general on how to perform their duties," Kakashi's voice cut through with a hint of annoyance. "I had to rewrap my bandages because one of the nurses forgot a pin on my bandage. I would've died from an infection," the silver haired ninja told them.

Genma was surprised to find a thoughtful expression on Mizuho's face. He wondered what was going on in her mind and if her large forehead housed a brain as big. As if sensing eyes on her, Mizuho turned to look at him and smiled at him, just a tad bit sheepishly as if she had been caught doing something bad.
"I've started my internship at the hospital recently so I haven't had much exposure. Are you saying most of our medics aren't competent enough to do their jobs?" she asked the masked figure sitting across her.

Kakashi's lone eye rolled in annoyance. "Not just most of them but all of them," he bit out. "Please forgive my friend. He's just being a pain in the ass as usual. What he means to say is that ever since our best medic left the village, the hospital has been in shambles," Genma cut in as he chewed on his senbon. "I know only of the Slug Sannin, Senju Tsunade-hime," she supplied.
"Well, the books didn't tell you about Shizune, her apprentice. She's almost as good as Tsunade," the older nin replied. "But that doesn't explain how the medics are bad? I mean, I've only just begun so I can't say I see anything bad," she poked again. Genma wondered why the hell she was so bent on knowing exactly how the medics were incompetent. Since she was an intern at the hospital, she could just observe for herself. But perhaps the pinkette needed another set of eyes. "I hope to change the hospital for the good. So I need to know how different people view the hospital so that I know how I'm going to change it," Mizuho told him, her eyes having an eagerness that was more than normal, despite trying to conceal it by carefully studying her nails.

"Well, for starters, they really need to improve on hospitality. I mean, the receptionist is cranky as hell. Second, hygiene. Even though the hospital will be crowded most of the times, that doesn't mean it has to be a pig sty. The floors won't be cleaned most of the times, they don't change the bedding, some of the dishes won't be washed and don't get me started on the bathrooms. Thirdly, food. We need food that is both tasty and healthy. I don't care what no one else says, healthy food doesn't necessarily have to taste bad. Fourth, the most of the medicine is always out of stock and sometimes there won't be enough bandages and shit. Because most of our medics are incompetent, they rely on medical instruments rather than chakra so I'm pretty sure you have a decent ideas of how bad that shit can be when the materials aren't enough....."

If Mizuho had a notebook, he could see her probably writing down everything that he was saying. The way she was nodding along to his words, her brows pinched in concentration was certainly something. Kakashi shared the same sentiment with him as he eyed her in a new light. No doubt, he was thinking about Rin. And so, the jounin continued to babble on any nonsense he might deem useful to the pink-haired woman-child.

 

.

 

When Sakura woke up in the morning, she was practically beaming with excitement.

She was grateful for Gemma's observations and suggestions on how to improve the hospital. Even Sukea piped in and gave his own two ryo. She had been so giddy with the information acquired that she gave a quick hurried goodbye to the duo and ran to her house to begin writing down everything she had heard as well as to implement ideas of her own.

Sukea had offered to walk her home but she had refused, saying that she could protect herself and he was probably too drunk that he would be the one needing someone to accompany him home. Genma had laughed at that and she took it as her que to leave. She left the two men discussing who was more sober between the two of them. She hoped she could meet them again to ask about her ideas.

Today, she was going to pay a visit to the library to read about Tsunade-hime and her apprentice before going to apply to the hospital for an internship.
With that thought in mind, the pinkette hurriedly took a bath and was out of her house by five a.m. Her parents were still asleep when she left.

She walked leisurely and took the longer route to the library, watching as the shinobi bounced from rooftop to rooftop in groups of threes and fours. The thirteen-year allowed her mind to drift and wondered how she would've fared if she had chosen to become a shinobi. She most likely would've passed the written exams but horribly fail the practicals, her lack of stamina said as much. Maybe she would've been stuck as a genin if she had at least managed to graduate from the Ninja Academy.

Shaking the useless thoughts of what could've been, she continued on her way to the library. In a matter of minutes, she had arrived.

 

.

 

Sakura was confident to say she knew all about Tsunade-hime and her apprentice as much as books could provide. What she hadn't understood was why she left Konoha, the books only stating that after the death of her lover and younger brother in the Third Great Ninja War, she had left. Luckily, she had come across some of her personal notes in a book the medic had written on how she would reform the hospital. Too bad, she left before she could implement any of it. For example, having a medic on every team to minimize the death count of shinobi. Or having combat medics as long as they mastered the Byakugou no In jutsu or something similar. Would she have mastered it if she became a medic? Probably not.

The civilian headed to the hospital to apply for an internship as a nurse. Sadly to say, Genma had been right and Sakura was too happy to let an ugly receptionist ruin her mood by declining her the right to apply thus she left the hospital and decided to stop by Ichiraku's before going to see her parents if they could help her find a part time job.

 

.

 

Sakura was surprised to find another customer in her usual spot. He was a jounin, judging by his frame and the standard gear he worn. What caught her attention was the shock of silver hair atop of head, defying all laws of gravity that she had learned at school. How was that even possible?

He reminded her of Sukea. She took a seat beside him and ordered a miso ramen from Ayame who gladly took her order. The brunette was writing down a bunch of stuff in a notebook and left Sakura to her devices, to which the pinkette was eternally grateful for.

Casting a side glance at the jounin beside her, she noticed him reading a book with an orange cover which was way too familiar. Ahh, the Icha Icha series. He was wearing a mask, just like Sukea, and his headband covered the left side of his eye. Sukea hadn't worn a headband though and wore a sleeveless fitted tank top which left his arms exposed. Sukea also had a red swirl tattooed on his bicep, the exact one she had seen in a book written by Tobirama Senju as the mark of an Anbu operative. This jounin, however, wore long sleeves so she didn't know if he had the tattoo just like Sukea.

She continued to look at the book before she recognized which edition of the series it was, Icha Icha Paradise written by Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin. Why was he reading porn in public? Her eyes trailed from the book to find the man staring at her, a single eyebrow raised in question. She blurted the first thing that came to her mind.

"Icha Icha Paradise is much better than Icha Icha Scandal!"

Immediately, her face burned in embarrassment. Did she just admit to reading porn to a grown man she had never met before?!

"I'm sorry! That was- I didn't mean to- It was the first thing that came to my mind. Honestly, I don't read those disgusting books but my neighbor does and she's praising them and I have an eidetic memory and so it just kinda stuck! I'm so sorry!" she rambled as she bowed her head, her hair falling over and covering her face. She cringed at herself. 'Really Sakura? You can do better than that!'

When she raised her head, she found the jounin looking at her with an amused expression. "You don't have to apologize. Besides, I like these books, they're first class literature," he said as his single eye crinkled into a half moon, no doubt he was smiling. Sakura couldn't help but eye roll, he sounded exactly like her neighbor. "Of course they're," she muttered under her breath as she turned back to her bowl.

She stole another quick glance at him. He looked like Sukea but didn't act or sound like him. Whilst Sukea gave off bad boy vibes, this jounin was kinda friendly. She couldn't explain the feeling but she did feel comfortable around him so it had to count as something. "You can ask if you want," he spoke without turning to look at her, his eye trained on the page he was reading. "I'm not so subtle, aren't I?" she said sheepishly. He nodded automatically.

"Well, it's just that you remind me of someone. I thought maybe he's your relative because you look the same but you don't act or sound the same," she stated as she gave him her full attention. "What does this friend of yours look like? Perhaps I might know him," the jounin asked kindly. Sakura put her chopsticks down. "He has silver hair like you, and wears a mask too but he doesn't wear a headband. Also he wears a tank top and has a red tattoo on his bicep. You have the same eye color, well, his other eye is red and I don't know if it's an eye problem or genetic disorder," she told him. He hummed in understand and turned to look at her.

Whilst she felt intimidated by Sukea, she felt comfortable in the presence of this unknown jounin. "What about attitude?" he asked. Immediately, her face scrunched up in distaste. "Oh please, don't get me started on his attitude. I met him only once but I didn't like him. I'm not usually the type of person to dislike someone on our first interaction but believe me when I say this, he left a bad taste in my mouth. He acted as if I was below him. He didn't say but he certainly acted like it. He just gave off these weird vibes," she rambled as she glared at an imaginary Sukea.

The jounin was looking at her with a raised eyebrow and Sakura finally felt the weight of her words. "I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it like that, I just got caught up in my head. He might be your relative for all I know and here I am insulting him," she apologized profusely. 'Baka!' she could see Inner cheering her on about speaking her mind whilst she hit her head repeatedly. "It's okay. I know who you're talking about. He's a close relative of mine. His name is Sukea, right?" Sakura nodded in agreement. "An odd fella, he is. Our fathers were brothers, we made an agreement to always wear masks back when we were kids," he told her.

"Really? But why do you seem so opposite?" she asked. "Opposite? We're hardly opposite, people say we're the same, looks aside," he retorted. "You're a thousand times way better than he could ever be!" she nearly snarled as she jabbed at the ramen in her bowl. "Wow, he must've done something to anger you this much," the jounin commented. Sakura blushed to the roots of her hair.

"What's your name?" he asked. The pinkette contemplated if she should tell him her name. Though she had a rule to stay as far away from shinobi as possible, she didn't find it within her to avoid the man if the situation arose where she had to converse with him, or if she wanted to. Besides, it couldn't hurt to have at least one shinobi acquaintance who was normal. Genma and Sukea didn't count, they were pretty unhinged in some parts of their brain.
"Sakura Haruno. What's yours?" she asked in return. "You can call me Hatake-senpai," he replied with another eye smile. Sounded good to her.

 

.

 

It was late in the afternoon that Sakura finally made her way to her parents' shop. She had ended up talking to the jounin for a lot longer than she had assumed. But the man had said he had finished reading the book before and didn't have anything to do until well past noon. He'd be lonely if she left. Being the ever polite girl she was, she couldn't find the energy to refuse him especially when he pleaded her to stay with him a bit and tell him a bit about herself. She agreed on the condition that he would, in turn, tell her about himself.
She shared with him the non-important bits of her life. She got to learn that he had a pack of seven dogs. He liked to read porn in public. He taught a team of obnoxious genin. Yet two hours passed as they shared their uninteresting nonsense. It seemed neither of them were willing to share than what was at surface level.

"Okaa-san! Otou-san! Are you here?!" she shouted as she entered the shop.

"I told you not to shout, young lady! It's improper for a lady to shout," Mebuki berated sternly as she turned around the counter. Sakura wanted to roll her eyes but she didn't want to start another shouting match, at least not when she wanted something from her parents.

"Sorry," she apologized.

"Good afternoon munchkins," her father, Kizashi, with hair shaped like a sakura blossom in a faded lilac color, greeted as he came up just behind his wife. "I told you not to call me that," she muttered, unheard to both her parents. Whilst Sakura loved her parents, sometimes, they were just too much. Between her mother, for instance, with her stern rebukes on being a proper lady and her father's ridiculous dad jokes, she could only handle so much before she finally gave in to Inner Sakura and blew up resulting in a heated argument.
Which more or less happened everyday.
But today was not the day.

"How's been your day?" she asked as she put her bag on the counter top. "Just the usual. Although, more and more shinobi are coming day by day for basic things like bandages and aspirin. It seems that the hospital is lacking basic stuff as required in it. I wonder if it's because of lack of medicine or lack of money," her mother replied as she brought out a new notebook and a pen. Genma's words from last night came back to her. So what he had been saying was true then.
"I noticed that you seem to be pretty busy with researching whatever has been taking your interest these days. I bought you a new notepad and pen, you might need it sooner or later," Mebuki spoke as she slid the things over to her.

Sakura's throat constricted involuntarily and her eyes watered a bit. Despite their many arguments, Mebuki never failed to remind Sakura that she was still very much her daughter. She always made sure to surprise Sakura with little things like a new scroll when she was out of reading material at home, a new pair of shoes when she didn't notice that they had broken soles or let her sleep late watching tv whenever she had a bad day. And Sakura was too much of sentimental little shit to just let this not affect her. "Thanks okaa-san," she croaked out, hoping her voice didn't crack. The older Haruno seemed to see her struggle and smiled as she patted her daughter's head.

"So, what has gotten you here this early? You usually come here near nightfall," Mebuki asked. Sakura cleared her throat to remove whatever had clogged there during her 'moment'. "I'm looking for a part time job," she told them. "Any reason why?" her mother asked. "You rarely one to work for anything unless it's for your insatiable hunger for books," Mebuki added. "Okaa-san, please. I'm trying to do something on my own, you don't have to make me feel bad for it," Sakura said with a frown. "Just stating the obvious," Mebuki replied as she raised her palms and shoulders to solidify her statement.

Whatever sentimental shit she was feeling went down the drain. Leave it to her mother to ruin the mood.

"I have a friend of mine who's looking for an assistant. He does a lot of of things but it has to do with cinematography. But he'll be moving away from Konoha. Perhaps you can assist him and learn some things before he leaves for good. It'll be good for you," Kizashi suggested.

Sakura had wanted to argue but knowing her father, it was better to listen to him. Not that he'd do something to her or was forceful but he somehow had a way of knowing good things that were about to happen. He was the one who initially urged to visit the library often since she had so much difficult making friends. And books have helped her a decent amount of making the measly amount of friends who were only Ayame and a few colleagues at school who weren't weirded out by her hair color. "Can you ask him if he can give me a job?" Sakura asked as she reached her decision. She would work with her father's friend and gain extra cash and skills.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? Hanami-san mentioned that she needs a pair of helping hands three times a week at her fashion store. It's better for her to do something more ladylike than aquire a skill she won't have much use of," Mebuki spoke with a frown. "Okaa-san," Sakura groaned out. As long as her mother didn't agree, she knew couldn't do anything apart from what Mebuki had suggested, especially if her father stayed quiet about it. She didn't want to sew and Hanami-obaasan was too much of a prick most of the times. She could imagine how disastrous working with her could be, especially with her temper.

"Why don't you let Sakura choose what she wants? It's not like it's the end of the world if she learns a bit of cinematography. Besides, she has to learn more about the outside world apart from your friends," her father stated. Though he was smiling, Sakura knew that look too well to know that what he was saying was final, no room for arguments. Mebuki pouted a little at that and turned to Sakura who was looking at her smugly.

"Well, since your father says it's a good idea then we'll go ahead with the cinematography whatnot," she replied begrudgingly. "Thank you so much!" she cheered as she high fived with Kizashi.

Notes:

I hope you'll enjoy this chapter as much as I do. A lot has happened since my hiatus from writing. It's just that back then, writing had deprived me of certain skills as required of a person and it strained my relationships. This story somewhat alignes with my future hence I decided to continue. I don't have updating schedules seg because might change and I don't want to disappoint anyone. I'm trying to write longer chapters and hope I've improved my English good enough considering that it's not first language, not that I'm any better at writing my native language but you get the gist.

Don't forget to leave a comment or kudo. I really appreciate it!

Tozoonana

AfricanFire

Chapter 4: So this is what working feels like?

Notes:

Sakura at work!

Kizashi informed her that an interview wasn’t necessary as his friend had agreed to have her as his assistant until he left Konoha for good. Sakura was relieved to say the least; she didn’t know a thing about cinematography and would most likely fail at the first question. Having someone else speak on her behalf was a good thing, that ‘someone’ being her father was bonus. She was to start work in three days’ time, until then she had to research on cinematography. The pinkette spent her time holed up in the library devouring whatever scroll she stumbled upon. She read the art behind cinematography as well as the commercial aspect of it. She checked in at the library at 0730 and checked out at 1600 every day. She was going to be the best assistant ever!

She had stumbled upon Hatake-senpai once as she went shopping with her mother at the fruit market. The pinkette had waved at him from the stall which was two spaces away from where he was standing. The jounin had waved back as if it was too tiresome for him to do so but had to do it anyways, holding the small orange book in his gloved hand. Her mother had sent her a look but she ignored it, opting to look a little too closely at the grapefruits. Mebuki didn’t ask her on their way home or when they had arrived. Or even the day after. And for that, the Haruno girl was grateful.

Today would be her first day at work. She wore her usual qipao dress and green biker tights. She spent at least twenty minutes in front of her vanity brushing her hair until every strand was in place. She added a little too much hair gel which made her hair look glossier than usual. She had to make a good first impression. Taking her brown sling bag filled with two notebooks and pens, the old ones and the new ones that her mother had gifted her four days ago, the thirteen year old girl left her house at five a.m.

Her boss’ office was located in the central business district of Konoha, where there were some expensive-looking high rising buildings. She felt a little underdressed as she passed by men and women wearing formal clothing. Even though there clothes weren’t like the Western designs she had seen in the magazines, they were a mixture of Western clothing and their own traditional styles. She had to update her wardrobe very quickly if she wanted to become a business tycoon. Appearance mattered when all you had was words.

Sakura quickly clambered onto the elevator as soon as the doors opened; she was squashed in between way large and way taller bodies. She felt the adults glaring at her as she pressed into their sides. The civilian pointedly looked at her blue shoes.

She had never ridden an elevator before and movement caught her off guard as the elevator began to ascend to the fifth floor where her boss’ office was located. It caused her to be nauseous and made her head hurt. She counted to a hundred and twenty before an electronic female voice notified her that she had arrived at the fifth level. Her short legs quickly carried her out of the elevator into the passage and she made her way to the second door on her left after turning right.

The door was brown and was written the number 0203 in a gold underlined italic font. She knocked twice before a slightly alto voice beckoned her to come in. The civilian cursed Makima-san, the woman who tutored her for eight years straight, for teaching her to recognize a person’s tune merely by hearing them speak. It felt oddly uncomfortable for her to judge him, considering he was her boss.

The office was neat and tidy, even better than her bedroom which she always praised as the cleanest room in their three-bedroom apartment. Her boss was sitting behind a wide mahogany desk, with different papers scattered across him. A black telephone was on his right, a black paper cup on his left and a pen tucked behind his ear. He was staring intently at a grey folder, a silver watch on his wrist and a bronze ring on his index finger. He wore a pristine looking navy blue blazer and a light blue shirt with a standing collar.
He had faded black hair and several wrinkles etched onto his face, showing how far he was in years. He was probably about her father’s age, she surmised.

When she cleared her throat, the man looked up from his folder, clearly displaying his bushy mustache and narrow eyes which looked as if they were closed behind a pair of black, small round glasses.

“Asama-san?” she spoke as inched cautiously to his desk. “Ah, you must be young Sakura-chan. Please, take a seat,” the older man spoke softly as he gestured to the chair on the other side of the table. Just by those words, Sakura felt at ease with him. She could see why her father would befriend him. “Good morning. My name is Sakura Haruno and I’m twelve years old,” she told him as soon as she sat down. “You’re Kizashi’s only daughter right? He told me how you looking for a job and hoping to learn something new along the lines,” he said. She nodded her head in agreement.

“I’m only here for two weeks before I have to travel to the Land of Snow but I hope you can learn a few things. i don’t actively take part in cinematography but I’m the manager of a well-known actress, Yukie Fujikaze,” the older man stated. He watched her intently, waiting for her reaction. None came. “Do you know Yukie Fujikaze?” he asked as he looked at her curiously. “Unfortunately, I don’t,” she replied with a sheepish smile. This Yukie person had to be important and Sakura felt ashamed for not knowing her.

“Hmmm, I’m quite surprised that you don’t know her. Do you know Princess Fun then?” he asked. “No,” she replied. Asama leaned back in his chair a little, looking off put. “Your father said that you read a lot of books, newspapers and magazines included. I thought you’d at least know the character she played in her movie,” he spoke. Sakura could see that he was beginning to doubt her, the light in his eyes a tad bit dimmed when she said she didn’t know Yukie.

“I do read books but I focused on medicine, history, mathematics, geography and ninja arts. I don’t watch TV much but when I do, it’s usually documentaries,” she admitted. The dark-haired man looked at her for a long time before he let out a long sigh. “I suppose it’s a good thing that you don’t know Yukie-san then. It saves me a lot of trouble of having to deal with a fan,” he said as he took off his glasses and wiped them with a black cloth.

“Let’s do this then. I’ll spend the next two days evaluating you and see if I can hire you. I need someone who is very competent, very intelligence and obedient. I’m sort of an assistant to Yukie-san but with our workload in the coming weeks, I need an extra pair of hands. Hopefully, by the time I have to leave, the paperwork would have eased off a little bit. Do you understand what I’m saying?” he asked her with a stern look on his face. Sakura nodded diligently.

Asama looked at her intently before a smile broke out on his face. “Good. Let’s get to work then. I’m in urgent need of a coffee with only two sugars and lots of milk, no cream. There’s a little café in the second floor where you can buy. After that, I need you to sort and arrange these documents in their chronological order, the pink one by dates, the red one by names and the orange one by QR code number. Then, I need you to buy me some scrolls and bond papers then take my suits to the dry cleaners at the corner, just after Hanamaru Avenue. Oh and also……”

 

.

 

By the end of forty-eight hours after meeting Sakura, Sandayu could say he was more than impressed with Sakura. Though she walked slightly slower than expected of her age and lacked physical strength, she made up for it in intelligence. The girl was a walking dictionary. He had asked her to write a document to the Ministry of Environmental Affairs, Ministry of Arts and Culture, and Ministry of Civil Relations asking if they could shoot one of their scenes in the village. The letters were short, precise and spot on, even better than he could have wrote.

And so he hired her. He thought he was pretty generous with her and when he paid for the last two days, Sakura’s reaction and exclamation of “it’s too much!” showed that he was indeed generous. She deserved it, the little petal. He could see why Kizashi suggested her for an assistant. If it weren’t for the fact that he was leaving Konoha in a week’s time, Sandayu would’ve had her for a long as possible. He also gave her notes on cinematography, the little bits he had gleaned off from Director Mikano. He ought to introduce her to the crew soon and maybe meet Yukie in person.

Perhaps, he’d bring her along to the Land of Snow and then come back with the Konoha shinobi accompanying them after finishing the shooting for the movie. He could do that least for her.

 

.

 

Once again, Sakura was grateful to her father for befriending Asama. She was also grateful that she was his daughter and was given such a golden opportunity to learn. It was a gazillion time’s way better to learn practically than read books. As much as she loved to read, she had to admit; practical was a lot better than theoretical. And Asama was very kind and generous to her. He was also a slave driver; the man worked her to the bone more than she had ever done. She mentally berated herself for not giving enough attention to physical education at school. Between running to the second floor at breakfast and lunch and taking his suits from the dry cleaner’s which were almost on the other side of the village, her legs could handle so much before giving out.

But she enjoyed working for him. It pushed her out of her comfort zone. With the money she was being paid, she hoped to buy a camera and a desktop, finally putting into use the knowledge she had acquired.

Though Asama mentioned that he was a manager for a famous actress, she hadn’t met the actress in person or even any of the casting crew or the director or whatnot. Perhaps she hadn’t impressed the manager enough. She hoped that she could meet either one of them before her time was up.

 

.

 

Sakura glanced at the open notebook on her desk as she was seated in her bedroom. Her bedroom was painted in a cream color with several posters about animated characters stuck on the walls. She ought to remove those. Her bedcover was a deep maroon in color, with a teddy bear and dinosaur and several other toys she had as a kid. She had to remove those too. They were too childish and unbecoming for someone who wanted to become a prominent figure.

She hadn’t slept on her bed ever since she made a decision to become a business tycoon. She spent most nights bent over her desk devouring as much information as she could about the business sector of Konoha and all the villages as a whole. She often dozed off seated there and woke up with the sun, not even having enough time to take a bath before she had to go to work. Asama wanted her at the office by six a.m. sharp.

On her notebook, she had written down a list of things to do during the weekend. Her boss gave her a half day on Saturday. Sundays were free to her. And today was Saturday. It was in the afternoon, she had finished work a while ago. The pinkette hadn’t managed to visit the Uchiha graveyard in a long time and she had holiday work to do before school resumed in three weeks.

Ugh, school.

In as much as she was a nerd, she didn’t like going to school. Sure, she liked the books and having someone else explain to her than try to understand herself. What she didn’t like was the stinky breath when one of the male teachers leaned too close to her as they went over her work or the classmates who made sure to avoid her like a plague and the senior students who made fun of her hair color and picked on her about the size of her forehead.

She could skip grades. If she focused more than usual and aced her exams, she could skip two grades and be done with school in a year’s time. She wrote down the goal in her notebook.

She also had to see Sukea and Genma again; they provided her information with a ninja’s perspective. But she wasn’t sure if they would be at Asuna’s Pub. There was another bar which was frequented by shinobi more than often, the Rusty Kunai. They had to be there, right?

 

.

 

Mizuho found herself at the Rusty Kunai. She had checked Asuna’s Pub for the unlikely duo but they were nowhere to be found. Plus the pub had a little less than usual customers this time hence she decided to check out the Rusty Kunai. Chances were she might not even see either one of the men but at least, she had to try.

Today, she was dressed in a red loose t-shirt which was styled almost like a kimono, the sleeves, that is. A white sash was wrapped around her waist so that the shirt wasn’t too baggy. She finished the attire with a pleated skirt that reached just above her knees and wore her usual blue shoes. Donning a pair of fingerless gloves and wrist guards, the civilian left her home.
She decided to use makeup that made her look more mature, more grown up. Even though when you became a genin, you were as good as an adult, Sakura didn’t want to be asked way too many questions especially if she wasn’t able to answer them. She just hoped that whoever she met today would not question her age as Genma and Sukea had done.

The Rusty Kunai, to be precise, was rusty. The place was small and dingy, with poor lightning and dirty but it was packed to the brim. One thing she was grateful for however was the anonymity the bar provided. Since it was always full with bad lights hanging overhead, everyone somehow blended in with each other.
Well, everyone except her.

“Mizuho!” she heard Genma’s voice over the loud chatter of the shinobi present. She craned her neck to the left and saw the older jounin making his way over to her, pushing through the masses. The petite civilian waited for him to come to her. “If it weren’t for your ridiculous pink hair, I wouldn’t have spotted you,” he greeted her with a grin. “I figured,” she replied dryly.

He took her to his table where three other males were seated. A flash of silver her caught her attention. It was Hatake-senpai. She forced herself to look as neutral as possible. Hatake-senpai didn’t know that Mizuho was Sakura’s alter ego. For the umpteenth time, Sakura cursed her distinct pink hair, wide forehead and green eyes. No one in the entire Land of Fire or even in all the elemental nations had such features. Not to mention, she hadn’t bothered to wear a wig to cover her hair. Her makeup did little to hide the fact that she was Sakura if Hatake-senpai was a good sensor and be able to recognize her signature little chakra signature.

“Hello, my lovely friends. This here is Mizuho, my newest best friend,” he introduced her as he plopped her into the seat beside Hatake and took a seat next to the man wearing a green jumpsuit under the standard jounin vest. “Isn’t she a little too young for you?” a deep voice asked. The man who had spoken, another jounin perhaps, had his beard and sideburns connected together. He had a tan complexion and a cigarette between his lips. Mizuho made at face at that.

“We’re not like that,” she spoke as she sent the man a pointed look. “Aww, and here I thought we were best friends,” Genma said with a pout. “You can’t have a grown man as your best friend unless he’s your relative,” she replied. “Then you must be really young then if it makes you uncomfortable to have me as your best friend,” the senbon user told her. “Come to think off it, you never did tell me your age,” he said as he looked at her with a questioning eyebrow raised. Panic rose up in her.

“My age doesn’t concern you. Same way you haven’t told me your age is the same way I won’t tell you mine,” she gritted out with a glare. “I’m 26 by the way,” Genma said. That meant he was fourteen years ahead of her. “And I’m old enough to be in a bar sitting with a bunch of grown men,” she snapped. “Does that satisfy your curiosity?” she asked as she began to feel a vein throbbing along her forehead.

“Maa maa, leave the kid alone. It’s not like it’s the first time seeing a teenager in the bar. All of us here were drunks by the time we were fifteen,” Hatake-senpai stated beside her. “I’m not a drunk,” she grumbled under her breath.

“The bearded hunk over there is Asuma, son of the Sandaime. The one sporting the jumpsuit is Guy. Beside you is Kakashi,” Genma said, ignoring their earlier spat. “Nice to meet you,” she said with a light bow. “It’s an honor to meet Genma’s youthful friend! I am Might Guy, Konoha’s Green Beast! The power of youth lives on!” the green clad man exclaimed with a thumbs up. Mizuho was almost blinded by his smile. Plus how were his eyebrows so thick?

“Pleasure to meet you Guy-san,” she retorted with a smile of her own. “I have to say you’re a lovely young lady, your smile is so bright like the afternoon sun after a heavy storm, very youthful indeed,” Guy spoke in an almost-shout. The man seemed to have a liking towards youth if the inclusivity of the word after every two seconds in almost every sentence was anything to go by. “Uh, thanks?” she retorted, not quite sure whether to feel grateful that he liked her seemingly sunny disposition or be freaked out that he almost sounded like he was flirting with her when he’s double her age. “She’s like Sakura,” the silver haired ninja spoke beside her. Mizuho froze and turned to look at the man stiffly. Surely, he hadn’t figured her out by now, right?

“I mean the flower, Sakura no Hana. Pink hair, remember?” he said with an eye smile as he gestured to her head. “Thanks for pointing out the obvious,” she grumbled as she turned up her nose away from him with an indignant huff. Was he teasing her? Maybe, but it was not funny. “Aww c’mon guys. I just introduced you to my new friend and all you’re doing is to make her feel uncomfortable,” Genma spoke from beside her as he sneered at Guy in particular. “Well, she’s being secretive about something that’s an open secret,” Asuma replied as he blew out a puff of smoke. “It’s not a secret if it’s out in the open,” Mizuho snapped with an icy glare.

“I just think you’re a little too young to be here, especially here with us guys,” the tanned man retorted with a glare of his own. “No one’s forcing you to be here,” the pinkette sneered at him. “And no one asked you to be here kiddo,” Asuma mimicked her. “I remember a certain someone inviting me here. But since you were so kind to make it clear that my presence is unwarranted and ridiculous for you then I’ll take my leave.”

She shot out of her seat and stomped away from the group. She was feeling furious. Ugh! The nerve of that jounin! With his stupid beard and stupid cigarette! And his stupid tan which looked more natural than artificial! She ignored Genma’s call of her name and frog-marched out of the Rusty Kunai into the cool night. It was probably around ten. Her parents would be at home asleep. Good, she didn’t have to explain to them why she was out at night dressed the way she was.

“Maa, I thought all flowers were supposed to be soft and pretty. I guess some are poisonous and could kill you.”

Sakura almost jumped at the sound of Hatake’s voice beside her. The older jounin was walking at a leisurely pace beside her. Even though her short legs were moving quickly, his longer strides covered the distance by half the time. “Well, roses have thorns. If you touch them wrongly, you get hurt,” she replied. Hatake chuckled beside her, nose deep in that stupid Icha Icha book he was reading. Sakura’s temper flared at that but she decided to keep her mouth shut. She didn’t trust herself not to insult the man and all his ancestors before him with swear words her mother thought she didn’t know.

“You have to forgive Asuma for his behavior today. He had a spat with his girlfriend earlier and took it out on you,” the silver haired jounin spoke. When Sakura turned to look at him, his orange uncensored book was nowhere in sight. “If he wants my forgiveness, he has to come begging for it. It’s not like I’m his girlfriend or that I dumped him,” she huffed with an indignant huff. “I think a nice lady like you can make an exception for a guy with a broken heart,” came the reply. “Please, I don’t even know what his girlfriend saw in him to date a douche like him,” Inner voiced herself clearly. “Wow, you really took that to heart.” Sakura turned to look at him. They were standing under a street lamp.

“Why did you even walk with me? It’s not like I know you or something. It’s actually creepy,” she said as she eyed him up and down suspiciously. “I just wanted to explain my friend’s actions and plead on his behalf for forgiveness but it seemed not to work,” Hatake replied. Sakura didn’t buy it. Her expression said as much.

“And also, you interest me,” he added with an eye smile of his single visible eye. Sakura blanched. Surely he couldn’t be talking about- He wasn’t seriously into her like that, was he? She was only twelve and her body hadn’t even developed by much! “That sounds like a dumb pick up line from a cheesy novel,” she forced out as she felt that she was about to hurl. Her stomach was doing funny things to her and panic slowly began to set in. Her frantic eyes looked around, searching for an escape route when west came to east. She smacked herself mentally as she had refused to take self-defense lessons two years ago. They would’ve come in handy today.

“Maa, I didn’t mean it like that. I meant to say, what brings a twelve year old kid to a bar full of grown men? Your makeup had me fooled but I’ve seen quite a lot of ladies to know the difference between a kid and a grown woman. There’s a kid you remind me of, same hair color. I just thought you were the same age,” the jounin said with an eye crinkle. Sakura let out a breath she hadn’t realized she had been holding.

“Thank Kami, I thought you were a pedophile,” she wheezed out a she put a hand over her chest to calm her heart which had been beating furiously. “I may read first class literature but I put my lessons into practice when need requires,” he said a little too cheerfully.

“Please, I don’t want to hear it. Don’t taint my pure mind,” she groaned out as she covered her ears with her hands. Hatake laughed. It was deep and bellowed out like rolling drums, vibrating inside of her like that popular rock band which she had attended their performance once which she liked so much. ‘Ew, that’s gross,’ she was disgusted with her description.

“But on a more serious note, what were you doing there? Do your parents know that this is where you are?” he asked as a look of concern crossed his features before disappearing. “Please don’t tell my parents! They mustn’t know under all circumstances,” she exclaimed in alarm. “I won’t if you tell me the truth,” he said with a hard gaze. “Would you believe me even if I told you? It seems so wrong to be there with Genma and the others but I have no choice,” she spoke, her voice small and lacking the fierceness she had displayed earlier. “I’ll decide that when I hear the truth otherwise I’m telling your parents whoever they are,” Hatake replied unbothered.

Sakura took a deep breath. She had never told anyone about her plans until now. It felt like exposing her soul to him, letting him know a side of her that she always kept secret. But if she didn’t tell him, all her efforts would’ve gone to waste. “I want to become a business lady, a very prominent one. I want to have the power of a Kage or a Daimyo without occupying any of those offices. Even though I’m not a shinobi or come from a royal family, I want to be someone special. It all comes down to economics. I want to use that to make my place in the world. My parents are merchants; my family has been known for nothing apart from our green eyes since time immemorial. I want everyone to know my name, in every village, in every town. They’ll know my name. Not as a villain but someone who made the world a better place.”

Sakura hadn’t realized that she was crying until she felt the snot and tears on her face. Ugh, she was ruining her makeup. “I’m sorry for crying. I’m such an ugly crier,” she said as she wiped her face with her hands.

A warm hand rested itself atop of her pink hair.

She looked up to find Hatake looking at her intensely. She blinked her blearily eyes at him, heavy laden eyelashes making it difficult for her to see him clearly. But she felt the sincerity of his next words more in his single dark eye than his voice.

“I believe you.”

Notes:

It's almost midnight here in Zimbabwe but I had to finish this chapter, edit and post. Get it off my chest. Sorry for any grammatical errors I might've missed. Good night!

 

Tozoonana

AfricanFire

Chapter 5: Getting out of my comfort zone...

Summary:

Something ends and something begins....

Notes:

Hope I did the maths correctly....

Before Sakura knew it, her two week occupation was up. She tried not to show disappointment on her face as she finished her day's work. Asama had assigned her to make sure his travelling arrangements were in order as he was leaving tomorrow. She checked his VISA, noting that it was expiring tomorrow, just in time for his departure. His identity card recognized him as a native citizen of the Land of Snow. His passport would be expiring in two years and she made sure to notify him before he left for the day. His fingerprints for both his left and right hand had been taken five days ago. She filed it in the yellow folder containing his vital documents. There was another document which showed his medical history. He seemed to be rather fit for a forty-five year old, despite having breathing difficulties.

She also filed that away and then placed the folder in his briefcase. She checked the silver watch she had bought recently, it was rather plain looking and it suited her as an assistant. She also couldn't afford to buy anything flashy at the moment. It would be at least four hours until she checked out of the office for the final time.

The thirteen-year old girl raised her head from reading a newspaper just as her boss cleared his throat. "Asama-san, did you need anything?" she asked as she focused her attention to him, getting ready to do whatever he wanted her to do. "Ahh, it seems that your tenure as my assistant is up and I had hoped to talk to your parents before leaving tomorrow," he told as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. Alarm bells immediately began to ring in her head. Why would he want to talk to her parents? "My parents won't be finished until late. I don't think you can talk to them today. Maybe another time," she tried to maneuver the conversation away from her parents. "I had already talked to Kizashi-san before and he said we could come as soon as we finish work. They'll be waiting," he replied.

"It's only two o'clock. We won't be finished until at least six o'clock," she argued weakly.

Asama looked at her for a long time before understanding dawned on his expression. "Ahh, I understand now. You're worried that I'm going to say something bad to your parents, aren't you?" he asked her as he gave her one of his kind smiles. On normal days, she would have smiled in return but at the moment, she loathed it and wanted to punch it off his smug face. Inner Sakura cheered at the back of her mind. "I'm not worried," she retorted with a glare, though she doubted her expression was anything but scary. The civilian probably looked like a wet kitten at the moment.

"When your father came to me, he told that you struggle with confidence-" She was sure that she was glaring daggers at him now. "-and that you have trouble fitting in with others. What other children at your age find entertaining is not so for you. Despite being very young, you have shown impeccable mental strength. You have a photographic memory and an IQ which might rival even that of an ordinary Nara. He hoped that under my guidance, you might be able to grow out of your shell and start embracing that part of yourself," he told her. Sakura refrained from rolling her eyes and calling him out for being too invested in her life. She was too polite to do so, and he had paid her quite generously because of said weirdness so she clamped her mouth shut. Inner, on the hand, was screeching wildly and punching an imaginary Asama. She was going to have a talk with her father for bragging to anyone he knew how much of a nerd she was.

"You have proven to be a very excellent assistant and I would've been honored to have you as my permanent assistant if it weren't for the fact that I'm not a native citizen of Konoha hence I can only stay here for a limited amount of time. You have shown to be able to manage my paperwork in a matter of a few days, something which took me time to adjust when I was younger. Even when you knew that I worked with a celebrity, not once did express you any interest to meet her or even gossip that you work under me. Despite your physical limitations, you make up for it in brains. I wanted to teach you more but because of time, I won't be able to do so and I can only teach you so little," he explained.

Sakura deflated a little, feeling very guilty for her sudden anger at the man. He truly meant well, she was overreacting. "Which is why I wanted to talk to your parents, perhaps I can do one final thing to help you grow before my departure. After all, you did say you wanted to become a business tycoon," he added as he patted her head like her father would. She inhlaed then exhaled loudly. "Thank you. I overreacted. Usually, when my teachers want to talk to my parents, it's because they want to complain that I don't participate in class even though I have good grades or I can't play with my other classmates. I thought you were going for say the same thing. I'm sorry, Asama-san," she said as she bowed at her waist. The older man smiled in return. "Now, why don't we go see your parents while it's still early so that I have time to prepare for my departure tomorrow?" Sakura nodded in return.

 

.

 

The civilian district was located on the outskirts of Konoha. The only ninja clan near to them was the Uchiha district which was out of commission for obvious reasons. The Haruno family's two bedroom apartment consisted of a living room, a small dining area, a modern fitted kitchen and a bathroom which also served as a restroom. It was enough to cater for the family of three as her parents hadn't show any desire to have more children hence no need to move to a bigger apartment.

Despite being a middle-class family, the apartment was well-furnished with modern things. They had a flat screen television, a double door fridge and fine sets of kitchen ware that her mother had managed to hustle from a dealer in the Land of Tea back when she was still pregnant with Sakura. An ornamental grey rug underneath a black coffee table were the only dark things in their apartment. The rest were different shades of cream and nude. Occasionally, did one see a pink or red notepad on any surface.

Sakura and Asama had arrived a few minutes after five. True to his word, Kizashi and his wife had been waiting for them. Asama and her father had greeted each other warmly and Sakura was nearly bursting with curiosity to ask how her father knew the man to be so familiar with him. She decided to voice her questions as they sat in the living room whilst they waited for Mebuki to finish preparing supper.

"Otou-san, how did you meet Asama-san?" she asked. "You two seem to be very close to each other. When you first spoke about Asama-san, I thought you were talking about someone you had befriended on a whim but it doesn't appear to be the case," she added. "I see that someone has been dying with curiosity. Well, my little blossom, let me resurrect you before your nine lives run out," Kizashi joked, causing Asama to laugh along with him. Sakura cringed inwardly. His jokes were terrible and it seemed that her former boss also shared his twisted sense of humor. "Well, Asama-san and I go way back before you were even born. Even before I met your mother," her father spoke. "Is that so?" she hummed noncommittally. Just get to the point already! "Ahhh, yes. I remember when I saw Kizashi-san for the first time when he visited the Land of Snow twenty years ago," the dark haired man piped.

"Wasn't it during the Third Great Ninja War?" she asked as she did mental calculations in her head. "I see you're still as sharp as ever. Indeed, it was during the war. However, the Land of Snow was uninvolved in the war hence we could travel there without much interruptions. Though, it was more of a blessing that Kami allowed us to travel uneventfully as civilians made up over eighty percent of the death count during the war," Kizashi spoke, his face pinched as if he remembered something very painful. "Indeed, it is unfortunate that civilians are the most affected during war," Asama agreed. "Why? Don't the shinobi do most of the fighting?" Sakura asked in confusion.

"Well, you see Sakura-chan, civilians are the back bone of any army. After all, they are the very same people whom the shinobi fight against each other to protect," Asama replied. "I don't understand," she admitted. "Allow me to enlighten you. Civilians, including those from clans, make up almost seventy percent of the total population in almost every hidden village. Take Konoha for example. It has a total population of two million citizens, of which a million and four hundred thousand consist of civilians and the remaining six hundred thousand are shinobi. Of all the shinobi in Konoha, only four hundred thousand are active and the rest are retired. Of the four hundred thousand, three hundred thousand are all below thirty years. On the civilian side, the million citizens are over the age of twenty, three hundred thousand are over sixty. Meaning, there are around seven hundred thousand able bodied men and women, with four hundred thousand being made up of children and teenagers," Asama explained. "How do you know all this? And how is the relevant to our conversation?" Sakura asked, she couldn't keep the impatience out of her voice.

"Patience, young one, is a skill you must cultivate from a very young age. It will come in handy especially if you want to venture into the business world. Also, I got all this information from reading a statistics textbook published five years ago by a well renowned researcher. His figures are almost accurate," Asama chided her sagely. Sakura huffed in annoyance but remained quiet nonetheless.

"Civilians make up most of our workforce. Because of a ninja's low life expectancy, it's up to civilians to keep the population high to battle the death count of shinobi who die almost on a daily basis. There are few married active ninja who can live long enough to start a family. The ones who managed to do so are the many clan and shinobi children who are the same age as you. Immediately after the war, there was what we called the Baby Boom to counter the declining population, in which everyone was encouraged to have as many children as possible. The village would give a monthly allowance to struggling families. It lasted for close to seven years instead of five because of the Kyubi attack, though our losses were far less than during the war. Which is why many children at the Ninja and Civilian Academy are around the same age as compared to those born in the last five years," Kizashi narrated. He looked at her carefully.

"Now, that is only one aspect of the importance of a civilian. Do you understand why they would be targeted during a war?" her father asked. "So that the population dies along with them. Ninjas won't have time to start families as they'll be busy fighting," Sakura replied with a slightly horrified expression. A slight shiver racked her form as she envisioned countless shinobi bearing down on unsuspecting civilians who barely knew anything to defend themselves all because they knew how to put their reproductive organs to good use.

"Now, the more economical importance of civilians, why they were attacked during the war was that they basically ran the economy, still do now. I doubt any ninja worth their salt knows the process behind making a kunai until they're slashing at each other. You see, civilians make up most of our economic workforce. That is, they're responsible for creating weapons, armory, clothes, growing food, medicine, basically anything that is needed by a human to survive. They make everything. A few shinobi who know how to add chakra to meet the needs of shinobi who use things like explosive tags, fuinjutsu scrolls, chakra rods, soldier pills, chakra restrictors make up barely ten percent. The rest is up to civilians. Shinobi are responsible for protecting the civilians." "Unfortunately, during the Third Great Ninja War, most of our shinobi were sent to the front lines, even genins who just graduated. And thus, our economists were left unprotected," Asama told her.

Mebuki had arrived and perched herself beside Kizashi who was sitting opposite Sakura and Asama. "There was a great need for more weapons and medicine during the war and the supply could not meet the demands, it was too much," the older man spoke. "There was one particular village which saw the importance of civilians and thus targeted them, that is Kirigakure. All their attacks were focused on civilians. They only needed to send two or three experienced shinobi who could just set off explosive tags amidst a carriage carrying civilians. And thus, they spent the next three years targeting civilians explicitly. They even went as far as to attack civilians in the hidden villages. As expected, all the other villages retaliated in the same manner and as such, it was a battle to protect and destroy civilians, not to mention the front line battles which had been going on for almost ten years," Kizashi spoke.

"That much is true. Your grandfather and grandmother, who were my parents, they were direct casualties of the war. They were attacked when they were returning from a trip just at the edge of the Land of Fire. Along with many other civilians, they perished from a single explosion," Mebuki added as her gaze became distant. "I want you to understand, young Sakura-chan, the reality of this world. Especially to civilians. We cannot protect ourselves, we are merely at the bottom of the food chain. However, we are the backbone of any country, whether militant or civil. Like the grass which can be easily trodden upon, we provide food for different creatures, beautify the environment, make the soil fertile when we die, regrow without being planted and so on. As the Shodai Hokage spoke, like a tree, we are all connected by the roots, even though you're a branch or leaf," Asama said as he let out a long breath. He paused before continuing. "Your father also told me that you avoid shinobi like a plague," he added.

Sakura's face reddened immediately. "It's not that I hate them. I just don't want to engage with them," she blurted out defensively. Mebuki and Kizashi shared knowing smiles as the pinkette tried to defend herself. "I am curious as to why you're so opposed to the idea of a shinobi on a personal level. However, that is a story for another day. Nevertheless, what I wanted to talk to you about also includes said shinobi," Asama stated as he pushed his glasses up the brigde of his nose.

Sakura snapped to attention at that, their earlier discussion stored at the back of her mind for further review. Both her parents also stared at Asama expectantly.

"As you know, I'm the manager for a well-known actress called Yukie Fujikaze, otherwise known for her iconic role as Princess Fun. We'll be travelling to the Land of Snow tomorrow to finish shooting for our latest movie. It appears that Sakura-chan has learned only the basics of cinematography. I wanted to further her experience by having her on set and seeing a film in production rather than rely on the meager notes I gave her. I'm not well-versed in cinematography myself so I thought it better to give her a practical experience of how to make a movie," Asama said. "Also, despite knowing that I work with a very famous figure, not once did she show any interest in knowing more about my client. I don't know whether that was discipline or lack of interest but I want to believe that it is the former. Which is why I'm asking to take Sakura-chan to the Land of Snow to study the practical part of cinematography by having firsthand experience until we finish filming in about a week and a half's time," he finished.

"How will she get back if she were to go?" Mebuki asked. Her face was rather blank, and Sakura couldn't see if she was happy or angry. "I have hired a group of shinobi who will accompany us and stay with us providing protection until we're done. She can come back with them. I checked their profiles, they're a group of three genins who are the same age as Sakura-chan under a well-known jounin. I think it'll be alright," the bespectacled man replied.

Sakura's heart was beating loudly in her ears. She had never left the village. She had imagined going to visit her long-distant cousins in the Land of Wind but her parents had never shown any desire to leave the village. She would be travelling with a group of unknown shinobi for close to two weeks. The only familiar person would be Asama-san. But it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. True to his word, Asama had given her little information pertaining to cinematography. She was mostly doing secretarial work. She couldn't pass up such an opportunity. She was going to get over her phobia of shinobi and make the most out of his trip.

"What about travelling expenses?" she asked meekly. Asama smiled kindly in return. "I have already catered to that. You don't have a passport but I did manage to get a VISA for you to visit the Land of Snow as a tourist. I'll be your guardian. That is, as long as your parents approve and sign these affidavits giving me power as your guardian. Fortunately for you, the Land of Snow is mostly snow and has small villages scattered around. We have been separated from the shinobi world for a while so our security regulations aren't so tight," he replied.

Sakura looked to her parents. Her father was smiling, no doubt her wanted her to go. But her mother, on the other hand..... Despite their somewhat rocky relationship, Mebuki did not want to let Sakura out of her sight. She was overbearing, but in a good kind of way, a way that most doting mothers with a single daughter would be. "Okaa-san, can I go?" she asked. The civilian waited with baited breath as gears began spinning in her mother's head. It almost seemed like an eternity before her mother replied.

"Well, as a mother, I wouldn't want to let Sakura out of my sight for more than a day. But I guess I can't keep her here forever. She has to grow up and not remain sheltered," she spoke a sigh. "I trust Asama-san. I hope he doesn't break my trust if my girl returns home with a missing limb," she said with a pointed glare at the man in question. "Point taken," Asama replied with a strained smile.

 

.

 

Her mother had packed her suitcase as soon as Asama had left. She left Sakura to her own devices, stating that she should say goodbye to her friends before she left. Which was only Ayame but she wasn't entitled to tell ramen-serving girl every bit about her life. Still, she appreciated the gesture as it gave her an opportunity to visit the Uchiha district before she left.< The sun had long since set and darkness had covered the whole of Konoha. The moon was half full and provided enough light for her to walk the streets without her irrational fear of being kidnapped by Boogeyman. She placed her white sunhat atop of her head, her hair tied at the back of her neck.

A meow caught her attention.

She turned to her cat, Yowai, who was sprawled on her bed, looking at her expectantly. Ever since she had started her job, she rarely got time to pet her. She only left food in her bowl. Surprisingly, Yowai knew how to go to the bathroom and use the toilet instead of defecating all over their apartment so that was less work for her.

The creature wasn't actually a Cheshire cat as she liked to call her. She was actually a ragdoll cat, a bit small than expected of her kind, with silver-grey fur which seemed almost white and piercing electric green eyes. Sakura met her when she was ten years old on a weekend, when she was on her way to the Uchiha graveyard. The cat was standing atop of a dumpster, tearing savagely at a dead rat in front of it. When the cat raised its head to look at her, it was smiled, showing its white sharp teeth which were dripping with blood. Its lips stretched widely, almost impossibly, as its eyes alighted upon landing on Sakura. Immediately, Sakura envisioned the Cheshire cat she had read in a book called Alice in Wonderland. She didn't believe that such a cat had existed until now. The Haruno girl didn't remember what happened but she found herself walking back home with the bloody cat and named her Yowai. Her mother didn't ask how she had gotten a pet, only asked if she wanted to buy a cage for it. Yowai didn't want a cage and the subject was never brought up again.

"I'll be back, okay? I'll buy some sardines for you on my way back," Sakura said as she tried to pet her but Yowai only scolwed in return as she swiped a claw at her. "Naauurr," she seemed to say. "What do you want then?" the pinkette asked. "Miirrkkk," came the reply. "You don't want fish? I thought they were your favourite," she asked. Yowai's ears pulled back and narrowed her eyes at her. It was intimidating but it was kinda adorable. "Nauur fischhh, miirrkkk," the cat snapped. "Okay okay, I hear you. Sorry," she apologized to the cat who had turned away from her and raised her rear pointedly at her. Meaning she wasn't allowed to speak to the cat until tomorrow. Well, she would be gone by the time Yowai cooled off so she didn't feel insulted.

"Bye!"

 

.

 

At five a.m. Sakura met Asama at the sea port and they loaded their luggage onto the ship. "Yukie-san has to finish shooting her final scene in Konoha before we take off. I'm going to see our security detail. I'll leave you to Director Makino and you can get yourself familiar with the crew before we depart," the man told her. Sakura nodded in return.

The filming crew was quite eccentric. Well, mostly Director Makino as the rest of the crew went along with whatever obscene instructions he shouted to them. The man was short but his words made him appear even taller. He wore a cream sweater which was rolled to his elbows and a pair of grey pants. He donned a pair of glasses which were more of a fashion statement than for health purposes and a brown barrette atop of a head of short grey hair paired with expensive looking black shoes. His hair was well-groomed, she thought. She could tell that merely by looking because of the amount of time she spent on her hair. No one who spent at least an hour treating their hair had such glossy and thick hair.

She wasn't surprised though by his attitude. Producing a hit like the movie she had seen a few days ago featuring Princess Fun was not for a person who wasn't a little bit unhinged. Even though he had somewhat of a terrible personality, the director knew his game. Asama had introduced her briefly before going off to meet Yukie at their current set. Director Makino was mostly barking orders to the crew to put their filming equipment in the ship where it wouldn't be damaged.

His eyes landed on her as she stood awkwardly beside him. They were almost the same height. "What's your name kiddo?" he asked her. "Sakura Haruno. Asama-san introduced me to you," she couldn't keep the bite out of her voice because he very well knew her name. "I know, wanted to check something. Why are you here?" he spoke without looking at her from a scroll he was reading. "I'm here to study about cinematography -" "I meant what's your endgame kiddo? I find it hard to picture you behind a camera for the rest of your life. Your eyes are too damn bright for that shit," the director spoke.

"Oh," she said dumbly. Makino was still looking at her with a single eyebrow raised in question behind his dark tinted glasses. "Well, perhaps, I may want to hire you sometime in the future," she managed to say without stuttering. 'Real smooth Sakura,' Inner snickered at the back of her mind. "Well, let's hope I'll still be around when that day comes," he replied after a moment. And thus, their conversation ended.

It was close to three hours before Asama made an appearance with three familiar faces behind him. Sakura tried to hide as soon as she saw them but Asama called out to her as soon as his eyes landed on her. There was no escaping it.

She would be traveling with Ami and her teammates. Judging by Ami's pleased smirk, Naruto's excited grin and Sasuke's blank stare, she had a lot in store for her.

Notes:

Sorry if the grammar is off. I had to rush to post this to get it off my chest so I might've missed a few things. But I managed to do my best.

Also, did you guys see the latest MV by Illit and by Enhypen? Tick Tack and No Doubt respectively?! My Belift siblings are glowing! Check out the videos! I like chores!

Don't forget to leave a kudo or comment! Thanks for the support!

Chapter 6: Sakura Vs Team Seven

Summary:

Thus begins the journey....

Naruto could hardly believe his luck. He was going on a mission with Sakura-chan! His long time crush since he was born! Dattebayo! With her cotton-candy hair which looked just as soft, he was itching to run his fingers at least once in those tresses. His hair was dry and itchy most of the times. Sarutobi-ojiisan doesn't give him enough money to buy shampoo or hair oil. But at least he can buy lots of ramen and milk! A growing boy needs to drink a lot of milk! Ayame-chan told him so!

He sighed dreamily as he watched the pinkette run a hand through her hair. Maybe he could just ask to touch her head or feign an accident which would result in him touching her hair. But Sakura-chan wouldn't like that. She would immediately see through his tricks. Not to mention, she punches really hard and he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of her fist. Sakura-chan seems to be very polite, the type of girl that Iruka-sensei would pick as the most well-behaved in their class.

Not like Ami. Ami has a bad personality. She is a narcissistic (Sakura-chan would be so proud that he could use big words found in the dictionary!). She always picked on Sakura-chan when they were younger. He had wanted to help her but he hesitated. A lot of parents didn't want other kids around him. He was afraid that her parents would chase him away if they saw him with Sakura-chan. Plus Ami would bully her even worse if Naruto came to defend her.

Ami is cute though, but not like Sakura-chan. Her purple hair looks soft too and her clothes are always clean. She has brown eyes and Naruto thinks they light up beautifully whenever she sees him. She has curves in the right places, exactly as described in that book that Kakashi-sensei always reads. Sakura-chan is flat compared to Ami but he likes Sakura-chan more. Ami smells nice too. Ami is good at taijutsu and throwing kunai. Kakashi-sensei said he was going to get her a kenjutsu teacher who could teach her. She's one of the few girls who can tolerate him and sometimes, she invites him over to have dinner with her family every weekend. She's also nice to hug. She hugged him when they came back from their mission from the Land of Waves and vowed to grow stronger so that they can protect each and defeat bad guys.

Ami has a crush on Sasuke-teme and she's always fawning over him! What's so great about that douchebag anyways? If it weren't for the fact that she was always trying to get Sasuke-teme's attention, he would have liked her too. But not like Sakura-chan.

"Naruto, are you paying attention?"

He snapped out of his internal musings to find Ami staring at him with a disappointed expression. "Sorry, did you say something?" he asked as he scratched his head. Ami rolled her eyes and out of the corner of his eye, Sakura did the same. "I said do you know where Yukie-san is? Our client, the one we're supposed to be protecting," she asked in an all too familiar tone that she used whenever he did something stupid. "No. I lost her. I followed her for like, three hours, but her attitude is terrible. I couldn't keep on following her without her acting like she was better than me, dattebayo. I figured we could just find her later and bring her back together," he replied as he put a finger in his ear. He ought to clean his ears soon.

"Naruto you baka! What's the point of the mission if you're not going to protect the client?!" the purple-haired genin screeched as she grabbed his ear and pulled really hard. "Oww, that hurts!" he yelped. "A-Ano, Ami-san, I don't think that's the right way to chide Naruto-san. He looks like he's in a lot of pain," Sakura spoke nervously. Ami immediately let go of him and he breathed a sigh of relief as his teammate rounded on the pinkette. "Then how do you suppose we get him to do as he's told, Sakura-chan?" Ami replied, stressing on the suffix more than necessary. It was probably to irritate Sakura and Naruto noticed that she succeeded. Sakura-chan's face always pinched, especially around her eyebrows and forehead whenever she was irritated or mad.

"Forget it," the pinkette retorted as she turned away from Ami and walked away from them, her shoulders rigid with barely contained contempt. Aww, too bad. He really wanted to talk to her but he doesn't want to risk being sucker-punched in the face.

 

.

 

"I should have known that coming here was a bad idea, shannaro," she muttered to herself as she walked away from the genin team. Of all the teams that Asama had chosen to hire, he had to pick them. Ami was her worst nightmare, Naruto coming in second with his horrible crush on her and Sasuke was a painful reminder of the Uchiha graveyard which made her cry terribly every time she visited. Urgh! She should've listened to her mother.

"Sakura-chan?"

It was her boss. "Asama-san," she tried to appear cheerful but failed miserably. "Is everything alright?" he asked her as concern laced his tone. "Yes," she replied almost immediately. But his expression said he didn't believe her. "When your parents signed those affidavits, they gave me power to act as your guardian on their behalf. It would be folly of me to fail you when we haven't even departed," he stated. They took a seat on a free bench as the crewman continued to carry the equipment. "I noticed your interaction with the shinobi and you didn't seem too pleased. Are they giving you any problems?" he asked in a fatherly tone. Sakura contemplated whether she should tell him or not. But after all the effort that he had gone through to make sure that she was on this trip, it felt like she was spitting in his face if she didn't tell him. He was, after all, her parent for this journey.

"Well, it's them specifically, not that they're ninjas. I've known Ami-san's team for quite awhile. We grew up together, though we weren't friends. I felt uncomfortable with them since we're not on good terms, especially with Ami-san," she replied honestly. Asama looked at her before he looked ahead, nodding his head slowly. "Whilst I understand that you may not be friends with everyone and I want you to enjoy this as much as possible, sometimes, you have to put your own needs aside to get the job done. You might not like them but when danger comes, they're more than capable to protect than you could protect yourself at the moment," he told her. "I know! I have to do whatever gets the ball rolling. I just didn't expect it to be them," she stated as frustrated tears burned behind her eyes. "I'm sorry. You put a lot of work for me to be here, I don't want to ruin this trip for myself or anyone else. I promise I'll behave," she said as she wiped at her eyes. "Thank you for understanding. Maturing is realizing that even though you don't have to like everyone, you should learn to get along with them especially when you know that they'll help you," Asama replied. She nodded her head in understanding. Nothing was going to ruin this trip for her.

 

.

 

"Sakura-chan! We're going to get Yukie-san with Kakashi-sensei. Do you wanna come with us?" Naruto shouted over to her as she looked out at the sea from the deck. Their ship was going to depart in an hours time. She turned around to find the blonde and his teammates watching her. Well, it was mostly Naruto as Ami was too busy ogling at the Uchiha. She needed to establish a working relationship with them if she was to enjoy this trip. She plastered a fake smile on her face as she nodded in agreement. The Uzumaki cheered in return.

She hurried over to them and the four teens made their way to meet their jounin superior. Naruto began to rant about his teacher. "You're gonna meet Kakashi-sensei. He's so cool! He knows a lot of jutsu and has the Sharingan, he can literally copy any technique. He's so much better than Sasuke-teme at using the Sharingan even though he's not an Uchiha-" "Dobe, shut up," Sasuke growled, speaking for the first time since she saw him. "What? It's true. That's why he's your teacher and spends more time with you than me and Ami because he's the best Sharingan user in the village!" Naruto shot back.

"Ano, Naruto-san. Sasuke-san is the only remaining Uchiha in the village. You can't compare him to your sensei since he's more experienced and much older than Sasuke-san. It's rude to say that especially considering there are no Uchiha left. Well, not including Itachi Uchiha since he deserted the village a long time ago and is now an S rank missing nin," Sakura stated. The book she read also said that Itachi Uchiha had joined an organization called the Akatsuki which housed famous S rank missing nin. But it wasn't necessary. Anyone who knew the name Itachi Uchiha knew that he was a traitor to the village, it was more than enough information.

She felt three pairs of eyes looking at her. Naruto was halfway between embarrassed and shocked, Ami looked mortified and Sasuke was downright angry. The Uchiha marched over to her and grabbed her by front of her dress, heaving her up as his hands trembled slightly with unadulterated anger. His gaze was murderous as he glared at her. "Don't speak about my family as if you know them. And don't talk about him, you know nothing," he ground out through gritted teeth. Sakura felt fear course through her veins but somehow, she found courage to speak. "That's what the books say. And it's true, isn't it? Itachi Uchiha slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan and deserted the village, he's a traitor," she spoke as she struggled against his grip.

"Shut up, you're just a civilian. You don't know anything," he sneered as he squeezed tighter. "I know enough. It doesn't take a g-genius to know that he was a traitor. W-Who kills his entire clan in a single night including his p-parents?" she was quickly running out of air and her vision was becoming hazy. She thought she saw Sasuke's eyes flash red before the pressure disappeared at once.

Sakura was dropped unceremoniously to the ground, the gravel biting into her skin as she took large gulps of air. She would've suffocated if Sasuke hadn't let go. She was still confused. Why would Sasuke be angry at her? She was just stating facts and also defending him. Why would he react violently? Urgh, this was why she hated shinobi, acting like they had harder lives than everyone just because they could use a little magic. She coughed several times before she finally found the strength to stand up.

"Maa, Sasuke. I taught you better than that," a very familiar voice spoke. She knew that lazy drawl, even if she had only talked to the man once. It could only be one person. She raised her head and found certain jounin standing in front of her. "Hatake-senpai?" she called out to the man. "Ahh, Sakura-chan, a pleasure to meet you. Our client tells us that we'll be travelling together to the Land of Snow and then come back to Konoha too," he spoke as he gave her a small salute. She didn't reply as the man had already turned back to Sasuke who was glaring daggers at her.

"It's all her fault sensei. She was talking about that man, Sasuke-kun doesn't like that," Ami sneered at Sakura. "Yeah but it's not like she knew that Sasuke-teme would blow a fuse. Please don't send her back or punish the teme," Naruto, surprisingly, pleaded to their sensei. "Is that so?" the silver haired ninja asked monotonously. "Get out of my way. Let me deal with her, next time she'll know better than to go off yapping whatever nonsense that comes to her mind," she heard Sasuke growl. "Now now, Sasuke, that's not how we deal with such issues especially with civilians. She could press charges against you for physical assault and you could be stripped of your genin title before you can even participate in the Chunin Exams. Oh, and you'll be taken off active duty for a year before you can continue being an ninja. You'll have to start at the Academy all over again," Hatake spoke in an all too cheery voice.

"B-But I didn't even hurt her or anything!" Sasuke blurted out, disbelief evident on his face. "Actually, you did. You almost choked her to death. Ask her yourself, she was about to pass out before I intervened," the jounin replied. "You can't be serious sensei! I mean, she's just a civilian-" "And that's exactly the point," the exposed part of his face darkened immediately as he glared at his three genin. "You're right. She is just a civilian and that should be enough reason to restrain yourselves from attacking her, even if she angered you. If you so much as lay a finger on her without her consent, I'll make sure to report you myself," he warned.

"That's not fair sensei! She's the one who-" "Who do you fight for Ami-chan? Isn't it the duty of a ninja to protect the defenseless, the civilians?" Ami immediately clamped her mouth shut, turning to glare at Sakura instead. "I expect this to be the last time hearing this. You do not and never will attack a civilian of Konoha or any other village under any circumstance unless it's for a very good reason. Do I make myself clear?" he barked. "Yes sensei," they all chorused. Hatake turned to Sakura. "Let's go on to meet Asama-san and fetch Yukie-san," he said with an eye crinkle. Sakura's gaze drifted to the three genin who giving her the stink eye. "S-Sure," she stammered and they began walking. The three genins were walking ahead of them, whispering amongst themselves with an occasional glare from Ami and Sasuke. Sakura was a little ways behind them with their sensei.

"You never told me that you had a genin team," she spoke as she eyed Hatake out of the corner of her eye. "I didn't think it was important for you to know. They're just my cute little genins who sometimes lack proper etiquette," he replied. "Naruto-san called you Kakashi-sensei. I didn't know that was your name. You're the famous Copy Cat Nin, Kakashi of the Sharingan aren't you?" she asked. "That's me," he said with a casual shrug. "I don't know how I might've missed it when you told me your surname. You're the only remaining Hatake in Konoha, the rest are scattered all over the Land of Fire," she stated. "That's true. My clan mostly came from the Land of Water but most of them are gone and have integrated into other clans and villages. Though I wonder how you were able to get a hold of such confidential information," the man retorted with a single eyebrow raised in question.

"I read it from the library. I swear I didn't visit the restricted section of the library!" she panicked as her heart began beating frantically. "Maa, I'm just teasing Sakura-chan," the jounin spoke with a chuckle. "Oh, sorry," the pinkette replied sheepishly. "Come to think of it, the books didn't mention anything about another Hatake in the village. Sukea...." her voice faded as she looked at the silver-haired ninja in a new light. "Wait! Sukea doesn't exist!" she exclaimed. She deadpanned immediately. "You placed a genjutsu on me the first time I saw you, didn't you?" she spoke with an accusing finger pointed at him. "Now, why would I place you under a genjutsu? Do you even know what a genjutsu is?" Hatake asked her with feigned innocence. "Of course I know what a genjutsu is and how ninjas use them to fight," she snorted.

"It makes sense. You're the only Hatake in the village, there's no way that you would have a cousin who looks exactly like you. I should've known that Sukea wouldn't have a Sharingan, the only Sharingan users left in the village are you and Sasuke-san. Also, you don't usually display the Sharingan for everyone to see if the pictures in the Bingo Book are anything to go by. Even if Sukea had a Sharingan, he would be a pretty dumb ANBU to have it exposed like that," she rambled. "Plus I have a pretty sharp memory. I don't and never forget almost anything. The night that I met Sukea is fuzzy, there's no other explanation. You changed your appearance to remove your headband and also exposed you ANBU tattoo and Sharingan. Because in my memory, sometimes I see you without a headband with a glowing red eye and sometimes I see you with a headband covering your eye. Genma-san was confused when you introduced yourself as Sukea. I understand why he was confused because you're not Sukea. Also, when I met you with Genma-san for the second time as Hatake-senpai under my alias Mizuho, you emphasized on cherry blossoms which happen to be my namesake. Also, I noticed that both of your voices sound exactly the same-"

"Okay, okay. I hear you. Yes, Sukea is indeed me," he admitted only to find Sakura glaring at him. "Why'd you put me under a genjutsu?" she asked him. "I figured I couldn't introduce myself to you as Kakashi Hatake since you fit the exact description of the girl Naruto is always talking about. So I created another alias who would interact with your alias. And if I had to engage with Sakura 'who has cotton candy hair' by Naruto's description then I would talk to her as Hatake-senpai," he explained cheerily. "That wasn't nice. I don't being lied to, you deliberately altered my memories for your own personal gain," she sneered at him. "I'm not the only one who lied, Sakura-chan. Or should I say Mizuho?" Kakashi teaser her. "I had to change my appearance and operate under a different name for obvious reasons. I needed information," she defended. "Uh huh, and you needed to go to a pub filled with overgrown men for that. You know this thing called testosterone, it exists in pretty much all males. Now imagine a beautiful young lady who decides to drink water in a pub filled to the brim with men whose testosterone levels sky rocket at the sight of any pretty face. What would happen?" Kakashi asked her. He hoped that she would look underneath the underneath and take his warning that her 'idea' of information gathering was a terrible one, considering she's just thirteen years old and isn't on any official mission to use seduction as a means of intelligence gathering. Though he had to applaud her, it took a lot of guts to do that.

"First, thank you for admitting that makeup made me look and appear more older and beautiful than what I actually am. Two, you just gave me a brilliant idea! I've always been wondering which type of business I can venture into that can cater to the needs of shinobi and you just answered one of the many options I had!" she exclaimed, almost giddily. "And that is?" he asked flatly. "A brothel, obviously," she replied, not caring that she just admitted to the idea of running a whorehouse. "You want to start a brothel for shinobi?" he asked her incredulously. "Yes," she retorted. "Plus, it's also good for information gathering, am I not correct?" she added with a smug smirk.

Kakashi could hardly believe his ears. This kid, who looked just as frail as her namesake, wanted to start a brothel. She wanted to run a house which would be full of different men and women in various degrees of nudity. "Why would you do that? Isn't it going against every moral code? It's kind of like you're supporting adultery," he tried to reason with her. "Please, don't make me laugh. It's not like people are faithful anyways. I know for a fact that men have more than one sexual partner, it's just how it is. Who says I can't make a little money out of it?" she replied nonchalantly. "Besides, when it comes to real information gathering without using your superpowers, it comes down to the one thing that no person can ever refuse, whether straight or homosexual. That is sex," she added.

Kakashi was at a loss of words. He didn't know whether he should be proud or disappointed. It took him a while before he was completely open to the idea of intimacy, especially for intelligence purposes. "I meant what I told you that night," she spoke without looking at him. He didn't reply. "As Mizuho," she added. "Oh," he hummed noncommittally. "I want to become a business tycoon. And I mean it. I want to have the power of a Kage or a Daimyo. I want to protect both civilians and shinobi, even if it means using the most underrated means. Because they're the most effective," she admitted softly. "I spend a lot of my time reading books. On anything. Some dating even before the founding of Konoha. So I sometimes stumble upon things I shouldn't be reading. But they're my only source of information. Being book smart isn't terrible if you know which books to read and how to use them effectively," she stated.

"I suppose there is a semblance of truth in what you've said," Kakashi finally spoke. "Just admit it. It's brilliant, isn't it? Even Jiraiya-sama, the famous Toad Sannin disguises himself as a pervert when he visits brothels, when it's all part of his spy network. He's the one who writes those Icha Icha novels you're always reading. He's the one who also wrote the Tale of the Utter Gutsy Ninja," she preened at him. "How do you know all this?" the jounin asked in shock. "The library," came the smug reply.

He ought to pay a visit to the library.

 

.

 

Yowai knew that the moment his handmaid hadn't returned with his milk, something was very, very wrong. She had been very busy these past weeks, especially with her new job as someone else's servant. Just the mere thought of her serving another master who wasn't him left a bad taste in his mouth. It was bad enough that she thought he was a female cat yet he was actually male. At least, she pampered him and made sure that his fur well-groomed.

He stretched himself on her bed. She had been given a room she would be sharing with that blasted actress. The actress's scent alone made him want to hurl. She was very drunk when they dragged her to her bed earlier the previous night. He ought to have left a hairball on her bed or in her mouth as she snored. She was very loud. Sakura, on the other hand, was a quiet sleeper. Plus her body was very soft and served as an excellent cushion for his weary limbs, despite having no curves.

He narrowed his eyes as he stared at his paws. He had a broken nail. Where was his maid when he needed her the most? She better have brought his golden nail cutter because he would not be resorting to anything less than his special nail cutter he had borrowed from an expensive jewelry shop down the street. His stomach growled in hunger. He hadn't eaten anything since they left that village named after plant parts. He had seen a rat every now and then but he would not be resorting to such barbaric practices. He would rather starve to death than be found eating those disgusting and vulgar mammals. That's why he had his handmaid, of course.

It was the reason why he hadn't slit her throat when he saw her at that damned district. Her scent told him that she bathed quite a lot and paid meticulous attention to her hair. Her chakra, though civilian, was definitely nonthreatening and lacking malicious intent. He always sensed her since she had started coming there for the past two years but found no reason to engage with her. But she seemed worthy to serve him. She would do good.

And so he had smiled at her. No one could resist his charm especially when he smiled. And it worked because soon enough, he found himself lounging at her apartment for the past two and a half years.
His stomach growled again. Where was she?

The door to his bedroom flew open and the actress burst into the room. She froze as her gaze landed on him and he gave her a cool look in return. "What?" he asked, his words garbled since that damned Uchiha disrupted his vocal chords. She screeched and scampered out of the room. He could smell her fear from where he was atop of Sakura's-his bed. Good for her. This was his throne room after all and he would not be sharing with a commoner.

A hurried set of footsteps caught his attention and soon enough, his maid was standing by the door, glaring at him. "Peasant, my nails require attention," he spoke as he raised his broken nail at her. "Don't you dare raise your paw at me, Yowai. What are you doing here?" she almost shouted as she marched over to him. "Is that relevant to our conversation? I said my nails require attention," he replied as he narrowed his eyes at her. "I am not cutting that broken nail. Do it yourself. Now, you are going to behave because somehow you managed to get onto this ship without my knowledge-" "Actually, I was in your suitcase this whole time-" "Don't cut me whilst I'm still talking!" she snapped. "What are you gonna do? Pull my ear?" he asked haughtily with an invisible eyebrow raised in question.

His left ear, the one which was pierced three times and was supposed to have different earrings, was pulled viciously by the banshee. "Hey, let me go, you pest!" he screeched at her as he swiped his paw at her. She grabbed his broken nail and ripped it off. He howled in pain. "You imbecile, are you trying to kill me?!" he made to jump at her but she dodged and grabbed him by his other ear which was pierced five times. He thrashed violently as he struggled to get out of her grip. "You ungrateful scumbag! Is this how you repay me after giving meaning to your miserable existence?!" But the pink-haired devil wasn't hearing him. She continued to look at him with disinterest.

"I swear by my ancestors and that deceased clan that I'll get my revenge on you. I will not forget this disrespect. Just you wait!" he shouted as he swiped his paws at her. Oh, the shock was too much for him! The absurdity of it all!

He fainted immediately.

Notes:

I'm trying to update and finish this story as quickly as possible because I don't know how long I can continue to write. Life catches up to you eventually, I can't keep abandoning my duties.

But not to worry! I won't let you down!

Thank you for the support. Keep reviews and kudos coming!

Chapter 7: She's called the Pink Haired Banshee for a reason!

Summary:

Things get a little heated between Sakura and Team Seven

Notes:

Hope you enjoy! Sorry for any grammatical errors.

Sakura stared at the prone figure of her cat lying on her bed. For a moment, she forgot that this was the same feline she had been wrestling with a second ago as its features had softened into a somewhat peaceful expression. But the pinkette knew it was an act. Wherever Yowai was involved, there was never peace especially if she felt entitled that you ought to attend to her very petty needs. She sighed wearily as she removed Yowai from her bed and placed her on the floor beside her suitcase. That would prove to the mammal that she too was mad at her.

How was she going to explain this to Asama-san? She had to apologize to him and Yukie-san for the extra trouble. Speaking of pending apologies, she ought to speak with Sasuke. Somehow, she had overstepped a line which she didn't know existed. She thought that he hated Itachi Uchiha so why did it sound like he was defending him? Was there something she was not getting?

All of a sudden, she felt very sleepy. The day had wearied her down, even though it was still midmorning. She was supposed to be watching Yukie-san and the filming crew in action but the thought of resting her head on the soft pillow she was given seemed very tempting. No, she mustn't think like that, she berated herself as she shook her head. Today was just one of her lazy days. She glanced at her bed longingly before she forced herself to leave the room, intent on apologizing to Yukie-san.

 

.

 

Sakura had managed to talk to Yukie-san and squeak a very embarrassed apology for bringing along her cat. Yukie-san hadn't even glanced at her as she rushed out of the dressing room to begin acting one of her scenes. Sakura was offended and reminded of Naruto's words the previous day of the actress being mean but she brushed it off. She was probably in a hurry. When she joined Team Seven on the sidelines, watching as Yukie-san cried over her guard, Sakura forgot all about her terrible personality. She felt herself crying as Princess Fun expressed her pain. Until she paused to ask Asama-san to pass her some eye drops so that she could cry. Everyone sweat dropped and even Naruto fell down to the ground like a puppet with it's strings cut off for a dramatic effect.

When it was lunchtime, she went off to sit with Team Seven, despite having her doubts. It seemed that everyone was mad at her, with the exception of Hatake-senpai and Naruto. Naruto didn't count since he found almost no fault with her which genuinely annoyed her. Because hello! She was a freak of nature! Everything about her was weird, from her pink hair, oversized forehead and big brains. Not to mention her temper. She could be very mean. But somehow, he had a way of looking over her faults.

"So why are you here Sakura-chan? I didn't know you knew Princess Fun. You could've introduced me to her," Naruto asked as he slurped cup ramen. Sakura thought it was absolutely disgusting that he spoke with his mouth full but she refrained from commenting. "I actually didn't know that she existed until I met Asama-san. He was my employer before he left Konoha," she replied as she ate from a bento box she had received from one of the crew. "Yukie's manager was your boss? How cool! What did you do?" he asked as his eyes glimmered with excitement. She refrained herself from telling him off that it was rude to call people's names without some form of respect. He could at least call her Yukie-san. It's not like it'd kill him.

"I was his personal assistant," the civilian replied. "Really?! That's cool," he chirped as Ami rolled her eyes at his exuberance. "Hey! Why don't you become my personal assistant when I become Hokage? I promise I'll pay you generously and not overwork you," he said as if it was the brightest idea he had ever had. "I'll be too busy for that Naruto," she replied as her childhood bully snickered gleefully across her at her expense. "C'mon Sakura-chan! It'll be great, me and you-" "It's actually you and I," "-will make Konoha become the best village ever!" he exclaimed. Ami giggled with a mean look at Sakura. "I bet you'll be the most awesome duo the village has ever seen," the genin spoke. "Really?! Thanks Ami-chan. So what do you say Sakura-chan?" he asked with a pleading look in his eyes.

"I don't know Naruto. I have my whole life planned out, I can't just drop everything because of you," she tried to let him down as gently as she could because his face was too hopeful. "It'll be fine Sakura-chan. I'll even marry you!" the blonde exclaimed with a thumbs up. "M-Marry me?! That's absurd, we're just twelve!" she hated herself for stuttering. "I'm actually thirteen but that besides the point. I've liked you since forever Sakura-chan, it'll be great. I'll take care of you, dattebayo," Naruto stated with an air of overconfidence. From the corner of her eye, she could see Hatake-senpai and Sasuke-san staring at their little interaction curiously, though the Uchiha tried to be discrete about it by looking a little too hard at his food. "Sakura and Naruto sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. Oh, this is too good to be true. Accept his offer Forehead. This might be the only offer you'll get," Ami spoke with a good natured smile. Bah, as if anything was ever good natured when it came to her. "She's right Sakura-chan," Naruto agreed with her. "What?" she got a whiplash as she turned to look at him incredulously. She felt her patience start to run out. "I heard that you aren't very popular with the boys at the civilian school and they make fun of you because of your forehead and temper. And also because you're a big nerd and act like a know it all every time. But I like you just the way you are. I'll even kiss your forehead to prove it," he said as he stood up to walk over to her.

Horror and rage froze her in place. He had just bared out all her insecurities like it was nothing. She felt her grip on her temper break at once but she had no strength to punch him or even run away. Naruto was going to kiss her forehead, her gigantic, ugly, hideous forehead which was the size of a billboard. Ami would get a good laugh at this.

At the last second, Naruto tripped over his foot and fell but managed to right himself. But not without dumping all of his cup ramen onto her hair and clothes. She felt the slimy noodles and soup drip down from her hair onto her face. Ami outright laughed at that as Naruto apologized profusely and attempted to remove the ramen from her hair but only ended up smearing it firmly into her carefully maintained hair.

With as much calmness as she could scrap from her empty reserves, she brushed Naruto's hands away from her head. But when she opened her mouth, all hell had broken loose.

"Naruto you baka! What is wrong with you?! I thought I made it clear that I'm not interested in any kind of relationship with you! It's bad enough that I have to breathe the same air as you for the next two weeks! Don't you ever mention my forehead, my temper or my habits!" she all but yelled at him. She could feel her tears mixing with ramen soup on her face. Several members of the crew had stopped to look at her in various degrees of wonder but she didn't care. She had to let it out.

"Didn't your parents teach you any better?! Oh, wait, you don't have any parents! I'm supposed to feel remorse for you that you're an orphan but I don't. I don't fucking care that you don't have parents! It's not my problem! It doesn't give you any right to play with my feelings like that. Do you think I enjoy being called a nerd or being bullied by my peers?! I don't! I would never consider marrying you even if you were the last person on Earth. You just-urgh!" she stomped away from him as she removed the ramen from her hair and throwing it to the wooden floorboards.

The pinkette went to her room to retrieve her toiletries and immediately headed to the washroom so that she could take a bath. She scrubbed at her hair in anger as she struggled to remove the limp noodles from her hair. It was only after an hour in the shower that her anger subsided and she could think more clearly. And came the crushing guilt of the ugly words she had yelled at Naruto. Sure, he had angered her but that didn't give her the right to insult him because he was an orphan. "I am a such a an idiot, an idiot bigger than my forehead which is the size of the distance between Konoha and Suna," she muttered to herself.
"You can say that again."

She scrambled to cover herself with her drying towel as she stood naked under the shower but all she managed to do was drop the towel onto the wet tiles. "Dammit! Would you mind giving me some privacy?" she almost shouted in fright as she picked up the semi-wet towel and wrapped it around her body. "Well, there isn't much to see so I don't get why you're covering yourself up. And you're an idiot, how could you say those words to Naruto? Being an outcast in the village is bad enough for him. You just had to make fun of his parents," Ami spoke as she glared at him. All the guilt that she felt vanished instantly as she returned the glare.

"Pretty rich coming from the girl who bullied me during my entire childhood and destroyed every shred of confidence I had in myself!" she replied venomously. "Oh for fuck's sake, grow up Sakura. The world doesn't revolve around you. There are more pressing things than being bullied, like having your parents die on the day you were born!" the genin shouted at her. "You don't get to make fun of that Sakura. Try anything else but that topic is a no-no. Not that you'd understand anything. You've been sheltered all your life. Your parents are alive, you go to school, you don't have to work for anything. There's this thing called empathy Sakura. I thought you had it but it seems I thought to highly of you. I almost felt guilty for bullying you when we were younger. News flash Sakura, you're an even bigger bully than I'll ever be. At least I know boundaries." With that, Ami walked out of the washroom.

Tears blurred the civilian's vision as she slumped down to the tiles, not caring that her white towel was getting wet. She cried for all her insecurities, why did she allow herself to be weak over her forehead or her habits? She cried over Naruto, why had his parents abandoned him, why did he always appear as though it didn't matter to him that he was always alone, why was he so strong? She cried for all the bad words she had said to him. She had visited the Uchiha graveyard to make herself feel better that she was being a decent human being, why was she empathetic to the dead and mean to the living?"

The Haruno teen forced herself to get up from the floor and changed into another one of her qipao dresses and green shorts. Glumly, she made her way out of the washroom and dropped off her toiletries at her room before making her way to the set where Director Makino was barking orders to the crew. She caught his eye and saw a flash of disappointment before he turned back to work. Sakura swallowed thickly at the guilt that had settled in her stomach like a stone. She searched for Asama-san but he was talking to Yukie-san. No doubt, it was something important. She had to find Naruto but the boy was nowhere in sight.

 

.

 

She sighed. Was he purposefully avoiding her? It had been over two hours since she finished bathing but she hadn't even seen or heard of him. She used to hear him him at least a mile away. She passed by Ami on her way to the deck who gave her the filthiest stink eye she had ever seen on her face. She hung her head in shame as she trudged up to the top. Though nobody said anything to her, she could feel their eyes on her back.

"Sakura-chan, come here for a sec."

She raised her head to look at Hatake-senpai who was waving lightly at her. The civilian gulped as she followed the older shinobi who led her to a secluded section of the ship, the storeroom. It was covered with a light layer of dust and otherwise empty, save for a couple of brooms and mops in a corner.

"You're a big girl and I'm sure you don't need me to tell you what you did was wrong, despite Naruto provoking you in the first place. I just want to understand why you did that. I'm sure you have your reasons," he spoke. His eyes were unsmiling with a very serious expression with his arms akimbo. Immediately, Sakura burst into tears. She tried to hide her face behind her hair but she was shaking so bad, she failed miserably. Snot and tears were running down her face in an ugly mixture.
"I'm sorry Hatake-senpai. I didn't mean to. I lost control of my temper. I'm not a bad person, I swear!" she cried in between sobs. "Growing up, I've always been made fun of. I didn't expect Naruto-san to do it too, even if he didn't mean it. I just wanted him to feel the same way I did but I had no right to make fun of him being an orphan," she whimpered. "I promise you Hatake-senpai, I'll apologize. I'll never do it again! Don't break our friendship, please. I'm not the best person but I'll try to be better, shannaro!"

It was a long time before Sakura's sobs died down, leaving her feeling hollow and very tired. She sniffed miserably as she wiped her face with the skirt of her dress. Daring to look up at the silent shinobi, the pinkette found him looking at her with an unreadable expression. She didn't know how long she looked at him before tears started to form in her eyes again. She knew it! He was going to leave her alone, she was a terrible person. No one would want to befriend her now. No one wanted an unemphatic friend.

"I'm not going to leave you. Please don't cry, I'm not good at comforting," Hatake spoke with a sigh. Sakura willed herself not to cry, though her eyes were heavy with unshed tears. "Come here," he beckoned her to come over. She made her way over to him. He patted her head lightly as he crouched low to her eye level. "I know you made a mistake and it's clear you're sorry. I have not need for any more words. Just go and apologize to Naruto, and Sasuke too. They're a little troubled due to some tragic events in their lives so they might not be like the normal person. I hope you understand that," he said with an eye smile. Sakura nodded mutely as embarrassment threatened to make her cry again. "I promise," she breathed out.

The man heaved himself up and put a little distance between them as he stared at her curiously. "Quick question. Do you have any friends or have you ever had any friends?" he asked her. Sakura shook her head. "I've never had any friends. Any attempt to befriend me was always a prank. Plus I was bullied when I was younger about my forehead so I lost all confidence. When I went to school, I thought everyone would want to be my friends if I knew all the answers but it turned out to be quite the opposite. Not to mention my hair color. Pink isn't very common," she replied dully. "Well then, I guess you're a little troubled too. Don't worry, we'll figure it out. For now, you have some apologies and hugs to give," he said as he ushered her out of the storeroom.

 

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Sakura found Naruto locked up in his shared room with the rest of Team Seven. Ami and Sasuke were present too and she figured she might as well apologize to them too for her behavior.

Hatake-senpai had told her that the boy hadn't left the room since their fight and refused to speak with anyone. She hovered in front of their door, gave herself a mini prep talk before knocking. It was Ami who had answered the door and slammed it shut when she saw her face. After a minute, the door opened again and a slight nod from the girl told her to enter.

Naruto was curled up on a sleeping mat, his back turned to the door. "Ano, Naruto-san. I'd like to speak with you," she said in a small voice. The blonde didn't reply. "Naruto-san?" she inquired again. Ami snorted as she rolled her eyes. "Get the hint Forehead. He doesn't want to talk to you. Now get out, you've seen for yourself that you disgust him," the genin spat out. "Naruto-san! Please, just let me say this. It's okay if you don't want to speak to me ever again," she pleaded. The Uzumaki sat up but didn't turn to look at her. She had his attention. Ami was glaring at her and Sasuke was doing the same from the corner he sat.

"Words cannot express how deeply and truly sorry I am for what I said to you. You were saying what you thought was best for me, with equally good intentions. I'm sorry for lashing out at you and making fun of you for not having parents. I wouldn't want to lose my parents and have someone make fun of it. It's okay if you don't forgive me but I'm really sorry," she said as she bowed low at a ninety degree angle. At the silence that ensured, tears threatened to start falling again but instead she felt herself being raised to stand upright from her bow.

Naruto was standing in front of her. She noticed that his eyes were very blue and clear. That made her also notice the redness of his eyes and the unshed tears which were glistening. "It's okay Sakura-chan. I'm not an easy person to like. I was surprised that you hadn't exploded at me even earlier than that. I'm not known to have the most interesting personality. I was hurt, very much. I still feel the pain now. Not because you made fun of me because I don't have parents. I've always had people making fun of me ever since I was born so I don't care. But it was because it was you who said it. I like you Sakura-chan, I like you very much. Sometimes I wish I didn't. So it just hurt hearing you say that. I get that you don't like me too but you don't have to be mean about it," he told her truthfully. She couldn't help the tears that fell. She had lost count of how much she had cried that day.

"I know. I'm sorry Naruto. I'm such a terrible person. I had no right to say that. I'm so sorry, I really am," she cried with her head hung low. "Woah, you really are sorry. I've never had someone cry whilst apologizing to me. Ami-chan usually bonks me on the top of my head then says sorry without a shred of remorse," he stated as he looked at her in wonder. "What do you think you baka? You think I'm faking the tears and the guilt?" she snapped at him as she glared through tear ladden lashes. "No! Of course not! I believe you Sakura-chan, dattebayo. I forgive you," he said the last part softly.
"Really?" she asked pitifully as a flicker of hope started in her chest. She was feeling as though she was the most terrible person in all the lands and if she didn't earn his forgiveness, she didn't know how she was going to live with the guilt. Naruto nodded cheerfully. "I should probably apologize too. I shouldn't have said that to you or pestered you to like me back. That was manipulation at it's highest level, using your weaknesses like that," he spoke. "Did you hit your head or something? Because that sounded very mature," she joked lightly. "I can be pretty wise too!" the blonde defended himself. Sakura chuckled silently.

"But I really am sorry. I won't pester you again to like me back. That doesn't mean I've stopped liking you. Just you know, in the event that you so happen to like me back," he said cheekily. "Naruto," she warned him with a glare. "There's the Sakura-chan I know. I thought you had been reduced to a crying mess because of a little fight," the Uzumaki spoke with a teasing grin. He earned a smack to the back of his head.

Sakura turned to face Sasuke who was looking at her with narrowed eyes. "I also want to apologize to Sasuke-san. I overstepped my boundaries. I shouldn't have spoken carelessly like that. Knowing he was your brother, it must've hurt to bring up painful memories. I might not understand the depth of your pain but I hope that someday, I can understand," she spoke with the most apologetic expression she could muster. Sasuke looked at her for a long time before he turned away from her with a muttered "whatever."

She turned to look at Ami who was glaring at her. "Don't you have something to say to me?" she asked her with a raised eyebrow. Since everyone was apologizing with a raised eyebrow. Since everyone was apologizing with the exception of Sasuke who had nothing to apologize for, she thought maybe Ami would apologize too. The purple haired genin scoffed as she rolled her eyes. "If you think I'm going to apologize for bullying you then think again coz I won't ever be doing that. Grow a backbone Sakura," she sneered at her.

Sakura sighed as she stared at the ceiling. She had been hoping for too much. "I figured. I should say sorry for lashing out at you too at the washroom. You were only looking out for your teammate," she spoke, suddenly feeling tired. "Yeah right, as if I'll ever believe a word that comes out of your mouth after today," the female member of Team Seven rose up and left the room.

Sakura was left staring at the blank space which had been previously occupied by Ami. She turned to look at Naruto. "Did I do something wrong? I thought if I apologized, she'd forgive me. But she's acting as if she's the one I insulted," she blinked owlishly in confusion. "Well, you know Ami, it might just be that time of the month. One time, she-"

 

.

 

Sakura lay in her bed that night, very exhausted but very much awake. It had been less than two days since she had left Konoha and already so much had happened. She had vowed to herself to avoid the shinobi accompanying her as much as possible but it seemed fate had other plans. After her fight and later on reconciliation with Team Seven, Naruto had stuck to her side like glue. He didn't sit with Ami and Sasuke during dinner. He was always yapping whatever nonsense that came to his mind in an attempt to fill the silence that usually found itself between them. Sakura didn't find it within herself to call him out for it. The recognition and acceptance he desired from just about anyone shone in his eyes as he spoke to her. She found herself nodding to whatever he said and laughing along to his jokes which were sometimes not even funny.

'Are all shinobi like this?'

He seemed much too young but from what she gleaned, he had been living alone since being chased out of the orphanage when he was five years old. The Hokage visited him once a month with his allowance and to scold him for always doing pranks all over the village. He never bothered to check whether or not his milk wasn't expired or if he ate anything apart from ramen. Was this how all orphans in the village lived? She wondered about Sasuke. Since he was the last Uchiha, he was well-off as compared to Naruto but did have someone check up on him? He was different from Naruto in the sense that he had had parents until he was seven years old so he knew a parent's love unlike the Uzumaki who had never known his parents, even their names. Having that ripped away from him in the blink of an eye was sure to have its damages, both physical and mental.

Yowai purred softly beside her and the pinkette pulled her closer to her, hugging the soft feline for comfort as her heart ached for the two genins.

Though she had vowed to never involve herself in a shinobi's life, she couldn't just abandon the two of them. Not to mention, her very first friend was a shinobi, Hatake-senpai. She couldn't just brush it off as nothing. Besides, her target market as an businessperson were shinobi so it wouldn't hurt to befriend a few of them, right?

The first thing she had to do when she returned home was to visit the library and reread their constitution. Something had to be done for kids like Naruto and Sasuke. If nobody was going to do it, then she was going to be the bigger person and make sure that they be catered for too.

Notes:

Happy New Year! My first chapter in 2025!

Usually, I update on New Year but I was in the countryside for the holidays and had no data so yeah. Plus my phone died, my laptop was taken and I hadn't even written anything.

But I'll try to update as soon as possible.

Comments and kudos make me update faster.

Tozoonana

AfricanFire

Chapter 8: So, you're more talkative than you appear to be....

Summary:

Sasuke and Sakura share a little moment....

Notes:

I'm sorry, this was not beta read. I have revised and edited but in case I missed anything, sorry in advance. I know just how terrible it is to read a book with an incorrect spelling or improper grammar.

"Alright kiddo. I'm not going to waste any time teaching you theory, we're gonna go straight to practical, the whole reason you're here in the first place," Director Makino spoke as he paced in front of her. Sakura nodded her head dutifully, it had been three days since they left Konoha. Apart from getting into a fight with Team Seven, nothing of relevance and importance had happened yet. Mostly, she observed the crew as they filmed different scenes. The civilian didn't have much courage to get closer to the crew and ask to see how they operated their cameras. She only knew the theoretical part of it but she was sure that the practical part would be different as cameras varied in design and use.

"I've assigned Mamura to teach you how to use a camera. By lunch, you should be done so that I can give you your first assignment," the man stopped walking as he watched her through dark rimmed glasses. "I understand Director," she replied as she bowed in thanks. "No need to be so formal kid. Save that for the press conferences and public appearances at social events. Right now, I need you to be yourself. Don't hold back, tell me that you think so that if there is a need for correction, we correct you. Like you did with that whiskered kid a few days ago, though I'd advise you to improve your phrasing so as to not come off as rude," he added the last statement as an afterthought.

"You're learning from us. So in as much as I gave you permission to speak your mind, don't forget that first off, you're a kid. And secondly, you're a student. Your knowledge is limited to textbooks and stuff, we have hands-on training so you better swallow your pride and learn, you hear me?" he asked with a slight glare. "Yes sir!" she replied with a small salute.

 

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Mamura Koji was around twenty years old, being the latest addition to the filming crew. He had joined the crew when he had just become an adult and had been working with the Princess Fun crew for the past two years. He had dark hair and an angular face with a sharp jawline, with his face more like a box than an oval. He wasn't overly handsome like Sasuke but he was quite appealing in his own way, Sakura noted as she was led to the storage room. "I'm going to give you the one I first used when I joined the crew," he said as he fumbled around the box filled with different cameras. The civilian hoped she wasn't going to be using one of those heavy cameras because she was quite sure that her muscles couldn't quite yet handle the weight of the gadgets.

He took out a camera which was almost the size of his fists joined together. Not too big, not too small. "Makino-san said you're to start with this one. Since you don't seem like you'll venture into being a cameraman, we thought to give you something that's wasn't too casual and too professional at the same time hence this Nikon F3 film camera, one of the best cameras ever created," he spoke with boyish glee as he fiddled a bit with the camera. "How long did you use it?" she asked. "I stopped using it three months ago. Everything is in perfect condition. With Makino-san always breathing down your neck and threatening to cut your pay in half if you so much as scratched one of the lenses, I'm sure you get the picture just how much I cared for this," he said as he finished adding the lenses.

Sakura nodded her head as the boy handed her the black camera. It was slightly heavy but she could get used to it. "Don't you have a sling of sorts? If I am to take care of this as if my lifeline depends on it, I should have something to reduce my chances of damage," she stated as she turned over the camera. True to Mamura's word, the camera was in pristine condition for something for that was bought two years ago. Despite its slightly wear and a few minute scratches here and there, everything was good. The dark haired boy passed her the sling and helped attach it to the camera before putting it on. He also helped her attach the camera bag to her waist as he went over how to operate it and soon, they were on set as Yukie began record her second scene at sea.

Sakura headed over to Director Makino, waving to Team Seven as she passed them by. Only Naruto and Kakashi-senpai waved back. "Good day Director Makino. Mamura-san showed me how to use the camera," she told him as she arrived. "Good. You're in charge of the behind the scenes cuts for this entire film. I expect you to make the best of it because they'll appear at the end of the movie. Mess it up and you'll regret ever meeting me or showing an interest in cinematography," he said to her before he began to shout obscenities at one of the crew who had lowered a boom mic too close to Yukie.

Sakura went back to Mamura who was smiling at her in amusement at the sight of her panic stricken face. "He wants me to take behind the scenes cuts," she squeaked out. "I'm not easily scared but something about his words make me believe that if I screw up, it's over," she breathed out. "Relax Sakura-san. Nothing's going to happen to you. Makino-san has a habit of scaring new recruits for even the simplest of things. He believes it's a way of getting them to do better, worst of all if the recruits are perfectionists like you," he said as he took the camera out of her hands. He went to a corner and took a few clicks before coming back to her. "Here, take a look at this," he spoke as he handed her the camera. Sakura looked at the screen, scrolling through the pictures the older boy had taken. Her eyes widened in shock. "Wow, these are really good. It's like you're taking pictures of the movie without taking pictures of the movie, like just the actors being natural despite being on set," she stated with an amazed look in her eyes. "And that's exactly what behind the scenes cuts are for. People like to see characters in action but they also want to see them out for action, the people they truly are without all the acting. That's also another important aspect of cinematography especially if you're taking things like movies and documentaries. The audience falls in love with the actors both in and out of the movie," he explained to her sagely. "Now you try," he said with an encouraging smile. Sakura looked at the camera unsurely before nodding her head. "Okay," she spoke.

 

.

 

Throughout the entire filming, Sakura was busy taking pictures and videos, with Mamura helping her whenever she didn't understand something. Some of the crew members even offered to help her with a few tips of their own, pointing out things like lighting, angles and color. By the end of the day, Sakura was exhausted. She barely ate her lunch as she was busy taking pictures as well during that time until around seven in the evening that they finalized all the scenes which had to be taken during their journey.

It was only until she was sitting down eating her lunch that she realized that she hadn't talked to any of the members of Team Seven. Despite her no ninja policy, they were fellow citizens of Konoha and it felt downright rude to ignore them. But it was just today, surely, they couldn't fault her for being too busy to at least say hie. Kakashi-senpai would understand, Naruto would probably make a fuss about it and she was quite certain that Sasuke and Ami weren't bothered by it.

Most of the crew had retired for bed, since they would be arriving at the Land of Snow tomorrow. Already, she could feel the chill of the weather as they neared their destination, meaning she had to change her wardrobe quickly before flu decided to visit her on her first visit in a foreign land. She quickly finished her dinner and dropped off her plate to the kitchen before going to her room.

Yukie-san was already asleep, judging from the loud snores coming from her corner. She rubbed Yowai show as sprawled on her bed. The feline purred in delight before resuming its sleep. Sakura wanted to sleep but it was eluding her. With all the photos and videos she took, she was surprised that the camera wasn't complaining about its storage. It was time to go through her work and see if she managed to be half as good as Mamura.

 

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By the time Sakura finished going through all her work, it was almost midnight. She had taken videos sometimes ten minutes long and a lot of unnecessary pictures. But she wasn't going to delete them yet. She would after completing all of her behind the scenes cuts. Perhaps, one of the bad pictures would be the perfect cut. But still, she wasn't feeling sleepy. She had changed out of her attire into a simple t-shirt and knee length shorts she had received from her etiquette class teacher, Makima, had gifted her at her twelfth birthday. It was one of the best gifts she had ever received because they were quite comfortable and could be worn throughout all seasons.

With her mind quickly made, she threw on a grey hoodie she had packed and put on a pair of socks before going out of the room towards the deck. She was surprised to find Sasuke already there, looking out at the sea. She hesitated a bit, they weren't on speaking terms, not that they had ever been but she didn't want to interrupt whatever he was doing at the moment. Not to mention, her phobia of ninja made her wary without eve considering who it was. But she had to get over her irrational ninjaphobia. She couldn't avoid them for the rest of her life as long as she lived in Konoha. Perhaps, this would be the first step of getting over it.

Taking a deep breath to strengthen her resolve, the civilian made her way towards the last surviving Uchiha. She stopped beside him and looked towards the sea. It was quite beautiful alright. Out here, the sky wasn't disturbed by trees or smoke from industries. It was just nature all to itself. To top of it, the sky was brightly lit with stars, as she had read in a book that the stars shone brightly after midnight. It was breathtaking beautiful. She cursed herself for forgetting her a camera. This was too good an opportunity to pass up.

Her eyes slid over the genin standing still a statue beside her. He hadn't moved even once, if it weren't for the fact that she knew he was a person, she would've mistaken him for a mannequin. She decided to take the first step forward. "Good evening Sasuke-san, I hope you don't mind my presence here," she spoke with a smile. "Hn," came the almost muted reply. She was slightly hurt from the lack of reaction since she was being so polite to him but it was better than nothing considering it was Sasuke Uchiha of all people, he had quite a reputation as an introvert, though saying he was an introvert would be praising him too much.

"Ano, I shouldn't bring this up now-" "Then why even say it in the first place?" he cut as he spared a millisecond glance. She pretend as if she hadn't heard him. "I want to apologize for talking about your family in that way. It probably means nothing to you neither will it change anything but it gives me a small comfort to tell you how sincerely sorry I am," she told him with a self degrading frown. She hadn't yet understood what had possessed her then to speak in that manner. Makima-san would be embarrassed if she learned that one of their best students had run off her mouth like that. It was quite a while before he replied. "Is that why you always put flowers at the Uchiha graveyard?" he asked. Sakura's eyes nearly shot out their sockets as she turned around to face him. She was sure that she gave herself a whiplash. "You know about that?!" she almost shouted. "Quiet down. Being loud won't change anything," Sasuke snapped with a heated expression. Sakura clamped her mouth shut as she frantically looked around for someone loitering at this time of night. "Stop looking around like a serial killer. There's no one here," he spoke with an eye roll. "How would you know?" she snapped, her emotions getting loose at being reprimanded as if she was stupid. "I'm a ninja, remember? I can sense who's around and who's not," he said a bit too smugly. "Last time I checked, shinobi can conceal their chakra. And you're not the best sensor in the world so don't flatter yourself." The words were out before she could stop them. And she wasn't intending on taking them back.

Sasuke looked at her with a single eyebrow raised in question. "What?" she asked with an annoyed expression. "You know, if it weren't for the fact that we went on this mission together, I would've thought that you were like Hinata," he stated. "The Hyuga heiress? Why would I be like her? She's shy, quiet and polite, almost like a princess. I'm none of that," she retorted with a puzzled expression. "Exactly. To an onlooker, you're just like that. But after spending the past few days with you, I beg to differ. You're quite the opposite," he spoke blandly. "And so are you. For someone with a reputation for being a introvert, you're quite talkative," she replied. "Just because I despise interacting with certain people doesn't make me an introvert, though, I'm not an extrovert either," he muttered in annoyance. "And just because I don't want to talk to shinobi and people in general doesn't mean I'm shy or quiet. I just know what to say, not too much and not too little," she spoke.

Sasuke stared at her with a single eyebrow raised curiously. "That's something my etiquette teacher once told me," he spoke as he looked at the sky. "Oh, it was my etiquette teacher who told me that. Makima Tachibana," she told him as she peered over him to study his expression. "Hn, it's a small world after all," he murmured. "Was she your teacher too?" she asked curiously. But Sasuke decided to ignore her question to ask something else.

"Why do you put flowers on their graves? It's not like it'll bring them back," he asked as he turned to face her fully. Now that she had his undivided attention, Sakura could clearly see why girls fell head over heels for him, civilian and shinobi alike. If it weren't for the fact that she was weary of his kind, she would probably be one of his biggest fangirls. She cleared her head as she fought down a blush. She couldn't afford to ruin whatever moment they were having just because she read way too many romance novels and watched even way too many romance dramas.

"Somebody has to do it, somebody has to preserve their memory. I just think that they didn't deserve it. There were lots of people, both shinobi and civilians in your clan who didn't deserve what happened. The textbooks at the library wouldn't tell me what happened except that Itachi Uchiha turned rogue so I decided to read books dated way before our generation, around the founding of Konoha," she told him as she shivered unconsciously at the cold and hugged herself. "And what were you hoping to find at the library?" Sasuke asked with a flat stare. "The reason behind the massacre. I find it hard to believe that the whole of Konoha wouldn't notice if someone started wiping out an entire clan during the night. Something fishy had to have happened. Back when there were no hidden villages or chakra, sometimes entire clans would be wiped out if they displeased their leader or acted treasonously. It still happens even now, though mostly to ancient clans closely linked to the Daimyos," she stated. "If this was way before the founding of the villages, how'd you manage to get hold of such information?" the genin asked with suspicion in his eyes. "Relax, I didn't do anything illegal. It was actually this one scroll I found, it was hard to read and it had different kanjis but luckily, one of the old ladies in my neighborhood knew it and she explained it to me," she defended herself. "And where did you get the scroll?" Sasuke asked. "At the library obviously! More specifically, the librarian Hayashi-san gave it to me. It was one of the few scrolls she managed to get from the Senju library before it was burned down by the Sandaime," she explained. "Right," the Uchiha drawled out.

"We're moving away from the main point. The Uchiha clan was one of the major clans along the Senju clan who formed Konoha. So even if something big which couldn't be disclosed to the public happened, I believe that the fact that they're one of the founding clans would've been enough to do more than just push them to the edge of the village after the Kyuubi attack," Sakura stated. Sasuke's eyebrows were pinched as he regarded her. "You mean when we relocated?" he asked her. "I don't know whether to call you stupid or what. Why do you think the Uchiha clan was relocated, as you'd like to believe, to the outskirts of the village soon after the Kyuubi attack?" she asked him.

"I don't know. Wasn't it something that happened because the village had to be built anew?" he asked, though without much confidence. "Look at it from my point view. Before the attack, your clan lived at the one of the best places in the village, near the centre. I read in a book that the Nara once argued with Madara Uchiha over the river behind the Uchiha Naka Shrine. Hashirama Senju offered them the forest which we now know as the Nara forest. After the attack, everyone was affected, lots of buildings were destroyed but surprisingly, the Uchiha clan is the only one being relocated, take note, to the outskirts of the village. Why would they do that?" she asked with an all knowing smile. "I'm not getting what you're saying," the Uchiha spoke as he shook his head. "I mean, it was suspected that the Uchiha were responsible for the Kyuubi attack," she told him as the smile left her face. "It wasn't us!" Sasuke was quick to defend. "Of course it wasn't, you dummy. But the Sharingan is the only thing that can control the Kyuubi and given Madara Uchiha's track records, the only valid explanation would be that your clan was responsible for the attack," she stated. "What did Madara Uchiha do? All I know is that he was the founding father of Konoha along side Hashirama Senju," he said. Sakura almost face palmed. "Don't you read history textbooks? Or at least one of your clan members told you?" she deadpanned. "Well, in case you didn't know, my clan was wiped out when I was seven and some of us are too busy training to spend the whole day in the library," he snapped at her. The pinkette immediately felt guilty. "Sorry, that came out wrong. I assumed you knew since your father was the head of the clan," she spoke apologetically. "Well, you assumed wrong. Even if I was the son of the clan head, I was always second best to Itachi. There's no way that Father would've told me anything," he said bitterly.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to-" "Just leave already. Talking to you makes me tired. Unlike you, I have to stay up the whole night on guard duty. So make yourself useful and go to sleep," he snapped irritably. Sakura quickly blinked away the tears which were coming too fast for her. "Forget I said anything," she spoke before she trudged her way back to her room, feeling both angry and pity for Sasuke.

 

.

 

The next morning, Sakura Haruno set foot in the Land of Snow for the first time. She had discarded her summer wear for something much more suitable for the cold weather. She wore a knee length cream coat with fur trimmings and a pair of white trousers under brown winter boots which reached her ankles. A white beanie topped off her appearance. She hauled her suitcase with Yowai resting inside her coat, her white furred head peeking out of her collar as she took in her surroundings.

Yukigakure was a rather small village in comparison to Konoha.

Not that she knew what other villages looked like but since it was her first time leaving Konohagakure, she had been hoping for something more.

However, she had to admit that it was more technologically advanced than her home village. Snow mobiles had taken them from the port to the village. The houses were more traditional than the modern housing regularly found in Konoha. Snow covered the roofs and streets in thick blankets. Though it was midday, it wasn't sunny but neither was it dull. It was.....snowy, for lack of a better term. She dropped off her luggage to the inn she was staying at before they went to a local restaurant to have lunch. They would resume shooting the following day.

Sakura sat with Mamura and a few of the crew members who were Keigo, a 26-year old man who liked to edit videos using technology, Misamo, a 35-year old man who had been in the filming industry since it begun and lastly Harumi, a 24-year old woman who was responsible for taking stock of the filming equipment. She was also Mamura's crush and Sakura teased him for it relentlessly as she caught him staring at her often.

Their meal included rice balls, sushi, shrimp and ramen with a lot of sake. Misamo tried to force Sakura to drink but she vehemently refused, saying she was underage. Mamura had sided with her and the pinkette watched in mild amusement as the dark haired boy blushed furiously when his crush agreed with him. It was too cute and she was going to tease him about it later.

"Man, I haven't been pumped up about a movie in such a long time! Having an actual princess on set, a dream come true," Keigo spoke as he took a swig of his sake. "I have to admit, I didn't believe it until I overheard Director Makino and her manager talking about it," Harumi spoke, brushing her light brown hair out of her eyes. "You mean Princess Fun? Isn't it just acting?" Sakura asked as she chewed on a rice ball. Makima-san would probably sneer at her lack of manners but she wasn't here so she didn't care. "Yukie-san is actually a princess," Mamura spoke. "Yeah right, in a fictional movie that is," the pinkette snorted.

Yukie Fujikaze would never be a princess. Not with the way she snored when she slept or how she was a terrible drunk. Not to mention, she was a slob, a messy slob to be precise. There was no way she was a princess. Princesses were pristine and proper, Yukie was anything but.

"Her name is actually Koyuki Kazahana, her father was the previous Daimyo of the Land of Snow," Misamo piped in. "Uh huh." She was still in denial. "Do you know why we're shooting in Yukigakure?" Sakura shook her head no. "Do you know the story behind her casting? Why did Asama choose her specifically? Or the story behind her necklace?" Sakura shook her head again.

"Ask your boss about it. I'm sure he'll indulge you a little bit," Keigo spoke.

Notes:

I actually had to research about the Nikon camera so that my story wasn't too unrealistic. Even the facts with clans being wiped out coz of insubordination, it happens.

Anyways thank you for the kudos and comments, they motivate me to update faster.

Don't forget to leave a comment! And a kudo too!

Tozoonana

AfricanFire

Chapter 9: You gain some, you lose some....

Summary:

The pink haired civilian gets her first real taste of life....

Notes:

Hey! Long time no see! I had been suffering from a severe writer's block...... actually I was just too lazy to write but eventually, you'll know that duty calls when you have people waiting for you. Soooooo, I have noticed that this fic hasn't been getting much responses as compared to its release. Which isn't entirely a bad thing because I know that there are readers who will be with me to the end. But those very few people who might be reading, I really appreciate your thoughts and comments. Just know, I intend to finish this story. Might even finish some of my other abandoned stories if I think about it. So enjoy!

The Kazahana Castle was truly magnificent, Sakura admitted as she walked through the icy hallway. The entire structure of ice; cold, hard freaking ice! The level of engineering and architecture required to make a building this complex, and from ice nonetheless! If it weren't for the fact that she was studying cinematography and had a limited schedule, she would've given this entire trip just to understand how it was built, especially since Ice Release was used. Despite loathing shinobi, jutsu never stopped fascinating her. Perhaps, she would get over her irrational fear of ninjas.

"Do you now believe me when I say that Yukie-san is actually a princess?" Mamura spoke with an all knowing smirk beside her. "What's her real name? Because if she is a princess, I doubt she would be telling everyone her real name," she pondered. "Why don't you ask Hatake-taichou? I heard he knows a lot-" Before he was finished, the girl had rushed off in search of the silver haired ninja. She found him just outside the castle, talking with Asama-san. His genins were nowhere in sight. "Good morning Sakura-chan, did you sleep well?" Her former boss asked with a smile similar to her father's. Sakura nodded. "What brings you here?" he asked. "I actually wanted to speak to Kakashi-senpai but since you're here, I guess I can ask you too," she told him a little bit breathlessly.

"Now now, Sakura-chan, you're here to enjoy the Land of Snow, not to write an encyclopedia about it," Kakashi teased lightly. Sakura smacked his arm. "But I suppose you wouldn't be you if you didn't have any questions. Now how can I be of assistance?" the silver haired jounin asked with a chuckle. The civilian blushed a little at that. "I'm not sure if I'm cleared to hear this but my colleagues have been telling me that Yukie-san is actually the princess of the Land of Snow. And Asama-san chose her for her current role because she is actually a princess. I'm really curious about that. Is she actually a princess? If she is, why isn't she ruling? What happened?" she listed her questions. "I knew you'd ask sooner or later. Why don't you accompany us back to the hotel to get a few things and we'll tell you all about it?" Sakura nodded eagerly.

 

.

 

Asama-san and Kakashi-senpai had answered all her questions. Yukie Fujikaze was actually Koyuki Kazahana, her father was the previous Daimyo who had been killed by his brother in order to rule over Yukigakure. The crystal necklace that she carried was passed down to her from her father and was really important. Kakashi-senpai saved her when she was younger at the time of the revolt which is why Asama-san had requested him specifically to protect her as they needed to finish shooting their movie in the Land of Snow.

Her former boss had handed her some money and told her to get herself some souvenirs. He would come later at day end to accompany her where the final scenes were to be taken. Sakura accepted with a bit of embarrassment as she felt as if she though she was charity case. But Sakura knew he had the best intentions.

She walked around the food stalls, tasting different types of foods. Their cuisine mostly included hot foods because of the weather but there were some cold desserts she had taken an instant liking to. She also bought some anko dumplings which tasted way better than the ones she ate in Konoha. After that, she visited the local library where she spent the rest of the afternoon until late evening, huddled up in a corner devouring books on any topic which interested her.

There were air conditioners in the library which made it so warm that she had to remove her coat as she had started to sweat. What caught her attention was the Ice Release kekkei genkai. Despite not having a liking towards shinobi in general, their world never failed to excite her. They picked her mind, challenging and changing the laws of physics and nature in general. Ice in particular always seemed to catch her rapt attention as civilian scientists had yet to understand the formation of snow.

It was also said that there were places on Earth which were far much colder than even the Land of Snow. Sometimes, sunlight didn't reach there and a lot of weird places were found, hinting at the existence of life outside of Earth. Sakura couldn't disagree with that. If people were able to use chakra, who couldn't say there were aliens?

It was around five o'clock that she checked out of the library, the sky being a mixture of orange and purple. She was feeling content with having read all about Ice Release in a country where it was everyone's daily bread. She decided to skip dinner and instead opted to walk around the markets before returning to her room.

She had just passed by the stall when a sparkle caught her attention. She retraced her steps backwards to get a closer look to the object. It was a small silver bracelet, no thicker than wire. But it looked sturdy and very strong, sparkling as if sunlight was passing through it even though it was almost dark. It looked like it was made of ice, just like the Kazahana Castle.

"Excuse me, can I ask what this is?" she asked to the stall owner.

"Oh, this ol' thing? Just a lil' bracelet I found lyin' around when I was up and about ma' days. Took pity on the poor lil' thing, seemed too good to jus' let it rot on the ground. So I took it, looked at least a century old," the old woman replied as she chewed on what looked like biltong. Sakura wondered how she was doing that without a single tooth in sight. "Oh, is there anything special about it?" she asked as she peered down to take a closer look. It looked as if it was made of glass with a light blue coloring. "Nah, ain't nothin special 'bout it. Just some pretty jewelry, you wanna buy it?" the woman asked, her sunken eyes peering at her greedily. "A-As long as it's not too expensive," the pinkette smiled through her teeth as she grasped her sling bag self-consciously. "Nah, I won't charge you an arm or leg. Just give me 700 yen and you'll be good to go," she smiled a toothless smile as she held out a hand.

700 yen would barely create a dent in her wallet. She took out the cash and handed it to the woman. The old woman grabbed thee bills and began counting them as she smacked her lips greedily. "Next time you're givin' someone money, give them with your right hand. I see a lot of wealth in you, better use it wisely for whatever dreams of yours you want to accomplish," she spoke as she stared at her. Sakura was taken aback at her choice of words, as strange as it was, they hit a little too close to home. She thanked the lady with a slight bow before walking away, the thin bracelet clasped tightly in her hand.

 

.

 

Sakura returned to the inn to check if anyone had asked for her. The receptionist shook her. No one had asked about her and the other crew members hadn't checked in since they left this morning. The evening was slowly making its way and Sakura didn't want to wonder the streets alone at night. Despite how small Yukigakure was, she could never be too careful. She decided to entertain herself with studying the bracelet until Asama-san came for her.

It was almost eight o'clock when Sakura felt as though a rock had lodged itself in her chest. She found it difficult to breath and the air seemed a little bit too cold despite the air conditioner being on. A knock sounded at her door. Was it too coincidental that someone would seek her out when she was about to have a panic attack? Putting the bracelet around her left wrist, Sakura put on her morning gown and went to open the door. Her heart was hammering in chest.

There was no need for her to have a panic attack yet her body seemed to have a mind of its own. She opened the door to find Team Seven minus Naruto waiting for her. Though their faces were blank faced, Sakura could see the guilt behind them.

Did Naruto die? Why were they looking at her like it was the end of the world? Something terrible must've obviously happened to Naruto which is why they had come without him.

"I'm sorry Sakura, there was nothing we could do to save him."

Kakashi-senpai's words snapped her out of her monologue. Her throat felt dry all of her sudden and her chest constricted. Surely Naruto couldn't have just died like that! Though there were cases were genins died as young as they graduated, Naruto had to be a special case, right? There was no way he's just die like that. He was too optimistic for that. No, she was overreacting. Kakashi-senpai hadn't even finished talking. Maybe he was talking about Yowai but the feline was nestled underneath her blankets. Was it Mamura? Or Director Makino? Why was she creating these unrealistic expectations? Was her brain short-circuiting at the mere mention of death?

"Asama-san was killed whilst protecting Koyuki-hime. I'm sorry."

Her brain did indeed short-circuit.

Asama-san? He wasn't dead. There was no way he'd been killed. He had just gone to finish shooting for the final and would come to pick her up. Then after three days, she would return to Konoha with Team Seven and a new set of skills. She would tell her father how she barely saw Asama-san as he was busy with the shooting and taking care of Yukie-san who was acting like a spoiled brat most of the time.

She hadn't realized she was crying until she felt a single arm wrapped around her shoulders and pressing her into a hard chest. She shoved him away.

"No. You're lying. He's not dead, he just got caught up with work," she said as she hugged herself. Her breath was coming in short pants. The stone that she had felt earlier seemed to weight even more and her head suddenly felt light. "I'm sorry. I wish it were like that but it's not," Kakashi-senpai replied with a sad undertone. She would've asked them to come inside but she was too emotional to think clearly.

"What happened? Are you sure it was Asama-san?" she found herself saying with a surprisingly calm voice. The civilian felt as though she was going to faint on the spot. "Koyuki-hime's uncle, Doto Kazahana, attacked us, he wanted the necklace that she was given by her father, hoping to unlock the secrets in the Land of Snow. Asama-san led a small battalion of samurai in order to protect the princess and lost his life in the process. Naruto has gone after Doto as we speak and we are to follow the track he left us. I just wanted to let you know so that it wouldn't be much of a surprise when everyone else heard it," the jounin spoke. Sakura nodded mutely.

"Thank you."

She was at a loss of words. This had to be her first close encounter with death. She felt all sorts of terrible things that were described in the angst novels she read but somehow, she didn't have the energy to cry. It felt too surreal and lucid, she wondered if she was actually still sane. But she was not going to cry. The few tears that had manged to escape were going to be the last that Team Seven would see. She would cry alone in the comfort of her room.

She closed the door without saying goodbye. She put away all her souvenirs and cleaned the room before she went under her bed covers and cried herself to sleep.

 

.

 

Koyuki rubbed her eyes tiredly. A lot had happened in the past seventy two hours since she had arrived in her home country. She had been reunited with her uncle, though it was anything but a happy family reunion. The man was dead. Team Seven had done a splendid job of protecting her and getting rid of the threat. She knew that she had to live and Doto had to die. She had long since come to terms with that when her father was murdered in cold blood by his younger brother. For the sake of the citizens of Yukigakure, she had to live so that she could carry on her father's legacy. She had to protect them from people like her uncle who cared not even a single bit about them.

She rubbed her eyes again. She was so very tired.

Sandayu had died protecting her during the first attack. Naruto was currently in a comatose state, after defeating Doto. Thus was the price of freedom and independence. Some gained and some lost.

She looked out her window and saw the pink haired girl that her late manager had brought along. She was staring blankly at the snow whilst several people milled about the castle. After news had gotten out the Princess Koyuki had returned and defeated her uncle, the Council was quick to start her coronation. It would be held in three days time. Servants had already settled themselves in the castle in preparation for the event. The civilian seemed to move like a ghost whenever she saw her, which was only three times. Two times, she had been speaking with Hatake-taichou and the other time, she was just kneeling on the ground as she made a snow man. The death of Sandayu probably came as a shock to her. She looked fragile, just like her namesake, but there was a certain air of stubbornness to succeed that seemed to hover around her. Even her bloody cat was the same.

She put on a coat and went outside to meet her.

"Sakura, was it?"

The girl turned at the sound of her name, her eyes widening a bit before she bowed at her waist. "Koyuki-hime," she said as a way of greeting. "No need to be so formal kid. I think we're past that stage since you heard me snore in my sleep for two nights straight," Koyuki spoke with a grin. The tension in her shoulders eased a bit. "I'm sorry about Sandayu. No one thought that this trip would be the last trip together. I don't know how close you were but I can offer my condolences," the dark haired princess spoke softly. Sakura nodded as she stared past her shoulders. "He mentioned that you had to return to Konoha since you were starting school next week," she said. "Yes, I am," Sakura replied. "Though he didn't actively take part in filming, he had a few cameras of his own and a desktop. I'd like for you to take them," she stated. Her eyes widened comically.

"I could never-"

"He'd have wanted you to take it. Apart from me, he didn't have any family left. His wife and children died before I met him and he never remarried. However, he did mention that he had a friend in Konoha, I'm quite sure he was talking about your father. He was the closest thing to family that he had," her voice became distant as she was lost in memories that she only knew herself, the other holder being six feet under snow. "I... Thank you Koyuki-hime," the girl replied. "Call me Koyuki. No harm done," she said with a small smile.

 

.

 

The next morning, Sakura was standing at the railway station with her two suitcases and Yowai tucked inside her coat. The coronation was only a day away meaning no one would be able to see her go. She had wanted to stay but she had other duties back at home. Her mother would never allow her to leave again if she missed school because of something unrelated to her. She was not a citizen of Yukigakure hence there would be no need to stay. But she did want to stay for the coronation. She was halfway between acquaintances and friends with Koyuki-hime. She had wanted to cement their relationship a bit. She had no friends outside of Ayame.

But Koyuki promised that she would write to her. Perhaps in a month or so since she would be getting used to being the Daimyo. Sakura vowed to do the same. Her cameras and desktop would be delivered to her in a few weeks. She had seen Team Seven the previous night but hadn't talked for long. Naruto was still unconscious and Ami was always stuck to his side like glue, ignoring her as usual. She visited the blonde genin and spoke to him even though he was unresponsive. At least, she hadn't entirely ignored him. Things were tense between her and Sasuke. Since their conversation on the deck and parting ways on not-so-friendly terms, they hadn't spoken to each other much. In fact, they were actively ignoring each other. Only Kakashi-senpai was talking to her. He apologized for making her return by herself since he had promised Asama-san to go back with her. But Koyuki wasn't finished filming her movie and it would be too early to leave considering the political situation in Yukigakure. She understood that she was not worth the effort and time. She was probably being petty about it but she didn't care. She was emotionally fragile.

Most of the crew members were busy with preparing for the coronation too. They had to film the event, possibly to use it as ending credits in the movie. She had talked to Mamura a bit who bid her farewell with a teary hug and his address. He threatened to burn all her books if she didn't write to him.

"Meow."

Sakura looked inside her coat, Yowai glaring at her. "Hey there buddy. Sorry I haven't been giving you much attention the past month. But I promise that I'll pet you all you want when we get home," she cooed at the feline. It seemed content with her answer as it proceeded to snuggle deeper inside her coat.

A loud hoot caught her attention and she saw the train approaching. It wasn't much different from the trains in Konoha but it was definitely in much better condition. She boarded the train, lugging her two suitcases behind her to her assigned seat. Not many people travelled between Yukigakure and Konoha so the train was mostly deserted. But she loved it. She wasn't a socialite. She took Yowai out of her coat and placed him on her lap, covering him with the shawl she had draped over her shoulders. She took out her camera and prepared to take photos of the landscape on her way back. She looked at the bracelet on her left wrist. She peered at it closely as she blinked in disbelief. Was it her or did the bracelet suddenly became an inch thicker? Because she was quite sure that it had been thin as a wire before and now was as thick as her thumb.

She calmed the erratic beating of her heart. She hoped it's meant nothing and that the bracelet grew because it found an owner and was actually a tool to unlock a super cool jutsu and she was too much of a wimp that she didn't learn how to use chakra therefore she wouldn't be able to unlock the powers it held within!

She pinched herself. "Calm down Sakura. No use in overthinking. Let time take it course," she told herself. Yowai meowed something along the lines of her owner being an idiot. Sakura ignored her and continued to play with the bracelet on her, all thoughts of taking pictures long forgotten.

Notes:

Don't. Forget. To. Comment. Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!

Chapter 10: Not Without A Fight!

Summary:

Sakura gets a wayyy toooo reaallll reality check!

Notes:

I haven't updated in awhile! I've been busy and lazy. Plus I've got two other fics to finish, and maybe 5 more too. Anyways, I've opened a Kofi account, I had it for a while. And a Discord page too. But imma focus on Kofi for now. As you all know, we gotta pay bills and school and all those things that need money. So I'll be taking requests or commission! Check my account under the same username!

Or use the link: https://ko-fi.com/africanfire

I'll gladly take any tips or coffee or commissions! Whatever gets the ball rolling! Also check my profile for more information or just send a message or leave a review! Thank you for the support!

Enjoy!!

Sakura arrived in the wee hours of the morning the next day. There was a train station located just on the outskirts of Konoha, she was surprised it was even there considering it was barely used! Her parents had been waiting for her. As soon as her mother spotted her, she swept her up into a bone crushing hug and showered her with kisses. She also apologized profusely for what happened to Asama. She vowed that she would not let Sakura leave the village ever again. Sakura, too tired to argue, simply nodded along and allowed her mother to drag her away to a spa. Her father gave a toothy grin and ruffled her head with a promise to talk later after their girls day out. He took her luggage home for her.

By late afternoon, Sakura had gotten herself manicured, pedicured, her hair done and a nice full body massage. She definitely felt like a new person. She didn't want to spend too much time thinking about what happened to Asama until she was in the safety of her room, she didn't trust herself not to cry in public. However, she had a lot of work to do. Schools would open on Tuesday and today was a Saturday. She had to buy new books, scrolls and pens or even throw in a brush or two for calligraphy. Her desktop would be arriving and she would be arriving soon, best to finish her work as soon as she could.

She spent the rest of the afternoon going through several shops until she was satisfied with what she bought. Her last stop was at the red light district, infamous for very unholy activities. She hadn't planned to make a visit there but she needed to buy a brand new set of ink bottles that could only be found there. She wondered why the owner couldn't just relocate to a place that was more welcoming to the younger generation. It wouldn't come as a surprise to her if that ink could also tattoo but she didn't bother thinking about it. The civilian just needed to get her ink and be on her way. It was already past 8 in the evening and she was way late than she had even been. Her mother was going to be mad at her. But she was not going home without the ink.

She made a quick purchase and was out of the shop in ten minutes. She would've been quicker and out by five minutes if the owner hadn't spent half the time gawking at her hair. It's not like it was her first time being here. Why was he acting so surprised? The Haruno had put all of her supplies in a satchel which was now filled to the brim and way too heavy for her. Why did she have to buy so many things? She had extra cash from her job and she had launched a shopping spree. Maybe next time she ought to focus on her wardrobe, it definitely needed improvement.

She had just taken a few steps outside the shop before she heard several footsteps behind her. She paid them no mind and continued to walk though she couldn't walk fast because of her short legs and the heavy bag she was carrying. The footsteps still followed her. She was tempted to look back but continued to walk. She was at the edge of the red light district, almost out of it before a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders and turned her around. Her satchel was ripped away from her back and she swallowed a scream. "Would ya look at that? A little student wandering around here," one of them said. "With the cute backpack and all, even matches the hair and clothes," another voice spoke. "She looks pretty cute too, I bet she'd look even cuter if we removed all those clothes. What do you say Renji?" a third voice said.

Sakura finally dared to look at them. They looked to be around their early twenties, most likely ninja judging by the weapons pouch on their waist. All three of them had blonde hair, surprisingly, just cut short beneath their ears and arranged messily but meticulously atop of their heads. They were all handsome alright, they could almost pass off as siblings. "What do you say kiddo? Up for a round or two?" the tallest one stated with a smirk as he leaned down to her. He reeked of smoke and alcohol. "Can I have my bag back? I need to get home," she spoke as she took a step back and held out her hand.

"Awww c'mon kiddo, don't be such a spoil sport. The night is still young," he grinned as he took another step forward. "Just do as Kara says, kid, and you'll be good to go. Me and my buddies here are looking for a little fun, you look the part," the one she guessed was Renji spoke. "I'm twelve," she said with a little bite to it. "Just my type, don't you think so Nara?" Kara reassured her as he stretched his hand towards her. Sakura moved out of the way before she glared at him. "Give me my bag back and let me go otherwise I'll scream and have you arrested for sexual assault and violence against a civilian," she ground out as her eyes watered involuntarily.
"Aww, isn't she cute? And so feisty too! She's about to cry! I bet she'll be even better in bed!" Renji cackled maniacally. "Cmon kid, we don't wanna hurt you. Just do as we say," Kara spoke with a deadly calmness, all hints of playfulness gone. "No." He narrowed his eyes at her. "Come again," he said. "No." Her voice was loud and clear. "Don't say I didn't warn you," he stated calmly as he took out a kunai.

Sakura's eyes darted between the trio. Renji had her backpack, Nara was surprisingly quiet but he was probably the most mental. Kara was holding a kunai at her, ready to strike any moment. Though she valued her life but she also valued her books and money. No way in hell was she going down without a fight. She bared her teeth at him as she growled. "Good, I like a fight before sex. Makes it all exciting," Kara smiled. Sakura lunged towards him but Kara moved out if the way.

She came back again with a cocked fist but he batted it away like it was nothing before slapping her across the face. The blow echoed loudly in the clearly, leaving her disoriented and tasting blood in her mouth. She staggered backwards before she spit blood and charged at him again. She tackled him to the ground, surprising the both of them. A fist caught her temple and she thrashed violently to get away from him, kicking his chin in the process. "Would you look at that? Kara is getting his ass whooped by a kid," Renji snickered behind them. Kara rose up to full height and glared at his partner. "I'd like you to take a kick to the face from her. She kicks like a banshee," the other boy replied as he twisted his jaw. The corner of his mouth was split and bleeding.

"It was nice playing around with you, time to get into action," the blonde said as he began to walk over to her. Sakura grabbed the kunai that he had dropped when she had tackled him and held it in front of him. "What're you going to do with that? Pinch me?" Kara asked with a smirk. The pinkette was still seated on the ground as she pushed herself backwards to create distance between them. Fear had made her legs weak and her hands were trembling. But she bit it down and focused her last energy into staying alive. She was not going down without a fight definitely not today.

"Get over here you lousy bitch," Kara snapped as he grabbed her hair roughly. "Spending time trying to make your hair all nice and fluffy instead of learning self defense skills," he commented as he pulled her even tighter. Sakura remained rooted to the ground, the kunai held helplessly in her hands as tears streamed down her face. Everything was crumbling into nothing, she could see her life flashing before her eyes. She was going to die without accomplishing anything. In a desperate attempt of freedom, she moved her hand in a single motion and cut her hair and herself free.

She landed hard on the ground as Kara laughed loudly. "You're a bold one, I'll give you that. Too bad you lost your hair, it was really pretty and well maintained too," he said as he dropped her hair on the ground without a second thought and grabbed her throat, lifting her off the ground effortlessly. Sakura struggled to break free but her attempts were feeble. Kara squeezed tighter as her struggles became less and less. Her feet hung in the air helplessly as defeated tears streamed down her face, her hands trying to pry his hands off her neck. Her face hurt, it was swollen in several places. Everything hurt, she was slowly beginning to lose consciousness.

Kara loosened his grip slightly and she took that moment to bite into his right wrist, make sure to draw blood. Maybe she could bite off a few chunks of his flesh too. She would make sure to leave a mark before she died. "Fuck!" the blonde boy yelled in pain. "Let go you banshee!" he shouted as he punched her head repeatedly. She didn't let go and bit down even harder. Kara continued to hit her repeatedly as she stayed latched onto his wrist for dear life.

She was not going down without a fight, she was not going down without a fight. Not without a fight, not without a fight.

Kara punched her again and the blow forced her to let him go of his arm as she dropped to the ground unceremoniously. She heaved and coughed out blood, a lot of it. Her arms trembled and she was starting to see black spots. She was drained. But she didn't let that dim the fire in her eyes. "I'm not g-going down without a f-fight," she spat out as she glared at him through blood and tear stained lashes. "N-Not without a f-fucking fight," she stammered as she stood up shakily on two legs. She was breathing heavily, trembling as if she had gone skinny-dipping in frozen lake but she stood her ground. She was not going down without a fight. Not without a fight. "Fucking little slut-"

"Hey. Why don't you pick on someone your own size?"

Standing atop of a nearby building, serving both face and nonchalance was Sasuke Uchiha. And he looked anything but pleased.

Hope filled Sakura's chest before it disappeared again. These were three grown adults against one genin. They were doomed. Too bad Sasuke got caught in the crossfire. "No need to act all high and mighty with us Uchiha. It's been a while since you guys were the police. Too bad Daddy's isn't here to arrest us, " Renji cackled as he watched Sasuke jump from the building to the ground, just in front of Sakura. "Have you no shame injuring a civilian? She's just a kid," he spoke with a calm fury. "And so are you. We're gonna make knuckle sandwiches out of you both. That'll teach you not to mess with adults next time," Nara spoke calmly, cracking his knuckles as he moved closer to the fight scene.

Sasuke turned to Sakura. "Who did this to you?" he asked her, his face contorted with controlled rage. The civilian didn't know which was scarier, the three boys or the expression on Sasuke's face. It was definitely the latter. She tried to speak but she was tongue tied. "Who did this to you? Tell me," he commanded. She shook her head. "If that bitch isn't gonna tell you, I will. I did," Kara spoke. Sasuke turned to face him, an eerily blank expression on his face. "I fucked her face like that. I'm gonna do it again and to you. And I'll fuck you both after I'm done," he spat with a mean smirk.

Sasuke disappeared in the blink of an eye and reappeared behind Kara, suspended midair. He slammed his leg into the back of his neck, sending the older boy flying forward with a surprised yelp. He dropped to the ground and ducked under Renji's fist, swiping out his leg and catching both him and Nara off their guard. They dropped to the ground unceremoniously. He jumped back as Kara threw several kunai at him. He took out three shuriken and threw them at him. Kara dodged. Both Nara and Renji had gotten up and charged towards him.

Sakura watched in muted fascination as Sasuke weaved between the three boys effortlessly, dodging and retaliating with more gusto than the enemy. Somehow, he had managed to attach wire to his shuriken and wrapped it around Renji and Nara. How was he able to do that? She didn't even see it! She was going to ask which mathematical equations and expressions he had used to make it all click into place! A stream of fire travelled from his hands onto the wire. The duo screamed in pain as the fire caught onto their clothes. They rolled on the ground as they tried to put out the fire.

Sasuke had already moved to Kara by the time she took her eyes off the two boys. He had him on his knees, his hands pulled back behind him and his foot resting on Kara's spine. "What's that you were saying about her?" Sasuke asked as he pressed his foot into Kara's back. The blonde boy yelped in pain. "I can't hear you, say it louder!" he ordered. "Fuck you both! Especially her!" A sickening crunch sounded in the clearing as Sasuke snapped both of his armsin a single motion. Kara cried out immediately as his arms almost went out of the sockets. Sasuke pressed his foot firmer into his back as he pulled back Kara's arms.

The blonde boy's screams chilled her to the bone and she found herself rushing to Sasuke. He had to stop! He was going to kill him! She hugged him from behind as she finally found her voice. "Sasuke! Stop! Please!" she cried out as she squeezed tighter with what little energy she had left. "You're going to kill him! Please stop! Please," the last word came out as a whimper. She could feel the tension leave his body as he dropped Kara's arms. She hiccuped as she left go of him. He avoided looking at her in the eye.

"I'll be reporting all of you to the higher ups. Consider this your last day on the job," Sasuke spoke calmly. He took Sakura's satchel and put an arm underneath her legs, hefting her up before disappearing into the night. The only sounds which could be heard were the three boys's pained sobs.

Notes:

As I mention many times, I don't got a beta reader. I might miss some stuff. Forgive me for that and point it out so I can fix it.

Don't forget to leave a kudo or review!

Tozoonana

AfricanFire

Notes:

The reason behind this story is Sakura was born a civilian but she became a ninja and that's how she became important. But what if she remained a civilian and was still meant for greatness? Just my take on that. Read and review, I really appreciate it.

Tozoonana

AfricanFire