The kids that came from ninja families were lucky, they didn't have to deal with the culture shock when they became Genins. Kids from civilian families however quickly realised how different the Shinobi were from civilians. The Shinobi beliefs were so different. They had their own stories and legends. Their own rituals and traditions. Their own Gods to worship and fear.
Sakura did not believe in legends. She believed in fact. Her family did not practise rituals or stick deeply to traditions. The Haruno's did not believe in Gods or Spirits. The teachers didn't speak of their culture for the academy students weren't Shinobi, they weren't welcome to their beliefs. Now though, she was a Shinobi and she would learn. At first she didn't listen. Her attention too focused on Sasuke. However, when he left and Naruto went with Jiraiya, she listened and she learned.
She listened to the stories of when a ninja took on an army with only their Kunai and their mentors ring. Stories of when a woman and her Butterfly summons levelled an entire Mountain range with the flick of her wrist. Of when the Kyuubi tricked an ancient Lord and his men.
She payed attention to the rituals and traditions. Sakura learned the Shinobi's prayer. She learned that when you look away from a ninja as they die you are sentencing them to damnation, to look away is to disgrace them.
Most important, she learned of Gods.
She learned of the God of War who came with the body of a cat, head of an alligator and with the antlers of a great elk. The Wolf God who was both teacher and protector, a guide. The Sea Dragon that taught the Shinobi to command water. The civilians had their own Gods, gods of spring and rebirth, gods of peace. Shinobi had no such Gods. Shinobi had Gods of fire and blood.
It was common with civilians to not believe in Gods and Spirits, in divine beings that rule. No, most simply believe in no such thing, she use to one of them. Yet, even some Shinobi did not believe in the Wolf who watches over Genins or in the Raven that blocked out the sun. They did however, believe in one.
The Shinobi do not care about what Gods you believe in, they only care about one. The One True God. Death. The God who takes civilians in their old age. Who takes the Shinobi who lie on the battlefield.
They say that there are two heavens. One for civilians and one for Shinobi. Civilians get in through kindness and by how good of a person they were in their life. Shinobi are not judged by death, they are judged by their fellows. That is what it means to look away from a dying ninja. By looking away, you have judged them unworthy of heaven. Sakura thinks to all the Shinobi who have ever died. How many of them have died unwitnessed, damned forever. How many of them were simply alone, their teammates all dead, witnessed by the last who now has no one to look upon their final breathe.
Sakura likes to think that she will leave this world witnessed.
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