Fairy Tale Jutsu

A/N: Did we all read the summary? Goood. That means you should all know what to expect. Here's what NOT to expect: something serious or even remotely connected to the actual canon. This is a short, fluff story; written and posted for the heck of it. You've all been warned.

Disclaimer: Naruto, its characters and properties belong to Masashi Kishimoto and most certainly not to me. This fact remains true for this chapter and every single consecutive chapter that follows.

Chapter one: A Simple Mission

Sakura Haruno's sandaled feet plodded methodically down the dirt path. Tree hopping probably would have been quicker, but the strawberry-haired girl saw no need to hurry. Her assignment was a class 'D' ranked mission and didn't even involve leaving the relative safety of the massive protective forest that surrounded the Hidden Leaf Village. She sighed and tucked an errant strand of straight pink hair behind an ear. The heavy exiting of breath attracted the attention of her only traveling companion.

The small dog trotting next to her rolled his large eyes skyward. "What's wrong little girl? Depressed because the store was out of your favorite shampoo?"

Sakura came to an abrupt stop, clenching one fist in the air before her. "I changed my shampoo on purpose and all because of you! What kind of ninja dog uses shampoo anyways?!" she yelled.

"One who wants a nice shiny coat for the ladies," Pakkun answered mildly. "You're still upset we use the same kind?"

"Oh, forget it," Sakura snapped. "Let's just keep moving." She continued on, her feet striking the path in a forceful manner that was just shy of a stomp.

"You smelled much better before," Pakkun muttered, but Sakura ignored him. Her foul mood was caused by matters other than the fact that Master Kakashi's smallest ninja dog liked the same brand of shampoo that she did.

Sakura was a genin, a rookie ninja, and as such was part of a three man team: Cell Seven. Except that today she was alone; the simple retrieve-scroll-and-return-to-village mission was apparently too mundane for her two "mighty" chunin teammates. It was bad enough that she was the only member of her cell not to pass the Chunin Exams, but did they have to rub it in by making her take a 'D' ranked mission alone?

The teen felt another sigh building up; she stifled it with a downwards glance at the dog. Master Kakashi had summoned him for her when she had vocalized rather loudly her anger about being separated from the boys. His nose buried deep in the latest volume of his favorite dirty book, the silver-haired jouninhad simply stated that her teammates had both had something come up at the last minute and couldn't go with her. As usual he had been seemingly oblivious to her actual concerns. It wasn't that Sakura didn't think that she couldn't handle the mission alone; it was that she felt she was being left behind.

She fixed her teal-green eyes forward. And if she was to be honest with herself; she was. She had graduated top of her class from the local ninja academy; she was smart and her chakra control was second to none, and for a while it had been enough to allow her to delude herself into believing she was the equal to the boys. But she wasn't.

Naruto may be an annoying, overly-energetic goofball, and his chakra control is lousy, but he has so much of it that it doesn't matter. And Sasuke…

Sakura felt her lips twitch up at the thought of her raven-haired crush. Then they turned down again. Sasuke had been born with a kekkei genkai, an inherited blood trait, which granted him the ability to use the sharingon eyes. He could see through any ninjutsu and then copy it perfectly. So even if Sakura mastered a move first, all he had to do was copy her to get it right. Sakura shook her head; it had been a long time since she had mastered anything first.

Another sigh. It wasn't as if she had grand designs on being Hokage or something like that; she simply wanted to be equal to the others. So that Sasuke, and yes, even Naruto, would be proud to have her as a teammate. So that she wasn't the one that got left behind or who needed to be protected. Was that too much to ask?

"Probably," she muttered to herself. After all, as Shikamaru put it, she was a kunoichi with no particular talent. Even Ino, her sometimes best friend and full time rival, had a specific jutsu that was hers alone. Master Kakashi had said that her talents would emerge, given time, but Sakura was tired of waiting. She wanted her own jutsu; now, damn it.

"Hey kid, are you going to have puppies?"

The question was so unexpected that Sakura stopped dead in her tracks. "What did you say?" she asked, her voice rising an octave on each word.

"The last time I heard so much heavy sighing, it was my sister going into labor." Pakkun stated flatly while scratching himself behind an ear. He took a sly, sideways glance at the young kunoichi and then flinched as, just for a moment, he saw her inner warrior overshadowing her normal personality. Then the moment passed and Sakura was herself again.

"Yeah, you're right. I've been acting like a child, haven't I?" The young teen crouched and sprang onto a strong nearby tree branch. "Come on, Pakkun," she called while leaping athletically to another branch. "It's quicker this way."

The dog shook his head. "Like I've been the one holding us back."

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

Leaping speedily from tree to tree was a standard shinobiway to travel, especially if one grew up in the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Sakura enjoyed the physical exertion; her brain was kept busy with things like speed, balance, judging distance and the all-important chakra control so it wasn't dwelling on other, darker things. The hermit woman she had been instructed to find lived off the main trail so she relied on Pakkun's keen sense of smell to locate the secluded cabin.

Like she had been trained, Sakura spent a few moments concealed within the canopy, observing her target location for potential booby traps or other dangers. None were immediately obvious and Pakkun stated that he could only detect the scent of one human.

"A really old one," he said while managing to crinkle his nose. "She smells like warm cheese."

Sakura made a face, scanning the clearing once more. Besides the small house, there was a weedy vegetable garden and a well. The area was unkempt, but not dangerous looking. No tell-tale disturbances of ground cover or foliage, no suspicious glints of light from suspended black wires that would indicate a trap. Sakura sprang from the safety of the treetop to the edge of the clearing.

"Hello?" she called. "My name is Sakura Haruno. I'm from Konohagakure and I'm here to pick up a scroll."

The cabin was a simple affair, made from bamboo with a thatch roof. It looked livable, if not somewhat shabby on the outside. The 'door' was actually just a cloth hung over an opening in the structure and there was no evidence of electricity or running water. Sakura shuddered to think about how many woodland creatures might scurry in and out of the structure during the night. Of course, as a rookie ninja, she had spent her fair share of nights sleeping out in the open with who knows what creeping around, but that was different. Outside was outside and inside was inside. If a mission required camping out or sleeping in a tree, so be it, that was her job. But the idea of living that way full time, without any modern conveniences, didn't appeal to her at all.

"Hello?" she called again, a bit louder.

"I'm coming, I'm coming. No need to shout," a crackly voice emerged from the small home. As the kunoichiwatched, a wrinkled old hand brushed aside the cloth door of the cabin. The other hand wielded a twisted, burl-covered cane. The emerging woman was tiny; her head topped out at the level of Sakura's chest. She was stooped forward, as if the weight of her head was too much for her body to hold anymore. The woman's forward bent position made the young teen straighten her own posture unconsciously. The hermit's hair was the color of old bones, an odd yellowish-grey that was completely off-putting. And her face… well, Sakura felt that using the cliché comparisons to prunes or raisons might be overly insulting to the fruit.

Moisturize, I must remember to moisturize. The Leaf Village genin forwarded the elderly woman what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She bowed slightly to the older woman, although, true to her training, she kept her eyes on the person as she did so. "Hello. My name is Sakura and I'm from Konohagakure. I'm looking for Kurei-san. Is that you?"

"Eh?" the woman toddled out a little farther, cupping one gnarled hand to an ear. "Speak up, honey, I'm a little hard of hearing."

Sakura grimaced. She took a deep breath to repeat herself, but before she could begin the elderly woman gestured towards her.

"Eh? Eh? I can't hear you. Why don't you come closer?"

Sakura's breath exited in a whoosh. It was with great effort that she kept her temper under control. She glanced down at Pakkun, who gave a doggy equivalent of a shrug at her. "Fine," the teen muttered, taking a few steps closer to the lady. It was then that she caught a glimpse of the woman's eyes, and what she saw there froze her in place. Behind the swollen bags and sunken-in sockets was a pair of multi-hued red orbs, the most prominent color reminding Sakura of freshly spilt blood. The eyes, though housed in an elderly body, were neither rheumy nor dull with cataracts. Instead the eyes were sharp, calculating, and Sakura felt a chill run through her as they met her own. Something was wrong here, very wrong.

Noticing her hesitance, the old woman gave a toothless grin. "What's the matter, dearie? You aren't afraid of little old me; are you?"

The young kunoichi'sfeet automatically slid into a more balanced stance; one hand hovered above where she kept her kunai knives. Teal-green eyes narrowed as the girl's own little smirk emerged. "Nice try. I was almost fooled. In fact, I'm embarrassed that I didn't notice it before."

The old woman's jack-o-lantern grin widened. "Eh?" she said again.

Sakura noted with satisfaction that the voice was no longer cracked with age, but younger, almost melodical. She was right. "This whole clearing: the cabin, that garden, even you; it's all genjutsu. If you are Kurei-san, stop this now. I am not an enemy. But if you are not…" Sakura's right hand drifted closer to her kunai.

"Heh, heh, heh; not bad, not bad at all. But the question is: what will you do now?" The woman took a step closer.

"That's close enough!" Sakura's right hand blurred into motion; she grabbed and flung three kunai at the woman, aiming at her feet to drive her back. As soon as the daggers were loosed, she clasped her hands together, the first two fingers of each hand pointed upright as her other fingers intertwined. She focused her chakra and forced it out.

Kai! Release! The illusion around her wavered and began to fade. The small house, the garden and the well all disappeared to show that she was standing in a normal forest clearing without a hint of civilization around her. The only illusion that remained was the old woman, who Sakura knew was not as old or enfeebled as she looked. The short, granny figure had sprung back to avoid her kunai and had dropped her cane.

"Oh-ho," she cackled. "So you want a fight, do you? Well, I'll be happy to oblige."

Her hands, no longer pretending to be arthritic, flew into forming signs. Sakura's own hands were forming signs, preparing to use a substitution jutsu to remove herself from harm's way. Her sharp eyes and quick mind catalogued the signs her adversary was forming. Rabbit, rat, dog… it's more genjutsu. No need for a substitution then. She changed her pattern to form illusory doppelgangers instead.

"Pakkun, get out of here! Go get help!" the newly triplicate Sakuras ordered.

"Hee, hee; too late! Fairy Tale Jutsu!"

The Sakuras once again clasped their hands together in an attempt to break the genjutsu before it could deceive them. But this time it was different. A flood of powerful chakra buffeted her on all sides; her own clones disappearing under the press of foreign chi. The teenager shielded her eyes as the world around her grew dark and began to spin. The surrounding trees, the old woman, even Pakkun swirled around her so fast that she thought she was going to be sick. Unable to break through the genjutsu, Sakura collapsed to her knees, closing her eyes so the dizziness would leave her.

The illusion was strong; even her ears were fooled into believing that a powerful wind was swirling around her. Finally, though, it stopped. Grasping a kunai in one hand and a few shurikans in the other, the pink-haired kunoichi cautiously opened her eyes…