Title: Kingdom In Peril
Authoress: Nami-Lass
Rating: M
Contains: Violence, occasional bad language, adult scenes
AU, Romance, Fantasy, Suspense
Summary: Who'd have thought the greatest adventure lay so close to home? Only hours after being thrown into a world of the past, she finds herself face to face with the dangers of the past. Dangers she'd having a hard time believing even exist.
Story Disclaimer: Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto. The Author owns nothing but the storyline and is not making any money from the distribution of this story.
01 The Unimaginable
A small body of determined spirits fired
by an unquenchable faith in their mission
can alter the course of history.
Mohandas Gandhi
Who'd have thought the greatest adventure I'd yet to know lay so close to home?
The docks of Konoha were an eventful place. The ships which arrived from all over the world each had their own story to tell about their gallant cruise. Precious cargo arriving in from strange new lands, full of an alien culture, arriving passengers hoping for Konoha's hot sunny shores to give them the holiday of a lifetime, and returning workmen from travelling jobs; the docks had it all.
They weren't quite as popular as they had been years ago, thanks to air travel, but they had a certain charm about them.
Still, there was one painful thing each working ship had in common when its passengers disembarked and a register was called to ensure everyone had arrived safely.
"Haruno Sakura?"
The eighteen year old woman-child looked toward the man holding the clipboard and replied loudly, gaining the attention of the huge crowd around them.
"Here"
The huge, burly men built of pure muscle turned to her, looked her up and down and either laughed snidely or grinned. Women were uncommon on the docks as it was, but being part of the ships register was strange. Especially since she was of a small stature. And the men surrounding her were all the same; unable to get past what they were familiar with.
She hadn't attended school in a while. She had to wonder if her awaiting mother had contacted the principle and explained she wasn't returning because of these frequent trips. She hadn't had a normal life filled with school and friends and this calling of names was the closest thing to education she'd had; and only because there was a similar system during classes.
From beside her, her Aunt Tsunade stood proudly, with her arms crossed and her already large chest puffed out. It was an intimidating stance, and most of the men turned back around, being familiar with the flaming Tsunade and her temper.
Sakura wasn't quite so confident among them, even after the many years of travelling with different yet similar ships. She reached her aunt's shoulder at a mere five foot six with her hands clenched behind her back patiently. Sporting a slight tan, dirty beige shorts and a black vest with her name stamped across the back, she had to wonder if she looked like she'd just been camping out in the desert for a few month.
Accompanying her Aunt on a three month excavation near Suna to find the remains of a sun-god worshiping tribe was trying, especially alongside two other teams. Thanks to her age, height and gender, Sakura had been subject to many taunts, patronising middle-aged men and ignorant, leader-types who wanted her away from such 'delicates'.
Delicates, delicates, delicates... it was the single word she'd heard more times than she cared for, especially over the last few weeks when the delicates became larger in numbers and bigger in size. Artefacts; why couldn't they call them like they were? It wasn't until she threatened the leader of the waterfall country's team that she'd be breaking his delicates if he didn't shut up that she finally heard peace.
And a hearing for a restraining order. Like she would willingly seek that man ever again.
"Don't sulk," her Aunt suddenly spoke, placing a firm hand on her niece's shoulder and pushing her from the crowd of hairy men. She looked over at the retreating registrar, only just realising they roll of names had come and gone quite quickly.
They arrived home soon after, where she took a few moments to just stare up at the house with wide, watery eyes. It had been so long. Dried up camp food, sandy water and cold desert nights were finally a thing of the past (now that she knew not to accompany her aunt back to Suna ever again).
Her aunt walked past her and scoffed, trying the handle on the front door then pushing it open without being the slightest bit delicate with the door...
She had to stop using that word.
Just because her aunt was used to long trips away in foreign countries with complete strangers, didn't mean she was. And this trip began when she was just barely sixteen. It was a very brave thing for someone so young to leave home for that amount of time; especially during hormonal teenage years.
Apparently, she had taken too long in walking up the drive-way, as her mother suddenly appeared with her arms spread wide in an impending bear hug. "Sakura!" She shouted, making little work of the distance between them and enveloping her daughter in her arms.
Her mother wailed into her shoulder, repeating I-missed-you's and how've-you-been's. Sakura returned the embrace and took a deep breath. A child would always love and miss its mother's scent. It truly was the scent of home.
"We wrote weekly," Sakura argued into the feminine shoulder. Compared to Tsunade's bulkier version, it was thinner and delicate.
Crap, that word again!
They were quickly ushered inside, as her mother fetched the tea and coffee, with a promise of biscuits. Tsunade and Sakura slumped down on the couch, ignorant of their dusty, sand-filled boots and mucky clothing. Home was heaven.
"I translated the slate," Tsunade said in a weary voice.
Sakura glared her way, "Tell me later, I'm soaking up the moment," she complained.
"It's very interesting; the location of the holy land is actually just outside of town."
"Ignore me then," Sakura whined to herself.
"It's near that restricted area within the forest. It talks of a mother guardian and passage of time."
"No"
"I've already asked your mother," Tsunade grinned slyly, eyeing her weary niece.
"And she agreed?!" Sakura bellowed with irritation. Two years away and her weak-willed mother had already thrown her into her crazed Aunt's clutches... again! Didn't the woman miss her?!
"Not exactly; I mean, not yet, anyway. I'm working on it."
Sakura had to wonder why her aunt sounded like she was confiding in her when she was opposed to the idea. "I'm eighteen now; you'll need my permission, not my mothers," Sakura said proudly with a smug smile.
Her mother rounded the corner with a bright smile, and they stood like robots and followed her to the awaiting tea. Yeah, but they were both mommy's girls, or in Tsunade's case, a sister's girl. Was there even such a thing?
Tsunade and Sakura quickly yanked out and slumped down into their seat, watching Sakura's mother draw out her own, and then sit delicately.
Delicately...
"You look a little pale honey," her mother's sing-song voice chimed.
Sakura snapped out of her scolding reverie and raised a sceptical brow. "I could pass as a civilian of Suna"
Her mother pouted modestly and for the first time, began to inspect her little girl and her slight tan. Sakura's skin never agreed with the sun, and in comparison to her aunt, who had herself a very healthy tan, Sakura still seemed quite pale, though not as pale as her mother.
Haruno Mayumi sighed a little too dramatically and began to sip her tea, which had been nestled on a charming little saucer alongside a rounded biscuit. "My daughter became sarcastic."
Tsunade laughed merrily, as though she were chugging down a beer instead of her sister's tea, and shot back, "She gave the guys hell!"
"I knew sending my daughter away at such an influencing age was wrong. Look at how she presents herself now."
Sakura wrinkled her nose and glanced down. Then, taking note of her slumped over posture, she glanced over at her aunt, who took that moment to straighten in her seat and compose herself.
"I'm just tired," Sakura argued, gulping down her tea in a breath. Her mother watched with an unrelenting eye and then sighed deeply. "Th-Thirsty too."
Tsunade tried to casually lean forward and appear nonchalant (casually being the keyword). "Why don't you visit your friend, Sakura. I'm sure she's missing you."
Sakura narrowed her eyes suspiciously, but nodded nonetheless. She planned to visit her overbearing friend without her aunt's consent anyway. It had been two years after all, and as much as she wanted to soak up the love with her mother, her friend would give her an earful if she didn't head out on the same day she returned to pay her a visit.
* * *
Through the entire walk home, Sakura kept the smile on her face and slowed her usual fast pace. Catching up with everyone had been great; even if it was indirect, and the stories all came from one Yamanaka Ino.
They'd hugged, squealed, relived the past two years and munched on Mrs Yamanaka's homemade muffins. Not only that, but she'd also been booked to hang around with the enthusiastic blonde, who claimed they needed to go shopping together after such a long, painful separation.
The path she walked on was dark now; she wasn't sure how much time had passed, but the night had quickly descended when she'd left the house. Even the familiar route home was welcomed. In fact, she promptly forgot that her Aunt had no doubt been working her magic on her mother so they could leave on another one of her dangerous adventures.
Until she walked through the door, discarded her keys and followed through into the kitchen.
"So, whaddya say?" Tsunade slurred, her fingers tight around her favourite hobby and companion. Sakura's shoulders slumped.
"Aww, Tsu-Tsu! You'll look aft'a her, riiight?" Tsunade laughed and chinked her glass against Sakura's mothers. The woman fell over the table and giggled light-heartedly. "Aww, my baby only jus' came home!"
"Tsunade!" Sakura bellowed, her hands firm on her hips in an attempt to mimic her aunt's usual confident, intimidating stance.
Her aunt raised her eyebrow, somehow, and looked her up and down; knowing what her niece was trying to do. "Niccce try!"
"You got my mother drunk?!" Sakura hissed, marching over to the table and yanking the bottles from both her mother and her aunt. Her mother's lithe fingers quickly slipped and banged against the table, whereas Tsunade's eyes narrowed as a sober person's would, and she tugged on the clear liquid for dear life.
"Give it!" Sakura snapped, finally yanking the bottle free and turning around to hide it. "You know she can't handle it!"
The woman had the gall to appear oblivious! She turned to find her mother had sat up straight and was beaming up at her daughter with love and pride.
"My girl got so pretty! Were there boys when you were away? Did they hassle you?" Sakura frowned, upset at the sorry state her mother had got herself in, while Tsunade laughed loudly.
"Time to get you to bed," Sakura gave in finally, taking her mother's hand and trying to lift her up to her wobbly feet.
"We've sooo much to catch up on!"
"Tomorrow"
"But you're leaving tomorrow!"
Sakura paused. It really wasn't hard to guess at what her mother was referring to. Why else would she suddenly be leaving tomorrow after her mother had spent a day with her sister? Sakura turned a heated glare on Tsunade, "You didn't!"
The busty, older woman glanced towards the darkened sky out of the window and pursed her lips.
"Don't worry, we've packed for you" Her mother gestured over to the small backpack in the corner. Her Aunt did say it was just outside of town... but why the hell was she going tomorrow?! Ino was gonna skin her alive! She'd promised countless trips t many boring places, but she had been looking forward to catching up with the guys!
"You know what the competition is like, Sakura," Her Aunt answered her thoughts, waving them off with her floppy wrist.
"You let her into my room?" Sakura pointed in Tsunade's direction rudely. Even she hadn't been back in her room yet!
Her mother's eyes closed, losing to unconsciousness, and she slumped back over onto the table, ignorant of Sakura's hand's trying to pry her away. Sakura sighed and looked over to her aunt, whose eyebrows had risen to her hairline as she stared at her sister, unimpressed. "You're helping me lift her up the stairs!"
* * *
It became apparent she had never listened to her Aunt's thoughts on the assignment. She had just dismissed them, being tired and distracted by the feeling of home. Part of her was reluctant to ask again about what she'd told her yesterday. The only piece she picked up on was 'outside of town'. Which roughly translated to an hour's travel by train outside of the capital. Her Aunt's distorted view of the distance never failed to amaze her.
As much was obvious, however, when she found herself standing on the safe side of the barrier gazing up at the Forest of Death. Okay, so it wasn't actually called that; it had a rather exotic name in reality; but after the numerous adventurers, campers and locals who'd ventured in hadn't returned, the name stuck. She had to guess that was why the government had sectioned the area off.
"Okay, let's go"
Sakura's head snapped around to stare at her Aunt incredulously. "You're not serious?"
"Of course I am," she glanced over, and Sakura immediately noted her firmly set shoulders and stubbornly raised chin. In fact, her brown eyes were nothing but serious.
Sakura took a moment to watch her Aunt march over to the plastic barrier and duck beneath it, blatantly ignoring its warning. Was this illegal, or just ill-advised? Either way, it was pretty stupid. Still, Sakura followed her Aunt closely after making it past the safety line.
While her blonde elder strolled ahead quite calmly, with her nose stuck in some kind of note book, Sakura glanced around her. The trees didn't seem a natural shade of brown, They were darker, and their firm bark seemed rougher and more imposing. Even the leaves which drifted down to the earth from up high seemed almost deadly; their colour a poisonous green, and their edges razor sharp.
She forced her viridian eyes to watch her Aunt's back and the path she walked on, not daring to glance over at the thorn bushes or the bony twigs which obscured the path ahead.
Something crunched beneath her foot, and she jumped away, looking down to find what she had stood on. An acorn, she surmised taking a few calming breaths and clearing her overreacting imagination, just an acorn.
But then, when she looked back up towards her Aunt, she paused and took a moment to just listen to the surroundings. Nothing; she couldn't hear anything. Not the sound of one humming bird, cricket or even the rustling of a foraging rabbit. It was eerie; and if there was one thing her father taught her, and one thing those hired guns she often talked to reminded her of, it was that silence was the biggest threat.
"Tsunade," she called, willing her voice to remain calm. She reached to her side where her glimmering, silver machete lay, and released the blade from its confines. She usually used the weapon for foliage which lay in her way, like those impending thorns up ahead, but keeping it in her hand felt safer.
"You're over reacting," her Aunt waved her off, after glancing over at her niece, disciple and partner in crime. Sakura continued following her, unable to shake the feeling of eyes on her, as she frowned at Tsunade's big, stupid head. This was her fault.
"We're here; the holy land!" Tsunade announced excitedly, rushing forwards before Sakura's outstretched arm could snatch at her and hold her still.
She glanced around the clearing and sighed. It didn't feel the same as the route they'd taken. It felt almost tranquil, regardless of the fact the scene around the tall tree in the centre of the bare meadow remained the same. The ghostly trees watched on from their place on the sidelines, bent and misshapen; silent.
Yet the tall, knee-length grass was nothing but soft against Sakura's bare legs. Leading her black-booted feet onwards, trudging through the gentle grass, Sakura felt the muscles in her shoulder relax ever so slightly.
"This is amazing; who'd have thought the Mother Guardian was a tree?" Tsunade commented when she approached closer, letting her fingers roam over the markings embedded into the thick bark. Sakura's eyes bulged.
Trees simply didn't grow so big! It's width along much have reached ten feet, purely because Sakura could envision herself lying flat on her back, twice, alongside it. Encircling the impressively large unknown were uprooted barks, twisting, turning and then diving back into the earth. She looked up high at the sole canopy the large being created and whistled.
Tsunade hushed her, so she pulled a face and turned around, wanting to survey the area. She didn't quite trust the lurking darkness beyond the first line of forest surrounding them. She'd be a fool to turn her back on the danger they represented.
And when she finally turned and stood firm, she was reassured that yes, she made the right decision, and no, she didn't predict the outcome of the events about to occur was to be a positive one.
Green clashed with golden, yellow eyes, which stared down hungrily at her.
"A-Ah..." Was she trembling? Her limbs certainly didn't feel too steady, and that notch in her voice had risen since the last time she'd heard. She took a nervous step back, her foot fumbling against the hard mud for balance.
"Tsu-Tsu..." She tried again, as the huge, reddish-brown creature pushed its paw... hand?! ... forward and shifted its weight. Its eyes never left hers.
"Don't you start with that nickname," Tsunade mumbled. Sakura heard the book snap shut with irritation and Tsunade's own heavy feet shuffle on the floor. "What do you- What the hell is that!?"
The creature pounced, startled at Tsunade's loud voice, and both she and her niece dove out the way, scurried to their feet and ran for the cover of the trees. Sakura glanced behind her as she sprinted away, and the creature almost seemed to smile in satisfaction as it watched her and turned its pointed ears in her direction.
In no more than two rushed steps, the creature was upon her, and she stumbled to the floor as the earth shook her. When she tried to push her arms upwards and force herself to run, she felt a heavy thud against her side and she was catapulted back towards the imposing tree behind the creature. The air whizzed past her, and when she landed with a painful crack, the momentum forced her body to roll until she eventually collided with the Mother Guardian.
The force of pain in her chest made her heave a heavy cough, and she looked down into her hand, horrified to find large blood splatters oozing down her arm. She shivered, and fear quickly overwhelmed her body, causing all of her muscles to clench in an unrelenting pause.
Her eyes looked up to find the creature lowering its head towards her and taking a joyful sniff. The wind seemed to catch her hair and launch it forward towards the creature's nose until it exhaled and threw it back again.
"Sakura! Get up now!"
She blinked, and just as the enormous, wolf-like creature glanced over at the voice, unhurried, she snatched up the machete she'd dropped by her side and sliced into the large, rubbery wet nose.
The creature yelped, much like a whiny dog, and took a fumbled step back, diving it's nose into the earth and holding it down with its paw. As the ground shook beneath her, she stumbled to her feet and took shaking steps back.
The large head raised once more, its shoulders firming and widening. Those golden eyes seemed to glow with a newfound hatred, and Sakura couldn't help but tremble.
"Move aside!" A man's voice bellowed from Tsunade's direction. Sakura looked towards the sound, unable to help feeling joy at the sight of over fifty armed soldiers standing behind her bewildered and concerned Aunt. By her side stood a tall, muscular man in uniform, towering over Tsunade with a stern expression on his aged face.
But before she could happily obey the man who began shouting orders at the officials in black combat uniforms, the beast in front of her (whose eyes never left her once) jolted forward, its mouth widening to make a snack of her.
Tsunade screamed at Sakura, her heart skipping a beat and her stomach threatening to launch its contents back up her throat. She and the fifty one troops alongside her watched in horror as the young eighteen year old launched her blade at the creature's nose, where it embedded successfully and a large amount of glimmering blood rained down upon her. The impact of its landing made her stumble backwards and tip over the Guardian's uprooted tree trunk, where the strange bright light dwelled from.
The markings carved into the deep brown body began to beam brightly, and obscure the vision of the forest's Mother, Sakura and the beast. The only thing Tsunade was sure of was that when the unexplained light eventually faded into nothing, leaving them all to wonder if it had actually happened or if they had imagined it, the tree still stood proudly unaffected, the dog had let itself tumble to the floor, where it whimpered and whined at the blade still sunk in its skin, and Sakura was nowhere to be found.
Unable to blink, Tsunade looked all around the area for signs of her brilliant minded niece. Everything seemed still. Even as the many soldiers around her ran forward, and shot their tranquilising darts at the beast which wailed and grew weary, the place seemed mute and still. The beast crashed to the floor, shaking her already numb legs as she blindly ran forward towards the tree, expecting to find her pink haired niece lying in a pile on the floor after falling over a root.
She'd complain at her, tell her how reckless she was and perhaps beat her black and blue like she used to do during training, before gripping her tightly until she complained she couldn't breathe.
But she wasn't lying dizzily on the floor, waiting to be tugged to stand and forced away from the creature, which was slowly falling asleep. She was gone, missing. She searched all around the beast, pausing to look at the tree and the bloody handprint of her niece's.
"The blood requirement has been filled," someone spoke behind her. She whirled around, willing her rapidly beating heart to calm so she could hear beyond the pounding in her chest.
There stood a man, in a sleeveless brown jacket over a long sleeve red shirt. His glasses enlarged his crystal blue eyes almost comically, but Tsunade wasn't in the mood to laugh. She was confused and worried to hell.
Her sister's voice echoed in her ears, "Aww, Tsu-Tsu! You'll look aft'a her, riiight?"
"Who are you?" She demanded firmly, though the stance and strength in her voice wavered; a mere shadow of her usual temper.
"Oh, excuse me. My name is Joshua, I'm a scientist. My research became too useful for the government to ignore after the disappearances. So I'm here to make sense of the Guardian Mother."
Tsunade frowned, remembered the pieces she'd deciphered before her niece had interrupted her. She'd been so irritated with her interruptions, oblivious to the beast which stared her down. A blood requirement?
"Where is she?"
His eyes averted quickly, and he thumbed the glasses further up his nose as though they slipped. His light brown, cleanly cut hair was as smart as he made himself seem, she duly noted. She couldn't comprehend his next answer, yet when his mouth opened, she hung on his every word.
"I'd say, over five hundred years in the past."
To Be Continued...
Well there's the first chapter of this story I've been toying with for over a year. I have eight chapters written so far (all roughly ten pages) and plan on updating every Monday night.
Review with your comments.
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