Chapter 1
Chapter 1.
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto… sadly.
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Chapter 1: Storm Of Change
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Prologue
The sandaime hokage slowly walked through the forest. Following the navy blue wolf with stunning marine blue eyes, the wolf wanted him to follow and regularly checked if he was still there. As he did once again. Turning his head the wolf looked at the leader of Konohagakure no Sato with intelligent blue eyes… too intelligent.
The wolf stopped in its tracks, staring at something in front of him. Something that was curled up under a tree. A little pink haired girl, about seven years old. The hokage walked closer and kneeled at the girl's side. The steady breathing and peaceful expression indicated that she was asleep. The hokage turned around again to look at the wolf that had guided him to the girl. But… the wolf had disappeared. Without making a sound, without the hokage, the strongest ninja of Konoha noticing. Definitely no ordinary wolf.
He looked back at the sleeping girl in front of him. He quickly looked her over for any injuries but found none. One of her hands was stretched out above her head, as if reaching for something. He looked around and found something glistening in the dim moonlight. A golden necklace with a sandglass attached to it, but the sandglass wasn't filled with sand, it was filled with snow. He shook it a little but the snow didn't move from it's spot in the top half of the sandglass. The hokage lifted an eyebrow, he then noticed the small scroll attached to the necklace. His face turned to one of confusion as he read the message.
'If you are reading this then I am most likely dead or captured. I trust that my wolf has guided you to my sister. She is most likely the only living member of our clan, I have used a dimensional ninjutsu to teleport her away from the massacre. The side effect of this jutsu will take away all her memories. My younger sister, Sakura is sure to have nowhere left to go now. This necklace is what I used to perform this jutsu. By all means keep this necklace and this scroll away from Sakura. She has to find the answers of her past on her own. Keep an eye on this necklace, because when the last snowflake falls the Storm Of Change will begin and the past will catch up to her.
Ookamiza Katsurou.'
The sandaime looked back at the necklace with newfound interest. He watched as a single snowflake whirled to the bottom half of the sandglass.
End Prologue
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And there she was. Nailed to the ground by Ino's Chakra string made out of her own hair. Unable to move her body, vulnerable to any kind of attack.
"And now Sakura, I will take over your body and make you give up on this match! Shintenshin no Jutsu!"
Shikamaru watched with as much interest as he could muster. "Did she do it?"
Sakura's hand slowly moved up into the air. "I, Haruno Sakura will withdraw from this m-."
"No Sakura-chan! Don't give up on everything you've worked so hard for by losing to this lame Ino girl!!"
Ino scoffed as she looked up from inside Sakura's body. "Stupid Naruto. Aaah!"
Sakura clutched her head and let out an agonized yell.
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Sakura looked around herself. It felt like she was walking in a starry night sky. Millions of stars and constellations swirled around her, trying to outshine each other. It would have been a relaxing place if it wasn't for those two small…planets that were slowly circling around her. They both looked like full moons however one of them seemed to be in the state of a full lunar eclipse while the other glowed brilliant white. She truly had no idea how long she had been there watching those moons, they gave her an ominous feeling.
All of a sudden Ino appeared in front of her in a flash. The blonde gaped at her surroundings and seemed to shudder at the sight of the two moons dancing around them, they made her uncomfortable too.
"Forehead-girl what are you doing!?"
"I'm not doing anything!"
"Don't lie to me I know you're a genjutsu type shinobi! Let me out of this illusion!"
Sakura scoffed. "I'm a genin, Pig. If this was a genjutsu then it would be S-class difficulty. In other words jounin level or higher, there is no way I can perform something like that."
That seemed to shut Ino up. "T-then where are we?"
"Invading someone's mind. Interesting, you should be more careful with what you do girl, your plan might be used against you."
A male voice, soft as velvet and completely emotionless ringed in their ears. Both girls turned to look at the glowing white moon with shock. It didn't take long before Ino screeched. "A talking planet!!"
A dark chuckle came from the other moon, that was still black from the eclipse. "I guess it's true, blonds are dumb. Ito, we finally have the chance to free ourselves, what are we waiting for? I wanna play with Blondie over there."
The other moon replied. "You will only force the girl back into her own body, I don't think our host would appreciate it if you killed the girl, Shiki."
"Tch. I finally awoke from my slumber and you won't even let me have some fun. Ooh well I guess weakening our host right now would be a bad idea, considering what's coming."
Cracks appeared in both of the moons and spread themselves across their surface. The moons broke like eggs. A white wolf appeared from the full moon, it was covered in a sticky fluid but soon opened it's eyes and pierced the girls with its amber gaze. The same thing happened to the eclipsed moon, but this time a black wolf appeared, it gave them a wolf smirk while its dark scarlet eyes radiated evil intent.
Sakura was the first one that found her voice back. "W-who are you?" She eyed both wolves wearily. The black one smirked at her.
"Aah, you'll find out soon enough." The wolves voice sounded strong and masculine, even a bit overconfident. He turned his gaze back to Ino. "The biggest mistake you could possibly make when fighting someone like this girl, is invading her mind. And you're now going to find out why."
The wolf rushed at Ino who seemed to be frozen at her spot. Sakura screamed one last warning "Ino cancel the jutsu already!" Ino didn't seem to hear her, Sakura watched with a horrified expression as the pitch black wolf jumped at her friend, using his claw to slash her abdomen. Sakura heard Ino let out a scream as she faded away from this strange world.
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The audience watched as Sakura's body slumped to the ground. A few moments later Ino's body shot up from the ground, the young Yamanaka let out a scream as suddenly three long, deep gashes appeared on her abdomen.
Everyone seemed to be startled at the amount of blood pooling at he feet of the blonde. Everyone except Gaara, his hands started shaking and his breathing became irregular. His siblings immediately took that as a bad sign. Temari was the first to gather the courage to ask her little brother.
"Gaara, what's wrong?"
"Something's coming… and it's strong."
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Sakura looked at the black wolf, angry tears in her eyes. "What did you do to Ino?!"
The wolf looked at her and rolled it's scarlet eyes. "Sent her back to her own body."
The white one looked at the black one emotionlessly. "It's time, Shiki."
Sakura glanced at the two wolves. "Time for what?"
The white wolf, Ito if she remembered correctly. Silenced the black one, Shiki with a slight glare before directing his attention to Sakura.
"Time for change, and time for the truth to reveal itself."
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The third hokage who had been watching with interest reached in one of his pockets, his hand grasped something that felt like cold metal. He pulled out the necklace of Ookamiza Katsurou, it was colder than normal. Over the years many of the snowflakes had made their way to the bottom half of the sandglass, he was aware that the Storm Of Change would occur soon. He watched as the last snowflake whirled to the bottom half of the sandglass.
The exam proctor looked from one girl to the other. Ino stood there, holding her heavily bleeding abdomen. Sakura sat there and finally stirred a little, and looked up at Ino. The blonde looked at her; fear, hate and loathing surfaced in her baby blue eyes, all those feeling directed at Sakura.
"W-what in the world are you!! Y-you freak!"
Naruto froze at his spot, that's how they used to look at him. Fear, loathing, hate all of them had that look, the whole village. Freak, that's what they used to call him, and many still did call him that. Then why did Sakura deserve that look in Ino's eyes? They were friends!
Ino still glared at the girl in front of her. And only now she noticed how the temperature in the room started to drop, she looked around. Everyone's breath appeared in small clouds and some people had goose bumps covering their bare skin. And that's when she saw it… snow.
It was snowing in the room. She looked back at Sakura, who still was looking at her, unaffected by her words or looks of hatred. In fact Sakura's eyes seemed… empty, they stared dully into nothingness. If it weren't for the sound of calm, steady breathing she would have thought the pink haired girl was dead. But a dangerous presence seemed to radiate from Sakura's body.
The ground underneath Sakura started rippling. Three small icebergs surrounded the girl in a triangle. Ino looked closer and realized that there was something inside all three of the masses of frozen water, three identical grey wolf pups.
As soon as the icebergs fully emerged from the ground the rippling stopped.
Naruto turned around to face Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei what's happening to Sakura-chan?"
Kakashi lifted his headband to reveal his sharingan. "I don't know Naruto, I don't know."
Sakura's eyes remained lifeless as they seemed to change. Her iris turned from emerald to turquoise and her pupil turned white, in her iris one small white petal seemed to appear.
Kiba let out a gasp. "Impossible!"
Everyone looked at him. Kurenai broke the silence. "What is it Kiba?"
"T-those eyes!"
Kakashi gave Kiba his full attention. "You've seen them before?"
Kiba shook his head weakly. "N-no, but I've heard about them. They're called getsugan. This one is still in an early stage, there's supposed to be four petals. These eyes belonged to an ancient clan, a clan that used wolves in battle. They were said to have disappeared a long time ago, the Ookamiza clan. They are the ancestors of the Inuzuka, my clan."
Everyone quietly processed the information they just got, surprisingly Hinata broke the uncomfortable silence.
"S-so Kiba-kun y-you're related to Sakura-san?"
Kiba nodded his head and Akamaru barked in agreement.
Naruto's jaw dropped. "Nani!! You're related to Sakura-chan!?"
Kakashi turned back to the fight between Sakura and Ino. "So those wolves in the icebergs…"
"Are Sakura's own wolves." Kiba finished.
The wind picked up and became more violent. Many people shielded their eyes from the strong gusts and snow. A snowstorm seemed to fill the room. Everyone tried to keep an eye on Sakura, but that became difficult as the wind and snow clouded their vision on the battlefield. All of a sudden the snow stopped moving, trapping Sakura and the three icebergs like a cocoon. A few moments later the snow flew away in all directions.
"I-is that Sakura-chan?"
Kiba swallowed. "Yep, definitely an Ookamiza."
"What is happening to my youthful blossom?"
"Woa!... How… Troublesome."
Sakura sat on all fours. Her appearance had changed drastically, a pair of fangs showed from her slightly opened mouth. Her hair suddenly reached her elbows and turned black with pink highlights. Her 'getsugan' was deactivated. Her eyes were emerald once again. But they weren't the same, they had an animalistic glint in them, a lot like wolf eyes. The hitai ite that had been tied to her forehead during the battle fell from it's place and hit the ground, a black seal shaped like a crescent moon appeared on her forehead. She seemed tired and was breathing heavily.
The three icebergs had disappeared, leaving behind the three young wolves. They had difficulties with standing on their own legs, muscles sore and painful from being in the icebergs. Small pieces of ice were still stuck to their grey fur. The wolves made their way over to Sakura. One of them made a series of barks and low growls. Sakura understood them perfectly, much to her own surprise.
"Sakura… is that you?"
"Y-you know my name?"
The pup nodded. Sakura suddenly felt a flash of pain shoot through her head, she remembered something, something from her past! She sniffed the air on instinct, her sense of smell seemed so much stronger all of a sudden. Then turned to the wolves.
"Bakura… Arashi… Hyouga…"
The wolves barked happily and softly bit in the flesh of her arms as a sign of wolf greeting. Sakura smiled slightly. She didn't know how she remembered this, she had no memory when she was found by the sandaime hokage when she was seven. But she was happy to finally have a link to her past. She looked in front of her finally realizing the stench of blood, her eyes widened. She got up from the ground, stumbling a bit. Whatever had just happened, it had weakened her.
"Ino?"
Ino was shivering from the cold and blood loss. When Sakura took a hesitant step forward Ino reacted immediately.
"N-no! Stay away from me! Y-you're not normal!!"
Sakura let out a startled gasp at the words and hateful glare of Ino.
"Ino… I never meant to do something like that to you." Sakura looked down at her feet. Her hands fisted themselves at her sides. Just who were Ito and Shiki… and who was she?
A cough echoed through the room. Sakura looked up again, the cough came from Ino and was accompanied by blood that dripped from her mouth to her chin. The exam proctor coughed.
"Since she is no longer in the condition to keep on fighting, Yamanaka Ino loses this battle. The winner is Haruno Sakura."
Sakura sighed. Sure she had wanted to win… but not this way. She had wanted to prove herself, show everyone she wasn't weak. Not make them think she was a monster! A fight where she had wanted to change herself, to not be that weak little girl that followed Sasuke wherever he went. Well changing herself was something she sure did… But what had she become? She watched as the medics put Ino on a stretcher and how they cleaned up her blood from the floor.
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Sakura made her way back to her team. The three little wolves followed her, and respected the fact that she needed to think for a bit so they stayed silent. Sakura never once looked up from her feet, one of the wolves, Hyouga had picked up her hitai ite and carried it with his fangs. Sakura stopped in front of her teammates, still not looking up from her feet.
"Hey…"
Everyone seemed to feel uncomfortable, Naruto decided to break the silence.
"Hey… You okay?"
"That look in her eyes, I've seen it before. Only it wasn't directed at me."
Sakura finally tore her gaze away from her feet to look at her teammate.
"It was directed at you."
Now it was Naruto's turn to look at his feet. Sakura never even imagined she would do this, but she did. She stepped forward and hugged Naruto. He seemed a little uncomfortable at first but eventually hugged back. She whispered so only Naruto could hear what she said next.
"I hope you'll tell me someday why they look at you like that."
She stepped away from Naruto. He gave her a weak grin. She looked at the others, all of their eyes were directed at her. It made her feel uneasy.
"I… I think I'll go to the bathroom."
Kakashi nodded.
"Will you be alright on your own, my youthful blossom?"
Sakura sighed. "It's the bathroom, Lee. I think I'll be fine."
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Sakura almost let out a scream when she saw just how much she had changed in the reflection of the mirror.
"What's wrong?"
Sakura turned around quickly, the wolves had followed her. She answered Arashi's question.
"I uhhm. I didn't expect to have changed so much in appearance as well."
She sat down against one of the walls. This was so confusing.
"Just what am I?"
"You're a member of the Ookamiza clan." Bakura answered for her.
Sakura looked at the wolves. "You three seem to know a lot about all this. Do you know anything about my past?"
All three wolves dropped their ears to their neck, a way for wolves to say no.
"We somehow lost our memory."
Sakura felt a little disappointment at that. But that was soon replaced by new questions. How could she understand wolf language and gestures? And why was her sense of smell so strong all of a sudden?
"Then do you know why I can understand wolves or why my nose is so sharp all of a sudden?"
Hyouga answered her questions. "All Ookamizas are born with a strong sense of smell and the ability to communicate with wolves, as well as a kekkei genkai called getsugan."
This perked Sakura's interest. "Getsugan?"
Hyouga nodded once again. "We don't know much about it. It's a doujutsu, an eye technique. It allows you to see auras of your opponents, the auras turn to different colours when the emotions of your opponents change. You know how your opponent feels all the time. The getsugan also does something else, and this can be quite hard on the user. It gives them a split personality. One for the left eye and one for the right eye. They both take the shapes of wolves, it is important that they balance each other, if they don't you'll become mentally unstable."
"So how do I know if they balance each other?" Sakura asked nervously.
Bakura spoke this time. "I'm sure you've met them when you awakened your kekkei genkai. What did they look like?"
"One was black and the other was white."
Bakura nodded his furry head. "Opposites, don't worry they're stable. You need a black one and a white one in order to stay sane. If an Ookamiza has two white wolves then they are in danger of having their mind destroyed. That is the ability of the white wolves, to torture someone's mind. If they have two black wolves then they are in danger of having their bodies destroyed. The black wolves have the ability to torture someone's body. But when the getsugan is in its final state you can use those wolves to attack your opponent."
Sakura leaned her head back against the wall. This was almost too much information to take in. Her head felt heavy as well as her stomach. Arashi seemed to notice something was wrong.
"Sakura… You look pale."
Sakura jumped up and ran to one of the toilets and emptied her stomach. "Damnit." She flushed the toilet once she was done and walked to the sink. She continuously splashed water in her face, almost hoping that it would wash away all things that troubled her right now. She looked up again and noticed someone standing in the doorway, that sand girl. Temari or something.
"Hey."
If there was anything Sakura didn't feel like doing at the moment it was talking. "What do you want?"
"No reason to snap at me. I just came to congratulate you. After all I just won my own match, and I'm guessing that we'll be the only kunoichi in the final round."
Sakura's eyes widened slightly. "You won rather quickly."
"My opponent wasn't too strong, the battle was over rather quickly and it definitely wasn't as interesting as yours. Everyone wants to know just who you are."
Sakura had a knowing look in her eyes. "So you came to gather information in case you end up fighting me in the final rounds. Well I'm Sakura, that's all you need to know."
Temari scoffed and walked away but before she disappeared out of sight she said some last words.
"I doubt you even know any more about yourself at the moment."
Sakura looked back at the mirror looking in her own, now animalistic emerald eyes. Temari was right. Her name was all she knew about herself right now.
She used her fingers to trace the crescent moon on her forehead. For some reason she felt the need to hide that symbol from others. There was something just not right about it. Something poked her leg. She looked down to see Hyouga, with her hitai ite between his fangs. As if reading her mind he spoke.
"You can use this to cover that seal."
Sakura did as the young wolf suggested and tied the hitai ite around her forehead. She took one last glance at her new appearance before heading back to the arena, wolves trailing behind her.
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The winners of all matches were now lined up. As the rules were explained to them. Sakura still shuddered as she remembered how Neji and Gaara won their fights. The killing intent had been incredibly strong, they were definitely the ones Sakura wouldn't want to go up against. She was brought back to reality when she took a number from the box that Anko was holding. Ibiki spoke.
"Okay, from left to right tell me your numbers."
Dosu was first. "Ten."
Next was Naruto. "Number one."
Then Sakura herself. "I've got nine."
Temari. "Seven."
Kankuro. "Five."
Gaara. "Three."
Shikamaru. "Eight."
Neji. "Two."
Shino. "Six."
Ibiki nodded. "So that makes Sasuke number four."
After some writing he turned his notepad around. "These are the match ups for the finals:
First battle: Uzumaki Naruto and Hyuuga Neji.
Second battle: Subaku no Gaara and Uchiha Sasuke.
Third battle: Subaku no Kankuro and Aburame Shino.
Fourth battle: Subaku no Temari and Nara Shikamaru.
Fifth battle: Ookamiza Sakura and Kinuta Dosu."
Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat. She had one month to become strong enough to fight that sound ninja. And Sasuke… he was up against Gaara, that was sure to be one hell of a fight. Same for Naruto and Neji.
The soft brush of fur against her legs calmed her down. She wouldn't be fighting alone. She listened to the questions the other genin asked and to the answers from the hokage. Once everything was clear everyone prepared to leave and go back to the village. This was sure going to be one of the hardest months in her life.
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End of chapter 1.
Hope you liked it, please review : )
Just to make things a little clearer:
Ookami (in Ookamiza) means wolf
Getsugan means moon eyes