Village Sakura: Chapter One

Resurrected From the Dead?


It was a pleasant morning for the villagers of the tiny Megumi village. The sky was as blue as sapphires and there wasn't a cloud in sight. The birds were singing; the flowers were dancing; and one particular Haruno Sakura's clock started wailing at exactly 6:30 a.m. on the bedside table.

After exactly two seconds, Sakura slid her body upward against the headboard, reached for her alarm clock and promptly subdued it. She placed it back gently and swung her legs over to her right to slip her tiny feet into her pink fluffy bedroom slippers. Stretching a bit here and craning her neck to pop some bones back into place there, she started to make her way to the bathroom to freshen up for the day.

Things had fallen into a routine after a month in this peaceful border village. Every seven in the morning, Sakura reported at the village clinic; every six in the evening, she packed up and headed home. Occasionally she would stop by the bar after work, hoping to catch some news about any odd happenings – namely attacks by the rouge ninjas that recently became active around this area. It was, after all, her mission to investigate the activities of these remnant rebels and to curb their behaviours before more innocent people were hurt.

It had been five years since the Fourth Secret Ninja War ended. The Hidden Villages had emerged victorious and Akatsuki was thoroughly crushed. Uchiha Madara died by Naruto's Futon Rasengan and Gaara's sand made sure he was buried a thousand feet under. Zetsu died a rather unglorified and pathetic death for an S-class missing ninja. Some Mist Ninja performed a rather simple looking jutsu out of desperation that started draining the plant ninja of fluids. Zetsu started to wilt, and eventually dried up, just like that. Perhaps the only reason for caution would be Danzo, who was supposedly killed by the battle between him and Sasuke however, was rumoured to have escaped and was now hiding in an unknown location.

He really was a stubborn old man, but no longer much of a threat to anyone these days. Ever since the Fourth Ninja War ended, the Hidden Villages have been working together closely to ensure peace in the Ninja world. Every single village was on the lookout for Danzo, and when you had all six Great Shinobi Villages against you, you weren't much of a threat.

Things had been running rather smoothly otherwise. After the war that brought much destruction to all, nobody was prepared emotionally, physically or financially for another conflict. Everyone was on their best behaviours; peace was finally in the air. Of course, there were some occasional hiccups along the way. Various rouge ninja groups had tried to usurp small ninja villages, but all failed anyway due to the interference of larger neighbouring countries.

In fact, the very reason why Sakura was right here in Megumi village was because of these rouge ninjas. Just a week before Sakura arrived, their village doctor had been murdered brutally, and a large quantity of medications stolen. And from the kunais and shurikens left behind by these amateur ninjas (no stealth at all!), the panicked villagers immediately called upon Konoha for help.

"Sakura! Come in here!" Tsunade had shouted across the hall that day, "I've got just the mission for you. Simple lookout duty coupled with a spot to be their village doctor. Pay's decent too. You set out tonight and come back in two, three months. You'll take it, right?"

"Tonight, shishou?" Sakura asked as she entered the Hokage's room.

Tsunade flapped her wrist casually at Sakura and said, "Yes, tonight. I know, I know, no need to thank me. Your rent ends today and your landlady has already made arrangements to haul your ass out of your apartment if you don't pay up by tomorrow. By the time you get back from this mission, you'll have enough money to pay up for a good few months."

Sakura's face flushed pink. Trust Tsunade to announce her bankruptcy to the world so nonchalantly. "Er…no Shishou, it's not that. Can I leave tomorrow morning instead?"

"Hmm? Why?" Tsunade quirked her eyebrow.

"I…um, I sort of have a date tonight." Sakura coughed it out; trying her best to ignore the jaws of the two ANBU guards by the door that had miraculously fell to the floor. There was nothing to be embarrassed about. She was 23 for goodness sakes! Most of her peers were already married. As a shinobi, she was well on her way to joining the old-maid-kunoichi-squad, and a lifetime of Ino's mockery.

The sannin's eyebrow flew sky high and her eyes twinkled with laughter. "Really? Who's the brave, unlucky guy this time?"

"Shishou!"

"It's not really a secret that every guy you go out with ends up being dragged home with ten broken bones, you know? Naturally, I'm curious to who so desperately wants to die tonight."

"That's just because Naruto's too overprotective!" Sakura folded her arms and huffed. "This time will be different, I just know it. Naruto thinks I have a fever anyway. He won't be bothering Izumi-san and I tonight."

"Who's Izumi-san?" A frightfully familiar voice came booming from behind Sakura. A voice that could only belong to one loud and rude Uzumaki Naruto.

A chill ran down Sakura's spine.

"Sakura~chan! Why didn't you tell me you were going out tonight? I thought you were ill, or is that bastard forcing you?"

Suddenly all of Sakura's dreams of a romantic undisturbed candlelight dinner came crashing down. "Nothing, Naruto. Nothing." She growled lowly. "I'll take the mission and leave tonight, shishou."

Sakura walked forward forlornly to snatch the mission scroll from Tsunade who was now trying to suppress her laughter desperately. As she turned about to exit the room, she shot Naruto a death glare (who looked at her with innocent puppy eyes), then sighed heavily at her luck before moving out.

Now, one month later in a village far away from Naruto and his zero EQ, recalling the past still made Sakura's shoulder droop in the motel room she was in. If not for Naruto, who knows, Sakura could have met her prince charming that night. Izumi was, after all, pretty qualified on paper – ANBU division captain, 25 years old, and liked to read the same mystery and horror novels Sakura liked. They could have been soulmates… but now thanks to Naruto, Sakura would remain and die a single, unwanted and unloved girl.

I hate Naruto. It's entirely his fault. Sakura thought vehemently to herself as she slung her medical bag over her shoulder and headed out her room door.

She walked down the stairs to the lobby of the motel and was greeted by Eniki, the receptionist of the motel whom she suspected had a crush on her. And though she was secretly pleased at this fact, deep down inside of her she knew that she would never be with Eniki for the simple reason that he wasn't a ninja, and…that his silver/grey hair reminded her a bit too much of her sensei.

"Sakura-san, are you feeling alright? You look quite down today. Want me to get you a cup of coffee to brighten up your day?" Eniki looked worriedly at Sakura.

"Good morning Eniki. No, it's okay. I'm fine, thank you." She smiled and waved goodbye at Eniki while reaching for the main door handle. Ever since Sakura had felt the vibes that Eniki may fancy her, she tried her best to keep a distance from him. She knew how painful rejection could be, and how having false hopes further escalated the pain. By tyring to weed out his feelings from the very start, Sakura had hoped to spare Eniki from such agony.

Eniki gave her an unconvinced look. "Sakura-san, if there's anything troubling you, don't hesitate to tell me alright?"

Sakura kept the door ajar to reply, "Sure, I will, thanks" before shutting it gently behind her.

The day passed by uneventful at the clinic. There were only patients coming in to cure common flu, fever and other minor illnesses that only required Sakura to prescribe some common drugs. While she could use chakra to heal them instantly, many of her patients were civilians and felt uncomfortable at the thought of allowing their body to be subjected to chakra healing.

It was nearing six in the evening and everyone in the clinic was restless. There were no more patients to be tended to, and little paperwork to be filed. To facilitate in passing time, the nurses in the clinic proceeded to huddle themselves in a cosy corner of the clinic to chat, as per usual. Initially, Sakura made an effort to join their conversation, thinking that perhaps there would be clues on the rouge ninja group amidst their talk of marriage and love.

However, as the weeks passed by, Sakura was not only frustrated by the superficial content of their chatter, she also suffered a mild bout of depression about her non-existent love life after each gossip session.

Hence, Haruno Sakura would busy herself with other things while her nurses chit-chatted. As Sakura brought out the third thickest medical file to rearrange its contents (again), her left ear that had been secretly eavesdropping caught on something unusual and different from their usual tête-à-tête.

She wheeled her chair closer to her nurses and asked, "Sorry, could you guys repeat that again?"

Haku, the pretty nurse with big doll eyes, silky raven hair and a million boyfriend-wannabes lined up, after recovering from a shock at their boss's sudden appearance, asked, "Repeat what, Dr. Haruno?"

"The part about some strange man in the mountains?"

"Oh, you mean Madara?" Riku interjected.

Sakura's eyes widened. "Madara? Uchiha Madara?!"

"Well…we're not too sure about his family name." Haku answered, choosing her words carefully since her boss didn't look too happy at the name.

Nodding along to her colleague's words, Tamiki added, "No one really knows much about him. He lives somewhere in the forest on Megumi Mountain behind the river. I think he only came into the village two, three years ago?"

Trying to calm her escalating heartbeat at this piece of information, Sakura probed more. "Could you tell me more about him? How does he look like, what he works as? Things like that."

The three nurses gave each other puzzled looks at their boss's sudden interest in their resident woodcutter, but obliged to Sakura's request nonetheless.

"Madara, he, doesn't come down the mountain very often. And when he does, it's only for a very short period of time to deliver firewood and buy daily necessities." Tamiki explained.

"Firewood?" Sakura asked.

The three nurses nodded. "He became our regular woodcutter ever since he moved in. We're very grateful actually, especially in winter times like these. He comes down to town every Sunday to deliver firewood to Ichiro's shop, and leaves not longer than an hour after."

"How about his looks?"

"Oh, um…since no one really sees him that often except Ichiro, we can't be too precise in our description. Hmm, he has short black hair, slightly spiky…"

Short black hair!

"…a patch over one of his eyes. Was it the right or left one, Riku?"

Riku shrugged.

One damaged eye!

"And…also his face is sort of…disfigured."

Now Sakura was really interested in this Madara person.

"Disfigured? How so?"

"I really don't know how to describe it. When you see him, you'll know what I mean."

"I see…" Sakura nodded non-committal, attention already shifting to the possibilities and probabilities of her stumbling upon a very important valuable piece of information. If the Madara they were talking about was the Madara she knew, the kages of every village should be notified immediately; a team of highly professional shinobi sent in to neutralize him before he plans another world domination plan. To survive Naruto's rasengan was no easy feat, let alone his Futon Rasengan. Sakura didn't think it was possible. He must truly be immortal.

And from the disturbing similarities their Madara shared with whom once was the number one enemy of all shinobi, it seems like a little hike up the mountain was this evening was in store for Sakura.

But first, a letter to Tsunade, just in case anything serious happens tonight. She'd have to gather Fuchi and Ryoka too, to accompany her up and to help her out if Madara attacks suddenly.

It was now five minutes past six. Seeing that their boss seemed to be lost in her own thoughts, the three nurses of Megumi Clinic packed up and left quietly, only starting to gossip again, this time excitedly speculating the reasons behind Sakura's keen interest in Madara, after exiting the clinic.

The pink haired medic herself left not too long after. Instead of heading back towards her motel, she turned the opposite direction to the neighbourhood Ramen stall.

"Welcome to Ramen Ramen! Today's special is… Sakura-san? Is anything wrong? You look quite flustered, or perhaps it's the cold, I could be wrong, who knows? Do you want a bowl of my special miso pork ramen? Or do you want some–"

Sakura silently wondered why she didn't chose to inform Ryoka instead.

"Fuchi, no I'm not here for–"

"We also have vegetarian friendly ramen if you want. I mean, I know girls these days, always wanting to go on a diet. Haha. But you look great–"

"Fuchi? Fuchi! Stop. No I am not here for Ramen. Pack up your ninja equipment; inform Ryoka. We meet under the big oak tree by the river at 7 sharp." Sakura ordered. The occupants of the little Ramen stall grew deadly silent and all eyes were on the both of them. "We're going up the mountain tonight. Uchiha Madara might have been spotted."

Immediately, Fuchi lost his aloof façade and his face hardened. "Are you sure Sakura-san? Did Uzumaki-san not kill Madara five years ago?"

"I sure hope I'm wrong." Sakura answered solemnly. "I've got to pack my own things right now and send a letter to inform the Hokage. I will also drop by to visit Ichiro to gather more information about this man and his whereabouts. Remember: tell Ryoka, river at seven."

Fuchi nodded and Sakura turned about to head toward the post office.

"A-according to I-I-Ichiro, Madara's hut is located on the North-western part, about three quarters near the p-peak of the mountain. We should be nearing it soon. S-s-stay alert. There might be tr-traps around." Sakura instructed the two chunin tagging behind through chattering teeth.

"T-there's a blizzard c-coming it s-seems. I-I heard that b-b-blizzards are common in Megumi d-during winter." Ryoka trudged after Fuchi and Sakura with his arms wrapped around himself.

Fuchi opened his mouth to join the conversation but Sakura hushed him. "S-save your energy and warmth, we'll be n-needing it."

More than happy to oblige, the trio continued their journey in silence as the icy cold wind continued to relentlessly freeze their bones.

Not too long after, Fuchi stopped in his tracks. His teammates followed suit. Approximately a hundred yards to their left, was a tiny wooden cabin with orange-glowing windows that looked so very very warm and so very very inviting.

But, one had to remember that said cabin might also belong to shinobis' worst enemy. And when you had that in mind, no matter how warm and cosy the cabin seemed, there was no way you were going to knock on the door, shake hands with the owner, wrap yourselves under layers of thick blankets and enjoy a cup of hot chocolate together while waiting for the snow storm to pass.

"O-okay, both of y-you find some s-shelter underneath separate b-big trees and w-watch the cabin." Sakura instructed the both of them and pointed at various trees around the area that they could hide in. "I'll m-make contact with Madara. I-If you feel a s-spike in anybody's chakra, Ryoko, a-activate the scroll immediately. Fuchi, infiltrate t-the cabin, u-understood?"

"Y-yes!" Fuchi and Ryoka chorused.

"I-it might take the w-whole night. K-keep yourselves warm. If in t-two hours time n-nothing happens, it p-probably means h-he's not our Madara. I-I might want t-to ask h-him about things regarding the m-murder i-if that's the case. Y-you two go b-back first. W-worst comes to worst, I will a-activate my scroll."

"Okay." Fuchi answered.

Ryoka gave a terrible sneeze before managing to say, "Go-oo-good luck, S-Sakura-san.

The two Konoha chunin leaped off to their respective trees to keep watch. Sakura took in a deep breath to ready herself ( instantly regretting doing so because the icy air made her even colder), and plunged her foot forward into the now inch thick layer of snow covering the forest ground. As she approached the cabin door, her heart was thumping harder. Whether from the mounting excitement and fear, or to pump more warm blood to her warmth deprived organs, she didn't know. All she knew was that she was about to face a dangerous man whom the whole world had assumed to be dead for a good five years.

The more she thought about the whole Madara issue, the more she believed him to be the Madara.

It was an unreasonable notion. After all, there may be a million other people named Madara with short black hair and one bad eye; just like how there were a million other people named Sakura. But a fatigued Sakura battling to maintain her core body temperature didn't have more energy to debate with her irrational conclusion.

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Sakura waited at the doorstep rubbing her hands together.

A few seconds passed. No answer.

Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!

Still no answer.

"Helllooooo? Is anyone in there?" Sakura tried her best to shout above the howling winds.

"No, there's no one in there now, but there soon is going to be."

Sakura gave a yelp and turned around to face the voice.

A tall man standing a good head or two taller than her, with a scarf covering half his face, a black pirate patch covering his left eye, and with hair as dark as the night, stared straight back at her with his good onyx eye.

"Uchiha Madara…" she whispered.

To be continued.