I DO NOT OWN NARUTO. LOOKING FOR BETA.
heroine
girl,
with an accent of blood
who speaks in foreign tongues
whose vowels are the sound of metal clashing.
i.
prologue.
Konohagakure no Sato was... a fascinating place, so to speak.
Dull, brown orbs eye their surroundings as a young woman, petite and short and harmless at best, walk around with the hustle and bustle of the marketplace. It looked very peaceful, so unlike home that she almost envied it. But she didn't, because home will be much better than this village, more peaceful and certainly less...fake.
They say Konoha was the ideal village, a place of peace compared to the hard countries of Kiri and Suna. Said villages that ridiculed and underestimated the green village of the Fire Country. They were very wrong to, she thought. Konoha, in all of its Will of Fire and flashy shinobi, was probably the darkest. It was not the fact that it was more ruthless than Kiri or as harsh as Suna or even as militaristic as Kumo. Konoha was deceptive, hidden in the veil of happiness and peace where beneath the shadows lay the darkest minds and the most immoral.
Aimlessly, she continues to wander, appearing relaxed and oblivious to the presences of ANBU and their police force. She knew that they would not pay heed to her, a seemingly harmless civilian woman of no exotic features. With that, she let herself be lost in her mind. She wondered why he sent her here—sure, their potential recruit who was barely a child, mind you, resided here but she had initially believed that he would've sent someone else. Say, the man who would be the recruit's future partner.
No matter, she was told to evaluate this recruit and she will. Anything for him, for the sake of their goal.
She was so deep in thought she missed a pink blur dashing straight towards her direction, wild and ignorant of the woman's presence in her path. So when she felt a minuscule of chakra coming at her in above average speed, she tensed. Her brown eyes narrowed and her hands flashed, ceasing the blur—a young girl—from running.
She blinked, eying the child in front of her curiously. She was pretty, the woman noted. With short, pink locks that shone brightly against the sunlight and eyes so big and green that it was reminiscent of spring. She was young, appearing around the age of six. It was clear to her that the child was most likely an academy student, if the blue ninja sandals and the bruises that etched on her pretty face were any clue. However, besides her unique colouring, the girl was rather mediocre at best and didn't evoke any special attention.
She would've turned away had she not noticed the welling of tears appearing on the corners of the child's eyes. Something in the older woman tinged, pity or was it perhaps sympathy? She didn't know but by some reason, the woman had opted to comfort the child and not leave her right then and there. It had only been a few days and the village was already making her soft.
"I'm sorry!" The child cried out, face flushed. The woman eyes the dirt that covered the girl's pretty green dress and her flower hair.
The woman bent down, eye-level with the child who had duck her head down in embarrassment. "What's wrong?" With her civilian appearance, it was not hard to gain the girl's trust though she noted the hint of wariness that glinted behind the emerald eyes.
Good, the woman thought, she should be suspicious.
The girl sniffled, rubbing her snot with her fist. "The other kids were making fun of me so I-I ran away..." The pink-haired child shuffled her feet as if ashamed telling an adult of another kid's act.
If she were a lesser woman, she probably would've broken down right then and there for the bullied child. But she wasn't any lesser woman so she kept the kind look on her face. "Why are they making fun of you?"
"It's because I-I have a b-big forehead..." The child sniffed. The woman blinked, wondering what exactly would provoke children to bully another just because she had a big forehead?
"Well, don't listen to them, okay?" She reassures the girl, patting her head kindly. "You look fine just the way you are, and your forehead is no bigger than mine." To emphasize her words, she tapped the child's forehead gently.
This gained a shy but blooming smile from the flower child and her heart fluttered. So cute.
"Thank you, miss!"
She smiled and for the first time, she wondered if it was fake or not.
(It had been one, peaceful evening, her death.
Her husband had not been home at the time, he was out in the Training Grounds with Boruto and their daughter, Sarada. She had been busy, busting her ass to make a delicious meal. Sasuke had returned home, safe and sound from a long mission and she wanted to make his and Sarada's favourite meals. It has been a while since they had supper together—with Sarada finally Chuunin and Sasuke out doing missions and her in the Hospital.
She was preparing the omusubi with okaka and tomatoes, tending to them with precision and care when it happened.
Her heart beats a little faster and her body trembles hard and suddenly, she hears Tsunade's voice echo in her head.
"Sakura, regenerating has consequences—your lifespan will shorten and you will die, do not take my words lightly."
She thinks of the harsh battle against Sasori no Akasuna, the long-lasting fight to the death against Uchiha Madara and the all the battles after them. She had been reckless and this is her punishment.
As her body slowly sinks to the floor, clutching to the place where her heart is—she thinks of them; Naruto, Kakashi, Ino, Sarada... Sasuke...
"I'm sorry I couldn't stay with you much longer, Sasuke-kun.")
Haruno Sakura couldn't believe her luck. The nice lady from yesterday was right here in front of her and she had bumped into her again. While she had excessively apologized for her hasty behaviour (which was waved off with a kind smile and twinkling eyes), Sakura found no guilt in meeting the nice lady again.
"Miss, what is your name?" Sakura asks curiously after apologizing, bright orbs staring up at the older woman.
The woman seems to hesitate at first but Sakura didn't notice and simply smiled brighter as the nice lady replied.
Her name was Konan, it was such a pretty name, Sakura thought.
"How about yourself?" Konan asked, moving Sakura to sit on the bench with her. Sakura watches with awe as the lady moves with such grace and elegance that rival of a noble woman. Briefly, Sakura wonders if the nice lady was a princess but she shook that thought away. Her clothes were too bland, too normal to be considered garments for the rich. Much less nobility.
"Sakura! Haruno, Sakura!" Her enthusiastic reply gained a soft smile from the woman.
"Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan."
("It took six years for her to realize.
Stuck and unhinged, alone in the abyss of what she assumed was Death.
She thinks about many things, the time back then, the time of what could've been, the time now—it was all very time-consuming.
It had taken her six years (though she hadn't realized it had been six) to figure it all out.
The third time they meet, Konan was leaving Konohagakure, her mission done.
She did not expect to find the same little girl she found a week earlier, crying near the West Gate. Sakura, sweet little Sakura, was battered and covered in bruises and dirt. Her face was scrunched up and ugly tears trailed down her chubby cheeks. Her hair, pulled back by a silk red ribbon, was tattered and messy and the ribbon was missing from its designated spot in Sakura's hair.
Konan knew better than to approach the child, knowing that she should get back to him soon and be at his side again. She knew better than to stay because any moment longer and it wouldn't be long for Konoha's forces to find her. And it would not do for her to be captured or caught, she was of higher caliber than that. Also, she did not wish to disappoint him. She had done that enough as it is.
"Sakura-chan?" The woman called out gingerly, still doning her civilian appearance. Save for her eyes, they were now the bright amber that they always have and not the dull brown. But neither girl or woman paid heed, it was not important.
Sakura glanced up and Konan thought her heart cracked. Her face was twisted in torment and sadness and questions flash in her innocent eyes and somehow, Konan saw another girl. Dirty blue hair, tattered and damp drabs, face lacking nourishment and eyes that saw too much.
Konan saw herself in Sakura.
"Aneue?" Konan's heart clenched at her honorific, remembering the child's insistent voice of calling her 'elder sister'. It was endearing and it hit too close to home. But she found that she didn't mind if it was her. "A-aneue! The other kids—they...!"
"Shh," Konan shushes gently. "Everything is going to be okay...Shh..."
Konan knew better than to get attached, especially after knowing the poor child for only a week. But she had and here she was, crouching in front of the tormented child and Konan wonders if this was the right thing to do.
(Inner is screaming.
She is stuck, trapped and enclosed in the body of her younger self and she does not know what to do. She watches hopelessly as young Sakura, sweet, young and innocent Sakura Haruno get tormented and ridiculed by ignorant bullies. Inner wants to do something, she does but she cannot. She is left, stuck and useless, and she hates it.
She had said she was never going to be useless again but yet here she is, stuck in the sidelines, watching and doing nothing.
What good is strength if she is unable to help even herself?)
Konan wonders about the girl with the bright pink hair and the glittering green eyes. She stares into the insistent drops of water, looking over the village of the rain. Her mind was far away from where she was and she thought about the last time she has seen the cherry blossom girl. Konan brought Sakura home but just before she left, the child had begged to see the woman again. Konan knew that it was a hopeless promise, a mistake waiting to happen but she couldn't help herself.
Looking at the child, so lost and lonely, it reminded her of herself and Konan wished no child would suffer the same way she had before them.
She had not told Nagato, Pein, about her actions and she didn't need to. He knew everything and while he clearly disapproved of it, he didn't stop her. He loved her too much and cared her all too well to stop the blue-haired beauty from her happiness. Even if it was a weak, civilian child from his village.
And so, the woman of blue hair and eyes reminiscent of fire, the Angel of God, promises a little bud that she will help her bloom.
No matter what it takes.
(Inner had tried contacting her once, to try and talk to young Sakura.
It had not work and it aggravates her. After a while, Inner gives up and dissolves into the sidelines, always watching but never leaving.
So when a civilian woman named Konan, stumbles upon young Sakura's path, Inner is screaming.
She knows Konan is not bad, not morally at least but she is still an S-rank criminal. Inner does not know what Konan is capable of doing and she lives in fear, wondering why the hell the woman was masquerading in her village?
Imagine her surprise when Konan crouched down, coaxing and comforting a wailing child rather than cutting her down.)
Sakura Haruno lays in bed, watching and staring at the paper rose that sat neatly on her nightstand. She admired the way blue paper glittered beneath the illuminating moonlight and how intricate and pretty it looked. She liked pretty things like the nice lady, Konan, who had given her the flower in the first place. Sakura hopes that she would bloom to be as pretty as Konan.
With that thought, she closes her eyes and succumbs herself into sleep.
A/N: Hey, hey, hey look a new story even though I've spontaneously deleted Afterlife. Sorry about that though I promise to never do it to this story, though, I've got a too good of an idea for this.
Anyways, this story! It's obviously about Sakura, duh but it also a twist on the Sakura with the Akatsuki troop! With a twist! Future Sakura (Fourth Shinobi War Sakura!) is Inner Sakura! Anyways, I've always liked the idea of Sakura with the Akatsuki whether it was family, platonic or romantic. I also wanted to put some details on Inner's origins besides being a multi-persona of Sakura or a second soul.
Anyway, Sakura meets Konan at six years old! But it won't be their last meeting, trust me!
Note: Sakura, under the influence of Konan and the rest of the Akatsuki, would be really different than Canon!Sakura.
Note 2: Inner Sakura would not be able to interact with Sakura until Sakura reaches to a certain age or a certain event happens, so most of Inner's monologue would literarily be her thoughts about Sakura and her actions.