-Lady of the Fifth House-
By: Applesofwrath
Chapter One
Disclaimer: Naruto is property belonging to Masashi Kishimoto. Neither am I claiming any of Naruto's content nor writing a fanfic for profit. Please don't sue me and support the actual release.
Summary:A talented healer with an unknown background and an exiled heiress travel all over the land to use their skills for the good of others. Soon they are faced with challenges where they face the past and bring glory to their houses.
The Island of Konoha was born when the leader of the Senju Clan, Senju Hashirama and the leader of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Madara formed a truce, to end their constant battles of bloodshed. The two most powerful clans of the Island, along with some lesser clans built the Country of Konoha. When it came time to choose their leader, the people of the new land voted Hashirama as their first king, over the power hungry Madara. King Senju lived his life fully devoted to making a strong and stable foundation for his new country, but unfortunately did not leave an heir. With no heir, he left the world with a trusted regent, his brother, Senju Tobirama. King SenjuTobirama was crowned King and he left his legacy with the building of the Royal City, Konohakagure and the formation of the four houses that cover the four corners of the Island. The four houses being: Uchiha, Hyuuga, Uzumaki, and Nara. The Lord of each house would serve as a member of Konoha's loyal council to the King. Lesser Houses existed within the lands of each House that are under the support of the Lords of each House. Like his elder brother who ruled before him, Tobirama passed on with no heir. When he knew his time was coming, he passed the crown to his faithful regent, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Crowned King, Sarutobi left his legacy by bringing the land to a great period of peace and prosperity. He managed to form peaceful trade relationships with other Islands and avoided any bloodshed. Sarutobi planned on passing the crown to his son Asuma, but Asuma become targeted and assassinated. Before his death, Sarutobi passed the crown to his regent, Namikaze Minato, who was known for his marriage to Kushina, a distant relative to the Senju clan. During the reign of Minato, the country faced conflicts against the zealous believers of Madara, who believed that the Uchiha clan members were the true rulers of the country. During a battle against the terrorism from these dangerous enemies, Minato died bravely in the battlefield. His Queen and son were targeted for assassination attempts. The Queen was killed, but the supporters of Minato successfully protected his legacy—his son. Before her end, Queen Kushina was unable to pass the throne to her young baby son. Until he was ready to inherit the throne, Kushina passed the throne to Tsunade, who was the granddaughter of the first king and next in line for the throne.
(Konoha during the Reign of Tsunade in the Year 1440).
Sakura sat quietly by the window of a quaint teahouse in the town of Toda in Nara. Across the small table sat her timid, dark haired companion. She was the same age as Sakura, around her early twenties, had her hair tied back into a low braided bun. If she were to untie it, a long length of silky indigo hair would come down and reach her lower back. If one came closer, they would smell a lovely floral fragrance from her hair—a prominent symbol of nobility. She wore a plain cotton, muted gray kimono with a dark blue vest. Her skin was pale like porcelain, and her eyes were as white as pearls. Sakura turned to face her companion and noticed that she sat there calmly sipping her tea and gazing at the newspaper lying on the table in front of her. Sakura reached for her neglected tea cup and took a sip. The tea had turned cold. Sakura drank her cup quickly and reached for the celadon kettle that sat near the window and poured her a fresh hot cup. She held the tea with both her hands, enjoying the warmth being transferred to her tiny hands.
"What is going on in the newspapers? Hinata?" Sakura spoke as she eyed the newspaper, breaking the silence between them. Hinata looked up, the sunlight from the window hitting her thick bangs. Hinata stared at her companion. Sakura was a fair skinned woman like herself, except with her light pink hair and seafoam green eyes. She kept her long hair in a low braided bun as well and her clothes were the attire of an average citizen.
Hinata nodded, "Just more articles on the rifts within the Uchiha and also Hyuuga. More useless fighting," Hinata said the last part with a slight bitter edge as she folded up the newspaper placed it near the window, dismissing it. She refilled her tea and drank. Sakura frowned,
"I'm sorry about that, Hinata." Hinata looked up and shook her head, "It's fine. I left home for over three years now and everyone has pretty much forgotten about me." It was true. The gossip about the exiled Hyuuga heir had dwindled down to the point where everyone had pretty much forgotten it. As the years went by, Hinata blended more and more as a common citizen. There were so many different bloodlines these days that nobody ever assumes a woman with striking pearl eyes would automatically be a Hyuuga. The only proof would be if she were to perform the Byakugan, which she only did in private when needed. Her noble aura faded as she learned how to keep a low profile and lived the lifestyle of a low-profile, working class citizen. Sakura smiled at the memory of her friend. She was once a short haired stuttering, shy woman who lacked the courage to stand up to others. As they journeyed for two years, as a pair of traveling healers, she watched her friend grow from that young teenager into a lovely and brave young woman, no longer stuttering and scared of possible danger.
They both looked out the window, gazing at the bright yellow early morning sky. The warmth of the light hit their faces. Hinata turned to her friend, "What's next on our journey?"
"We need to go to Hana. I received word that there is a woman there who will be due soon. We can both make the process easier on her." Hinata nodded, "Shall we get going? If we leave now, we will arrive a bit past dinner time." Sakura nodded. They quickly drank their tea, left some money, and grabbed their cloaks to head out the door.
Once they were outside, they put on their hooded cloaks and headed to the market not too far from the teahouse. They bought some food for the journey and other necessities. Once they refilled their supplies, they retrieved their horses from the stables and began their day journey. The two rode side by side down the road. They passed crop fields and farms, waving to the workers that worked that land. Five hours into their journey, Sakura reached into her pack and tossed an apple to Hinata who began to feel hungry. They were going to have to eat a late dinner, but the apples helped suppress their growing appetite.
They soon reached a road surrounded by high lands and trees. Sakura observed the land around her; there was something uncomforting about this part of the road. The land was perfect for a bandit attack-an ambush. Sakura turned to Hinata who looked as if she was fully aware of what can possibly happen. Sakura mouthed some words to Hinata, who nodded and placed her hands in a formation.
Multiple eyes peered through the trees, with bows ready to fire a rain of arrows at the feet of the horses to scare them into tossing their master of their backs. The men eyed the two lone, seemingly helpless women who had no sort of escort of guards with them—a fatal mistake. No, the two women would not be killed; instead they could serve a different purpose. The carnal urges among the group of men heightened. They will be used to satisfy their cravings first, and then sold into slavery for a brothel. At the signal of their leader, the arrows were fired at the women. Like planned, the arrows hit the ground near the hooves of the horses, scarring them into panic. Sakura and Hinata tried to calm the horses, but to no avail. The horses neighed and threw their masters off their backs. The bandits watched as the women were flung into the air and when they almost hit the dirt, something unexpected occurred. The two women turned into two lifeless logs and hit the ground.
The bandits swallowed, the two women expected their move and used a jutsu. The men remained low, their minds raced to figure out where the two women went. They didn't expect that the two women were trained kunoichi. There was a deep silence before the kill. Four of the men behind one of the cliffs felt a form race past them, and before they could react, they realized their throats have been slit. They fell down like a bunch of flies. Sakura emerged from the trees, chakra scalpel in hand. She charged for the opposite cliff across from her. The other half of the bandits raised their arrows at her, about to fire until they felt multiple sharp pains on their backs. She had hit the nerves on their spines! The pain turned paralyzing, and they could do nothing as they fell, face forward from the cliffs, screaming for their deaths. The fall didn't kill them, but the remaining men lay there, paralyzed and unable to fight back. Two pairs of footsteps approached them. Some of the men saw the white pearl eyes of the dark haired women and her byakugan, the bloodline trait of the Hyuuga clan, only to never speak of it ever again when the kunai slit their throats, ending their lives.
Sakura stepped over the men. She wiped her kunai clean the shirt of a dead bandit before placing the kunai back into her pouch. She turned to her companion who did the same before checking the men for any goods. Sakura followed suit. They decided to take only money, for the bandits carried nothing useful to them. They had only weapons, which Sakura and Hinata had neither the need nor space in their bags for.
As the two kunoichi were about to mount their horses, they heard an approaching group. The sound of horses charges became louder and louder. They waited for a few moments until the group came into view. There were four men; two of them had their own individual horse while two of them shared one. On the horse shared by two men carried a blond man in front who looked pale and unable to take the reins and relied on the dark haired man behind him to ride. Sakura and Hinata's initial reflex told them to prepare hand seals for another battle. Their eyes searched for any sign of their identity or background. The horses had gear with the Queen's seal on it, a good sign that the men were amicable riders. The horses came to a halt. Sakura and Hinata watched as the group of men approached them. The women put on a calm smile and greeted the fellow travelers. Sakura waved at one of the men on an individual horse who came forward, he was a dark haired man with a short, high pony tail with a bored expression on his face,
"Hello there. Be on the lookout for bandits around this area. I don't know if there will be more. My friend and I dodged their ambush and took out a small group of them. The rest might still be out there," Sakura explained. Hinata stood quietly and observed the men before her, while Sakura did most of the talking. There was the man with the dark ponytail, a sick blond man, a dark spiked haired man, and a brunette with red face paint. Her eyes immediately focused on the blond man who looked sick. The other man on his own horse came forward, and brought his horse alongside the first man. He was an incredibly handsome man. He wore light armor like the rest of his group, but he was pale with obsidian eyes and matching spiked hair. He carried a stoic expression on his face as he looked directly at Sakura. Sakura quietly wallowed as he approached,
"What are two women doing alone with no escort or guard, passing an area overrun with bandits?" He questioned with a slight arrogant tone. From what she could sense, Sakura guessed that the man before her was a noble born son of some lesser house normally used to talking down to women who didn't know how to fight or defend herself in battle, viewing them as helpless and annoying. Sakura groaned mentally at the thought of dealing with this sort of man, but decided to be polite and gave him a charming smile, "Just passing through to our destination. We can protect ourselves perfectly fine." At his, the man looked at the dead corpses next to them, Sakura continued on, "We are trained kunoichi and have faced worse than a runt group like this."
He observed the women—the two women stood out like a sore thumb. He had a feeling that they weren't just regular working class citizens, regardless of their attire. Their Japanese was perfect, so they had to have been well-educated, probably born from some noble or lesser noble house. They displayed remarkable, above average ninja abilities that barely any working class citizen knew. An amateur shinobi would have ended up wounded or near death fighting a decent sized group of bandits. Their physical features were incredibly unique and strange-unique and strange enough to be part of some clan with bloodline abilities. When does one ever see a woman with pink hair or a woman with pearl white eyes? Why the two of them were traveling through the southern area of Konoha, he couldn't figure out.
His eyes turned to their horses, they were simple horses bought from a local stable. Nothing special on them—no branded markings indicating who they belong to, they were just simple horses. He looked at their packs attached to the saddles that opened during the attack. He saw rations and ninja weapons, like kunai and shuriken. What caught his eyes the most were the herbs, bandages, and bottles of some sort of solutions within them. He turned to the two women,
"Are you two talented in healing?" He urgently asked. Hinata stepped forward and spoke up,
"Yes, we're traveling healers…" She trailed off and looked at their sick companion, who didn't look like he would last another night in his condition, "What is wrong with your friend?"
"He got cut with a poison kunai. We were also ambushed by bandits a far back down the road. The fool over there insisted he was fine, but the poison soon went into effect," He nodded towards the sick blond with an annoyed tone. We were told there was no healer in Hana, and that we should try Toda for a traveling healer that was staying there for a bit.
"Your source was referring to us. We left Toda many hours ago and were heading toward Hana for our next patient. Yes, to our knowledge there are no healers in Hana or in this area besides us…" Sakura nodded. Though the man's face carried no expression, Sakura saw the hidden plea in his dark eyes. His desperation apparent with his next words,
"I will pay you triple the amount of money if you save our friend right now." Before Sakura answered him, she turned to face Hinata, who looked as if she took sympathy towards the poisoned man. Hinata gave a pleading look and nodded to Sakura, which Sakura knew meant Hinata wanted to help them. The decision was made, and Sakura turned to the dark man and nodded,
"My companion and I will do our best. However, you do not need to compensate us."