Chapter 2
Before:
"How long has it been since you last came to the village? Two years? I'm glad you at least came to visit us again, Sasuke-kun."
Sakura cradled Salada in her arms in front of Sasuke, his face ever stoic. He may have been leaving the village once more, but the warmth he provided standing so close to her in that moment alone was enough to keep her going strong for another whole year.
"I won't be back again on the same day," he told her, stroking little Salada's small cheeks, "Take care of her. She's… the most precious thing to me."
Sakura looked up into his eyes, which were fixated on Salada. All she had ever wanted to see was his outer shell crack. And thanks to this little child, it seemed so real. Could he actually live normally? Was it possible?
Sakura looked down at Salada herself. He was right. What a precious gift. It didn't matter where it came from, did it? It made bringing them together happen. They would be… she could even dare to think it now, but not without blushing… a family.
"It's okay. I'll wait for you. I know you'll come back, I have faith." Sakura smiled at him, and for the first time that day, they actually met each other's eyes. It sent chills down her spine. He hadn't looked at her in two years. She could have cried.
"Thank you," he said, before turning his back to her, and leaving through the open door of the old, barren apartment. She sat down on the old couch in the small, colorless living room. The sound of something small scampering inside of the ceiling briefly caught her attention.
Then the door shut behind him. And… she was lonely again.
The air grew stale with silence. "I can wait as long as I need to," she said, rifling through her purse on the couch and pulling out a bottle full of formula. "You're so lucky to have been born when you were, aren't you, little Salada?" She poked her nose before sticking the bottle in her toothless little mouth. "Nothing but days of happiness ahead of you, thanks to the peace Naruto won."
After:
"Move! Move! Move!"
Naruto led a rush down the hospital wing with a crippled Kiba, lying on a rolling bed with a breathing apparatus strapped to his mummified head. Hinata pushed the head of the cart as fast as she possibly could. Sakura pulled the side of the bed whilst trying to maintain a stable status with Kiba's pulse. Shino followed close behind for support.
The moment they reached the emergency room, Hinata brushed Shino to the side and applied the mystical palm technique to his chest and abdomen. Three more nurses rushed into the ER by Sakura's side. She flipped a kunai out of her belt and dug it into Kiba's vest next to the broken zipper, ripping it all open to reveal a mass of blood over his skin.
Kiba began screaming hysterically through the bindings around his face, causing everyone in the room to jump.
"I think he's conscious!" Naruto shouted.
"Anesthetic," Sakura prompted, holding her hands out as a nurse filled a syringe to give to Sakura. She jammed it into Kiba's arm and he went from screaming to hyperventilate breathing. "Keep him stable, Hinata."
"I'm trying!" she cried, her face showing nothing but nerve-wracking concern for her teammate. The gaping wound at Kiba's side was filled with dirt and debris.
"Nurse, I need you to lift his side," Sakura commanded, and without hesitation she left the tool prepping to the other nurses and immediately complied with Sakura's orders. Sakura used a set of wiping hand motions with the mystical palm technique to clean the outside of the wound.
"It's not enough, there's large debris inside him, in particular this one fucking huge piece of bark that I have no idea how the hell got stuck so deep inside of him. We're gonna cut him open wider, I need to slow down his heart rate. Nurse, liquid verapamil, stat."
"Got it," she said, filling a syringe and handing it to her as she yet again jammed it into Kiba's side.
"Nurse, hand Sakura a scalpel," Hinata ordered.
"No, we don't have time to be delicate," Sakura explained as quickly as she could, "In case you didn't notice right off the bat, he has severe internal bleeding, and I need direct access to the damaged organ in order to heal it on time, especially once we remove the bark."
"But how are you going to get to the wound?!" Hinata asked exasperatedly.
"With my fingers." Everyone in the room became silent, with the exception of Kiba's loud moans. Sakura fitted her hands with latex before reactivating the mystical palm healing technique. "This is gonna get messy, people. Stand back."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
The anesthetic did next to nothing in the moments after, as the ER sounded like a torture room with Kiba's animalistic cries, terrifying every nurse and patient on the hospital floor.
Eventually it began to subside, the quiet after being a moment that practically stung as the reality of what happened finally began to sink in.
Sakura sat back into a seat in the corner of the room, pulling the latex gloves off of her fingers, and exhaling all the breath she had been holding in.
The rate at which the heart-monitor beeped became rhythmic and steady. "He's stable."
Hinata continued to use the mystic palm healing technique on him as a sedative. She looked at his bandaged head and did all she could not to cry.
"Well… let's look at his face," said Sakura.
One of the nurses gently removed the bloody wrappings. Halfway undone, Hinata turned her head away and scowled, focusing only on his body.
His nose looked as if it had been grated and laid crooked between his eyes. All the skin next to it wasn't even there, anymore, as if it had been completely torn off. His cheekbone stuck out from the displaced muscle and stretched tendons that were left of his cheek. His eye bled just as red as the rest of his head, and his ear was nowhere to be found.
Sakura turned away, pinching her fingers between her brow and squeezing her eyes. "That's not gonna heal back right…"
Naruto and Shino could only look at him with sorrow.
"Am I still as dashingly handsome as I used to be?" said Kiba, just coming to, trying to smile with the other half of his lips.
Hinata smiled, face full of tears.
"Still a grade-A lady killer," Naruto laughed, but with slight bitterness.
Kiba tried to keep his smile, but he couldn't hold back a groan, "I'll never get Ayame at the ramen shop to fall for me now. Koro has me beat in looks too."
Although the rest of the room was quiet, Hinata tried to let out a laugh, but instead it turned into a breakdown of sobs over his wounds.
Naruto went over to put his arm around her shoulder to console her, and Sakura walked up to Kiba, gently putting Hinata's hands aside and taking her place.
"Kiba, can you… explain what happened?" she asked, activating the mystical palm healing technique over his wounds.
He laid silent, but she could see him gritting his broken teeth, as if being reminded of these certain memories was something cruel.
"Kiba?" said Naruto, trying to follow Sakura, "What the hell happened? You were just supposed to gather information at the boarder of the Land of Sound. Where is your team?"
Kiba strained to turn his head to him, lips pursed, one eye wet with tears ready to break free of his swollen eyelid. "They're all dead."
Naruto's eyes filled with anger and he leaned forward onto the bed. "Who?"
Kiba shook his head. "Not who… it wasn't a ninja."
"Then what? If it wasn't anyone from the sound, then what wasit?"
Kiba's fingers gripped the sheets. "It… it ate Akamaru… ripped his head clean off…"
"Kiba, what?"
"The Tengu."
Naruto's eyes widened, and he slowly pulled back from Kiba.
"The Tengu?" Sakura asked, "You're saying you were attacked by some sort of creature from ancient religious lore attacked you and killed your team?"
Kiba remained silent. Sakura looked at Naruto, rested his head on his folded hands, nervously contemplating something that she wasn't quite getting.
"One thing is for sure," Naruto muttered, "Tomorrow's Gokage meeting is going to be interesting."
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
The following morning, Naruto called Sakura up to ask her for an accompaniment to the Gokage meeting.
"Shikamaru is still out there. On the same mission as Kiba was with a different group, no doubt. Makes me nervous. Do you mind?"
"Not at all! I'll be there in twenty!" Sakura replied over the phone. A small, elated feeling rose into her chest. She really didn't spend enough time with Naruto. Lately he had been busier than ever, and that left her with nothing to do during her free time, except hit up Ino about a night on the town. But even Ino was busy with married life more often than not. Occasionally, she would get so bored that she almost wanted to be paged back to the hospital.
She left her apartment and headed to the center of the city by the brand new Kage Tower, where the meeting was being held.
"You look a bit more professional than usual today, Sakura-chan," said Naruto, fully dressed in his own Hokage garb.
"This is how I always dress, dumbass," she grumbled.
"That's Dumbass-sama, to you," he chuckled, and they both walked in together.
When the double doors to the conference room at the top of the building opened, the four other Kage were already seated, bodyguards at their sides, waiting for the two of them.
"Well, I'd say you're on time for once, Naruto-dono," chuckled the Tsuchikage, Kurotsuchi, "I only had to wait five minutes after seating myself."
"Indeed," added the Mizukage, Choujuurou, "I daresay he's getting the hang of this Hokage thing."
"One more minute and I woulda left," the Raikage, Darui said lazily.
Gaara sat quietly between Darui and Kurotsuchi, sending irritated looks at Darui every now and again.
"Thank you for coming, everyone," said Naruto, seating himself. Sakura stood at his side, hands behind her back, carefully inspecting all the others. "We have a lot to discuss. First thing's first. Has anyone received word from the Hidden Sound?" Darui, Chojuurou, Kurotsuchi, and Gaara all gave the same resounding answer.
"Nope."
"No."
"Not a word."
"I have not."
Naruto sighed, and motioned to take a stack of papers from Sakura, which he straightened out on the table and flipped through. "Very well. Then we're cycling Karin through the capital prisons again as a prisoner of war. Until one of us hears word from Orochimaru about a proper cease-fire agreement between him and the Five Great Shinobi Countries, she will remain a bargaining token for the agreement." Naruto passed a single sheet of paper to all the Kages. "Please sign this to approve of the annual prison transfer."
Finally, Sakura thought, We're getting rid of that bitch.
"Hey, how many times did she escape this year?" Darui asked, grinning.
Both Sakura and Naruto's expressions suddenly looked drained. The other Kage laughed.
"Your faces say it all," said Chojuurou, signing his paper, "Honestly, though, I find it a bit tedious at this point. Its clear Orochimaru does not care either for his people or to have diplomatic relations. According to him, he doesn't need us to recognize whether he is a legitimate country or not."
"He cares, I assure you," said Naruto, filling his own paper out, "It's just more like he cares not to let a good experiment go to waste."
"I'd prefer we didn't bank on assumptions," said Kurotsuchi, "This is a woman's life you're wasting away on your desire to keep democracy between a great country and a country that barely exists on its own."
"First of all," Naruto interjected, "That country that barely exists on its own caused a massive war between itself and the Hidden Leaf. Second of all, I made sure to keep Karin's confinement comfortable—if she would stop breaking out, of course-and I trust that all of you do, too. It's just as much Orochimaru that is keeping her locked up as we are."
"You honestly bother keeping your prisoners comfortable? Why don't you just make her a citizen?" Chojuurou asked.
"For the same reasons you wouldn't, Chojuurou," Gaara interjected, "Don't be stupid."
"She's not my blood," Chojuurou argued, "So of course I would have no reasons."
"Citizenship means the right to come and go as you please, Chojuurou," said Naruto, "and I can't risk assuming that her loyalty to blood is stronger than her loyalty to the Sound. That should be obvious in the way she constantly tries to escape. I'm not risking her leaving with any secrets from my village to a country we haven't solidified good relations with yet."
"I disagree; I'm speaking up now," said Kurotsuchi, "Holding prisoners of war hostage will only give the Hidden Sound a reason to attack."
"Oh, right, like the way they have the past thirteen years?" Darui mocked. "They're not going to stage an offensive over one little prison bitch."
"You don't know what they could be planning. And besides, I hear we have a new prisoner from the Hidden Sound. Jugo, was his name? I understand you've caught him recently trying to help Karin escape, Hokage-dono."
"That's correct," said Naruto, "I will be handing out more paperwork for him if we come to an agreement to transfer him prison to prison annually as well. Obviously not with Karin, I want to keep those two as separate as possible."
"There you go," said Kurotsuchi, "A brand new reason for them to come and attack this village within the thirty days it takes to transfer the both of them. They could consider us hostile and untrustworthy, just like—"
"Just like we consider them?" Gaara interrupted, "You're missing the point, Kurotsuchi-dono. We have no obligation to prove anything to them beyond not using our combined strength to crush them. It's they who need to prove to us they are willing and ready to cooperate, as we have reached out and offered to be. If they find us threatening, they have that to consider."
"I think you're missing the point, Kazekage-dono," Kurotsuchi argued, "There is more than one way to skin a cat, and they know this. We don't have to take hostages to achieve diplomacy! How could they not hesitate to sign a peace treaty to someone who uses tactics like this?"
"For thirteen years, Kuro?" Darui shot, "Do you not understand the amount of time that has passed for them to make any kind of move?"
"And that's thirteen years of a human life that we've wasted away for nothing more than attempted conspiracy! The punishment does not fit the crime! At this rate it will be a life sentence! We're punishing a woman for something that won't make a lick of difference!" She shot a glare at Naruto. "This is not the kind of peace I eagerly followed and respected when I allowed my country this diplomatic relation."
"That's because you're naïve," said Darui, "In the end, we're going to have to destroy them, like it or not."
Everyone stared at Darui, silently, and he looked at each one of them in the eye. "The Hidden Sound isn't going to do anything. It's clear they intend to remain hostile with the rest of the world, they haven't even gone as far as to ask for an exchange of goods from us in any shape whatsoever, yet they continue to cross into our boarders like its nothing. If we're going to make this peace thing work, then we have to crush what doesn't."
"Darui," said Naruto, who had to stop writing to pay attention, "When the time comes to oppose them, we will have the higher ground. Do you understand?"
"You too, huh?" he replied, "Of course, I should have expected it from the peacekeeper himself."
"I asked you a question."
"And I don't like the tone of your voice."
"Gentlemen, settle down, we're at a meeting," Gaara intervened, but the two of them kept staring at each other with poisonous looks as if the first one to break eye-contact would admit to being weaker.
"Hello?" said Sakura, waving a hand in front of Naruto's face. He blinked rapidly as if awakening from a trance.
"U-Uwuhh… Sorry. Anyways, is everyone done filling out their papers?"
"No," Kurotsuchi said bluntly, "I was a bit too busy trying to change your narrow minded opinions."
"Please be civil, Kurotsuchi-dono," said Chojuurou, "I appreciate your compassion, and I mean no disrespect, but you cannot allow such compassion for such trivial things get in the way of proper decision making. I agree that Karin is untrustworthy, and while I would not go as far as to make her comfy in my own country being a prisoner, letting her go could prove to be a fatal mistake."
"We always make her comfy, don't we, Omoi?" Darui snickered, nudging Omoi with his elbow, getting him to laugh nervously. Kurotsuchi locked her eyes on Darui. Sakura couldn't help but narrow her eyes at him as well. She could practically hear Kurotsuchi grinding her teeth. She couldn't help herself anymore, and decided to open her mouth.
"What's that supposed to mean, Raikage-dono?"
Darui's snickering quieted down as he stared at Sakura's dark gaze, the slow transfer from grinning to alarmed at the way she looked at him caused a hesitation in his voice.
"…Tell your bodyguard to mind her business when all the Gokage are speaking, will you, Naruto?"
Sakura noticed how hard Naruto was struggling not to make eye contact with Darui again. She could tell by the way his muscles tensed under his shirt.
"No, no I'm actually genuinely curious now, Darui. Do you mind answering? What does that mean?"
"It means we get along, blondie."
Now she could hear him grinding his teeth as well.
"Weird, considering just the other day she begged me not to transfer her to the Hidden Cloud Prison like we were scheduled to do today. All in favor of transferring Jugo to the Hidden Cloud Prison in place of Karin?"
There was a unanimous "Aye," from every Kage aside from Darui, especially from Kurotsuchi who spoke it particularly angrily.
Darui sat and stared at the others in shock. "Well, fuck you guys, too."
"I eagerly await the day you get impeached by your own people, Darui," Kurotsuchi spat.
Gaara shook his head, "Darui, what in the world happened to you in the past thirteen years?"
"Personal issues is a great idea to discuss at a Gokage meeting, let's discuss personal issues," Darui said sarcastically, "Let's start with you, Gaara, did you mass murder any villages recently?"
"That's enough," said Naruto, raising his voice above everyone else's, "We have other topics to discuss." Naruto pulled out a bag from his pocket with a strange looking syringe. It was black and conical up until the tip where the needle poked out. Its contents weren't made to be visible past the grainy black texture of the cone.
"One of my men came in yesterday from a mission at the boarder of the Land of Sound. He had gone with a group of five and came back alone, with a piece of tree inside him and half his face torn off."
The group was quiet.
"He said it was a Tengu," he concluded.
"Is this related to…?"
"I don't know. But it can't be a coincidence. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I want Tengu Blood off the market. I refuse to deal in exports with any country that has this, so I'm closing down all logistic communications until that happens."
"Fine with me," said Darui, "Ain't nothin' you guys got that I can't provide for my own country."
"Good for you, Darui," Naruto replied.
"This is bullshit," said Kurostuchi, "You're already contradicting the peace that we have as a Union by shutting us out over a stupid drug! There's multiple different ways it can get past your boarders, don't you see?"
"Do you plan on criminalizing the drug or not?" Naruto asked.
"Well, of course, I—"
"Then there isn't a problem. And considering how close to the boarder of the Sound that I found it, if we can put this thing down before it starts becoming a problem, it could be Karin's get out of jail free card. Think about that."
"I have a problem with it," Chojuurou said, "These Tengu. I know what you speak of. One attacked my village. It was incredibly tough, and the only way any of us had the power to fight against it was when we used the confiscated supply of Tengu Blood we had." Now the room was completely focused on Chojuurou speaking.
"For real? There were actual demon things out there?" Darui picked up the bagged syringe. "Is this stuff like, actual blood from some mythical being we've never encountered before?"
"Of course not, its synthesized growth enzymes made to manipulate natural chakra in strange ways," said Naruto.
"Like Jugo?" Gaara asked.
"Oddly enough… yes."
"That… doesn't put good ideas in my head."
"I know," said Naruto, "and that's what I'm worried about. If there's a connection between the Tengu Blood and the Tengu that have been showing up and attacking us, then we could be dealing with a serious epidemic on our hands..."
Everyone in the room stayed silent, not sure what to say next.
Then Gaara decided to finally break the silence.
"Naruto," he called, "Did you consider what we talked about in the last meeting?"
Naruto lifted his head to give Gaara his attention. "What? About the village? I told you, Gaara, don't worry about it, the village is fully supported."
"I see," said Gaara, and he folded his hands together back in front of his mouth.
"Well, it's a bit early, but—I think it's time for a ramen break!" said Naruto. Without hesitation everyone rose from their seats and turned to walk out the door and head to the cafeteria. Sakura walked behind Naruto, picking through her purse and curious if she should get him something.
"So, we're going to keep Karin here?" Sakura asked. Although she was happy she wasn't sending Karin off to the Hidden Cloud, it still disappointed her that she would have to deal with Karin's break outs three times a month.
"Better here than anywhere else," said Naruto, "I'd keep her locked up here forever if I could."
"What?" said Sakura, surprised, "Why the hell would you do that? Kurotsuchi is right, even if she is a criminal, you can't just keep her locked behind bars forever, she doesn't deserve that!"
"Kurotsuchi doesn't know Orochimaru like we do, Sakura. She's naïve. And especially with everything that's happening, I'll do all I can to keep Karin away from that man."
A hand fell on Sakura's shoulder and caught her by surpise.
"Sakura, do you have a moment?" Gaara stood behind her, eyes glossed over with the same look he had before Naruto ended the meeting. Sakura became slightly suspicious that it he wanted to talk to her about the same thing.
Naruto stared at Gaara for a moment, and then glanced at Sakura. She looked at him curiously, asking if it was okay.
"Go on, I'll jump ahead to the cafeteria," he said, waving them off and walking away.
Sakura turned towards, Gaara, slightly agitated. She wanted to buy Naruto something and now she missed her chance.
"What is it, Gaara-kun?" She asked as humbly as she could. She couldn't help furrowing her eyebrows, however.
"Sorry," he said, "But I need your help. It's about the Leaf Village."
"I had a feeling," she replied, "You know I'll go out of my way to help if I can, but…"
"You can, otherwise I wouldn't come."
"Okay, shoot."
"I need you to convince Naruto to cease the expansion of the city."
"What?" said Sakura, dumbfounded, "Why?"
"Because the village is suffering. Have you looked around it lately? It's much different from thirteen years ago. It used to be so profitable, but now it's regressing into nothing more than a slum. It's become poor, Sakura. And I can't deny that part of it is because of the fact that it used to profit on battles and assassinations, but I can't ignore it either. Businesses are going under, war vets are suffering, and the villagers are living paycheck to paycheck because taxes are becoming too much for them to handle anymore. I had convinced Naruto to reduce the tax on home ownership, but the problem is how fast he's trying to advance the city after Kakashi established it."
"With all due respect, Gaara-kun, we've already promised homes to the veterans in the new city. I'm living in one right now."
"Do you think everyone agrees to this movement? I'm sure Naruto's intentions are in the right place, but he's suddenly missing a part of him that used to make him such an incredible leader. His understanding of the people's heart. And it's because there are so many now, how could he? After a lifetime of fighting for approval, I'm sure he thinks he knows what's best, but being the leader of a nation has completely overwhelmed his sense of understanding the heart of his community to the point that he's practically forgotten the city he grew up in entirely."
Sakura wanted to argue, but part of her knew that Gaara was right. Her kid had painted "shitty dad" on the mold of his face on the mountain just a month ago. Naruto was undoubtedly becoming neglectful, and it was hurting those close to him
"Just talk to Naruto for me, okay? I feel like, if he hears it from you he might understand better."
"Well… alright, I'll see what I can do."
"Thank you," said Gaara before leaving to the cafeteria.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Hinata asked Sakura to go ahead with her normal schedule for academy graduate supplementary lessons while she treated Kiba by herself that day. She told her that she wanted her kids to stay preoccupied so that they don't have to see their Uncle Kiba in such a scary state. With a hug and no complaints, Sakura left to pick Bolt and Himawari from the Ninja Academy.
The issue here was that, by Naruto's request, the supplementary lessons included her daughter as well.
"Stupid Bolt!" Salada growled, a saying that practically became her calling card at this point. "You think you can run faster just because you're a boy?!"
Salada wheezed and huffed trying to keep up with Bolt, who stuck his tongue out at her and teased her. "No, I can run faster than you because I'm Bolt."
Surprisingly, however, while Salada lacked any kind of stamina, she could still stay toe to toe with Bolt in speed, whereas none of the other Academy students could run anywhere near as fast as these two.
The two of them dashed around the circumference of the dojo, nearly toe to toe with each other. Somehow their competitive run made their way in and out of the fancy new training machinery, like the duraland training dummies, up and over the ultimate exercise square, and through the electronic score-keeping shuriken target practice zone.
"Time," said Sakura, clicking the stopwatch as they both fumbled across the finish line on their last lap. She and Iruka stood to observe their supplementary lesson. Iruka stood at the sidelines recording everything he witnessed and Sakura assisted them as their personal coach.
"Did you see that?!" Salada shouted, "I beat you this time, Bolt! My foot went across the finish line first! Mom! What's my time?!"
"A full second slower than Bolt," said Sakura, plainly.
"What?" she whined, "That's impossible! My record time beat his in the last trial run!"
Bolt laughed and stuck his tongue out again, "Yeah, I noticed, so I decided to beat it by a full second again. You see, dominating you entirely isn't really dominating you if I only do it once. I want you to know that no matter how many times you think you can beat me, you understand that you can't. That's what real superiority means. Unlimited victories!"
"Idiot, loser, blonde headed degenerate!"
"Blah, blah, blah, there's just no way I'd lose to a nerdy glasses girl."
Salada adjusted her glasses so that the light in the dojo reflected off of them. "Well I have a secret. These glasses only act as a limiter. Once I take them off-" She dramatically removed them, hair blowing in the wind, eyes coolly glossing over Bolt as she smirked.
Bolt poked her in the forehead. "You're still a nerd."
An unamused Sakura approached Bolt, focused on writing on her clipboard. "By the way," she said to Bolt, "I just finished grading all your written paperwork." And she tilted the clipboard sideways, spilling a heavy stack of problem solving paper's over Bolt's head that had large, bold "F"'s written on the front of every one. Then she handed a large stack of papers over to Salada, each of which had an "A+" written in bold on the front.
"Oooo, look at that," she said, holding her papers over his head, "Unlimited victories."
Bolt scowled, "So what! Ninja's don't have to read anyways!"
"Yes they do, Bolt," Sakura said into her clipboard.
"My dad never reads and he's the greatest ninja in the world! If it's my goodie-two shoes, stick up the ass shitty dad, I can easily become the greatest in the world!"
"Hey!" Salada shouted, lips pursed, "Don't you dare down talk the Hokage-sama!"
"He's my dad! I can say whatever I want! He's the lamest, most boring, un-fun, stupid dad in the entire world!"
Iruka stopped writing notes mid-sentence upon overhearing Bolt and Salada's bickering, lowered his clipboard, approached Bolt and gently put his hand on Bolt's shoulder, grabbing his attention and quieting the two with a gentle smile while saying, "Bolt, how about you sit down with me while I tell you a few stories about how much of a terrorist little shit your father was at your age?"
"Uh… okay."
"Later, Iruka," said Sakura, "Right now we need to do the final test. Himawari, are you ready?"
The little girl that was sitting down in the corner and watching all the physical tests stood up and baby-stepped over to Sakura, who patted her on the head.
"Alright, be ready to try your hardest, okay?" she said to Himewari cheerfully. Himewari smiled with her tiny lips and nodded aggressively.
"Okay, okay, don't rattle your brains before the test," she laughed. She pushed Himewari toward the other two and ordered them to stand at attention. Then she took two bells from her pocket and tied them to her hip.
"This is called the bell test. One bell per person. No bell, no pass. Get it? You have until the end of the day or you fail your supplementary lessons, and you will have to take the graduate exams over again. Ready?"
Bolt squinted his eyes in confusion. "Wait, wha-?"
"Go."
Salada and Himewari dashed ahead of Bolt, who widened his eyes at the dust they left him behind in before dashing to catch up himself. "Hey, wait up!"
Sakura stood with her arms hanging idly, a slight smile creeping up her face. "Well this is different," she noted, "Attacking all at once, huh?"
Despite their concerted effort, Sakura lazily dodged each and every one of their attacks with sidesteps, shimmies, ducks, and simple redirection of their attacks.
"It's cute how hard you're all trying to overwhelm me," she snickered, "But all you're doing is stunting your own attacks by constricting the area in which you should have room to develop a strategy. No one is getting a bell like this."
They continued to attack her with jittery, underdeveloped taijutsu attacks despite her guidance. Their movements stagnated as they waited for the next most vulnerable spot to be open after the other was done attacking it. Finally, Salada and Himewari jumped back, finally getting the message. Bolt on the other hand continued his vigorous assault, and Sakura analyzed him individually.
Bolt—very impressive power, even more impressive speed; probably the top in this year's academy students—perhaps in the top percentage of the country. I can feel the wind from his fists nearly tearing at my uniform. Reminds me of Rock Lee during his youth. Contrary to that, no ninjutsu or otherwise to speak of; clearly isn't learning anything his father is trying to teach him. Despite his massive power and speed, it's all useless because of his abhorrent lack of coordination. Can barely chuck a throwing star. He's nearly poked his eye out spinning a kunai around on his finger.
"So what's your strategy here?" Sakura asked, standing still and redirecting all of Bolts movements.
"Beat you up and take the bells!" said Bolt.
"That sounds foolproof." And with that, Sakura pulled out a kunai with red markings on it and started to plunge it down towards Bolt, who screwed his face up with shock and surprise, just barely pulling back and dodging it. Before he could straighten up and go, "Ha!" the kunai launched from Sakura's hand and just behind Bolt's left heel so that he tripped and fell backwards, throwing his feet up in the air. She caught him by the heel and pulled him up so that he swung upside down from her grip.
"No fair! I had you!" Bolt shouted, swinging his arms around violently.
"You did," said Sakura, "Until you didn't."
She threw a paper seal out of her pocket like a leaf and created a hand seal. The seal made a popping noise and transformed into a post pre-lodged into the dojo floor. Then she pulled invisible string from the back of her equipment belt and tied Bolt's hands together with nothing her free hand, flipped him over, pushed him against the post and tied him to it all while he wildly struggled.
At that moment, Salada decided to take advantage of the situation and come in with a kunai. Sakura didn't struggle at all tying Bolt up before she got to her, but she came close enough to nearly cutting the bells off her hip. Now it was her turn.
Salada—my daughter is the smartest in the country without any doubt. Excels at everything academic. Genjutsu, medical ninjutsu, and so on, all a cinch for her to perform. But she seriously lacks street smarts. It's just impossible to get her to apply her perfect performances to a real-time situation. This has ruined her experience on the field and she doesn't get the proper nourishment for her growth, resulting in her embarrassingly naïve personality. I raised her to be strong, but it's hard for her to stay at the top of the class physically with such a delicate muscle density. Surprisingly, she manages, though. Especially when she's around Bolt. Curious…
It didn't take as long for Salada to get the message that she wasn't going to get the bells with physical attacks, so she backed off again. To Sakura's surprise, Bolt managed to get a kunai in his mouth somehow. She noticed long before he could toss it, but the swing that his neck provided the kunai was unexpectedly well developed, and the toss came at her like a bullet. She shifted to the side to dodge and the kunai flew past her.
"Himewari, now!"
At the last second, Sakura suddenly realized that the kunai was a distraction for the real attack—Himewari. She turned around just in time to find that the tiny little girl from earlier came flying at her in the Gentle Fist stance. No, not that—the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist. In mid-air, no less.
Sakura leaped back twenty feet from the incredible killing intent. The air around her tiny fists reverberated, everything within the lion-head shaped chakra daring to rip up anything anywhere near it.
Himewari—there has never been a truer genius. She graduated the academy two years early and accomplished every level of the Hyuuga fighting style known to the clan. Not yet old enough to awaken the Byakugan, but when she does she will be unstoppable. As the new heiress to the Main House of the Hyuuga clan, she's polite, humble, modest and caring, especially for her brother. Hinata raised her well.
As she analyzed her, Himewari, didn't leave her any room to relax. She glided towards Sakura with an elegant speed, not too quick, not too slow, just fast enough to prevent her from thinking but chase her down any direction she went to avoid. In doing so, Sakura kept moving back, left, right, left, left. Himewari was taking advantage of the fact that speed was not her strong suit. Suddenly she noticed how little space she had left. Himewari had backed her into a corner already. An odd idea struck her—did Bolt and Himewari plot this together? Using the kunai that Bolt threw to force her movement to one side of the room and then continually pressuring her to move there…?
"Yeah! Kick her ass, Hime!" Bolt cheered.
It was interesting. But not enough.
Himewari made one final dash toward Sakura and attacked with the Gentle Step Twin Lion Fist technique, but Sakura took the time to make a single hand seal and—poof! Himewari dug her palms into the wood of a log in her place.
Sakura stood on the wall above Himewari, watching as she looked around, confused. "Well, at least it was something," said Sakura. Himewari followed her voice and found where she was standing.
"Oh, you're up there," Himewari said very feebily, "Good."
Her fingers formed a hand sign and she reached for the wall. Suddenly, Sakura's feet became unable to move.
"Chakra polarity severance technique," Himewari explained, "The very same chakra you focus through your feet and into the wall gets cut by my chakra when I shoot it through the wall at yours, making them two separate chakra's with different polarities, ultimately magnetizing you to the wall."
Sakura tried budging her feet. It was hard for them to move. "So the strategy wasn't just to get me into a corner, it was to get me to jump on the wall? Smart."
"Thank you," said Himewari, before dashing up the wall at high speeds towards Sakura. Himewari didn't even use any chakra control techniques; she simply skipped up the wall with sheer strength.
"I underestimated you," said Sakura, "But—"
As Himewari attacked, Sakura crouched down, got face to face with her just before the attack connected, widened her eyes, stretched her lips, stuck out her tongue and went, "NNYYYYEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAGGGHHHHHHHHH!" Himewari stopped mid-attack, squealed in terror and fell backwards.
"I still know your weakness," Sakura laughed, "Eleven years of babysitting didn't count for nothing."
"Cheater!" Bolt cried.
"Are you still stuck there?" Sakura asked, somewhat amused. She pulled her legs and her feet seemed to easily come off the wall. "Oh, looks like the jutsu is done." Sakura took the bells from her belt and twirled them around in her finger tauntingly, jingling them as she walked down the wall. Himewari sat on the floor rubbing her behind from landing on it from so high up, and Bolt was clearly not going anywhere. She checked the room for any sign of Salada, who had yet to attack during all the aggressive movement, but she had a feeling that it was her turn.
"Salada?" called Sakura, looking around the dojo. Salada tried hiding behind one of the duraland dummies in the dojo, but Sakura could easily spot her scowling face from a mile away.
"I can see you, ya know," said Sakura, "We still need to work on your stealth. A lot."
"Damn," said Salada, coming out of hiding, "That's it. You forced me to do this, Mom!"
"Address me properly, Salada," Sakura scolded, preparing a kunai in one hand and getting into a launching stance in the other. All she had left to do was subdue her daughter, and then she had the rest of the day free to herself. "In the dojo and on missions I am Sakura-do—"
The feel of a strange, airy flux around her finger caught wind of her attention, and her head whipped toward the hand that held the bells. They were gone.
A faint jingle rang in Salada's direction. Sakura shot her attention back at Salada, who clenched her fist. Her face no longer scowled, in fact, it smugly grinned at getting the better of her mother. "My mistake, Sakura-dono," she grinned as she jingled two bells from her fingers.
Sakura's body froze—she could swear that, for just a moment, there was a red color in Salada's eye—no, the technique she used was unmistakable.
"Was that… just now…?" Sakura stammered.
Salada walked over to the post that Bolt was tied on and tucked the bell into his pocket. Bolt looked at her with a horrified expression.
"There. Bolt and I both pass now."
"Salada?" Sakura asked.
"What?" she retorted, "Is that against the rules?" She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and let the light of the dojo flare off the lenses for a sophisticated effect. "Well, I don't care. You wanna know why? Because those who break the rules may be scum, but those who abandon their friends are even worse than scum!" Her triumphant look turned into a genuine joyous smile. "Naruto-dono and Kakashi-dono always say that." Her face began to slightly blush, and her glasses flared in the light again, but Sakura could tell she was taking a glance over at Bolt. "A-And I gave Bolt the bell b-because he's my frie—"
"Are you a fucking idiot?!" Bolt spat. Salada spun reeled back in shock at his statement. Bolt's outcry even took Sakura by surprise. "Don't give the bell to me! Give it to my sister!"
"W-Wha—you-?"
"Look! Look at me!" He wobbled around in the confinement of the invisible string. "Do I look like I earned a pass? Or is the flare on those glasses blinding your eyes?"
"W-Wait, but we're all gonna pa—"
"I swear to god if you don't give my sister the freaking bell, I don't care that you're a girl, I'm gonna take this post and beat your ass ugly, you retard four-eyes bitch!"
"That's ENOUGH," Sakura roared, "Bolt! You get your ass back to the academy right now and prepare to take every test again! That goes for everyone! None of you pass today! Bolt's ruined it for all of you."
"What?!" Bolt cried, "You're pinning this on me now?! I'll kick your ass, too!"
The air fluctuated like shaking sheet metal under the flash-step Sakura took towards Bolt. She crouched in front of him, pulled his head up by his hair and made eye contact with him for just a moment before his entire body involuntarily started shaking out of fear.
"Let me explain something to you, you little shit," said Sakura, "If you continue to act this way in front of me, you're going to go home begging for your father to scold you. You're going to go back to the academy, reshape your attitude, retake your tests and from now on respect me, respect my daughter, and show a sense of respect in front of your sister. Do I make myself clear?"
Bolt's breathing pattern became uncontrollable and showed signs of hyperventilation. His only response was widening his eyes, unable to avoid contact with her bloodshot eyes.
"I said, do I make myself clear?"
Bolt struggled to nod. As soon as he complied she stood back up and cut his strings loose. He couldn't do anything but stand and stare at the ground. Himewari walked towards him, looked up into his eyes and took his hand with both of hers.
"I'm sorry, Hime," said Bolt, continuing to stare at the floor, "You failed because of me."
"That's okay, Bolt-nii chan," she said, "I don't mind taking the test again. We're gonna go and work on your temper too, okay? We need to do a lot of happiness training for you today. I'll give you lots of ice creams from the fridge."
"Okay, Hime," said Bolt, "Get me chocolate. Chocolate is my favorite."
"Okay, but don't forget to brush your teeth afterwards this time."
Salada ignored them as they walked past her. She looked at the bell in her hand. Her lip curled slightly and she swallowed hard. Then she threw the bell on the floor with a "Tch" and followed behind them.
Sakura watched them all leave before taking a deep sigh of relief. "How the hell did you put up with this, Kakashi-sensei?"
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
Sakura returned from her hospital duties later that day, hoping that Salada would be home. She had ice cream in the bag that the sun had threatened to melt while she was outside. Remembering Himewari talk about ice cream with her big brother had put the idea in her head, and she thought that Salada might have liked to share some ice cream together with her as well, so she went shopping for some. After the events of today, it would probably be an effective pick-me-up. Also, Sakura was just craving sugar.
"Salada? Are you home?" she called, putting the groceries on the living room table.
She heard humming coming from Salada's room and decided to inspect. There Salada was, humming away a classic Hidden Leaf tune, sorting through her things. "Salada?" Sakura called poking her head through the crack in the door. Salada hadn't noticed quite yet, but thanks to that, Sakura managed to notice what she did next undetected.
The large cabinet on top of her dresser drawers had a lock on it, and Salada went to put a key that she took from out of her pocket into the lock. When she opened it, what was inside made Sakura's jaw drop.
It was a shrine dedicated to Naruto. Pictures galore of him was posted inside. Head shots, shoulder shots, full body shots, all different kinds of pictures were taped or pinned or posted up against the inside of her cabinet, leaving no gaps anywhere. There were even some pictures of when he was thirteen years old, like her. And—by god, were those his goggles from the ninja academy? She couldn't even imagine how she managed to get that.
What the hell? she thought to herself, Oh my god. My daughter is obsessed with Naruto. With NARUTO. You have got to be kidding me.
Sakura quickly pulled her head behind the door again, making sure to hide her presence completely while still peeking through the crack. Amusingly enough, Sakura noticed one picture out of the hundreds of Naruto pictures that was in fact, not Naruto, but instead a picture of Bolt, smiling with his sister throwing up the piece sign from the bottom left corner of the frame.
Salada picked up the picture and looked at it. "Stupid Bolt," she quietly said to herself, "I'll show you. I'm gonna be Hokage one day. Then you'll notice me."
Sakura tried very carefully not to make the door creak as she clung on to it while sinking to the floor, her eyes wide as they could open, dumbstruck. This can't be for real.
"Or, I could just marry Naruto-sama instead. We'll marry in the Land of Mist where it's legal and I'll be his second wife. What would you think about that, Bolt? Huh?"
Sakura slunk to the bottom of the door, eyes fixated on Salada. Her eyelids couldn't open any wider. They wouldn't blink either. She couldn't take much more of this. It was too much. She had to stop spying, it would ruin her.
Sakura pulled back from the door and laughed silently, her fist quietly beating on her knee and her other hand holding her head up lest it fell off from suppressing the hardest laughs she ever had.
"I'm going to be Hokage someday, Datteboyo!" Salada cried from her room. The clear breaking point for Sakura, the laughs broke out through her nose and sputtering lips, so she dug her face into her knees. Datteboyo?! Not even Shanaro? Really?! It was so adorable that she couldn't even be upset about it.
"Huh? Who's there?" Salada called. Sakura lifted her head in alert, stood up and tip-toed away from her room around the corner of a wall into the living room, pressing her back against the wall behind the corner.
Salada creaked open the door to peak around, but thankfully wasn't suspicious enough to come out. But this time, she shut the door all the way. Sakura's heart calmed down. If Salada had caught her spying, the poor girl would be mortified.
… Then again, Sakura was that mom.
The inner desire to mess with Salada couldn't be fought. Naruto must have embedded a bit of his prankster side into her, because she found herself blaming him for it. With a little grin, she casually strolled back up to Salada's door and twisted the knob slowly, jiggling it for a second to give her a moment to hide everything, and then pushed the door wide open.
"Salada-chan, I'm home!" she said with a gleeful expression. Salada jumped sky-high and fumbled with everything in her hands, trying to close the cabinet doors as quickly as possible. "BWAH—GNYAAAH!" She blurted out. She turned her back to the cabinet, arms spread eagle against it as if trying to desperately keep Sakura out.
"Mom!" she called back, cheeks flushed as read as a tomato, "What are you doing home?!"
"It's… hehehe… It's five o' clock, I get out early," she replied, although the chuckles seemed to still be wanting out, "Do you want some—ppftnngg—do you want some ice cream?"
"U-Uh… okay," Salada replied, "Yeah, I'll come out in a second, now go away!"
"Alright, hurry up, it's—ppppftnnnnngghhehehehee… it's melting." And Sakura closed the door, just slightly enough to convince Salada she was gone, but not quite all the way, and she peeked back into her room.
Salada opened the cabinet back up and started placing everything back into their proper order. Before shutting and locking the door, she stood and stared at the big Hokage-Naruto picture in the center.
"I wish you were my dad," she said quietly before shutting it.
Sakura pulled back from the door. This time she was sure she heard something she should not have. And somehow, it stung her heart more that it should.
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
The next day, Sakura spent the latter half in the Hokage office with Naruto. Her feelings of bitterness from all of yesterday's events still lingered, but she stayed professional about it, as it was her duty.
"Almost done for the day," said Naruto, typing away on his laptop with one hand and eating cup noodles with chopsticks in the other, "Can I get an oral report on how the supplementary lessons went?"
Sakura stopped straightening out the papers on her desk halfway the moment that was mentioned. "They failed."
Naruto looked up at her in surprise, a mouth full of noodles. "Even Himewari? I mean, I expected Bolt to, absolutely, but… Himewari? And Salada too?"
"Yes. It was the bell test. Their teamwork was subpar at best. Your son relies on your daughter a surprising amount. That's not considered teamwork, and it wasn't good enough for a passing grade."
"Well, I mean, if that's your verdict," said Naruto, tilting his cup ramen in his hand to suck down the last dregs.
"I'll be re-doing the test again with them next week. I'm sure they will improve greatly. They always do." Sakura smiled and her eyes glossed over with joy. "I mean, they're really incredible." Naruto's eyes focused on her from behind the cup. "Himewari is already Jounin level in pure combat skill. And she's eleven. How did you even accomplish that?"
"Wasn't me, that was Hinata," he said, setting his empty noodle cup down, "The relationship those two have is impeccable, and that was just what she needed to grow. Bolt is a completely different ball game, though."
"Even Bolt is amazing," said Sakura, "He has so much raw power. His chakra reserves are one to outmatch yours, can you believe that?"
"That is the one question you do not ask me," he said, pointing his chopsticks at her.
Sakura laughed. "And then Salada… She finally awakened her Sharingan today, did you know that?"
Naruto froze. His expression died and he stared at Sakura, but she didn't notice and just went on.
"I think she used Kamui on me today or something… Just a tiny one, of course. Can you do that in the first stages of the Sharingan? I'm sorry, it's just, it's kind of a happy moment to see, that she did it all on her own, without having to go through any suffering to get it… It proves that the cycle of hatred is truly broken, and that… I mean… I'm just… I'm just so proud of her…"
Tears streamed down Sakura's cheeks and dragged her face down so that her chin was in her chest. "I'm just… so proud…"
Naruto got out of his chair and walked over to the other side of his desk. "Sakura," he quietly said. She lifted her sniffling head up. Naruto offered his hand, and she took it, grabbing on to it to pull herself up. Then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her shoulder under his chin. The warmth of his hug enabled more tears to well up in her eyes, and she hugged him back tightly.
"He would be proud too," he said.
A knock came at the door. "Hokage-sama," interrupted Udon, "Shikamaru is back from his mission, and he's here to make a report."
Naruto let Sakura go and walked towards the door. Shikamaru stood just outside, looking like his usual lethargic self. "We'll talk outside," he told Shikamaru.
"N-Naruto, are we done?" Sakura asked. Naruto turned to her and said, "For now, yes. Just finish that paperwork and then head home, I have to go."
"Go where?" asked Sakura, but he didn't answer and just passed through the door himself. Luckily for Sakura, her paperwork was all already done, so she could just go. She picked up her paperwork, and only stopped for a moment just outside the office door that barely creaked open to hear Shikamaru and Naruto talking to each other.
"They were importing the Tengu Blood straight across the boarder without any official documentation. It's coming from the Land of Sound, we need to go across the boarder and locate its source."
"If I send a team out there to invade those boarders we could be looking at another war with the Sound easily. We can wait with that, I'm not worried about it right now."
"What the hell could be more important than this?"
"I finally found out where Sasuke is hiding his eyes."
Shikamaru went silent for a moment before tentatively asking, "…Where?"
Naruto took a deep breath. "In Salada's head."
The hairs on the back of Sakura's neck stood straight up. That couldn't be true.
"Sasuke is here. In the village," said Shikimaru.
"Right now? Without an escort?" Naruto asked.
"Yeah, standing at the village gates."
"Get Hinata. Tell her to meet me in the ER as soon as possible."
"Got it."
The two of them walked in different directions. But Sakura stood as stiff as a board behind the door. Salada's eyes were Sasuke's. Sasuke is here. Sasuke is here.
She dropped all her paperwork on the floor and leapt out of the emergency escape in the office, down the village building and sliding off its horizontal shingles. Once on the road, she flash-stepped towards the front of the village as quickly as she could. The tall, banner like gate welcoming you to the Hidden Leaf got closer and closer, until, just around the bend she could see the front gates. She skidded to a halt and kicked up a ton of dust in front of her. When the dust settled, behind it stood Sasuke with a brown bandage over his eyes.
Standing in front of her, hand on the hilt of his personal chokuto blade, leaning on one leg, he turned his head her way, not sure if she was truly looking at her or not.
"Naruto, you're here," said Sasuke in a light tone, "If you're going to ask about my eyes over and over again like you do, let me make it clear right now, I'm not saying a word. Now can I please borrow your right eye again?"
vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv
A/N:
Hi there.
Alright, there's a crap ton I want to say, but I'm gonna keep it short and sweet for the first time because I know, I know, this chapter was ridiculously loooooooong. I'm sorry. When I write I write with a checkpoint/cliffhanger in mind and don't stop writing until I've properly developed the story to that checkpoint/cliffhanger. This woulda been out sooner otherwise, mah baaaaaad.
So yeah. Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who favorited, followed, commented, etc. It means a lot to me. I didn't expect to get as many as I did for that first chapter, I was just crossing my finger for a couple, two/three comments and stuff by the end of the week. So yeah! Pleasantly surprised! Then again, following up the ending of a huge series with a headcanon about *gasp* INFIDELITY would definitely garner some serious attention, probably. I've already received a couple hate comments from people who commented as guests, but I think I had guest commenting turned off at the time so they didn't get posted.
Anyways! So as a lot of you probably know now with this second chapter, this story is gonna be a… um… plot heavy. I promise, there will be plenty of NaruSaku! Especially in the next chapter… I mean, the general idea is NaruSaku, but when I was writing this, the writer in me demanded something more interesting, it demanded a GOOD STORY. So, I just decided to create headcanon about what happens after the manga (and it can still be interpretative! Nothing ever solidified the SS ship, it was all implication! Heavy, heavy implication! *sips from denial tea*).
So, there ya have it. I intend to give you the best headcanon you can write for this series (or at least the best I can write). Whether or not I'm the first one to write a NaruSaku "infidelity" piece, or perhaps that I was the only one with the gall enough to try, I hope you all stick with this if I can keep your interest well enough.
By the way, this is my first fanfic.
Be gentle.
EDIT: I want to encourage everyone to point out grammatical errors, obvious canon contradictions or anything in general that needs to be looked at if you can. I go over these at least three times, but there's always something that I miss. And I'm a writer by hobby, so I only work to improve my skill. It would be much appreciated, thanks guys.