A/N: Sorry spelling and grammatical errors. I'm trying!

Also, slow beginning...but it is needed.

Chapter 2: More Voices

"No, no, hime. It's the ox sign."

"What are you talking about?! It's the monkey sign!"

"No! Boar!"

"You're both wrong! It's snake!"

Sakura blinked, staring at the four trees before her.

"Boar!"

"Ox!"

"Monkey!"

"Snake!"

She sighed, raising a hand to ruffle the back of her head as she turned away. The arguing trees didn't even notice her leaving, crossing the shadowed training ground. It was early, the sun having only risen half an hour ago. Yawning a little, Sakura made her way to a small boulder near the middle of the field. She crouched down to its level and placed a hand on top of it.

"Morning, Iwa-san."

"Morning, hime," it said softly, voice female. Young, but older than Sakura's twelve year old self. "How can I help you?"

"There's a jutsu chibi-moku-san was trying to teach me," Sakura answered, motioning her hand over her shoulder; toward a line of trees right behind standing several feet away. She was referring to the shortest one of the bunch. "But the other Moku-sans are saying he doesn't remember it correctly, and yet, they all are telling me different things.

"I see..." Iwa said, "What justu are they teaching you?"

"It's an earth based jutsu. Something to do with being able to move underground fluidly like a fish in a water," Sakura explained.

"Ahh...Earth Style: Underground Move Jutsu. I've seen that justu done several times," Iwa commented, voice tinted with amusement. "I believe it is a C-rank jutsu, correct?Are you not too young for it, hime? You have yet to become a genin."

Sakura pouted a little, crossing her arms over her chest. "Don't you believe that I will pass the exams today, Iwa-san?"

Laughter filled the young girl's head. "Of course, hime. You've grown very strong. I have no doubt that you will be one of the best of your time."

Sakura's lips stretched into a wide grin as her head bobbed up and down. "Thanks, Iwa-san! ...Now then, about the jutsu..."

"Yes, the Underground Move..." Iwa chuckled, "Well, most of what chibi-moku-san taught you is correct."

"So the last sign is ox?"

"I said most, hime. He is actually wrong about the last sign," Iwa pointed out.

"Then what is it? Monkey? Boar? Snake?"

"None. It's actually rat."

Sakura paused for a moment, mulling over her words. Then, in an instant, she stood and turned around, her hands cupping around her mouth. "Moku-sans! You were all wrong! Iwa-san says its rat!"

Their reaction was automatic.

"What-!"

"No, it is not-"

"You're going to believe an-"

"-old bat-"

"-bad memory-"

Rolling her eyes, the twelve year old pinkette ran her hands through the justu quickly. Despite what Iwa-san said, Sakura had a decent amount of jutsu under her belt; a majority of them were earth and wind; a few fire and water; and a single wood jutsu. They were mostly D and C-ranked, and one or two were B-rank. For the past five years, since she took to being trained by nature, she became strong...for a genin. An arsenal of jutsu, above average for genjutsu, not too bad in taijutsu, quite skilled with weaponry - these ranges of skills were determined by the set of average skills for a genin and chunin. She wasn't going to fool herself. At most, she was somewhere between being an average chunin to a skilled chunin.

Nowhere near a jounin. Not yet anyways, because some of the few things Sakura took real pride in was her perfect memory and being able to learn quickly.

Her brow was furrowed in concentration as she felt her chakra spike a little.

Nothing happened.

Sighing, Sakura went through the signs again, but this time, with a little more chakra. An almost silent poof suddenly filled her ears, and the next thing she knew, she was in complete darkness. Raising a brow, Sakura twisted her body around, moving here and there, finding that she almost felt light as a feather when she was actually underground. Hmm...not too hard, she thought with a smile before shooting up and, without disrupting the earth's surface, popped up behind the Moku-sans.

"Yup! Iwa-san is right!"

The trees' voices grumbled in her head, a few insults of Iwa-san being thrown in. From a distance, Iwa-san only laughed, teasing the trees about the ones who actually has "bad memory." Sakura giggled a little before returning to her training. She went through her new Earth Jutsu again, missing the first try, but getting it the second time. She then went through it again and again and again, until she was comfortable enough that she was able to execute it on the first try repeatedly. Once that was covered, she went through a few more earth jutsu, a fire jutsu, a water jutsu, and then ended training with taijutsu, fighting imaginary enemies. By the time Sakura was finished, she was panting and covered in sweat. She also noticed that if she didn't leave now, she was going to be late for her (hopefully) last day at the Academy.

"Well, I got to go! Thanks for the help Iwa-san, Moku-sans!" she yelled as she left the training ground. She was never aware of the single onyx eye that had been watching her entire training session.

"Do you think we should have warned hime about that man?" Chibi-moku-san questioned softly.

"There was no reason to," another answered, "He means no harm."

"If he becomes a threat to hime," Iwa-san spoke aloud in her soft voice, "Then we will warn her...but for now, he is practically harmless."

"How do you know that?" a third tree questioned.

"He goes often to visit my brethren," Iwa-san explained, "The one that holds the names of the shinobi that have fallen in battle."

"Ahh...so he is the 'Broken Soul' that visits the memorial stone so often. So many of our brothers and sisters speak of him; many of them even cry for him," the last of the four trees that were training Sakura commented.

The group sensed as a silver haired man disappeared from the area.

"...Kakashi Hatake."

"Woohoo! I passed!" Sakura shouted at the top of her lungs, running out of the Academy's entrance. Several other children cheered and ran like her, while a few others walked at a more casual place with a smile. Sakura came to an abrupt halt, however, as she watched a majority of the others kids being congratulated by their parent(s). Turning her head from left, then to right, she saw that her parents were not present. She frowned a little at this, her excitement now dwindling a little.

Her parents hated that she went into the field of a shinobi. Since the very beginning, when she told them of her intentions to become a kunoichi, her father did well in trying to change her mind. During the days she didn't have school, he would bring her to the shop. At night, when the Academy was done and he was finished with work, he would tell her stories of his travels of a merchant. He would go into detail of the large trading network he had that extended into several of the elemental countries, and if she were to follow his footsteps, then she would forever live in luxury. Her mother didn't try as much as her father, but she was just as hard pressed to get her daughter away from the dangerous life of a shinobi. Every time Sakura got hurt, her mother would not only scold her, but slip in how she will get hurt a lot more if Sakura was to continue down this path.

There were also a few nights where her mother would cry, begging her child not to do it, and it was those moments that were the hardest for Sakura.

"Sakura-hime! Sakura-hime!"

A strong rush of winds suddenly blew past Sakura, eliciting several cries of surprise by people around her. The trees planted at the entrance of the Academy began to rustle their leaves furiously. Vaguely, Sakura heard the comments of how odd the weather was today, but she paid little attention to those. Instead, she focused on the several voices that were congratulating her.

"You're a genin now!"

"Congratulations!"

"I knew you-"

"-awesome-"

"-kick butt!"

"-strong-"

"Show the world-"

"Keep training-"

"-proud of you."

Sakura giggled softly, closing her eyes as she listened. She could feel a few pairs of eyes on her, but she didn't care. The voices of nature were always there for her. They always cheered for her, helping her, comforted her...and reminded her when she wavered even the slightest in her goal. Those hard nights when her mother would cry? Soft breezes would blow into her room, whispering words of encouragement. When the peaceful life of a merchant sounded alluring, Moku-oji-san would tell her stories of her ancestors that were shinobi and kunoichi. Yes, living the life of a kunoichi was dangerous. Yes, it was scary with your life always hanging on a thread. Yes, it was painful with the high possibility of future friends being lost, but it was fulfilling. Sakura was granted with this gift for a reason, and she believed that reason was to use it to help protect those who need it - who deserve it.

Speaking of Moku-oji-san, I should go and see him, Sakura thought, reopening her emerald eyes. Still smiling, she turned to her right, destination now in mind. The wind was still blowing, though more gentle, causing her long pink hair to slightly billow in the air. She had decided to let it grow over the past few years by the encouragement of the winds. They mentioned how they liked running through people's hair, and would love to do so with their hime. Not that Sakura minded. It always felt like someone's fingers were running through her pink mane, and it felt incredibly soothing. Her wardrobe had also changed since she was little. By her mother's request, she wore a long red dress that had slits on the sides from the bottom to her thighs, and blue sandals. A white circle was printed on the back of her dress, the symbol of her family, and underneath she wore a pair of spandex shorts.

"Hey! Forehead girl!"

In mid-step, Sakura looked back over her shoulder to see a familiar blonde with ocean blue eyes that were glaring at her. Ino Yamanaka, her now ex-best friend. She was dressed in a sleeveless navy blue top with a turtleneck collar, a matching skirt with shorts underneath, and blue sandals. Like Sakura. she had also grown out her light blonde hair, pulling it up into a high ponytail. Unlike Sakura, she grew her hair for a more...materialistic reason. For a boy, specifically. A boy that was heading in Sakura's direction.

Ahh, so that's why she's glaring at me.

The boy was their age with jet black hair and matching eyes. His hair had bangs framing his face, and spiked in the back. He was dressed in a dark blue shirt with a high collar and white short pants. On the back of his shirt was a circular fan, the top half being red and the bottom half being white - the symbol of the Uchiha Clan - and gripped in his right hand was his hitai-ate.

"Hi Sasuke," Sakura greeted once he reached her right side.

He glanced at her, gave a small nod, stuffed his left hand into the pocket of his shorts, and said, "Hn." Then he continued on walking, but at a much more slower pace as he passed the pinkette. Sakura sighed at this, knowing that this was his way of asking if she wanted to hang out. If she followed, then it was a yes. If she didn't, then it was a no.

"Forehead, don't think this means you won! Sasuke-kun will be mine!"

"Girl, have you no shame?" Inner Sakura shouted within Sakura's mind, while Sakura herself slightly tilted her head as she raised her hand in greeting. She completely ignored Inner Sakura, used to her random comments throughout the day. Though, she had to admit that her mental self was speaking a lot more now. Inwardly sighing at the possible trouble that meant, Sakura hurried to catch up with Sasuke, who was a several feet away now. Four years ago, about a week or two after the Itachi thing, there was this Kaze-san that reminded her of her promise to him; the promise to watch over his younger brother. It was the same Kaze-san that told her what to say to Itachi, and he kept bugging her until she went through with her word...

...which she would have done even without his annoying reminders!

"You have to go now, Sakura-hime."

"He'll fall into hatred."

"Please go be there for him."

"It'll be hard, but please do this for Itachi."

"It will ease Itachi's pain to know that Sasuke is in good hands, and it will help to ease Sasuke's grief to have an actual friend."

...

Sakura sighed. This Kaze-san was getting really annoying. Every morning, when she woke up, he told her to go to the Uchiha compound; every night, he would whisper for her to go to the Uchiha Compund the next day; throughout the day, he practically pushed her in the direction of Uchiha Compound. Like right now. Wind was blowing at her back, urging her to hurry...even when she was already heading over to where Sasuke Uchiha lived!

Honestly, I wish Kaze-san was a person. So then I could hit him!

Throughout the little trip, little Sakura came up with all kinds of things she could do to Kaze-san. Though, being only eight years old meant Sakura didn't come up with anything really drastic. Probably, the worst punishment she was thinking of was kicking Kaze-san in the shin and ignoring him for a long time. That seemed to always work on her father whenever he made her mad. He would even come home with a little gift for Sakura in hopes to make it up to her...which always worked. Who was Sakura to deny a cute little stuffed teddy bear? Or a pretty necklace? Or a pretty dress? Or the crimson red hair pin he got her-

"Hime, this way."

Having been in her wonderland of all the pretty-pretty things she got and could get, Sakura didn't realize she had entered the Uchiha Compound. Not until a sudden push of wind had her jerking to the right, causing her to stumble and almost losing her footing completely. Grumbling under her breathe about how mean Kaze-san is (in which he chuckled a little, earning a glare from the girl), Sakura found herself going around a huge house and coming face to face with a tall wooden face. She frowned a little. The fence was a few inches taller than her, which meant she couldn't see anything on the other side.

"Kaze-san?" she whispered.

"Of course, hime," he answered, knowing her intentions.

Smiling a little, she reached up, grabbing the top of the fence, and jumped. A gust of wind flew up from beneath her feet, helping her to jump over the wooden barrier. At the same time, she could feel a small tug at her chakra. Upon landing, Sakura felt like she had broke into a hard sprint and was breathing a little hard. A few deep breaths took care of that, however, and soon, she was just taking in the new area.

She was now in the backyard of the house she had gone around, and it was huge!

Emerald eyes widened at the large yard that eventually disappeared into the lines of trees of the forest at the end. Several different flowers were planted all over the place and in the center of it all was a large koi pond. Closer to the big house was a large garden of vegetables, and tending to it was a small black haired boy. Or, well, actually, he was just sitting beside it with a half eaten tomato in hand. He was also staring right at Sakura, eyes filled with suspicion and anger.

"Uhh...hi?" Sakura said, hesitant.

The two children stared at each other for several seconds. Neither doing or saying anything, and then...

"GET OUT!" Sasuke screamed and threw his half eaten tomato at Sakura.

That day was the day Sakura lost her favorite white pants to a stupid tomato staining it. It was also the day Sakura's mind began to delve into more...painful ways as to how she could hurt Kaze-san, and over the years, Sakura can happily state that she wasn't too bad in the arts of torture. For a twelve year old anyways. Too bad she would never be able to use any of them on Kaze-san... Sakura pouted at the reminder, but then smiled when she remembered another important thing that happened on that day.

Sasuke and she became friends.

Really close friends.

...after Sakura stopped crying and exclaiming how big of a "meanie" the Uchiha boy was...

Come on. She really liked her white pants! And because the Uchiha had stained it, her mother believed it would be best if she didn't wear white anymore. So she couldn't replace said white pants with another pair! It was totally unfair!

Unfortunately, because Sakura became close friends with the Sasuke Uchiha, who didn't put up with anyone in class, especially since the massacre, she became the heart of all young girl's jealousy. Especially when they became older and everyone was starting their awkward stage into teenager-hood, where hormones were all over the place. This eventually led to the ending of the friendship between Sakura and Ino. The way Ino saw it, she had claimed Sasuke first, and as her best friend, Sakura, who was close to Sasuke, should help her get with the boy. When the pinkette didn't, Ino concluded that her so-called best friend was hogging the boy and said she couldn't be friends with a "back stabber."

"Are you going to do anything with your parents?" Sasuke questioned softly, voice a bit stiff. Broken out of her memories, Sakura gave Sasuke a grin. He rolled his eyes. Her grin only widened.

"No," she answered, "So that means we're celebrating together!"

Sasuke raised a brow. "I did not agree to this."

"Sasuke, Sasuke, Sasuke," Sakura shook her head in a disappointment like matter, and placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt him tense, but then quickly relaxed when he realized she wasn't going to do anythig...painful. Kaze-san may have managed to escape her punishments, but others weren't so lucky. "You should already know that you don't have a choice in the matter."

"You're not the boss of me," he grunted defiantly.

""Nope, but I'm your best friend!" Sakura cheered, sliding her hand on his shoulder to the other, pulling him into a single arm hug. "So you'll agree to it anyways."

Sasuke grunted.

Translation: Yeah, I know.

Sakura inwardly groaned, raising her fingers to rub her temples. Too many voices were banging against her shield, a lot of them leaking through. In her mind, Inner Sakura was shouting at them to stay back. Loudly. Not that it helped. Her Inner's voice easily became lost in those of Nature's.

"Get away-"

"-not safe-"

"-burns!"

"-painful-"

"-evil-"

"-help him!"

"-poor creature-"

"-freedom lost-"

"-killer!"

"-prisoner!"

"-cold blood-"

"-misunderstood-"

"KURAMA."

Her head was beginning to throb at the clashing voices. One group was telling her to run. The other was telling her to stay. Along with their shouts, Sakura could feel an onslaught of her own questions. Who was Kurama anyways? Why should she run away? Who is she supposed to help? What were they talking about? At some point, Sakura began to clutch her head and outwardly groan. She didn't realize what she was doing until she could feel a gloved hand place on top of her head.

Shocked, emerald eyes shot upward to meet a single onyx eye. The other was hidden by a hitai-ate that was pulled down to cover it. The eye was filled with worry and curiosity, belonging to a man with silver hair that stood up in a slightly slanted position. His lower half was covered with a woolen mask, its material stretching down his neck and disappearing into a dark green flask vest that had a long sleeved navy blue shirt underneath, matching his pants. Adorning his hands were black fingerless gloves, and on his feet were black colored sandals. A kunai holster was strapped to the inside of his right thigh, and, because she saw it earlier, clipped to to the back of his right hip was a small pouch - both black.

"Sakura, are you OK?" a voice said from her left.

Turning her head, which caused the man to pull back his hand, Sakura saw Sasuke staring at her intently. His own onyx eyes that were usually hard and cold, were currently softened by worry. Blinking, Sakura took a moment to register her surroundings. She was on the Academy's roof...with her new team. That's right, it was the day after graduation, and she had been assigned her teammates. They were, at the moment, introducing themselves. One of them was Sasuke Uchiha. The other...

Looking to her other side, Sakura met a pair of worried sky blue eyes. They belonged to another boy her age, who had short spiky blonde hair and whisker-like features on his cheeks. He was dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit that had a bit of blue here and there, along with blue sandals.

...Naruto Uzumaki.

"-unfortunate-"

"-dangerous-"

"-help him!

"-run away!"

"He-"

ENOUGH! Sakura yelled in her mind, and just like that, the voices disappeared. Inner Sakura gave a relieved sigh, falling down to lie on the ground, and gave a mock salute. Outer Sakura let out a sigh as well, relieved that everything had finally quieted down in her mind. She then eyed the blonde beside her cautiously. Naruto Uzumaki. This always happened anytime she was near him. The voices would begin to yell, piercing through her shields, screaming for her to either get away or get closer, and because of this, she was careful to avoid the boy. Fate, however, seemed to think otherwise, and put him in her team.

"Sakura?" a deep voice called out.

The named girl turned to meet the gaze of the last team member and leader of Team Seven. A jounin, Kakashi Hatake. He was staring down at her intently. She gave him a tired smile.

"Sorry, sensei," she said, "Migraine..."

He gave an understanding nod, though, the look in his eye said he didn't believe her completely. "I see... Well, we're almost done for the day. You just have to give your introductions, and that will be all."

"Ahh, OK..." she cleared her throat, ignoring the gazes of her newly appointed teammates. "Uhm...what are we supposed to say again, Kakashi-sensei?" She blushed a little, embarrassed that she had easily forgot.

His eye closed, crinkling in a way that gave off the impression that he was smiling. "Your name, hobbies, dislikes, likes, and current dream," he answered.

She nodded. "Well...my name is Sakura Haruno. My hobby is reading and taking long walks. I like to train and talk to my friends-"

"That's us! That's us!" a small breeze shouted, blowing across the roof. Sakura sighed, her concentration on her shields had lessened a little as she thought of what to say.

"-and I dislike it when people annoy me," she stated, emphasizing on 'people'. Both Sasuke and Kakashi raised a brow at this, while Naruto smiled sheepishly, as if guilty.

"Sorry, hime..." a chorus of voices said softly.

"My dream...my dream..." she smiled softly, "My dream is to protect those who need it - who deserve it." She thought of Itachi and Sasuke when she said that, remembering that they were unwillingly put to walk a path they did not want.

Kakashi's curiosity was peaked. "...and how would you know who deserves your protection?"

"Easy," Sakura gave a grin. One that said she knew something that he did not, and she did. She knew a lot of things not very many people knew. Then again, there were still many things that she had yet to learn. Like who was Kurama, and why the voices seem to become more aggressive when near Naruto. She took a mental note that she will have to ask Moku-oji-san once she got the chance.

"You just have to listen carefully, sensei."

That night, after her first team meeting, which ended with Kakashi telling them when to meet tomorrow morning and that they shouldn't eat breakfast, Sakura had a weird dream. At first, it started with her being in complete darkness. Then, there was a bright flash of light. Being blinded, Sakura raised her hands to cover her face, but just as soon as it appeared, the light disappeared, replaced with a heat that licked at Sakura's skin. Curious, she dropped her arms, and felt herself freeze.

She was still in complete darkness, but she wasn't alone.

Sitting on its hunches, a red fox stared at her with burning crimson eyes. The heat Sakura was feeling was coming from the fox in waves. Behind it, nine tails swayed gracefully from left to right, and somewhere in the back of her mind, Sakura questioned if they were as soft as they looked. However, despite the soft graceful looking tails, or the fact that the fox had nine tails to begin with (how weird is that), what had Sakura frozen in her spot was the hatred and killing intent that came off of this animal. Swallowing dryly, Sakura managed to pull out the tiniest bit of courage.

"W-Who are you?" she questioned softly.

The fox grinned.

"I'm Kurama, Sakura-hime."

Sakura furrowed her brow. "But you're...an animal...I can only talk to Nature's voices... Like trees, fire, wind, water, flowers, rocks..."

His grin seem to only widen, revealing his very sharp canine teeth.

"I am part of nature, hime." He suddenly disappeared, red wisps taking its place. Said wisps then shot at Sakura, swirling around her with hot air.

"When I was sealed away, a part of my chakra was absorbed into earth. Sakura-hime, I am part of nature," he repeated.

"And I've been waiting to speak to you. Waiting until you were able to hear my voice."

A/N: Ahh...so, because I don't like writing during the time they were genin, I jump around, because come on...you all know what happened. Anyways, what does Kurama want to talk to Sakura about! Find out in the next chapter, which will also have Zabuza and Haku. By the way, should those two die or live? What happens to them will in fact affect this story, so I will leave the choice to you!

Updates come every one to two weeks on either Sunday or Monday; depending how busy I am. If later, then its because I am REALLY busy. Or I'm working details out. One of the two.