Chapter 1! I am hoping to get a few more chapters out this weekend, but it might not happen. I apologize with how slow this first chapter is, and I am not very good at fight scenes either. Hopefully my writing will get better with time though, so just bare with me. Thank you to anyone who reads my story, It will be pretty slow at first as they are only genin at the moment. I want this to be long, and any suggestions and feedback are appreciated!
I do not own Naruto or any of the characters!
It was a struggle for Sakura to ignore her root training during Kakashi's test. She had to appear useless, nobody could know her true potential. After all, she was just Sakura Haruno. Fan-girl of Sasuke Uchiha. Book smart, but couldn't hold her own in a fight. It was the complete opposite of who she truly was, and Sakura found it hard to force her emotions out sometimes. She had always been taught to repress them, to not give away a single thing. Her name and hair had certainly helped though, causing others to find her innocent and sweet. Little did they know she could slit someone's throat in a heartbeat with no hesitation. The young girl had to disregard every single basic action and instinct she had gained during her training, and it had taken a tremendous effort not to dispel the simple genjutsu that Kakashi had thrown at her. Funnily enough, Sasuke had appeared in her genjutsu, which made her force out a scream and fall over. Pretending to be passed out, she had waited until she felt Kakashi's chakra signature disappear before pulling herself up and making her way to near where the other three were.
It wasn't long after that they ended up passing the tests, which Sakura found to be a miracle. Danzo-sama would have killed her immediately if she had performed the way she did moments ago. Konoha certainly wasn't trying to properly train their shinobi it seemed, and this only hardened Sakura's loyalty to Danzo. After all, without him Konoha probably would have fallen. Shortly after, she had fell into a natural routine. D rank missions, little bit of training, a lot of waiting. Until the day Naruto demanded a C rank.
"I'm tired of these boring missions!" Naruto declared, eyes narrowed at the two shinobi sitting in front of them. His arms were crossed over his cheerfully bright jacket, and Sakura had to force herself to keep her mouth shut from reprimanding him. Surely he knew just how important these simple missions were to the village? Without happy citizens, the village would fail. She wasn't surprised that he found them boring, but the boy lacked respect. That was something that had been beaten into her at an early age, and it was confusing how so many lacked it.
"Naruto, you are a genin! You are meant to do D ranked missions!" Iruka tried to explain, but with his raised voice it wasn't hard to see that he was angry. Naruto never failed to piss the teacher off, something Sakura didn't quite understand.
"Well I want a better one! So give me one!" Thus began a long overdrawn talk about the mission system, given by none other than the Third Hokage. Several minutes later, the older man took a short drag from his pipe before realizing Naruto had been paying absolutely no attention. Kakashi was reading his little orange book, and Sasuke seemed to be inspecting one of his kunai. Sakura however, had been listening while discreetly keeping an eye on every move Naruto made.
"Naruto! Listen when Lord Third speaks!" Iruka shouted, his face red as he stood up and slammed his hands on the table. He backed off a bit when said man held his hand up. Naruto finally turned to look at them, a bored look on his face.
"Fine." The Third Hokage finally sighed, ignoring the protests coming from Iruka. "You will be bodyguards…Come in!" Sakura suddenly got a strong whiff of alcohol, nose scrunching up for just a brief second before she let confusion take over her face at the sight of the newcomer. She could see Sasuke eyeing the old man with distaste, and Naruto just looked excited.
"This is what I get? A bunch of squirts? Hey you! The short one in the middle…Are you even a ninja?" In a quick movement, Kakashi had grabbed onto the back of Naruto's jacket and pulled him back as the younger boy screamed profanity for a brief moment.
"Meet Tazuna. You will be escorting him to the Land Of The Waves." Cue the man taking a swig of alcohol and giving them a large grin.
Running a hand through her hair, Sakura let herself focus on what was ahead of her as they left the village. Between Naruto and Sasuke's bickering, and Tazuna's snide comments about their ability, Sakura was getting annoyed. She had to put a fake smile on though, occasionally saying something in favor of Sasuke. Kakashi didn't seem bothered by it, his nose in his tiny book. Suddenly though, Sakura's eyes drifted down onto a small puddle that was on the ground. It hadn't rained in weeks, and it was then that Sakura noticed the chakra signature the puddle held. Forcing her eyes away, she remained oblivious, certain that Kakashi had already noticed it.
It was then that Sakura heard the rattling of chains, all three genin whirling around in time to see them wrapping around their sensei. The Jounin's eyes were wide in surprise, and Sakura immediately focused on the two enemy nin standing at the end of the chains.
"What?!" Naruto shouted, with Sasuke slipping into a battle stance next to him.
"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura yelled out just before the enemy nin pulled on the chains. Their sensei was crushed right before their eyes, although Sakura could vaguely see some smoke where he had been standing. 'Substitution jutsu…Of course.' She thought before stumbling back and crying out at the sight before her.
"K-Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto stumbled over the words, unable to believe what he had just seen. Just as he yelled, he felt an unknown presence behind him, and the sound of maniacal laughter.
"Now it's your turn." One of them chuckled, before they both charged for the young blond. Chains rattling, Naruto froze in fear as he watched them getting closer and closer. Sakura forced herself to stay put, seeing Sasuke moving towards the three. A shuriken and kunai already in hand, Sasuke expertly threw it and pinned the chain to the tree before landing on the enemy nin's arms. Swiftly acting, Sasuke placed his hands below him and kicked the enemy nin in the jaw, dislocating the chain from their arms as they slid back. The two ninja shook off the pain from the kick, quickly sliding around. One charged for Naruto, the other towards Sakura and Tazuna.
"Stay behind me!" Sakura didn't hesitate to pull a kunai out and position herself in front of the older man, getting herself into a fighting position. She knew she could handle them, she was just afraid to give herself away. Suddenly Sasuke appeared in front of her, arms thrown out in order to protect them. A look of confusion flashed over her face, and Sakura didn't understand why he would protect them. Why would you risk your life for someone meaningless? She was replaceable technically.
"Yo." Suddenly Kakashi was standing before them, both of the enemy nin held in a chokehold. It was then that Naruto looked over to where he had seen Kakashi die, now noticing the small wooden logs on the ground.
"What?! Substitution?!"
After a brief incident where Naruto had stabbed himself in the hand to get rid of poison, they decided to continue on with the mission. Sakura felt it was stupid, putting young genin in harms way like this. Sasuke and Naruto weren't properly trained for a mission like this, and Sakura's current identity certainly wasn't up to par either. Nonetheless, they continued on.
After a bit more traveling, they reached a boat. Tazuna finally decided to explain the situation, and Sakura absorbed every word. She needed every detail possible, committing it all to memory. Danzo would most likely want a report of what happened, and Sakura couldn't leave a single detail out.
Gato. The name rung a bell, and it took a moment for Sakura to realize why. Danzo had crammed as much information about everything and anything into Sakura the moment she was able to comprehend her surroundings. Gato was a shipping magnate, completely in control of The Land of Waves' shipping routes. Danzo had dealings with the man, or well, a subordinate of Danzo's dealt with him. Most likely under the guise of a civilian. Who knew who Gato would hire to take out Tazuna, the man had enough money that anyone could be paid to do a deed such as this. Danzo would want to hear about this, and Sakura couldn't want to write her first actual report to him.
The boat ride felt like it lasted forever, and soon enough they were on land once again. They walked rather slowly through the green forest, and Sakura noticed Sasuke and Naruto seemed to be racing each other almost. At least until Naruto stopped and chucked a kunai into a bush. A few moments of silence passed,
"Just a mouse." Naruto declared, with Tazuna starting to yell shortly afterwards.
"Stop trying to scare me you stupid brat!" Naruto ignored his words as he began looking around again, determined to show up Sasuke. Finally he turned again and hurled another kunai into a bush, with Kakashi moving closer to investigate as Naruto and Tazuna argued.
"Hmm.." There was a small rabbit lying on the ground, a kunai pressed into the bark above it's head. Naruto jumped into action moments later, hugging the rabbit to his chest as he apologized over and over. Meanwhile, Kakashi was thinking over the situation, and Sakura intently stared at the animal. They were both sharing the same thoughts. A snow rabbit, although it's fur was the wrong color. It wasn't winter, and something was off. It was then that Sakura noticed the chakra signature above them.
"Get down!" Everyone dived to the ground as something flew over their heads before slamming into a tree. Sakura peeked up enough to see a long sword, which she immediately recognized as Kubikiribocho. Eyes continuing up, she took in the lean figure of Zabuza Momochi. One of the seven swordsman of the mist. He could kill them easily, she had no doubt. Perhaps she could stand a chance, and Sakura was itching to get her hands on his sword. Danzo would be proud of her then, if she took down a ninja of his caliber.
"Well, well. If it isn't Zabuza Momochi… Rouge ninja from the village Hidden In The Mist." Kakashi's hand darted out as Naruto tried to run past him.
"You're in the way."