Chapter 1
Trip to Suna
It was early dawn and my mother had dragged me out of my warm and comfy bed. I had grabbed my small bag I had packed last night and prepared to leave Konoha for a long time.
Funny as it was, I was unsure how to feel about leaving. Of course, we would eventually come back but this was my home. I was sure I was supposed to feel some sort of sadness for leaving without a goodbye.
On one hand this was where those girls bullied me. I had tried to fit in with them, and had done everything they asked me to do from sneaking into the Uchiha compound to talking to Neji Hyuuga.
I had always been afraid of the Uchiha compound until Sasuke had found me. Surprisingly Sasuke hadn't gotten upset with me, probably because I hadn't stolen his shirt yet. We later became what I could guess could be considered friends.
Sasuke was lonely when his brother was too busy to train with him but he definitely didn't want girls drooling over him every single second.
Then after I was sent to the Uchiha compound again by the girls, I met Itachi. At first I was afraid of him, but I saw Sasuke run up to him and hug him happily. So I eventually grew used to Itachi's rare but comforting presence. On the occasion, Sasuke was out somewhere without Itachi, then Itachi would walk and talk with me. It was nice to have someone older than you to look to besides your parents.
Itachi had also cared enough to teach me a few jutsu, that to be truthful I never truly mastered but did take notes on, and I knew then I could always look up to him.
There was also when I met Naruto. He was loud and noisy but never refused to speak his mind. I met him at the ramen shop and he went out of his way to make me laugh after the girls put me down. He eventually developed a way for us to communicate, I being someone who preferred not to talk, he would talk then watch for a response from me and we would be satisfied that way.
I realized that I would miss the village. I was born here, of course, but I had friends. Well, that was how I thought of them, but considering how I recently had become Miss Konoha Social Recluse. They probably didn't agree with me at all.
"Sakura, we're leaving now!" Yelled my father from the front door. "Please come down here!"
I slid off my bed and walked over to my door. I looked around at my room for one last time, not knowing when I would see it next. I scurried down the stairs to where my parents were waiting by the door.
We would mostly walk to Suna since I had only just started ninja school and didn't really know how to climb trees without using my hands. Actually my parents were civilians, and weren't sure whether they wanted me to become a ninja or not, because it was such a difficult and dangerous profession. Since they were from civilian families and not ninja clans with some ultra powerful ability I wasn't expected to do anything great in my life besides be a heir-bringer.
It wasn't that I didn't like the idea of not being a kid from a ninja clan like Sasuke or Itachi but I wanted to do something useful in my life. I wanted to be someone other than a useless trophy wife; I wanted to be important and needed by someone. I wanted to find my niche in life.
It would probably take a few weeks to get to Suna but that didn't bother me by much. It was the fact that we would walk. I was always hoping that one day I would be able to numbly jump from tree to tree like an elite ninja. But it would take a lot of work so I studied every day. The down-side to my daily studying was I knew everything in theory since I took notes in my notebook. The actual bad part about it was that I didn't train physically so I didn't have the charka reserves to do anything epic, no matter what sort of stuff I knew.
In other words I was absolutely useless should anyone attack us.
I could only hope nothing would happen on our way to Suna…
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Suna
"We're finally here!" I shouted to the sky in a hoarse voice because of the dry sand that had caked the insides of my throat.
My parents continued to walk past me into the market district already knowing where they were headed. I followed absentmindedly while looking around at the city's tall sandstone walls and buildings. The occasional wooden shutter or two with some of them open with clothes drying out on a line, which went from building to building. It sort of reminded of streamers at a festival.
I looked ahead and saw my parents far ahead of me apparently also caught in their own little world. I quickly ran after them and caught up.
"So where are we going?" I asked.
"It's nice to see you're becoming active again Sakura." Commented my mother happily. "We have to see the Kazekage first then we'ii know how long we're staying here."
"So don't go running off, Sakura." Added my father, always the protective one.
"Oh, she isn't going to do that. She knows better." Replied my mother once again beginning a conversation with my father.
They were always like that, not exactly two young lovers that ignored their own child but still I never really liked talking with them. They would always try and talk me out of something, like being a ninja, or try to get me to become like a normal little civilian girl. It was another reason I wanted to become a ninja so badly, my parents refused to see I didn't want to be physically delicate and unable to take care of myself on my own.
My parents then went off into a small squabble about whether I was responsible enough to be left at home. I was going to turn six next week and it seemed neither of them were going to remember at all.
We eventually reached the Kazekage's tower. It was located in the center of the village, much like ours. Except the village seemed to be more guards here than with our Hokage's tower. Maybe the Kazekage was in some sort of trouble?
My parents quickly entered and knocked on the door to be let in. I quietly followed them into the circular and plainly decorated room. The Kazekage sat on a tatami mat in the center of the room. The two children by his side, I immediately assumed to be his, sat on the very edge of the tatami mat. Guards on either side of their father separated them, so obviously the Kazekage was more concerned about his own well being more than his own children.
For a moment, I took the time to appreciate the fact that my parents wanted to protect me. Even if at times it seemed to be too much.
Their conversation seemed to drone on forever and eventually I grew bored. I soon only caught snippets of the conversation like "merchant", "children", "unofficial trade agreement", and "year."
We quickly left and thanked the Kazekage.
"So how long are we staying here?"
"A year."
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The Next Day
"Sakura we're going to work now. We'll be back for lunch and then at dusk."
There went the super protectiveness of my parents. It flew right out the window along with the common sense of the thought "Never leave a child alone at home near any flammable items." This being the desert nearly everything was flammable.
"Okay."
I heard the door of our tiny apartment click. Then immediately open again.
"Don't set the house on fire! It's okay to go outside though."
Then the door shut again.
I slowly got up and got dressed, preparing for my day alone. I walked into the small kitchen area and grabbed the small breakfast left for me.
I left the apartment and locked it behind me, taking a set of keys with me. I decided I would simply walk to the park I saw yesterday. I wasn't very sure about leaving the house but I knew I would eventually find my way back.
I quickly arrived at the park and sat down on a bench. I didn't really know what I expected to do until I heard the chain swings squeak from behind me. Which meant someone had to be here, or there was just a really strong gust of sandy wind, but there wasn't any wind blowing at the moment.
I turned and saw a red-haired boy with a raw marking on the upper left side of his forehead. It was red and crusted over with his blood. I absentmindedly thought about how it could easily become infected with these dust filled winds.
I hadn't realized that I had walked over to where he was sitting to look at the symbol. It was somewhat entrancing in a sickening way. I slowly recognized the symbol as being Chinese, and it took a moment for me to remember what it meant. It was the symbol for "ai", for "love."
What brought me back to reality was the sense of tension in the air, which came rushing down around me. Then I didn't do anything but continue to stare, until I began to hear something. I looked around curious to what it was and it turned out that the air surrounding us was buzzing with grains of sand.
The sand floated around us as if it had its own will to move only in a certain direction. It seemed to come from the red-haired boy, something I had never seen before. I slowly dawned on the conclusion that this boy had the ability to become a ninja, since I knew ninja were able to manipulate the elements easily and were able to do many things civilians would consider impossible.
"How are you doing that?" I asked, amazed by his ability.
He stayed silent but a look of surprise flashed across his mainly blank face.
"W-what?"
"How do you control the sand? It looks so cool. I've never seen anyone do this before. Not even ninja." I answered.
I could only assume I was being more outgoing because in him I saw a chance to fit in with someone.
"People hate me because I can do this…"
"Why? It's so awesome." I had sat down next to him on another swing.
He still seemed shocked.
"So what's your name?"
"Gaara."
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11 months. That's how long I had lived in Suna. I still had a month to go before we left for the next village. Gaara and I both knew that.
Gaara and I had become friends, at first he was hesitant to trust me but I got a long fine with the trust he gave me. His trust in me eventually grew and I felt special to him as a friend.
He had revealed to me how he had received the mark on his forehead, which had now become a scar over the last few months; one I believe would never leave him. He was the container of the Shikaku, the one tailed demon. He was only meant to be a weapon for the village, until he had become violent towards those who hated him. So his father sent his uncle to kill him and his uncle explained this to him and died, his mission left incomplete. Now Gaara had become anti-social except towards me.
But for my last month in Suna, Gaara wouldn't be with me. He had said his father was taking his siblings and he somewhere for training. When I'd asked for what king of training he'd simply replied "the ninja kind." He didn't seem to be worried to be leaving the village with the person who had sent his own family member to kill him only to fail and die in front of Gaara.
This reminded me of my hopes to become a ninja. When I brought up the idea with Gaara he didn't completely reject it. He agreed it was a good idea, but the fact that I didn't train nor was I attending any schools or working with a sensei would make it much more difficult for me. I had shown him my notebook with all my notes in it and he said all my theories were correct as far as he knew. He was especially amazed by the fact that an Uchiha had taught me a family jutsu, when I had asked why he responded it was rare for any Uchiha to trust an outsider with family secrets.
He'd left quickly after that, he was never much for emotional goodbyes. But I still gave him a surprise hug, which oddly wasn't blocked by a wall of sand, his automatic defense. It was almost as if he was expecting a hug.
Later I began to wonder about becoming a ninja. I had gone to a short-term preparatory school back in Konoha for the basics of ninja training. It didn't teach much but the basics. Everyone attended it but would only truly require it if they planned to pursue being a ninja.
My parents were currently on the fence about the idea of their only daughter pursuing this sort of profession. I asked them about it later and they had shared the same worried look. Their answer was that they would consider it once we got back to Konoha. It wasn't a yes and was likely to turn out to be a no, but I decided I would ignore that fact until we got back.
I had gone to sleep waiting for the next morning because I had plans to work on my taijutsu skills. I couldn't really work on improving my fighting style because I had never officially been taught nor did I know how to truly fight someone. I still wanted to practice kunai and shuriken throwing.
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Early the next morning I left for the Sand villages' training fields.
It took a while but by afternoon I had improved my aim by a lot. At first I missed most shots, but I eventually worked up to five out of every ten shots. I quickly grew impatient at how I wasn't improving by much anymore so I decided to try something else.
I referred to my journal and flipped to the pages I had shown Gaara just yesterday. At the bottom of the page was the skill I was looking for, the first jutsu Itachi had ever explained to me. The fire element grand fireball technique was a jutsu that was taught to all Uchihas. It was rarely seen outside the clan, if at all. Itachi had told me I had excellent charka control and with practice I could master one of the Uchiha's famed techniques. But it was probably mainly just for the purpose of a distraction to get my birthday present that he gave me later on.
I wanted to try it for once, knowing the hand seals Itachi had given for it. The theory was to inhale air and charka that was focused to the mouth, while performing the series of seals, then blow. This was where my studies would always be cut short; I knew what to do but not how to actually do it. But I could try.
I exhaled and got nothing but a few hot embers. I decided to try again and hopefully not over exert my self, knowing how much charka I would probably use.
Sadly my estimates were inaccurate. I had felt slightly fatigued after the first attempt; the second try knocked me out. But not before I had emitted a rather pathetic stream of fire, in the opinion of my quickly fading vision, and fell over.
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Mystery PoV
I would never call it visiting the village. It was where I came from and that was it. No feeling of nostalgia came from seeing Suna again.
I had easily walked past the guards and made it to the greenhouse to steal some of the least commonplace desert herbs only found here. I needed to remake my poison arsenal since killing the last Kazekage and here was the only place that I knew of that had what I was looking for.
I had gotten what I wanted and was preparing to leave. Until I saw a streak of red out of the corner of my eye, in reaction I simply stepped backwards. The projectile turned out to be a large steam of fire from a grand fireball technique. I indulged upon my nearly nonexistent curiosity and turned to see who had attacked.
There was a small form that lay collapsed on the ground. She was unique and young in her appearance, pink hair and she looked no older than 7 at most. The fire seemed to have come from her direction. It was rare to see a young person perform an Uchiha's inanition to adulthood rite especially when the person obviously wasn't an Uchiha.
I wandered over to her limp form and briefly considered her worth as a puppet.
Too young. She would be useless in battle but she has potential with this sort of charka control at an age like this. She can only improve. She might be worthy of teaching something to, if she continued to show potential.
I gathered the unconscious body and quickly disappeared with the freshly risen grains of sand being carried by the wind.
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Sakura POV
I slowly woke up on a hard surface. I had fallen unconscious after my pathetic attempt at a fireball.
I opened my eyes to see stalactites above me. I was in a cave, in the desert, alone.
I gradually got up feeling the gentle burn of yesterday's exercise. A cloak fell off me and settled at my waist. Someone had left me in a cave; I turned my head and saw a canteen with water and a blanket.
I looked towards the entrance and saw nothing but swirling sands outside. I continued to watch until I began to think of Gaara and where he was right now. Then I saw a shadow emerging from the sandy winds.
The shadow was revealed to be a person in a tan cloak, which made him almost disappear with the swirling sands that had surrounded him.
He entered the cave with the remaining sand left to fall of his cloak. He removed his hood and revealed a face I had seen before.
"You're the Scorpion of the Red Sands, Akasuna no Sasori. I've heard of you from Granny Chiyo!" I said as I remembered the old woman who served as one of Suna's village elders. "You're a missing ninja."
"Hmm?"
"She's talked about you sometimes."
"Really?" Sasori asked while crouching to my level. "Does it even occur to you that even though you know my name, it doesn't change the fact I am a dangerous missing-nin?"
"I don't think you're evil. You simply don't agree with a certain opinion, that doesn't mean you're evil. People just call you evil because you're not exactly like them. Ninja kill people everyday but most people consider that evil, does that mean that ninja are evil?"
"Hmm." He gave a gentle smile, satisfied with my answer if not a bit surprised. "You have a point. Anyway what were you doing on the outskirts of town?"
"Training."
"To be what?"
"A ninja."
"Why?"
"I don't have an exact reason. I don't come from a important clan, but all my friends are going on to become ninjas. I don't want to be left behind nor do I want to lose the chance to possibly find where I fit in life. I don't seem to fit in anywhere. I guess I want to follow in their footsteps."
"Why not create your own for your friends to follow in?"
"I don't have a teacher." I suddenly perked up with an idea. "Can you be my sensei?"
"You're sure of this? My training will never be easy and I won't make it easy for you."
"Fine. Not everyone is a natural talent."
"You will meet me here, in this cave every day for the next month. I will train you until I must leave this village, but you must never reveal this to anyone else. Understand?"
"Yes, Sasori-sensei!"
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I returned to the cave everyday after that. Sasori's training was difficult and torturous; I could swear he would smirk at me when I wasn't looking. Sasori told me that I had excellent charka control for what he would teach me, which I would later learn was puppetry. Sasori had me train my body physically but never showed me how to wield a puppet. Sasori was rather strict in his teachings and would sometimes just throw in an art lecture just to torture me. He finally showed me how to create charka strings but mine were flimsy and could barely support the puppet given to me for short practice sessions.
I returned to my family's apartment one last time to prepare for tomorrow when we would leave and it would near my birthday yet again. My parents had already notified me that we were to be leaving soon. As I packed my things away a rapping sound came from my wooden window.
I opened the window to reveal Sasori with a scroll in one hand and a wooden lacquered bow in the other. Sasori immediately disappeared after handing the items to me. I opened the box and it revealed a small marionette that was cleverly disguised as a doll that looked eerily realistic. It was small but I knew it had traps nearly everywhere, because of the training Sasori had given me.
I left the scroll to be packed in my bag and didn't open it.
The doll's only obvious give away to the fact that it was in fact not a doll at all was it's scorpion stamp on the back of it's neck.
Sasori has an ego hidden somewhere, doesn't he?
Second chapter done, more will follow.
