Lights We Burn
AN: Hey guys, sorry it took so long to update I went away for Christmas and New Years and wasn't allowed to bring my computer. (Sad I know!) Anyways! I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who reviewed and/or added this story to their follows/favourites! I really appreciate it and hope that you all enjoy this chapter :)
Also some people have asked about whether I'm going to continue with my bleach fanfic 'second chances'. I'm still not sure at the moment. But if I do, I plan on going back to re-write it in third person. But at the moment I'm focusing on my two Naruto fics while re-writing parts of my x-over 'Home', not to mention I'll be starting Uni again in a month, so I don't know when exactly I'll get back around to SC. I'm really sorry about that but that's just how it is atm.
I do not own Naruto
Chapter Four
Standing wide eyed and slightly pale, Sakura shied away from the amount of eyes that turned to look at her as the class room door slid open. Her voice stuck to the back of her throat as she turned to explain her absence to her sensei. However, before she could begin, a hand on her back guided her forward into the class room as Iruka-sensei turned from the board and looked at the two of them.
"Haruno-san, you're late. Again." He said then paused for more emphasis while looking at her sternly. "See me after class." Sakura nodded rigidly and taking his last words as a dismissal, she hurried to find a seat hoping that none of the eyes would follow her now reddened face.
As she sat down she met the dark gaze of Inuzuka Kiba and went to greet him but was distracted by the small head that popped out of his jacket. Sakura's expression softened and warmth filled her body while looking at the cute little bundle of fur nestled in his jacket. Nodding at them both with a small smile in greeting, Kiba replied with a grin, showing off his canines' and his nin-dog let out a quiet bark before they turned their attention back to the front for the introduction of their guest sensei.
The man was dressed in the standard black shinobi pants and shirt with Konoha's forest green flak jacket over the top. His hair was brown and covered by a blue cloth that displayed his hitai-ate marking him a Konoha shinobi.
He looked to be about twenty and had dark eyes that were lined slightly with dark rings either from make up or just lack of sleep, probably lack of sleep but Ino had told her once that you never really know with shinobi and then told her a story about how she'd once met a ninja who wore a green body suit. The message Sakura had gotten from that story was that shinobi could be weird.
"Okay everybody, listen up!" Iruka-sensei called over the top of everyone's curious voices gaining their attention before motioning to the man beside him. "This is Gekko Hayate and he is our guest sensei for the day. Treat him well." He said before stepping aside prompting Gekko-sensei to move forward and speak to the class.
"My name is Gekko Hayate and I am a tokubetsu jounin of Konoha. Today I'll be speaking to you about different weapons and their uses in the field."
Whispers could be heard throughout the classroom before a blonde haired boy with bright blue eyes in the back row and whiskers on his cheeks, named Naruto yelled out, "What's a tokubetsu jounin, sensei?" causing Iruka-sensei to rub his temples and mumble something under his breathe while a lot of kids in the class called him names in whispered voices or simply glared at him for interrupting.
Sakura herself was surprised that he didn't know as it was something they were tested on the year before that everyone was expected to know to pass. It was also one of the easier questions on the exams they sat at the end of the last year.
Gekko-sensei stared at the boy unnervingly before coughing and looking at the rest of the class asking "Can anybody explain to the class what a tokubetsu jounin is?"
The rest of the class looked at each other nervously, unsure of the answer while Sakura balled her hands into her father's haori to stop herself from raising them to answer. Believing she'd already drawn enough attention to herself today and she didn't want anymore. She learned while she was younger that the more attention you drew to yourself, the more likely you'd give someone a reason to pick on you.
This was the main reason she thought the blonde kid was an idiot. Despite all of the dislike people tended to have for him, he continued to play pranks on people and wear that ridiculously bright orange jumper and pants that practically screamed 'insult me'. Though Sakura would admit that sometimes she found some of his pranks well thought out and funny, she disliked his disrespect towards Iruka-sensei and he even pranked her mother once.
Somewhat surprisingly it was the Inuzuka beside her who raised his hand and answered the question.
"A tokubetsu jonin is a shinobi who's really strong in one field and at a jonin level but their over-all abilities are at a chunin level. My clan for example are really good at tracking." He finished in a proud tone which was followed by a high pitched bark.
"That's right Inuzuka-san." Gekko-sensei said in his deep but monotone voice. "I specialize in weaponry but in particular my focus is kenjutsu." He motioned to the katana strapped to his back.
"Today we'll go through the different scenarios suited for various weapons in offensive and defensive manoeuvres before going to the training posts to practice your kunai and shuriken throwing. There will also be a table of various weapons that you'll be able to look at."
Sakura listened intently for the rest of the class as Gekko-sensei spoke about kunai, shuriken, staffs, chain sickles, bows and several different types of swords before he led the class outside for throwing practice.
As Sakura made her way down the hall with her practice weapons in a small pouch in her hands, she was caught off guard when someone gave her a rather harsh shove in the side that caused her to yelp quietly and fall to the side.
The small posse following Miki all looked at her now on the ground and snickered while making their way pass. Sakura clenched her fist and grit her teeth before relaxing them and following behind.
She could already feel the loneliness from the absence of her blonde friend and her family being away and wasn't looking forward to going home once her academy classes finished. And because of this, she absolutely wasn't in the mood to put up with the under handed acts by the rest of the girls in the class.
Unbeknownst to her, her academy sensei, Umino Iruka, witnessed the act and decided he would have a word with the main instigator at some point if it continued. He knew that the children would have to learn to defend themselves and stand up for themselves, but sometimes he found that it was best to deal with these sorts of behaviour before they are taken too far especially if they were training to be shinobi. Unknowingly, this would lead to the something that would affect the rosette's life from there on out.
When Sakura reached the rest of her class outside, there was a long table of various weapons set up that intrigued her. There were swords that were short and long and some that were curved as well as shuriken and kunai with different numbers of blades to the standard. There were nunchakus and senbon, staffs and axes. Sakura was amazed by the variety and also slightly intimidated by how big some of them were.
Once the class finished having a look at the weapons and some of the kids holding a couple, they moved on to target practice. Gekko-sensei demonstrated how to throw both kunai and shuriken then allowed three students at a time to throw at the different throwing posts set up.
When it was Sakura's turn, she was able to hit the outer circle with both weapons and despite not being as good as some of the clan kids, she found herself content with that result knowing that she'd just have to train more, especially after Gekko-sensei's last words to the students before the end of his class.
Sakura had been awed by his words because they hit so close to home. If Sakura had any insecurities about being a ninja it was that she feared she wasn't going to be good enough. When Sakura had first become friends with the Yamanaka heiress she realized how much more preparation clan children got in comparison to her own upbringing.
So as soon as she got home that day from the academy and after explaining her lateness to Iruka-sensei, Sakura wrote down Gekko-sensei's words and stuck them to her mirror beside the picture of her family.
"No one is born great, despite what some people may think. The legends you read about in your text books and the heroes your parents tell you stories about, even the shinobi from clans, they started out as children just like you, but they were pushed and pushed themselves to train to become strong. So even if you aren't all that great right now, just remember all it takes is determination, discipline, practice and perseverance to become more."
Two days passed and it seemed like a lifetime for Sakura who was now standing and watching the taijutsu spars between her class mates. They all stood around in an arch shape on either side of their sensei as two male students sparred until either one of them gave up, they moved out of the marked lines or Iruka-sensei called it and she couldn't help feeling nervous as she watched on.
Though she tried to hide her nervousness, the pinkette began to fidget with the bottom of her green cardigan while watching the match progress. Not noticing the person who'd come to stand beside her until the girl had pushed into her shoulder to stand slightly in front of her with a sneer on her lips.
Since the day Ino had left for clan duties, Miki and the other girls for some reason decided that instead of just ignoring Sakura like they usually do, that they would bully her, finding times to insult her or push her around. And Sakura, unwilling to fight back because of her friendship with the blonde, tried to ignore it and shake off the insults.
Gritting her teeth and ignoring the action, Sakura hoped that the girl would leave her alone. However, her hopes were in vain when she saw the brunette haired girl open her mouth to talk.
"What are you afraid of a little sparring, forehead girl?" She sneered to which Sakura outwardly ignored, still watching the match. "Look at you, shaking, and you haven't even been chosen yet. You should do yourself a favour and quit trying to be a shinobi, we all know you're no good at taijutsu. You'd probably lose in a real fight."
Sakura wanted to argue with Miki and tell her that it wasn't true but as Sakura thought about it, in some ways it was true. Sakura had always excelled in book smarts but was never the best when it came to taijutsu, though she did believe she was probably as good as Miki though they'd never sparred against each other.
In the first few months of her friendship with Ino, the two would often train together. But that all stopped around a year ago when all of the girls started caring more for boys and appearances then about their futures as kunoichi. And Sakura had copied them willingly, hoping to fit in.
Since then, Sakura's ability in taijutsu had dropped and she found herself even more nervous whenever she was chosen to spar against anyone in front of the class. So it wasn't surprising when her name was called next and she got beaten by Hyuuga Hinata in a taijutsu spar.
Hinata was known to be quiet and kind and didn't particularly like hurting people, and you could tell this from the way she fought Sakura.
Her movements were fluid and graceful as she dodged all of Sakura's strikes. "As expected of a Hyuuga", she'd heard Ino say once when describing Hinata's taijutsu, but everyone knew the young heiress was too kind. This was proven when she hesitated to strike back in any of the openings Sakura left undefended. Though all this really did was make Sakura look bad in front of everyone and even more embarrassed but Sakura refused to give in and continued to attack. She didn't want to prove Miki's words right.
It wasn't until Hinata noticed the snickering of the other girls at Sakura's plight that she squeezed her eyes shut and stepping into the opening Sakura left after one of her missed attempts at striking the Hyuuga, hitting her rather harshly on the chin making her stumble back and out of bounds causing Iruka-sensei to call the match.
As she made her way back to the group of students, head bowed down in shame and trying to ignore the sound of giggles from the other girls and a couple of boys, Sakura tensed when she heard Miki's voice exclaim over the rest.
"Told ya didn't I, forehead!" Miki said in a sneering know-it-all voice. "Maybe if you focused more on your body instead of your big head you'd do better, freak!" She said causing Sakura to blush from embarrassment and shame because she didn't have anything to say against that. Instead she decided to block out the rest of class until they were told to go home. So far in her own little world she missed hearing Iruka-sensei ask to see Miki at the end of the class.
The Haruno slowly made her way home with a new shiner on her face and secretly wishing the Hyuuga was someone she could dislike so she wouldn't feel so guilty whenever she began to curse about her. Though she knew it wasn't Hinata's fault, it was her own because she had focused too hard on fitting in then preparing to become a shinobi.
Once home, she took her academy bag to her room and changed into warmer clothes then proceeded to empty her bag before picking it up again and making her way to the bathroom. Taking some ointment from the cupboard she made her way down stairs to the kitchen.
As she walked through the house, her quiet footsteps echoed off the cold floors and her shadow seemed to stretch out around her. Sakura had always hated it when her parents travelled for work. The house always seemed to get colder and darker and loneliness would creep up on her. It was even worst at night time because you could hear every little thing from the wind outside blowing against the window, to the tap slowly dripping water down stairs in the sink.
The first time her parents went away, they'd asked their neighbour Tanaka-san to look after Sakura for the week. And then after that, Ino would often come over and visit her to kill the feeling of being alone. But whenever Ino couldn't be there, Sakura made it her mission to stay out of the house as much as possible. This usually resulted in her visiting her favourite spot in the village until the sun began to set.
In the kitchen, she hesitated before grabbing a bag of chips from the cupboard and an apple and bottle of water from the fridge dismissing the diet her and Ino were on in favour of comfort food. Putting those in her bag, she made her way to the front door, put her shoes back on and left the house, waving to her neighbour as she turned onto the street.
Making her way through the village Sakura headed towards the river that ran through it to follow the path around to the west side of Konoha. The streets were crowded by vendors and stalls as she walked past all of the people who were working the last few hours of their day before closing up shop in the market district. Once the river and the path began to separate, Sakura followed the path until it was lined with one of the forests within Konoha.
Having reached a familiar tree, the academy student quickly looked around to make sure no one was watching before ducking under the side railing and taking off onto the unmarked trail that would lead her to her secret place.
As she walked she began to marvel, not for the first time, at the tall trees that engulfed the space above and around her. Walking through the grass for another ten minutes, she pushed her way through the last of the smaller tree branches before coming to a small meadow.
The clearing was only around fifteen by ten meters and was lit by the light that managed to slither through the tall tree branches that surrounded the space. During the other seasons the clearing was filled with lots of types of flowers of different colours and it always made it look so enchanting, like a place in the books Sakura's mother used to read to her, but during winter it was only filled with grass that reached past her ankles and tickled her shins.
Slowly making her way through the long grass she dropped her bag down before sitting herself down on a nearby boulder with her legs stretched out.
She didn't often come to this place during winter because of how much colder and darker it was but the past few days had seen her there more often than not. She tilted her head so that the light was resting on her face, warming it up from the cool breeze and smiled softly until a cold blast of wind blew against her face making Sakura bring her hands up for warmth only to wince when she touched the bruise forming on her chin.
Remembering how she got it, she was reminded of how weak she was in taijutsu. She wasn't able to do anything against Hinata and the girl wasn't even trying to hurt her.
Sakura thought back to when she'd gotten into the fight with those bullies when she was seven and how Ino had helped her. But before that, Sakura had sworn to herself that she'd get strong, yet here she was, nursing a bruised chin and pride. She looked across the clearing at the makeshift bulls-eye she'd carved into a tree with a kunai the first day she'd come back to the clearing.
Since the day Gekko-sensei had given his class on weapons, Sakura had been coming every day after the academy to practice her weapons throwing. She believed in her sensei's words and wanted to prove to herself that she could do better.
Thoughts of her training brought her mind back to the sparring she used to do with Ino. Those spars usually ended up with her losing too but not before she was able to get a few good hits in. This used to make her proud of herself because Ino was the heiress to a ninja clan and was trained from young to learn to defend herself. After sparring, the blonde would always compliment Sakura on how quick she learned too and it always made Sakura happy to feel closer to her goal.
But now, thinking about how much her taijutsu skills had gone downhill, Sakura wondered if this was why her mother was so against her becoming a shinobi and why her father said what he did to her before he left.
The life of a shinobi is dangerous and they die often. Please think about this while we're away and decide for yourself if you truly want to continue.
Sakura was sure that this was what she wanted. When she was a child, she remembered watching the ninja jump from rooftop to rooftop and would imagine how it would feel to do the same. But it wasn't until the day she met him that she was sure becoming a shinobi is what she wanted.
She'd been lost, scared and alone, crying for someone to help her, and people just continued to walk past her, but he didn't. He'd stayed with her even though he didn't need to and helped her when everyone else chose not to.
It's my duty as a shinobi to protect this village and the people in it.
At that moment a feeling swept through her and she knew for sure that she was going to be a ninja when she grew up.
When she told her parents about her dream her mother had immediately rejected the idea, hoping Sakura would forget about it. But as time passed, her father realized that she wasn't going to give up and so he convinced her mother to let her attend the academy despite her opinion on the whole matter.
Despite this being her dream, the whole concept of dying had never really occurred to her until her father told her about her uncle. Sakura only wanted to help people like he helped her. But even so, Sakura admired her uncle for fighting to protect their family and their village. And even though he died, in Sakura's eyes he died a hero.
A strong gale of wind swept into the clearing and Sakura realized that she didn't have much time left for training before she had to go home. So jumping off of the boulder with more determination than before she went to her bag and pulled out her training shuriken and kunai and began to practice.
She decided that she'd start taking becoming a shinobi more seriously so she wouldn't be worrying her parents when she graduated, and the first thing she needed to fix was her taijutsu.
Sakura didn't have a clan or ninja parents to teach her so she knew she'd have to teach herself. A couple of hours later, Sakura exited the clearing and began making her way home with plans to get stronger.
As she walked along the river she decided that she'd go through all of her texts and notes on taijutsu and put them to practice every day before and after the academy so when her parents got back, they could see just how serious Sakura was and they wouldn't have to worry so much anymore. She was determined to become a strong shinobi for her parents, and for her village.
Hey guys hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was actually kind of upset with how it turned out and changed it a few times but decided in the end to just get it over with. I hope you like it please let me know what you think :)