Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto! Not in any way, shape, or form.


"Chaos was the law of nature; Order was the dream of man."
― Henry Adams


Chapter 7

Chaos off the Path

-o-O-o-

Chieko had informed her of what was occurring in her village...but it could've never prepared her for the real thing. The only other time she had seen the village in so much upheaval was during the whole sand and sound attack in their chuunin exams. Just getting back into the village had been a longer, more monotonous process than usual and the guards had been really on edge from the moment her cloaked figure approached their security checkpoint. Her sudden change of wardrobe(caused by her fight against the missing-nin) garnered her a great deal of suspicion.

As she walked through the village she had to do her best to avoid all of the people running about preparing for the attack that they had been warned of. Ninjas were running about preparing the village for attack and the civilians were preparing their shops and homes against the possible damage that they could sustain in the upcoming battle.

Growing tired of the obstacle course provided by the constant flow of human traffic, Sakura jumped to the nearest rooftop and began traveling from rooftop to rooftop across the village. Apparently she wasn't the only one to consider this method of travel as a large number of her fellow ninja were doing the same. It was still better than the crowded streets below.

She reached the hokage tower a few minutes later. Sakura was led into the hokages office by an unfamiliar genin.

"Sakura! Thank Kami!" her shishou breathed a heavy sigh and looked really relieved for a split second and then her face scrunched up into a look of fury. "Where the hell have you been!? You were suppoed to be back here almost two days ago!"

"I'm sorry shishou! The mission took longer than expected partially because I ran into trouble quite a few times during my return. At one point I had to take on a few missing-nin" Sakura explained. She had decided to stick with the half truths are the best lies moto.

"Your okay though..?" Tsunade asked in more a statement than a question.

"Hai shishou." Sakura responded.

"Hmm we'll discuss your mission later, right now you need to be made aware of current affairs...alot has taken place since you left for your mission."

Sakura already knew some of what her shishou was telling her thanks to Chieko-sama, however hearing it all first hand from her shishou made it so much more real. Sakura was really worried about Naruto, between the loss of his Jiraiya and the threat of Pein coming to konoha to capture the nine-tails. She was glad he wasn't actually here in Konoha, but she still felt really worried about him and regretted not being here to comfort her teammate.

She offered her condolensces to her shishou and for a brief moment her shishou was open and exposed to her. The tough exterior her shishou always donned was cracked and for a moment Sakura could see Tsunades pain...it made her look many times her actual age despite the youthful appearance jutsus she used.

Incessant knocking reminded the hokage of her responsibilities and transformed her once more into the strong looking woman she always had to be.

She was quickly dismissed after being told to assist the team trying to solve the clues left by Jiraiya and to check in at the hospital after she rests for a bit.

Sakura left the hokage tower and went straight for the intelligence division to assist with solving the coded message left by Jiraiya.

After a couple hours of trying to decode Jiraiya's message with Shikamaru and some of the other brightest minds in Konoha, it was finally solved! Naruto had sent a toad to relay what he thought about the coded message left behind by Jiraiya and his idea solved the mystery for them!

After she left the intelligence division, Sakura headed to the hospital. She wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly and efficiently in preparation for the influx of injured they were likely to soon receive.

By the time Sakura was done at the hospital it was really late in the evening and she had used up a good chunk of chakra, the combination of those two things made for a really exhausted kunoichi.

Sakura only had enough energy to take a quick shower and drop into the comfort of her blankets. Sleep quickly took her.

"Keiichi Nii-sama! Keiichi Nii-sama!" A beautiful toddler shouted in excitement as she chased after a teenage boy who was dressed all in dark colors and had spiky black locks. The small child continued to chase after her older brother even as he entered the woods surrounding their home. She continued to call after her brother as she followed him, eventually they were separated by some trees and the little girl lost sight of her elder brother. She ran in the direction she had last seen him and she continued walking and calling out for her brother. As she saw no hint of her brother left, she decided to give up and head back home. She tried to go back the exact way she came in, but after awhile she began to panic, because nothing looked familiar and she was realizing she was utterly lost.

Night time began to creep in to the woods and everything became dark and foreboding the little girl began to get cold, and scared, so she started to cry and shout for her family. "Keiichi Nii-sama! Eiji Nii-sama! Outo-sama!"

She collapsed into a ball on the ground and began to whimper. For some time, she lay there on the cold ground surrounded by the endless pitch black of her surroundings, eventually she began to fall asleep. Only moments after sleep claimed her a figure came across the huddled form of the child and exclaimed, "Sakura, thank kami!" After the figure checked that the child was in no immediate danger he picked her up and careful not to wake her, carried her back home.

"Why was she even so far out in the woods?" a voice asked waking Sakura from her sleep.

"I don't know Outo-sama." responded another voice.

"Yeah you do! She followed you out there! Everyday she trails behind you trying to get your attention and you ignore her! I bet you she was following you into the woods and you probably abandoned her out there!" Another voice shouted.

"I did no such thing outoto. And I'm hurt you would accuse me of such. She could've seen me go into the woods and decided to follow, but I never saw or heard her at all. I think I would've known if she was following right behind me." the voice she recognized now as her Keiichi Nii-sama stated.

"You bastard! I don't believe you!" shouted her other Nii-sama, Eiji.

"Enough Eiji! You should not accuse your brother of such deviousness. Unless you have proof, you do not make such hurtful accusations." her outo-sama interjected.

"But father..." Eiji began to argue.

"No, Eiji that is enough." their father said with finality. "Your sister seems perfectly fine now and I am exhausted so I am going to my room to retire now, you both should follow suit."

After their father left, Eiji turned to his older brother and said "I know you did it. I know that you hate our sister, you blame her for mothers death, but this is going too far! Do you really think this is what mother would've wanted? Her death was not Sakuras fault."

"How is it not that monsters fault? She killed our mother while she gave birth to her and she should've died too, but something about her called to the ten-tails. If the ten-tails and the shingami decided to save her and mark her, then she is a freak, a monster." Little Sakura struggled to keep her cries contained under both her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks and her small shoulders shook with sobs. It was painful listening to her Keiichi Nii-sama, every word he said was spat out in a voice that made her deathly afraid of her Nii-sama.

"You bastard! Stay away from Sakura! She's not a freak! She's special, she must have been chosen for something great, just wait!"

"She is a freak."

"She killed our mother."

"She should've died too."

"A monster."

"...chosen for something special..."


I got soooo busy with my obligations! Thanks to Hollow Life for following this story, which made this site notify me, which reminded me to get back to work on this story!