So I started this chapter on Saturday night… we'll see if it gets updated on Saturday or not : ) And I'm sorry if you hate me after this chapter… I thought I did enough foreshadowing to have this not be the biggest surprise ever, but we'll see. Either way, I think this even is going to be a big make or break part of Sakura's training. Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto

Chapter 9: And Now She's Just Like Us

Edited: October 12th, 2015


Xxx Sakura xxX

Sakura's eyes scanned the board in front of her for possible openings. Shikamaru was an intense player, and even when it looked like he had left an opening it was probably a false opening. She had learned that a few days ago when they had started to play.

After three days of solid Go for a few morning hours Sakura could seriously say she was getting better at strategy. She understood game strategy was different from battle field strategy, but playing against Shikamaru every morning had caused her to start thinking on her feet quicker than she had normally done. It pushed her comfort zone, which was something she desperately needed.

Trying to decide where to put her black piece, Sakura eyed the brunette headed shinobi before sighing. Shikamaru's face never gave anything away, and even though he looked bored at the moment, Sakura knew he was planning his next few moves in advance.

Placing her piece in a location away from the rest of his pieces but still slightly close to her own, Sakura started to try to expand her side.

"Bold move," Shikamaru muttered under his breath as he grabbed a white piece and placed it on the board. She had already known he was going to be able to counteract her move. Placing another piece in a totally different location, Sakura waited for his turn again.

"You're trying new strategy," Shikamaru commented casually as he scanned the board. Sakura found herself nodding before she watched Shikamaru place his piece down in a spot that would hinder her greatly.

"I'm going to concede," Sakura said as she glanced to the clock. "I know you're going to win this game, and it's getting pretty late."

Shikamaru's eyes shown in surprise before he nodded and stood. "I hadn't realized it was getting so late. I only have a few more days left of waking up early, but I would like to continue to play Go with you every once in a while… you play very differently than Asuma-sensei and my dad."

"I don't know whether I should take that as a compliment or not," Sakura said as she followed Shikamaru out of her quiet house.

She wouldn't say it out loud, but of course she was a little worried. Her parents were supposed to be back from their business trip to Suna a few days ago, but they had yet to show or send a letter saying they were going to be late.

Because they were merchants, they did not travel as fast as shinobi and they often came home later than what they had said they were going to… Sakura didn't know why she was worried about them, but she was.

Taking a deep breath, Sakura followed Shikamaru down the road. She'd think about her mother and father later. "Troublesome woman," Shikamaru said with a frown as he tucked his hands into his pockets. "It's a compliment. It helps me think up new strategies to use against them. You conceded too easily in the last game by the way."

"We were going to have to leave anyways," Sakura said with a simple shrug. "And it's not about the end result of the game for me; I like learning and testing different things as we play, Shikamaru."

"I wish you were on my team instead of Ino," Shikamaru said sourly. "Ino would never play the game that way."

"Still hearing all about 'Sasuke-kuuuuuuun'?" Sakura said in a teasing voice. It was so easy to mock, but a few weeks ago she had been in Ino's shoes. Of course she still loved Sasuke-kun, or at least she thought she did.

Sasuke was a strong shinobi who had very important goals… Sakura knew she wasn't even on his radar at the moment. Sasuke needed to get stronger, and one way Sakura could help him get stronger was to get stronger herself.

She'd help him when the time came, because she knew how important his goal was to him. He lived, breathed, and dreamed of killing a certain man. Sakura would support him and help him any way she could.

"Don't even start with that," Shikamaru said with a glare. "I have to hear that for the rest of the morning… don't ruin my favorite part of my mornings."

"Sorry Shikamaru," Sakura said as she smiled toward him. "It's actually kind of fun to tease you."

"So fun," Shikamaru muttered sarcastically before he started to head off in a different direction. Taking a hand out of his pocket, he waved briefly to her before putting it back in and continuing to walk down the street.

"Bye Shikamaru!" Sakura said with a smile as she continued on her way. She was excited to see what Kakashi-sensei had in store for her today.

After getting the hang of water walking, she and Kakashi-sensei had been doing some basic work with her dagger. After yesterday's session, Kakashi had promised to work on something new with her today.

Walking down the street, Sakura allowed herself to muse over the past few days. Training with Lee-senpai had been going slow, but well. Sasuke-kun and Naruto were still coming with her, and Sakura found the more time she was spending with the two the better their team relationship was becoming.

The group of three had training with Kakashi-sensei after lunch every day, dinner at her house every other night (even though Naruto was campaigning for it to be every night), and their night sessions with Lee-senpai.

Naruto and Sasuke really only used Lee's training sessions to work on taijutsu with each other, or to try to beat the crap out of each other. The run around the village had been the one thing all four of them did together before the training began, and Sakura found that she liked how Lee-senpai seemed to be able to annoy both Sasuke-kun and Naruto without even knowing it.

Continuing her walk to the training field, Sakura's mind wandered to what she was going to do after her session with Kakashi-sensei. She had brought a backpack full of scrolls and books she had already memorized from the library.

She hadn't been able to go back to the library since the day after she, Naruto, and Sasuke-kun had learned about their chakra affinity. She had found a lot of scrolls dealing with suiton or water chakra, but the ones she grabbed had been very basic. She already knew water jutsu was an element that could be mixed, or amplified with the help of other elements. It kind of fit her personality that she was a water user because she worked well with everyone, and kept her teammates level headed.

Finding herself at the training field, Sakura was surprised to find she was the first one there. Kakashi-sensei had been making a serious effort with coming to their sessions early. She looked for a scroll that would tell her he was on a mission, but didn't find one.

Frowning, Sakura decided to stretch and get to work on some katas. Kakashi-sensei would come when he decided to come. She could look for him with her chakra, but she assumed he had a legitimate reason for being late.

Sitting on the ground, Sakura stretched out her calf muscles and her legs. The muscles in her legs had been extremely sore over the course of the week. She had been adding ginger to her tea in the mornings because ginger was supposed to help with muscle aches, and even though she could tell it was doing something, it wasn't doing a whole lot.

She had been working more in the past week than she had her whole life in trying to get stronger, and Sakura took pride in the way her body ached. Bringing her arms above her head, Sakura tried to work the stiffness out of her body.

After doing a few more stretches, Sakura stood up and grabbed the long knife from its sheath. She had been getting more and more use to the small weapon, and was beginning to try to think of different ways to use it.

Obviously, Sakura knew the dagger was meant for short ranged fighting, but Sakura also wondered what would happen if she used it as a projectile? She had seen Sasuke-kun throw his wind shuriken, and that had been awesome, and she knew kunai could be thrown. Maybe she would need to learn how to throw her dagger in case of an emergency?

Sakura was trying to cover all of her bases when dealing with the upcoming Chuunin exams, but even she knew there was only so much one could do in a few weeks. She just hoped her training would be enough to help her team pass the exams.

Finding a good target a few yards away in a tree, Sakura launched her dagger forward. The dagger was a lot heavier than a kunai, and because of this her aim had been off. Watching the dagger fall into the ground a few feet in front of the tree Sakura frowned.

Walking over to grab her weapon, Sakura wiped the dirt and grass off of it before turning to the entrance of the training ground; she could feel Kakashi-sensei's chakra coming.

"Hey Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura called as she sheathed her weapon and started to walk over to him. Noticing the very serious look on his face and his slumped shoulders, Sakura took a breath before frowning. "Is something wrong?"

"…" Kakashi looked torn for a second; whatever he was about to say to her, Sakura knew he didn't want to be the one to say it. "Two days ago two bodies were found a few miles outside of Konoha…"

"That's awful," Sakura said as her frown worsened; she couldn't imagine what the family of the two people were feeling right now. "But what does that have to do with you?"

"It has to do with you, Sakura-Chan," Kakashi said as he took a step forward. Her sensei was only a foot away from her at this point. "The two were merchants and had been on their way back from Suna after a successful trade."

"…" Sakura's breath caught in her throat. He couldn't be talking about her parents, right? Her parents were probably still on their way home; having been distracted by a possible trade elsewhere. "Kakashi-sensei?"

"They were your parents Sakura-Chan," Kakashi said as he put his hand on her shoulder, and the hope Sakura had felt early whooshed out of her.

"What happened to them?" Sakura asked as tears began to fall down her cheeks. How the hell could that happen? Her parents were always healthy and careful! They always stuck to the main roads when they traveled, and they never traveled at night. Her parents were always overly cautious when it came to traveling and the wares they were selling!

"They're not completely sure," Kakashi said as he brought his other hand onto her other shoulder. Sakura's body was shaking from the tears at this point, and she couldn't feel the comfort he was trying to give to her. She couldn't even hear what he was saying to her… Her mind kept replaying Kakashi-sensei's words. "They think it was a shinobi of some kind… there wasn't a lot left at the site. That's why it took so long to recognize they were your parents."

Sakura felt herself breaking as she kneeled to the ground and continued to shake. Her parents were dead. Her parents were dead.

They weren't around a lot, but Kami they were still her parents and she loved them! They were gone, and now she was all alone!

Sakura didn't feel the moment when Kakashi-sensei wrapped his arms around her completely and pulled her into a tighter embrace. She couldn't feel anything at that moment.

Xxx Sasuke xxXX

When Sasuke and Naruto arrived at the training grounds later that day, they found Kakashi and Sakura in a rather strange position. Sasuke noticed how Kakashi was holding Sakura tightly, and he also had noticed the dried tears that covered Sakura's face, and her shaking shoulders.

"Sakura-Chan?" Naruto asked as he approached the two. Sasuke was much more careful and stayed back a few feet to watch in awe at what was happening before him. It had been a while since he had experienced someone completely lose it and break like what Sakura was doing in front of him. What had happened?

"Not right now, Naruto," Kakashi muttered as his hand when through Sakura's hair. It was weird to see their sensei acting so soft and comforting, but whatever Sakura was going through right now, it appeared she needed it.

"… What happened?" Sasuke found himself asking, because even though he didn't want to admit it, it hurt seeing Sakura in that much pain. The past week had been completely different than what he had been expecting when he had joined team seven. He had been developing actual friendships with Sakura and the Dobe; he was starting to care about them.

"Let's head to Sakura-Chan's house and then we'll talk about it," Kakashi said with a sigh as he stood. Kakashi still cradled Sakura's body against his own and the group of four began to walk back through town.

Sasuke's mind was racing and he found himself getting angrier and angrier as the group walked. Had someone hurt Sakura? It certainly seemed like that was the case. He sent a look toward Naruto, and the two made a silent promise to kick some serious ass when they finally found out what had happened.

As the group arrived at Sakura's house, Kakashi excused himself to put Sakura in her room. The pinkette had fallen asleep on their way to her house.

Sitting down in her living room, Sasuke sent a look Naruto's way. "What's going on Teme?" The Dobe asked him. "Did you hurt Sakura-Chan?"

"Yeah right Dobe," Sasuke responded with a frown.

"Then what's going on?" Naruto asked as he sat down beside Sasuke. Sasuke sighed before he shrugged, because he didn't know either.

"Her parents are dead," Kakashi's voice rang from the bottom of the stairs. Both Sasuke and Naruto flinched at Kakashi's voice.

"What do you mean dead?" Naruto asked with a frown as he sat forward in his seat.

"I mean dead dead Naruto," Kakashi said with a sigh as he walked over to a chair across from where the two were sitting. He pressed one of his hands to his eye "They were traveling merchants on their way home from Suna. Their bodies were found a few days ago, but their bodies weren't identified until this morning."

"What happened?" Sasuke found himself asking as he sat forward in his seat. How could something like this happen to Sakura's parents? Her family seemed like the normal, nuclear family that everyone's family wanted to be.

"They think it was rogue shinobi," Kakashi said as he rubbed his eye tiredly. "Whatever it was, there wasn't a lot left of the bodies; that's why it took them so long to identify the bodies."

"… Was there really that little left?" Sasuke found himself asking out of curiosity and slight disgust. He understood there were people out there that killed others; his whole family had been murdered for Kami's sake. But, Sasuke didn't understand the overkill that some people used; it was completely unnecessary.

"Unfortunately yes," Kakashi said as he looked to both Naruto and himself. Sasuke frowned. "They were a few miles away from Konoha… the Hokage is taking this very seriously because it was such a vicious attack and it happened this close to our gates without us knowing."

"How do they know it's not some stupid thieves or something?" Naruto asked as he rubbed his hands together nervously. Sasuke sighed before looking at the blond.

Naruto had no idea what it was like to lose parents because he had never had them. While Sasuke now understood how unfortunate that was for him, Naruto still didn't understand how awful it was to have your parents stripped away from you and to be left with nothing.

"With the way the bodies were left there is no way this was a common thief or even a civilian," Kakashi said as he leaned back in his chair. "I'm not going to go into great detail with you about the bodies, but there was very little left of them… plus nothing was stolen from the cart the two had been carrying along with them."

"Disgusting," Sasuke found himself saying before he could stop himself. Kami he hated useless death. This was beginning to remind him of that man and his need to test his abilities. Sasuke shuddered as a spike of rage shot through him.

"I agree with you," Kakashi said before closing his eyes. "Now, I'm going to be staying here for a while to make sure Sakura-Chan is doing alright. I'll be cancelling training for today, but I'll find you a substitute instructor for tomorrow. You guys still have the exams in a week."

"What if Sakura doesn't want to do the exams?" Sasuke couldn't stop himself from asking. He understood loss and how it affected someone. He really couldn't see himself trying out for the exams a week after he had lost his parents.

"I honestly don't know," Kakashi said with a shrug. "But that's going to be up to her. If she doesn't want to do the exams then I can try to find another genin who needs a team-"

"No way!" Naruto yelled fiercely. "We're a team! If Sakura-Chan is not ready for the exams in a week then I'll wait until she is ready!"

Even though this would ultimately slow down his quest in becoming more and more powerful, Sasuke found himself nodding along in agreement. He couldn't abandon Sakura now when she really needed them. Looking to Kakashi, Sasuke noticed the sad smile that appeared on his face at their responses.

"You guys really are a great team," Kakashi said as he stood from his chair. "I'm going to the Hokage's tower. We'll try to get into contact with some relatives that might be willing to stay with Sakura-Chan and watch over her, but until then I'm going to be staying here. Can you guys stay here until I get back?"

Sasuke and Naruto both nodded quickly while Kakashi smiled his sad smile again before leaving. Turning to Naruto, Sasuke frowned as he watched Naruto's mind race.

"She's just like us now," Naruto said as he looked at the ground in front of him.

"Don't put me in the same category as you Dobe," Sasuke found himself saying before he could stop himself. Kami, this was making him think about what had happened with his own family, and that made him angry and irrational.

"Shut up Teme," Naruto sent a glare toward the Uchiha, and Sasuke could only freeze at the look in the blond's eyes. Naruto's blue eyes were filled with pain, suffering, and understanding. Sasuke had to turn away from his gaze quickly, because those eyes reminded Sasuke of his own. "Sakura-Chan is going to need us to be there for her, and we can't fight like idiots anymore!"

"I know," Sasuke conceded with a nod. The anger that was bubbling inside him deflated when he thought about their teammate who was asleep upstairs. He still couldn't wrap his head around what had happened completely, but he knew Sakura would need his, Naruto, and Kakashi's support.

"Then you'll agree when I say I think we should stay here," Naruto said with a nod.

"No way Dobe," Sasuke shook his head quickly. "We can't invade her house, and there's no way I want to live here with you guys."

"We all live alone," Naruto said with a frown. "You, Kakashi-sensei, me, and now Sakura-Chan. It just makes sense. I'm going to bring it up to Kakashi-sensei when he gets back."

"Whatever Dobe," Sasuke said as he walked into the kitchen to make tea. The longer he thought about the Dobe's idea though, the more he had to agree with it… Kami-sama he hated himself for agreeing with the Dobe sometimes.