Took me a while, but this is the longest chapter I've ever written.
Sakura shot up from her sleep, screaming her lungs out, only to calm down once she realized she was awake. And what she'd just been through, that nightmare had merely been a bad dream. As she grasped this, she felt her left eye twitching once again, apparently something she'd suffer when undergoing severe moments of stress, of strain. ...Two of the very last things she needed.
'How can puppets be so scary?' she wondered to herself absently as she shifted over to pick up her notebook and began sketching, easily falling into her now regular routine of hastily drawing an outline of her dreams, before she'd forget about them completely.
Her drawing this time around ended up consisting of an old lady and a guy wearing a dark cloak with red clouds. And the only similarity between the two, was that they were both accompanied by puppets, connected to these two via multiple bluish threads. Again, it was all pretty much vague.
And any attempt at trying to figure things out whether by staring or by racking her brain, only managed to give her the worst of headaches, until she eventually, though reluctantly, gave up...
'I wonder why this annoying seal of mine prevents me from visualizing faces. I can't seem to see any of them in my dreams.'
Leaving her musings where they were, for she knew she would have no answer Sakura tried to fall asleep once again. But was quick to find that she couldn't, her nightmare leaving her a little too distressed to rest.
Deciding that she'd already slept enough anyways, she got up and began to dress in her newly acquired clothes, having found, during these three months, all kind of attires to wear, here and there - some of them were new, others old, but all of them had undeniably been left behind here.
Noting the snow outside, Sakura prudently decided to don a pair of gloves, a dark red scarf - harbouring the Haruno's Clan symbol woven across it - and a long, black cape with a hoodie, before she made her way out of her little, self-made haven, right as the sun slowly began to rise, steadily touching the meadows with its gentle, bright rays.
Feeling her nose grow cold at the sudden gust of wind, blowing a chilly breeze across her face, the young female ninja pulled up her scarf to protect herself from the biting cold, as she walked on further, making her way towards the training grounds.
Once there, she unsheathed her blade, took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating.
And as she did so, part of an exchange she had with her mentor came to mind, making her grin.
"Good work, dear child. You've finally mastered it. And look. It's such a beautiful blue."
"And it's all thanks to you, Pride-taichou. Much obliged!"
"Goodness gracious. Can you not just let go of that already?!"
"Nope. Not happening. Ever."
"Tch. Stubborn imp of a child. Definitely a Haruno, aren't you?"
Shaking her head in order to fully focus rather than letting her mind wander, she forced herself to focus and, once she had, she mentally voiced the words: "Cold-Fire Style Sword. Ignite."
And suddenly, just like that, the blade of her katana was entirely covered in vivid, blue flames.
Chop, chop, then went her sword when it sliced through several trees like a knife through butter. And the tree fell down in perfect tandem barely seconds after, all while Inner yelled 'Timber!' inside her head. The branches cracked and the leaves fell, before a loud thud stopped all sound.
Staring at the damage she'd made in faint awe, Sakura sauntered over for a closer look, taking in the small trail of smoke escaping from a large ice patch that had been left behind on the bark of the tree.
Curiosity got the better of her and so she knelt down, reaching out to glide her fingers over it. But as she touched it, a scream of agony fled her lips, senses overridden with pain, prompting her to immediately pull her hand away. She was wearing gloves, wasn't she? What on earth-?!
Ripping her glove in growing panic, Sakura's jaw dropped as she saw her skin all red and burnt.
'Huh. I guess, my fire's now cold enough to do some after-damage.'
In order to prevent any further injury, the young female ninja quickly set everything in motion to heal herself, hands crossed over each other, palms facing each other as a warm, translucent green glow came to life and slowly, but steadily, did its magic.
"Great thing, isn't it?" jutted Inner smugly "That you're a medic-nin and all, you know - and that it was me who told you this. Otherwise, you would've been burnt beyond repair, huh?"
Here, Sakura could only agree.
Thrilled to have been able to heal her hands so quickly, the young female ninja, proud of the fruits of her training, wanted to test her newly acquired skills against the rest of Mother Nature, and so, she walked over towards the stream she had found much earlier.
After a glance at the steady flow of limpid water, with her now fully mended hands, she gently touched the surface of the river closest to her, closed her eyes and activated her Kekkei Genkai.
Just as the effect a spell would have, the water froze immediately, like a growing snowflake, the ice increasing further and further, up and down both sides. Once it seemed to have gone far enough, she pulled her hand back and saw her skin had a blue glow around it. And upon looking at her mirror image in the ice, she saw a girl standing tall and engulfed in blazing, blue flames.
"Do you think you're ready now, Sakura?"
Cracks began to form in the ice, destroying her reflection as the rapid stream of water pushed harder and harder against it, like it wanted nothing more to do with the impromptu blockade. And before she knew it, the ice gave in, breaking into thousands of pieces, like broken glass, only to be swept away by the steady torrent, the river restoring itself to its former glory. And seemingly proud to have done so.
Though it mattered little to the ninja as of now, with the recent display of her powers, made her decision crystal clear. And unlike the ice, now gone, it wasn't going to be as easily destroyed...
"Yeah, Inner," nodded Sakura, determination alit in her gaze "I'm ready for the second stage."
At Ichiraku's.
"Hey, you guys? Any of you seen Naruto? He hasn't come by here for quite some time now," asked the elderly restaurant owner whose shop shared his name, addressing the three boys - friends of the blond, he was sure - passing by his place at this very moment for an early lunch.
"Sorry about that. He's been kind of busy lately," replied Choji with a polite bow of his head, for once his voice unhindered by any munching sounds, before he and the other two sat down.
Laughing his relief at that, the old man began to walk off, readying the next set of servings for his clients, whereas Kiba, who was accompanying both Choji and Shikamaru, turned to ask: "Do you know why he's so busy though? We hardly see Naruto anymore. ...Not that I care."
"Maybe because of the so-called 'missions' we've all been giving him, to keep him occupied."
"Ah. I see. Makes sense. Think he needs a hand with them? Again, not that I care."
"Nah, shouldn't be too much trouble for him," replied Choji as he glanced at his closest friend, waiting for the latter's thoughts on the subject "Right, Shikamaru?"
Eyeing his teammate languidly as he went to pick up his chopsticks, the young Nara just sighed: "You're right. No need. Especially since I believe he's currently somewhere with Sasuke. You know, getting Uchiha's mind off...certain things, with any luck. They're better off on their own, trust me."
Konoha's Private Library.
Kakashi didn't seem at all surprised when Naruto entered his office with Sasuke in tow. Instead, he simply threw a mission scroll their way and a medicinal concoction - both which Naruto easily caught, what with his teammate's reflexes being rather dampened by the alcohol and all - before their former sensei ordered them to hop to it and complete the task as soon as possible. The subtle hint of including the moping raven-haired lingered unsaid, but Naruto had intended on to do so, regardless of Kakashi's recommendation.
Hence here they were, with Naruto trying his best to help out his closest friend, set on distracting the other with...other things, anything really. Whatever came to mind, the blond just went on, sharing random titbits, like with this new 'mission' - or what he would rather call punishment - for declining the chance to become Hokage when he was offered the possibility.
"Tch. Whatever, dobe. ...Why do I have the feeling that you're just feeling lonely right now?" muttered Sasuke, as he took another chuck from the bottle of medicine Kakashi had given them.
The potion in question was no other than the former Hokage's secret alcohol-removing potion - after all, it wasn't so secret that she had a drinking habit, so when a sober Hokage was suddenly needed, Tsunade would take but a sip, and it was as if she'd never drank a single drop of alcohol.
In response to Sasuke's accusatory words, Naruto merely grinned however, saying nothing as he continued with his work. Which essentially consisted of placing one book after another into the shelves, rapidly making it one of the most boring tasks the blond male ever had to deal with.
He wasn't complaining per se, but the repetitive process was starting to become a tad dull, in addition to taking a lot of time, as the reorganisation was supposed to be sorted by theme, which meant he had to read at least the first few pages. Of each book.
Even more boring yet was that the books weren't all that interesting - at least, as far as he was concerned - what with the contents covering subjects such as history, geography, psychology, law and science.
Eager for his task to come to an end, the young Uzumaki began shoving the remaining books into the shelves in front of him with a bit too much force, which led to a cylindrical container nearby to bounce and fall off, popping open upon impact on the floor and spilling most of its contents at the young Uchiha's feet.
Curiosity obviously tickling the raven-haired male, Sasuke bent down to pick up one of the scrolls of paper, before slowly unrolling it - leading him to realize it was at least twice the size of an atlas - and taking a good look at what lied inside of it. And then he froze on the spot.
"What's wrong?" asked Naruto, immediately picking up on the other's reaction, and when the young Uchiha didn't respond, the blond hurried over to take a look himself, peering at the paper.
It turned out to be the portrait of a family, painted in black and white, with gentle hues of greys merged into the details of whatever artist had capture this rather large group of people. The crowd of individuals consisted of one elderly person, three adults, two teenagers and eight kids.
And in the background, stood a lush and picturesque garden with surrounding walls, given the impression of a courtyard of some sorts.
Marvelling at the details of the family 'photo', all while wondering whose kin this was, the two young men then noticed, in the far bottom corner of the picture, on the left, some small writing scribbled there. But before either of them got to read what it was-
"Did something catch your interest, young men?"
Both of them found themselves looking up from the realistic portrait at the same time, and saw an elderly man now standing in the doorway. It was the very man who hired them for this task.
"Yes, sir. I would like to know a bit more about this picture, please," replied Naruto politely, causing his friend to glance at him with faintly wide eyes. It was weird for the blond to be polite.
"Oh, please, young man. No need to be so formal," said the old man with a chuckle as he made his way towards the two, before receiving the picture from Sasuke and taking a good look at it.
"Ah, I recall this one," he said eventually, a small smile gracing his lips "I once bought it from a travelling merchant back when I was a lot younger. It was a long time ago, so I don't remember a lot about it, but I suppose I can try. Let's see... The merchant told me something about it being from his parents, but he wanted to sell it, because he wanted to begin a fresh start. Something about not wanting to be reminded of his family's bloody past. Of course, I bought it in the end."
"And...Was that all?" questioned Naruto, hoping to be granted more information as the old man suddenly fell in a trance of silence, seemingly lost in the past.
"Hm, let me think a moment. Oh, yes. I also had let a specialist take a look at it. Nothing special, he had said at first, but then he mentioned that the painting could have been made during eras of war, due to their clothes and the amount of children in proportion with the number of adults. Oh, something else. The merchant had a son too. A son with pink hair. Can you imagine that? Pink? For hair? Odd and astonishing really. It is not every day you see a physical trait like that."
"And," began Sasuke, upon digesting what the elderly man had shared, before the young Uchiha pointed at the bottom left corner of the family portrait "What's written down here, old man?"
The owner of the place squinted for a closer look, before he shook his head: "To be fair, it is in a language uncommon to me, so I have not a clue as to what it could mean. If I recall well, I believe the merchant said it is in - hold on, it's coming back to me - Latin or something."
The old man trailed off as he looked around the place, decidedly pleased with the organizing of his books as he smiled down upon the two young men: "Excellent work, boys. I think you are more than done here. To show you my gratitude, you two can each pick something out from my collection. Take what you wish, it's yours."
"Thanks, old man," beamed the blond with a bright smile, gaze darting to his friend expectantly.
"...Yeah, thanks. I'll have decline though. I already have a ton of books to speak of, don't need more," uttered Sasuke, which in turn led the blond to roll his eyes, a wide grin touching his lips.
"Oi, bastard. Don't be rude to the man," teased Naruto with a hint of playfulness, as he picked a book for a nearby shelf, not so randomly, and shoved it into his hands "Here, read this, yeah?"
Sasuke blinked as he read the title of the book thrust into his hold. 'Path to Inner Peace', it said. At that, the Uchiha, not at all amused, glared at the still, stupidly smiling blond male, before a smirk appeared on his face and he rushed to return the favour, glancing at the shelves. If Naruto was taunting him for his inner...turmoil, then all he had to do was instigate the blond's boredom.
All of Naruto's smugness was winded right out of him when his friend took his turn delivering him a book. Straight in his gut. Scowling at the other half-heartedly, the young Uzumaki peered at the title of the book now in his grasp.
"Space and all its Physics?" read out the Uzumaki with an expression of disgust, feeling bored already, before a sudden air of competition hung over the two as they glanced at each other "Bet I can read it all out before you."
With that, they both dashed out, hurrying to get home and start reading, leaving far behind them the old man laughing in sheer amusement at their antics.
Back in Sakura's cave.
Sakura made her way down the steep steps carved into the rocks of the cave, going lower and lower, until she reached the cavity below, where the water ran and the cave's walls shimmered.
Walking over to the still calm water, the young female ninja sat herself right in the middle, utterly unmindful of the feel of getting wet, before she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and fell into a trance of meditation.
She opened her eyes again, in her Inner World, expecting Honou to appear, but instead, she saw an old man standing there in his place.
Taking a cautious step back with a wary frown, she studied the elderly man in front of her, but couldn't make out too many details, other than he was wearing some kind of light armour, with a gigantic double-headed battle axe on his back.
"Who on earth are you? And where's Honou-taichou at?" demanded Sakura harshly, green gaze narrowing sharply as she pointed aggressively at the other materialized before her.
The older Inner raised an eyebrow: "You really should not be so disrespectful to your elders, little flame."
Slowly put her hand down, the young pink-haired female looked at him closely, before she felt herself relax upon witnessing that he seemed, mostly, harmless: "I'm sorry about that, it's just that... I wasn't notified beforehand about you. And that you'd be here, sir - whoever you are..."
"Do not worry yourself about it. To reply to your previous question, I was the clan head during its fall."
She felt her jaw drop in shocked awe. To meet the last head of the Haruno Clan, what an honour. And of course, she had to outright threaten and disrespect the first time she meets him. ...Great.
"You also probably wish to know why I am here instead of Honou," he stated shrewdly as he stroked his now visible beard "Some time ago, he requested that I tell you something about the threat we are currently facing. As well as to reward you for all your hard work."
"What do you mean by reward?" inquired Sakura as childish and keen curiosity overtook her, completely overlooking the mentioned threat.
"You shall see."
The old man then snapped his fingers, leading a figure to exit out of the barrier and stand beside him, and the moment Sakura saw her, she found herself incapable of doing anything but stutter: "You... Oh my God, y-y-you... But you're..."
She was so stunned that she couldn't even finish her sentence. Her mind was killing her, trying to prevent from remembering, but Sakura didn't care. Nothing in the entire world would EVER stop her from recalling-
"I'm happy to know that you haven't forgotten me, my dearest, dearest daughter."
Unable to hold her tears back, the young pink-haired female ran up to the woman who gave her life, and hugged her with all her might: "Mum! Oh, Mum, I missed you so much. I-I... I..."
Sakura was at loss for words. She didn't know what to say. And nothing but sobs left her lips.
"Shh, it's alright. It's ok. No need to say anything, my dear one. You here and hugging me is much more than I could ever possibly hope for."
Lost in each other's embrace, they stayed like that for a while, but for a time that still managed to feel too short, before Sakura managed to find her voice and break the silence, though quietly: "Mum, what happened to you and dad?"
She hugged her daughter even tighter as she whispered softly into her ear, just like she did when she gently used to lull Sakura to her sleep, only right now her voice sounded strained, choked: "How I wish we never went on that journey, dear. We were travelling to our destination when we were suddenly ambushed. By him. During the attack, he was able to capture me, but your father...he had already killed."
Sakura's mother suddenly stopped for a moment, looking so pained and so, so very lost: "He brought me to his hideout and started to- to experiment on me. He didn't do any physical tests, because I wasn't a shinobi. But he did practice a lot of mental experimentations on me. He showed me...horrible, horrible fragments and images- They- It- It was all so- so..."
Out of nowhere and all of a sudden, her beloved mother just...broke down, falling to her knees as she covered her face with her hands, and screamed: "Oh, no. No, no, NO! NOT AGAIN!"
Alarmed, Sakura wanted to calm her, to help her, but before she could even try, she was stopped by the old man, shaking his head at her.
With the young female ninja now rooted where she was in shock and confusion, he shifted over to carefully pick up her still screaming mother, before he walked her back through the barrier.
Shaking due to the scene that had just unfolded, Sakura was horrified, speechless, only able to recover her voice again when the old man made his way back: "What did that man do to her?"
"Alas, we know not. Every time she tries to tell us, this is what becomes of her. Dry your eyes, child."
Not realizing she had been shedding tears until he mentioned it, she furiously brushed her tears away by burying her face in her arm, only to then feel a hand gently set itself upon her person.
Green eyes snapping open, she watched the elderly man in stunned silence as he touched the left side of her face, straight where the seal was. And when she felt no ill intentions, she let him.
At first, Sakura felt a light burn, leading her to close her eyes upon instinct. No sooner had she done that did she see herself lying strapped down upon a table, with an unseen man - yet one she knew - beside her, telling a story.
She could she see his lips moving, and could hear his voice all around her, like echoes playing on a bass as he went on and on, recounting his tale.
Once he had finished, Sakura snapped her eyes open again just in time to witness the elderly man withdraw his hand, leaving her utterly baffled: "Wha-? What on earth-? What did you just do, old man?"
"I merely attempted to release the seal a little, and apparently, it worked. Also, it is now faintly altered; blue in colour instead of black. And before you ask, no. I am unfortunately unable to remove this seal entirely. I however have a feeling you are the only one who can do that. When the time is right."
"...Ok. But why did you just show me that man telling me the full history of the Haruno Clan?"
"Interesting. I showed you nothing. You clearly remembered though. Not to worry, I saw what you saw. That man was Haruno Kaji. Before anything else, do you remember why the Haruno Clan fell?"
The name sounds familiar, Sakura pursed her lips with a frown, all while answering his query: "Um...Oh! Yes, it's because of the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan, when they both teamed up. At least, that's what this Kaji guy said."
"Good for you to point that out. It is indeed his version, or rather, his twisted version of the real deal. What you heard and were told then was what my sister, Haruno Hee, believed to be true."
By this point, the young pink-haired female ninja was downright confused, so the other swiftly took it upon himself to elucidate the matter for her.
"Let us sit for this, for it will be a long tale as we delve into the past. It was during the constant attacks of the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan. Since, at first, they never attacked together, our clan was able to withstand their assault, due to two people. Haruno Honou and his older sister, Haruno Hee. Though mastering our kekkei genkai to the best of its potential, she wanted nothing more than the best for our clan, and used her genius in those harsh times. During one of the attacks, a lot of our man were wounded, and as they were recovering, one of the Haruno spies informed us that the Uchiha Clan would attack again in less than two weeks. Because of the depleted number of soldiers, we would have been utterly unable to defend ourselves, but Haruno Hee had a plan. Dangerous just as it was powerful. It consisted of using an extremely forbidden jutsu from our clan - Convenio Animo Jutsu - which allowed one to merge with their Inner. And the way to achieve it was rather cruel. There is no simple way to explain the process itself, but I will try my best. In short, you would have to envision your Inner as a sponge. For a sponge to become heavy, typically it has to absorb water. So, what does an Inner absorb to become stronger? Answer, the life of other Inners. And not just one or two. Hundreds, to say the least, if not many more."
To say that Sakura was merely disturbed would have been an understatement, but she was unable to say a word as the other continued: "Initially turning down such a solution, we could have never thought she would however carry on with it. And so, two weeks after, when the time had come, the battle ended before it could even be started, as Haruno Hee walked back towards us, drenched in blood from head to toe. Alone, she had destroyed those of the Uchiha army who had come to attack us that day. Cheers and rounds of applause had begun to sound around us, but it was all cut short when one of our healers ran out from the camp behind us, screaming out in horror: 'All the wounded! The wounded soldiers! They-They're all dead!' While a stifling silence hushed over us, I, for one, could not believe my ears. But I had no power to deny the corpses laid in the treatment wing, slashes left upon their bodies in a criss-cross fashion. An instant indicator of Haruno Hee' signature move. At this knowledge, everyone raged, accusing her of mass annihilation, and wanted her dead, there and then. But given who she was to us as a Haruno, betrayer she might have been, she had still done all she had done for the greater good of our survival, so I managed to convince the other members of our clan to lighten her sentence. Ensuing in her immediately being banished from our village, in name and in land, which in turn resulted in her fury, wanting nothing more than revenge, vowing to massacre our clan in retaliation of our injustice towards her."
When the elder Inner suddenly stopped speaking and stared off in the distance, Sakura, reeling, cleared her throat, in a politer attempt to get him to continue.
Instead, it was Honou who carried on: "Unfortunately, that is all we know of that tale with absolute certainty. Many sources vary after. As for the Uchiha Clan, after stealing the Amaterasu, a few Haruno survivors claim to have witnessed the former attempt a surprise attack, but we were already long gone."
Sakura was dumbfounded by what she'd just been told, unable to fully wrap her mind around all of it since, it all remained pretty unclear, with so many questions unanswered, one even more so, which she then voiced: "Ok, but where does Kaji fit in all of this?"
"We do not know," simultaneously answered Honou and the other elderly man, before another voice all of a sudden intervened as the silhouette of a third individual stepped out of the barrier.
"But I do."
Against her will, shivers ran down Sakura's spine as she felt rage instinctively rise within her, both at the sound of the new voice and then at the sight of the person in question that followed.
'It can't be.'
But it was. Even if his appearance was more of an Inner's, there was no mistaking the name spelt across his forehead.
And she wasted no time drawing her blade and dashing straight for an attack, without hesitation. But she never reached her mark as both the old man and Honou intercepted her and forcefully kept her grounded, restraining her and leaving her with, sadly enough, no other alternative but that of screaming out in sheer ire: "LET ME GO! WHY'RE YOU HOLDING ME BACK?! HOW DARE YOU?! DON'T YOU SEE WHO THAT MONSTER IS?! IT'S HARUNO KAJI!"
Wrestling against the two men as they whispered for her to calm down, Sakura threw a glare of absolute disgust at the other, only to witness the other fallen to his knees, forehead to the ground as he bowed down before her, profound apology in his tone and form: "I'm sorry, child. Truly, truly sorry. What happened to you was a tragedy. And you may not believe me, but I never meant for any of this to happen. Blame me all you want, but I beg you, to at least let me tell you, that I was not once in control during it all. Hee was."
Sakura was not having it. At all. She just sneered at him with disgust, clearly not believing him.
"It's rather hard to explain, child, so just...allow me tell you my story."
Sakura honestly couldn't help the derisive snort that escaped her: "Ha. Another history lesson?"
Rather than indulge her sarcasm, Kaji simply began his tale: "Ever since I was a child, I had always been a curious and adventurous person, which would especially manifest during my father's many voyages. He was a travelling merchant and sold a lot of our family heirlooms, but I was eventually able to convince him to leave me a few things instead. Amongst some of those treasures, were books that held stories written in something other than our normal language, all of which intrigued and fascinated me. I couldn't read them then, but my father told me about them, given they had been recounted to him as well. Tales like: the Legend of Deadalus and Icarus, the Eruption of the Vesuvius, Pygmalion, and so much more. I wanted to learn more about them, all of them. But the world will always be a dangerous place. I couldn't just travel the world and discover new things, by myself and without some sort of protection. In order to fulfil my dreams, I had to become a shinobi. I learned what my father relayed to me, and once I had become a decent shinobi, I set sail and began travelling the world. I followed the places from the stories I had been told of, from the seas to the mountains. But sadly enough, I never found a thing. It was almost just like father would say: 'They're just stories.' And right when I was about to give up, I met someone, a person who became my dearest friend. Together, we walked the same paths across the countryside, constantly discovering new things. And of those things, was an old ruin. In it, was an ancient weapon known to belong to one of my ancestors. As we made our way towards were it laid, no sooner had I gotten close to it, did I get like a pull towards it, as though it was a magnet trying to suck me in. Caught in a trance, like a moth drawn to a flame, I reached out to touch- And since then, you could say that my mind underwent a short circuit."
'What, like you were electrocuted or something?'
Sakura stared sceptically at the man named Kaji, not sure if he was making all of this up or if it was true, somehow. Either way, curiosity got the better of her: "Say I believe you, why are you here, in this place, the realm of the Inners?"
"I'm not sure about that myself."
"Maybe I could explain," interfered Honou, now drawing everyone's full attention upon him "With the way you described your experience, I would have to guess that you released some kind of singular seal. If I am correct, then it should mean that she - Haruno Hee - found a way to seal her own Inner within those artefacts, the weapon - double-swords, weren't they? - And the moment you touched them, her Inner was set free. If this is true, then the Inner found a way to completely take over your body and, kind of, kicked you out - no way to sugar-coat this, unfortunately, I apologize. And because this place belongs to us Inners, you were automatically sent here instead."
"I...see."
But he clearly didn't, and neither did Sakura, in fact. This was too much information for her, but she managed to venture an assumption on what she did, sort of, understand: "But that would mean, that the real enemy is Hee, isn't it?"
"Almost true. Rather, it is her vile, murderous Inner which now resides in a new vessel," explained Honou with a sigh, suddenly looking much older than he initially appeared.
'Always look underneath the underneath,' was what suddenly echoed across Sakura's mind as she felt her eye started to twitch again 'Now where did that come from? Good point however.'
The young female ninja then turned to focus on the two Inners and the other not-so Inner with slight uncertainty, feeling that there was something else not quite being said here: "So, why are you telling me all this? And why only now?"
The elderly man took a deep breath before looking her directly in the eyes: "We have to admit, we thought that if we had shared all of this with you in the beginning, you would have most certainly left to search for Haruno Hee there and then, without thinking. Should you have done that, Hee's Inner would have definitely known you to be alive. Attempting to face her head on, without any understanding of our clan and without training whatsoever, you would have surely never survived such a confrontation."
Sakura bristled, about to say that she wouldn't have done that, when she found that she couldn't argue, even if she wanted to. That is in fact something she would have done, no doubt there, dashing off to search for that monster, only to confront her without any strategy. Or any chance of winning.
"There is a second reason for why we did not share this with you earlier. It is about the second stage of the kekkei genkai, a stage where you have perfect the control over your flames, until it forms a cape around you, which will protect you, just like a turtle's shell."
Sakura's perked up: "Like his- I mean, Hee's cloak? Cool. ...But hey, what does her cloak do?"
"Alas, we are not too certain on what it does, but it did begin appearing around her once she had started using that twisted jutsu. But we are getting side-tracked, child. And time is running out. In order to achieve the second stage, which is imperative if you wish to battle against Haruno Hee, you will need to fuel your already existing fire with 'a fiery passion'. Or as I prefer to call it, 'a goal to strive for', and in this case, it would be to defeat Haruno Hee, for everyone's sake. So...Do you, Haruno Sakura, accept this as your goal?"
Mind still reeling, heart beating with all she had just learned and didn't quite fully understand, Sakura however didn't even hesitate when it came to answering steadfastly: "Yes. I'll stop her."
A new chapter, for you all.
All thanks to my beautiful beta: Seth's Kiss.
For those, who are struggling with the name 'Hee': it is a synonym to flame in Japanese. In fact, all the names of the clan members are synonyms. You are free to interpret yourself how to pronounce it, for me, I read it as 'Hiè' with a short breath.
