Haruno Sakura felt on top of the world. It was an exceptionally warm day for March and she had just turned six years old. This meant that her parents would finally allow her to attend the shinobi Academy with her only friend, Yamanaka Ino. Her civilian parents were reluctant to enroll their only daughter, because they worried about her having such a dangerous profession. They kept hoping that she would grow out of her shinobi phase and lead a civilian life like the rest of the Haruno family.
Her parents, Mebuki and Kizashi, were well known merchants who travelled all across the shinobi nations, with primary points of contact in Suna and Kiri; from which they imported herbs, both medicinal and poisonous, and silk. Despite the fact that they owned a house in Konoha, they spent the majority of their time outside of the village, searching for the best deals and herbs across the nations. Sakura sometimes travelled with her parents, but more often than not, she stayed in town with her aunt, Natsuko, and uncle, Hiroki.
Hiroki was Kizashi's younger brother and he was the first Haruno shinobi. He had shoulder length light blonde hair, which he typically tied into a short ponytail, and light brown eyes. His muscles were not very defined despite the fact he was a shinobi, seeing as he was a paper nin. Though he had a scar beneath his right ear that ran down his neck until his collarbone, he was a handsome man, and noticeably taller than the rest of his family. Most members of the Haruno family measured between 175 -180cm, but Hiroki was an exception; as he measured a head taller than everyone else. In contrast it seemed comical that he married his genin teammate, Natsuko, who was a head shorter than the Haruno family. What Natsuko lacked in height, she made up in speed and beauty. She had the lithe body of a ballerina and somehow managed to retain most of her feminine curves. She had dark brown hair that reached the middle of her back and dark brown eyes that always held a glimmer of happiness. Natsuko came from a small family of shinobi. Her family was not big or prominent enough to be a clan, but they were loyal shinobi nonetheless.
Natsuko and Hiroki both became Chunin the third time they participated in the Chunin exams. In all three exams, they both struggled during their 1v1 matches; it was by sheer luck they were matched up against each other during the third exam and the only reason they got promoted - had they had to face any other genin, they would have lost very quickly since they were both weak physically. Despite being weak, they were still able to complete C rank missions with B rank missions being a very rare occurrence. Their most common workplaces were the Hokage Tower as assistants, the library as clerks and the front gates as gate guards.
Natsuko was a sensor and occasionally worked as a messenger, contacting the shinobi summoned by the Hokage. Hiroki, on the other hand, was knowledgeable about poisons. He occasionally worked for the intelligence department and crafted poisons for ANBU to use.
Natsuko and Hiroki had a son, Takeshi, who had no interest in becoming a shinobi and was instead interested in a life as a civilian. As such, he spent most of his time travelling with Kizashi and Mebuki, while Sakura spent most of her time with Hiroki and Natsuko.
Seeing as her parents were out of town, Sakura was spending her birthday with her aunt and uncle. All she wanted for her sixth birthday was to spend it as shinobi spend their days on a mission; travelling through the forest, hunting their food and camping for the night. Sakura was so excited and determined to learn more about the shinobi life and her aunt and uncle were more than happy to give that to her for her birthday.
Having spent the night camping and having caught rabbits for breakfast for her aunt and uncle in the morning, Sakura was slowly becoming a shinobi in her own eyes. Her clothes were covered in dirt and she sported a few scratches - the rabbits were quite skilled in evasion techniques - but in the end, Sakura had outsmarted two adult rabbits and proudly dragged them back to camp. Although she still wasn't comfortable killing an animal, she vowed to improve and be able to kill her catch next time she went camping with Natsuko and Hiroki; as she was confident they would bring her again.
After everything was packed up, the trio started their day long journey back to Konoha through the dense forest. Sakura walked a few steps ahead of her aunt and uncle, occasionally skipping and letting the air run through her long, pink hair. For this excursion, she had decided to not wear her typical red dress and opted for a dark blue short sleeve shirt with a light grey jacket and black shinobi pants that Natsuko had given her specifically for this trip. Sakura also brought along a satchel in which she kept a few kunai and shuriken - reluctantly given to her by her parents before they left for Suna earlier that week. She wasn't going to use them - they were sharp, and she had never practiced with them before - but they helped make her day as a shinobi more realistic.
"Sakura-chan, don't wander too far ahead, we need to stay in formation." Hiroki reminded Sakura teasingly. The child quickly turned around and ran back to her uncle, hugging one of her birthday presents - a book about chakra theory and exercises given to her by Natsuko - tightly to her chest.
"Hai taichou!" Sakura replied while grinning, sliding in between her aunt and uncle, keeping pace with them. Natsuko chuckled and brought her hand up to ruffle Sakura's hair playfully, which only served to widen the girl's grin. Even though most little girls wouldn't want their hair tangled, Natsuko knew Sakura loved getting her hair ruffled, as it represented closeness and caring in her eyes, something only people who care deeply about each other would do.
Sakura listened intently to the noises in the forest, trying to hear any sounds or sense any chakra from her surroundings; she was always on guard. Natsuko had been teaching her how to sense chakra since Sakura first showed interest in becoming a shinobi at the age of 4 years old, which, at the time, had made the little girl jump for joy. Sakura was finally getting the hang of it and was able to sense her aunt's, her uncle's and even Ino's chakra when they were within a few blocks of her. It took some time for Sakura to decipher and memorize a person's chakra signature, but when she managed to remember it, there was no way she would forget it. To her, a chakra signature was something she could not forget even if she tried, she knew those three signatures just as well as her own; they were forever engraved into the depths of her being.
"Rule #25?" Hiroki asked out of the blue.
"A shinobi must never show their tears…" Sakura quickly replied, glancing up at her uncle. Hiroki looked at Sakura fondly with a smile, raising one eyebrow in anticipation.
"Unless surrounded by people who love you." She added, with a smile, and reached for Hiroki's hand to give it a squeeze, to which Hiroki knelt down and kissed Sakura's forehead. Hiroki and Natsuko both believed that all the shinobi rules had exceptions and they were determined to show Sakura that shinobi didn't have to kill their emotions to be useful. The Harunos were emotionally expressive; they didn't shy away from giving hugs and kisses. In fact, Sakura was encouraged to express her gratitude either with a hug or a kiss to the cheek or to the forehead. Hiroki and Natsuko both also believed in teamwork and being there for and supporting those precious to you, an attitude that was ingrained in Konoha shinobi, giving the other nations the impression that Konoha was too soft.
"Rule #4?" Natsuko prompted.
"A shinobi must always put the mission first… unless a friend is in danger." Sakura stated with a weak smile.
Thinking about that rule always reminded her of the story that her aunt and uncle had told her about the legendary White Fang who chose to save his comrades instead of completing his mission and was consequently dishonoured by the shinobi of the village, even the comrades he saved. Thinking about that story angered Sakura; she didn't understand how anyone could hold a grudge on someone who saved their lives, especially if they were comrades or friends. The first time Sakura heard the story of the White Fang, she vowed to treat her friends - when she would actually have some - so well that they would never feel unwanted. Her heart quickened at the thought of having friends to be with and to go to the park with, instead of having bullies laugh at her and hurt her because of her larger than average forehead.
"Rule 13?" Hiroki continued.
"A shinobi must prepare before it's too late… Which means, I should learn how to make poisons right?" Sakura asked as she loosened her grip on Hiroki's hand, and tugged his arm while putting on her best puppy eyes.
Kizashi had protested and forbade Hiroki from teaching Sakura about poisons when she first showed interest in a shinobi life, because one wrong ingredient or one wrong step could spell disaster. Despite this, Hiroki knew that Sakura was a lot more mature and prudent than the genin twice her age, which is why he had already wrapped an introductory book on poisonous herbs on her bed for her to find when they arrived home later that day. Hiroki kept telling himself that he was giving the cook to her since it would be a useful book for her shinobi career, but deep down, he just wanted to spoil her as much as possible, and any excuse was a valid one in his mind.
Natsuko had already promised Sakura that they would bring her to the library once she finished her book about chakra, and maybe even, at some point, they would let her read the various books and scrolls in the genin and chunin sections. A free pass at reading to her heart's content was all Sakura could ever ask for. Hiroki knew they were spoiling the girl, but to them, they were finally able to pass on their knowledge and specialties to someone and they were going to make sure she excelled in the few things they could teach her. Had Takeshi been interested in being a shinobi, they would have taught them both, however, Takeshi was solely interested in being a merchant, and spent his years shadowing Kizashi and Mebuki. Hiroki wasn't fooling himself, it felt like Sakura was his own child and Takeshi was his nephew, though Sakura would always remain her daddy's girl.
"Hmmm… how about I make you a deal Sakura-chan?" Sakura's eyes filled with hope and excitement at Hiroki's suggestion. "Once you learn how to suppress your chakra - it doesn't have to be undetectable, but at least suppress half of your chakra- I'll start teaching you how to make poisons." Hiroki tried his best to stifle his laughter at the girl's expression. He could see her mentally planning the quickest and most efficient way for her to mask her chakra so that she could be taught about poisons. She was just so adorable when she was determined to learn something new.
"Suppress my chakra… that should be… page 87" Sakura thought out loud, opening her birthday present and flipping through the pages. Even though she had only just received her present that morning, she had memorized the table of contents to ensure she could quickly reference the book when required. If you asked Sakura, her intelligence was average - she only had herself to compare to, so she fell well within the norm - but if you asked Ino, Sakura was sometimes too smart for her age. She analyzed and planned everything, even when going to the park.
Ever since Sakura started going to the park, she was bullied because of her larger than average forehead and her pink hair. The kids at the park - mostly girls but lately, boys joined the group - physically, and emotionally harmed her as often as possible. Because of the bullies, Sakura tried to plan her visits to the park to avoid a confrontation, though it wasn't always successful, and she came home with cuts and bruises more often than not.
Natsuko's shoulders stiffened suddenly as she quickly turned her head to look east, her brown hair whipping around her shoulders. There were two very strong chakras - possibly A rank, though most likely S rank - heading towards them, quickly. She turned her gaze to Hiroki who had been watching her intently since the stiffening of her shoulders; he knew her enough to know something bad was coming their way.
"S" Natsuko whispered above Sakura's head, trying to not distract the girl from her reading, and held up two fingers. Hiroki's eyes widened and his face paled considerably - they had to leave stat!.
"Say Sakura-chan," Hiroki's voice cracked and trembled, "did you want to fly through the trees for a while?" He managed to smile as he crouched down, though it didn't reach his eyes.
"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Sakura squealed, closing her big book of chakra and handing it to Hiroki to hold while she climbed onto his back, excited for the upĉoming adventure. Sakura loved the feeling of dashing through the trees with the wind in her hair and on her face - it made her feel alive.
"Hold on tight!" Hiroki hurried and ran forward, Natsuko keeping pace with him. He glanced occasionally at his wife, hoping for good news, but the horrible feeling in the pit of his stomach only worsened as Natsuko's expression grew more and more grim each time he saw her.
They had been running at full tilt for 20 minutes, but Natsuko didn't think they would be able to outrun their possible pursuers, given the immense skill gap. Although they were a 3h run away from Konoha, it was possible that ANBU patrols would find them in time. This was their only hope of survival, unless they got really lucky and the foreign ninjas would simply ignore them and continue on their way.
Suddenly, Natsuko couldn't sense the 2 chakra signatures anymore, and didn't know if it was a good sign or very bad one.
"Hiro-kun...I can't sense them anymore…"
Hiroki's heartbeat sped up - in fear or relief, he wasn't sure - and could only think of one way to proceed. "Take Sakura and run back quickly, I can try to distract them in case they're coming towards us."
Sakura was not stupid, she knew something terrible was about to happen. She didn't want to leave her uncle behind, but being the child, she wasn't given a choice. Natsuko hesitated for a second, and with tears threatening to fall, she helped Sakura get up on her back and kissed Hiroki one last time. Hiroki gave Sakura one last kiss on her forehead and gave her a quick hug, before motioning for Natsuko to get going.
Natsuko took off quickly and managed a few leaps off the tree branches when a hand attached to tendrils latched onto her throat out of nowhere, slamming her into a tree. Unfortunately, Sakura took the brunt of the impact and it felt like was being crushed, feeling her bones crack throughout her body. Sakura had never felt so much pain in her life and hoped that she would never have to go through something similar again. She had gotten used to being beat up by the bullies at the playground, but none of those incidents compared to what she was feeling at the moment. It hurt to breathe, it hurt to move, and it even hurt to think. She let out choked screams until her throat felt like sandpaper.
She felt her aunt be pulled away from her, causing Sakura to fall from a great distance - at least as high as the village gates - to the ground, onto her right ankle. She heard a loud crack and felt her left ankle roll over under her weight, causing pain to shoot up her leg. Tears were flowing freely from her eyes, but she kept silent, as she watched her aunt get slammed onto the ground by a man wearing a black cloak with red clouds and a scratched out forehead protector from Takigakure. The man looked like a living demon, with his green irises and red sclerae. He had tendrils coming out of his body and his mouth. Sakura never knew she could have nightmares while still awake - there was no way this was happening - it was just too much for her to comprehend since they should be safe in Fire Country, so close to Konoha.
Sakura took a sudden step forward on her broken ankle and immediately passed out from the pain. She woke up face first on the grass, her body hurting, not knowing how much time had passed, but one thing she knew for certain; her aunt was not faring well. In fact, Sakura didn't think her aunt had been able to land a single hit on her attacker despite her speed.
A noise alerted Sakura to look behind her and she managed to turn around to see her uncle bleeding from multiple large cuts on his legs and arms. Hiroki slowly walked towards the demon and Sakura's struggling aunt and all the little girl wanted to do was scream - scream at her uncle to stop and run away, hoping that maybe he could run far enough away from the demon - but as Sakura opened her mouth, a man appeared behind her uncle, and kicked Hiroki's legs out from under him.
The man was a head taller than her uncle - how that was possible was beyond Sakura, her uncle was already the tallest in the family and stood out the few times she saw the shinobi of Konoha assembled - and was wearing the black cloak with red clouds just like the demon was. He had short brown hair with pale blue eyes and a scar running from the right side of his forehead, just below his scratched out forehead protector, across his nose and to the lower left of his jawline. He wielded a plain grey kusarigama - holding the sickle in one hand and letting the iron weight drag onto the floor - that dripped with her uncle's blood which made Sakura sick to her stomach. His face was expressionless, even as he slashed at Hiroki's chest, which made him seem inhuman - a good match for his demonic partner Sakura thought.
The blue eyed man dragged Hiroki towards a tree trunk not far from his demonic partner and tied him to the base of the tree in order for Hiroki to watch what they would do to his wife. He looked over at Sakura as he tied her uncle to the tree and it felt like he was hypnotizing her, forcing her to look him square in the eyes.
"If he loses too much blood, his heart won't be of any use to me. You better hope that's not the case or I'll kill you, you worthless piece of shit." The tendril man said to his partner, who didn't seem to care that he was just threatened. He simply finished tying up Hiroki and walked over to Natsuko.
"I want her before you take her heart" stated the pale eyed man calmly, which only served to make the other laugh.
"Not happening, we need to be quick about this and leave, too many chances to get caught." At this, Sakura felt a glimmer of hope in her chest - they could still survive if other shinobi found them and interrupted the missing nins - but all she could do was sit there trembling, waiting, and hope the two red clouds forgot about her.
"Fine, then I'll take the pink haired little girl. I think she'll be the youngest I've ever had." The man stared at Sakura and began to walk towards her as she tried to crawl towards her uncle, not paying attention to the demon and his partner.
A scream - the worst sound Sakura had ever heard in her life - rang through the forest, and Sakura's eyes snapped to her aunt as tendrils dug into her Natsuko's chest and blood flowed freely out of her body. The demon stood between her aunt and uncle as tendrils reached for Hiroki's chest. Sakura struggled to stand up, but she hurt all over and her body wasn't responding to her demands, so she was forced to sit there and watch as tendrils burrowed into both of her relatives' chests. She tried to cover her ears to at least dampen the screams coming from both her aunt and uncle, but she couldn't drown much of it out at all. She couldn't stop the sobs as they escaped her.
The blue eyed man stepped into Sakura's line of sight, a short distance from her, and slowly took out five kunai and some senbon which, caught Sakura's eye. He threw a kunai at Sakura's feet to make sure he had her attention. "It's just you and me baby doll, so let's have a little fun, shall we? The more you can dodge, the less I'll hurt you later, seems fair don't you think?" the man stated as he smirked at her. There was a look in his eyes that Sakura had never seen directed at her before. She had seen others express that emotion when seeing their favorite food after a long day. It was the first emotion this man expressed and it terrified Sakura.
In a sobering flash, Sakura felt a rush of pain as a kunai sliced through her left arm and left a 4 inch long, deep cut across her bicep. Sakura yelled and cried as pain invaded her body once again. How can I dodge if I can't even see him throw anything she thought. She managed to stand up on her two shaky legs and hopped - using her only functional one - away from her enemy but felt a senbon prick her in the back of her left thigh, losing all feeling in that leg. She reached out, hoping to find anything to stabilize herself but only managed to scrape her hands on the bark of a tree before clumsily falling face first in the grass.
Breathing in big gulps of air, Sakura noticed that her aunt's screams had stopped, and only her uncle's pained screams could be heard now. She had managed to tilt her head and see that the demon was now solely focused on her uncle and what looked to be a human heart in one of his hands. Sakura felt her stomach turn and she threw up on the grass beside her. Where are the ANBU?! Why has nobody found us yet? Sakura screamed in her head as she hyperventilated and was slowly coming to terms with the fact that she would die very soon.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Three kunai embedded themselves in Sakura's body - one in her left hand, one in the back of her right knee and one deep in her left shoulder - as she laid her head on the ground and welcomed death as long as it stopped the pain. Sakura's throat was now raw from screaming, so she decided that she would quietly wait for death while thinking of all the good memories she had made in her short life.
"Ikuro, we're leaving." the demon stated as he appeared in front of Sakura and his partner, whilst holding onto 2 hearts. Sakura managed to lift her head and look at her uncle's dead body, still tied to the tree not far from her aunt's body. Tears welled up in her eyes, and fell freely down her face; she had just lost the two most precious people in the world to her and had to watch them get brutally murdered in a living nightmare.
"Then leave Kakuzu!" Ikuro snarled at his partner without shifting his gaze from the pinkette "I'll meet you back at the base later." At this, Kakuzu shot a glance to the forest from which they came and stiffened. He looked back at Ikuro and nodded, then quickly rushed into the forest, continuing on their original path.
The blue eyed man stood next to Sakura, frowning at the fact the her face was turned to the grass which meant that he couldn't see her pained expression. He knelt down beside Sakura, took out his kusarigama and whispered into her ear "You didn't dodge very well baby doll, I guess I'll have to punish you a little bit huh?"
Sakura felt his hand grip the back of her neck pinning her in place as he slowly and painfully dragged his sickle from just above her right shoulder blade all the way down the right side of her body, leaving a one inch deep cut from her shoulder blade down to her ankle. Sakura screamed out from the pain as the man stood up and admired his work and the bloodbath he was causing with a knowing grin. Sakura struggled to crawl away from the man, but he kicked her on her the side and then rolled her onto her back, the kunai and senbon digging deeper into her body.
Black spots slowly clouded Sakura's vision as a result of her blood loss from her latest injury - her right side bled profusely, staining the grass red. Her end was coming closer and closer as she stared up at the pale eyed man who looked longingly at her.
"You're just making it harder for yourself you know, trying to escape all the time" He said, while swinging the iron weight of his kusarigama around "guess there's one way to make sure you won't try to squirm anymore… now which leg?" he pondered, as he stared down at her expressionlessly.
Sakura was drifting in and out of consciousness at this point, and could only just piece together what the man was saying. She didn't like the way he swung his weapon around nor the way he stared at her intently, as it could only promise more pain - though by this point she was pretty sure she couldn't possibly feel anymore pain without dying. She felt unconsciousness settling in and welcomed it, hoping this would be the end. As her eyelids grew heavier, she saw Ikuro spin and slam the iron weight down with all of his might, bringing on excruciating pain in her right leg, making the distinct count that could only be bones shattering. She screamed as loudly as she could, damaging her vocal cords in the process and instantly snapping back into consciousness. Her eyes widened as she saw the man smile as he reveled in her agony. The intense pain blocked all of Sakura's other senses. She couldn't hear anything nor see anything and struggled to take a breath as her body shook uncontrollably.
"Hmmm… enough foreplay don't you think?" Ikuro exclaimed while tossing his weapon to the side and kneeling down on his knees at Sakura's feet. His lustful gaze was on Sakura as he moved to straddle her hips and place his hand on her cheek when suddenly he stiffened and quickly turned to look behind him. "For fuck's sakes, are you serious?" he mumbled to himself as he stretched his arm out to grab his kusarigama. "Now you wait here for a bit baby doll, I'll be right back." He grabbed Sakura's hand and kissed the back of it and continued on to kiss every one of her fingers in turn before getting up as Sakura felt four chakra signatures entering the scene of the disaster.