Connections

Chapter 1 – Childhood; An odd encounter

By: Atsumi Todoroki

"I am the Lorax and I speak for the trees. Read this Authors note or I'll break your knees."

Also read the important message written below for clarification, it's not some random shit you avoid :D

^.^ READ IT OR I'll FUCKING SWEAR I WILL SKIN YOU ALIVE (Hidan will gladly help)YOU PIECE OF- Nah jk. -w-"

Authors Note: Screw this! Screw the first chapter! This is gonna be the new chapter 1 :D. Anyways Matrix, the summary I sent you is not final, and it could be changed –which had already been changed-. I also want to thank you for the criticisms. So let me show you guys first Sakura's childhood, so that you won't get confused onwards. This story is somewhat inspired by Sakura's Glasses made by Tobee, and Team 7: A retelling by Tellemicus Sundance. Check those two out if you haven't!

The Important Message:

To put it simply, I deleted the chapter 1 because of multiple complaints. So it won't be existing and this will be the new one. I am a beginner when it comes to writing and I don't really know what readers like, plus I am inexperienced too. I am striving to write a decent storyline and literature style for readers to enjoy. So please be free to speak on your opinions and criticism-it could be harsh for all I care. Also if there is any wrong grammars, please inform me. I won't get mad even on how you hate the storyline, yet sometimes some of the words do injure, but that doesn't matter to me. Anyways thank you for the reviews. I really appreciate it!

….Idk what centric. This was supposed to be Team 7 centric for Kami's sake-. Oh welp. Gotta introduce Sakura's weird childhood meeting first, so might as well make this Sakura-centric :V. Don't worry, I am not those die-hard Sakura fans out there (no offense though please forgive me) and if this story got ever on the Team 7 meeting or something like that, I'll make it more like team 7 centric yet unfortunately kinda focused on Sakura for she we learn to open up and bonding times would be made. I hope I won't lose motivation and keep this story on going.

Warning! Weird chapter passing by! Of course it's strange wdym, the chapter title says so, so it has to be ._.

Rated: T

Pairings: Undecided

"Nii-san, what do you want when you grow up?" A girl, no older than 5 years old, inquired her older brother on his future. A soft smile was returned to her as the boy had ruffled the girl's hair, who shrieked silently on the sudden head pat.

"My dream, huh? Your Nii-chan haven't really prospected thoroughly about his future. So…." The young boy trailed off. His sister, who was full of wonder, had asked out of curiosity.

"―kura"

"So what nii chan?"

The young boy stared deeply at the cute, innocent eyes the girl gave. The sincere smile the affable boy wore remained unchanged, and instead, chuckled slightly for his sister's persistence. He bent his legs until his knees were touching his chest, causing him to look at the innocent girl. His other foot who was dangling on the side had made contact on the ground, seeming to look the same height on other's perspective. She tilted her head and narrowed her eyebrows, with the glint in her eyes of pure confusion, but said no more. But she, gazing like that, had symbolized her interest, and it was unaffected.

"―sakura"

"Am I allowed to know?" The curious little girl questioned once again. The boy raised his arm, folding out his two of his fingers –index and middle– together. His sister's bewilderment had raised further as her brother was not responding on her calls. When she was about to repeat her statement, she was delayed when he had poked her on the center of her forehead, making her lose footing for a couple of steps back.

"Maybe next time."

"Sakura!"

A voice yelled out, enough to falter the little girl at sleep. The pinkette rubbed her eyelids on the sudden outburst of her mother, feeling somewhat grumpy for her rest was disturbed. She glanced at the side to see the older woman, hands on the hips, looking concerned over her. The woman's frown had disappeared and replaced it with a troubled grin. A yawn had escaped the child's mouth as she stretched her hands far up, with tiny tears coming out.

"Gomen ne, Sakura. Kaa-san had disturbed you from sleep. She was becoming anxious as time passed by as you weren't waking up on her voice." The woman, who was the pinkette's mother said with worried tone, her hand combing the kid's hair locks. Sakura, a young child who had reached the age of 3 had begun to wonder on the events happening on her life. It all started when she was 2. The pinkette would have multiple sightings of visions she did not understand. Yet this time, the duration of the apparition had lasted long enough for the sharp girl to grasp, and managed to at least perceive the situation. Unfortunately, even if it did not revealed any signs of stopping short, her loudmouth mother had disrupted the hallucination happening on her head. Her gaze was now directed on the window that revealed a view from below. Too engrossed on her thoughts, the pinkette had forgotten that she was dazing of once more.

"―kura."

"―Sakura"

"Sakura, dear, are you there?" Her mother exclaimed worriedly. Upon hearing the voice, Sakura snapped out her little daydream like trance. She nodded and proceed to follow her mother. Walking down the stairs, step by step. The smell of food wafted through the place, and by each tramp, she could hear her stomach growl and signifies her hunger as seconds passed by. Alas, as she stepped on the last plank of the staircase, she was greeted by the freshly cooked food on the table waiting for her to eat. Her father was sitting with a mug of caffeine, reading the most recent news.

'Was it a dream?'

Pancakes was served in front of Sakura's small face, whose height was smaller than the table. Pretending to be listening on her mother's words, yet in truth, was using her brain to unravel her confusion of what had happened on the scenes that flashed. Not thinking of her actions, she raised her palm and touched her forehead, the spot where the boy had tapped. A minute passed before putting her elbow down, she faced her opened palm. Sakura furrowed her eyebrows, recalling their interaction and how she called the unknown boy, 'Nii-san.'

'Then why…'

Her father had cracked up jokes on the table while the pinkette silently ate. A small conversation was made on their meal, and the pinkette did not forget to answer whenever there were questions being interrogated by her parents, for she raised her alertness levels. Knowing if she kept on daydreaming all day, it elevate suspicions and she did not want that. Her mother had served her hot Choco after she finished eating her breakfast. She took a bread on a container right beside her. Sakura dipped the loaf down and took a bite while desperately trying to shrug off the unpleasant feeling that was churning and clawing her insides. Sadly, it would not stop. Clutching her fingers on the table, making sure it wasn't noticed. Her mind continued on being on its own self, continuing the last sentence that Sakura knew, would be left nothing but unresolved.

'―why did it felt so real?'

Sipping the last drop of liquid from her jar, Sakura rose up from her feet and bided farewell on her parents as fast as she can. Not bothered on using the door depart, the pinkette took a leap from the window which earned surprise looks to her current family.

"Huh… I wonder what Sakura's problem is…." Mebuki muttered.

Allowing the caffeine he drank to completely digest, Kizashi replied. "Dreams again?"

"Most likely. However, I do want to know why our little child seemed to be dreaming often. I'm sure we have no kekkai genkai and we are plainly civilian. So why?" The matriarch retorted. Mebuki Haruno was a normal civilized girl whose household were traveling merchants. For humans are no god, they die, they are mortals. So upon their death, she had took their place and continued their heirloom for generations. And that is their collectables that were always summed up for years. Lost in thoughts, she was disrupted on her husband's chuckles.

"Prodigies doesn't always shows up from clan children right? Who said a civilian can't have one." Kizashi retorted in a joking manner.

"You think so? Yet there's my gut feeling telling me there's something more…. It's like… like….

…We don't know where she came from…"

The little girl had rushed towards a clearing of trees. A forest to be exact. Skipping over the rocks that stood on the riverside and hopping over the lands which held nutrients to their soil. Sakura was a girl who loved nature more than anyone else. It was always at peace and never held grudges among the people. The pinkette had even made a tiny hideout that was camouflaged by leaves, and even left some of her belongings in there. It was her common escape when older girls tolerates her abnormal large forehead, for they could attack her at any time as they want. Sakura, who was keen at observation had caught the knowledge that they were too fabulous to be straying on the lands of nature. The pinkette took this opportunity whenever she was picked on, and snuck out of their hands and rush towards the forest, which made them incapable of following her.

And there she was, sitting along the rocks swaying her feet as it touched the crystal clear water that rushed along the ends of the river. Her eyes were glued on the stream as it entranced her of such beauty, reflecting many abundant trees, the clear sky with clouds that one can ever reached. It can even reflect the mere image of your face. It was such an elegant view to the little girl. The atmosphere was calm and pleasant for her to use her brain on the phenomenon that happened a while ago on her dream.

She recalled, there was a young boy with long brown hair nothing less, with the same brown eyes which held kindness. His hair was messy as his banks were uneven and one of them reached towards his nose. His outfit was simple yet it was the first time for Sakura too see someone wearing those kinds of clothing.

That kind of fashion can no longer be seen in today's era. The boy wore a simple kimono with 3 markings on the side of the clothing and another 3 at the opposite. She felt joy welling up inside her, since she managed to take a look to whoever that was. If her memory served her correct, there was another one. Another male who held similar attributes to him and for the pinkette's perspective, they seemed to be brothers. However, their attitude difference was vast from what Sakura could observe even with the lack of visions. However, the memory was too clouded and unlike his brother, he had short scenes which made the looks harder to distinguish.

Sighing, knowing that it would be useless to come and seek her mind for an answer, well, she does not have photographic memory. Or at least she thought. Memory flashed once more on Sakura's eyes and pondered over. The boy and herself. It was a mystery to the girl on how she was included for every sight that appeared, she was evidently connected with those two to whom she called brothers.

'But I never had any siblings…' Sakura thought frowningly, recollecting her notion, a single answer was ringing on her ears responding, 'impossible'. Unknown, Sakura's anxious levels began to rise alongside with her chakra. The amount of stress the mysteries was giving her was too much for a 3-year old girl to captivate, and she was no detective when it comes to this stuff. She then gave up in frustration, shouting.

"C'mon! No matter how I look at it, it just doesn't make any sense!" She scowled childishly, the same time, she raised her foot and began to violently stomp and kick the shore. Yet instead of just being simply splashed, it exploded which made the girl shriek, making her also lose her balance that made her fall. Droplets had landed on her head and some on the ground, but Sakura did not fail to notice that it was unusually cold and there were tiny ice shards. Suspicion ran through the pinkette. A single question was cycling over and over again with a single word in mind.

'What?'

It was ice. Ice. Why the hell would ice come out of nowhere when it's not even winter?

Confusion.

That would perfectly define Shisui's emotion currently on his location.

The only sentence his intellect could come up with was,

'What the actual fuck would a girl be doing in this―No. Wait. Scratch that. Why the hell would a child no older than 3 yrs. old be out here in the first place?'

This setting was close to training ground 44 for # *% sake! Was it all a coincidence? Probably not, or maybe it is. There's no way a child would know about that forest right? After all they should live their life the fullest with joy until it lasted long. So, why the hell is a girl ―with pink hair nothing less― be doing out here out alone?

Okay, maybe Shisui's mindset is trying the positive explanation out. Not to mention the fact that the foreign chakra signature that reached towards the Hokage tower seemingly came from her. This. Little. Girl. He. Was. Basically. Watching. Right. Now.

And to his surprise, the pinkette almost met his gaze for her sudden turn of back. Watching intently on his last location. However, he was not called "Shisui of the Body Flicker" for nothing. After all, comparing the body flicker technique for Shisui, is basically like twitching a finger to move. So, how the hell did a child managed to see where he was, when he made sure that his chakra was perfectly masked?

'Please don't be another prodigy like Itachi…' He thought pleadingly. The Uchiha was done with this shit called prodigy. He wants at least children to enjoy their childhood.

Wew. So many weird things happening on her life on a day. She swore she felt someone watching her, and it was creepy. Sakura tried to shrug off the unpleasant turning on her stomach, on whoever her audience was, had not yet leaved and was still nearby.

'Must be my imagination…..' She tried to reason out.

As expected, it was useless. So building her confidence, she stood up. Her legs were silently trembling while she gulped. Sakura spoke, yet her voice had fear lingering, that made her stutter and she cursed herself for her doing.

"U-um… P-Please s-show yourself… u-um… w-whoever you are person-san."

And to her surprise, the person did came out.

'Oh, never expected the person to actually listen.' She stared dumbfounded.

"Ahahaha….. Sorry for that." The stranger said, scratching the back of his head. After a short pause, the boy reached out his hand that closed towards Sakura's small structure, whose position was startled on the sudden friendly aura that emitted on him. "My name is Uchiha Shisui, nice to meet you."

The pinkette glanced on the stretched hand and paused before doing the same. "U-Um… H-Haruno….."

The boy tilted his head in confusion, as she trailed off on her words. She frowned. Why did something felt wrong when she mentioned her family's name? Sakura did not know. Putting aside her abstractions, she resumed while giving the stranger a carefree smile.

"Haruno Sakura."

"Then, if you care, please elaborate on why are you here alone at the forest Sakura-chan? You do know that you are close to training ground―."Shisui trailed off. Suddenly realizing what he had done.

'Ah shit.' He added mentally.

Sakura tilted her head slightly, not failing to recognize his regret. Feeling doubtful, Sakura took a step back on the unknown person. Who knows what his intention was? It was precarious to fully trust the boy for Sakura was clueless on the ties he held. But a word had caught the pinkette's interest, and forgot to restrain her curios side.

"Training ground?" She questioned, her position was now close to the boy, forgetting her distrust and all. Her eyes were glimmering, and showed sign on her engrossment on the subject. Sighing, Shisui knew he had no choice but advance to explanation. And so he did.

"As the name implies, they are locations where different shinobis strive and learn. They train and improve to further improvement. The first, administered those topographies for special use. They have no restraints, no violation made while using or experimenting jutsus that will aid the battlefield and leap the survival rate. In summary, you are free to use anything that involves the fundamentals, manipulation, and utilization of chakra―ninjutsu, genjutsu, taijutsu none of that matters. Hell you can even leave craters, like what Tsunade-hime did on her younger days.

Training grounds are scattered across the lands of Konoha but it does not cross our borders. A distinct title are named on each one of them and provides landmarks for others. And now, little girl, to erase your suspicions, you are close to training ground 44, or known as Forest of Death. A foreign signature, you see, has rose suspiciously close towards that location. It reached towards the Hokage tower which alerted many."

"In other words, you've been sent by the Hokage to investigate the problem, or you are simply lying on your cause. However, I am certain that the information you gave me about my question is accurate. Well I'm glad you entertained the word I asked. So I guess you have no issue about me asking you another one?" Sakura clarified.

"Yeah, sure I don't mind." Shisui said, hanging up his arms in a triangle position, hands serving as a cushion on his head. "I think I have a clear image on what'll you ask so I'll answer it, got it? You're regarding on the nickname of the Forest of Death aren't you?"

Sakura nodded in agreement. "Target on point."

"Now then, listen closely. I won't repeat this once. We all know Training ground 44 had reigned since the founding of our country. The reason on why it had been merited with such title was relatively simple. It was the forest where Hashirama trained. He had trained there but some say that some of his chakra were left in the forest where tress grow abundantly non-stop. Since he was a mokuton user, he left too much chakra that it seems that it became an actual fertilizer for the trees to grow out of the Earth's surface. As we all know, he is entitled as 'god of shinobi.'

The forest have been too dangerous to lurk around for it had become wild, and species of animals had grown. They were abnormally larger than normal and can match the size of summons. Unfortunately, that is the only information I could provide you for, even the Hokage had little knowledge on its dwellings." The Uchiha simplified. It was simply easy for the mind to absorb. So in summary, it's basically like this:

1. Hashirama trained there.

2. Residue of chakra was left lingering on the forest.

3. It had been absorbed as nutrients on the soil, thus gaining animals a new found strength.

4. Last but not the least, it had essentially been expanding lot that it had to be sealed with the use of electric-chakra enhanced- fences to avoid spread.

"So…. Can you comprehend?" Shisui inquired. A moment of pause before brightening up, the pinkette held up a bright smile that held curiosity.

"Yup! It does make sense. Thank you for clarifying Shisui-san."

A warm, cozy feeling had filled the Uchiha's chest. The vivid and cozy smile the girl gave had left the raven haired boy to return it once again. A soft grin pursued his lips and a sudden urge to place his hands Sakura' head was sent through his brain. He then ruffled the girl's hair, which resulted a surprised glance towards him. Bewilderment rose when Shisui began nodding his head back and forth. Sakura launched her questions on what he was analyzing about, while doing so, words muttered out that made the pinkette inquire on the Uchiha's weirdness.

"su….nii-san…. Hm…hm hm….yup that'll do."

Sakura was completely clueless on the boy's action. A thought crossed her mind if Shisui needed medical attention when he started chuckling evilly at himself, yet his tone was fixed to a boasting manner.

"hee hee hee…. I wonder what will Itachi's reaction would be…. "

No longer taking 'manners' as an excuse to interrupt the boy, Sakura spoke for she no longer can take her companion's strange attitude.

"…eto… Shisui-san? Are you ok? You sure you didn't slip and fall of the waterfall?"

A headpat was returned. Shisui's eyes were filled with utmost care, and his bright aura became more brilliant when he smiled wholesomely. The pinkette can do nothing but close her eyes on how luminous Shisui was.

'Eek! So bright!'

A quiet, slow, intonation went out of the Uchiha's mouth, which made the girl tilt her head upward and open her eyes carefully. "From now on, Sakura-chan…."

Curiousness defined the pinkette's emotion. Yet out of all of her predictions, not a single one of them was fulfilled. Instead, what Shisui said was nothing sakura had anticipated.

"From this week, day, and onwards. I will be you nii-san."

Sakura blinked.

"You can call me Shisui-nii san or aniki if you like."

Another blink.

The Uchiha crest was visible when the raven haired boy stood up and faced his back. "I gotta go 'cause maybe my cousin will worry the heck out. I'll meet you tomorrow at the exact location right now, 9 AM. Cya!"

Swish!

And then he was gone. The poor pinkette was having difficulties on decipher on what had happened and was left on midst confusion with no one to aid.

…

'…Huh?'

That was the only dispute she could think about. Turning her back awkwardly, Sakura started walking back home wondering if the world she was walking on was nothing but a dream. The sun was prime and high over the horizon as it shone through Konoha's lands. It was midday. How could she forget? She rushed through the clearings and went on a faster pace, she knew how low her stamina was and was sure the time she gets back, she would be short of air. However, none of those bothered Sakura and instead focused on her speed. She was no shinobi, she haven't even attended the academy. The pinkette knew if she delayed a minute or even second late on her curfew ours, her mother will start screaming and worried and Sakura did not like the idea of causing a commotion for a single civilian child. Yet Sakura doubt it'll cause trouble since she came for no clan, so why would others even bother?

Alas, she reached her destination. As predicted, she almost fell over from exhaustion. Her mother came rushing over as expected and told her to rest. Taking a glance before any of the day continued, she huffed in delight. Sakura was just in time. 12:00 PM. She won't miss her parent's servings. And if she did miss the meal, hell we break lose for she knew she can no longer stroll the outside area of their house freely. And she did not desire for that outcome.

Unidentified by the pinkette herself, on the depths of her mind was a woman with long, soft colorless hair locks. Her skin was flawless and her eyes were pale white, representing the byakugan. Her race was inconsequential for it no longer matters when the woman's time had stopped centuries ago. Her identity was well hidden and it was a matter of time when her individual self would be revealed. Opening her mouth, she spoke on a whistling manner. Seemingly enjoying the occurrences.

'When should my introduction undertake, I suppose?'

Credits: My friend for grammar check and helping me on paragraphs and sentences. Since she insisted to not right her account and said just write her as a friend, I'll just use her nickname in our messenger chat. Thank you Tomioka-san for helping me out, even though you're dense-. Just pretend I didn't say that but anyways thank you for helping me. You're really a good friend :D

Motivation is killing me. My motivation keeps on falling to 0% and is basically the reason why this chapter took so long write. *insert oof sound.*