« The ninja song Ninki ? » said Sakura as the entered the burning forest.
There was of course no answer from her two teammates. She could see Naruto on the floor, motionless, if it was not for the cuts on his body, she would have thought he uninjured. On the other side of the destructed forest was Sasuke.
If Naruto seemed asleep, the Uchiha's body shook every few minutes. In a foetal position, the boy shriveled against the invisible pain. There was blood on his neck, two penetration marks stood red against the new black mark.
"It's a good chance when a large number of enemies are making a scene."
Kubi was against her back, the last trace of blood slowly integrating into the blade. She couldn't say the same thing of her dress. Thankfully, the blood didn't stand out too much against its red color. The Earth Scroll in her pocket was really the only trace of what happened when she was alone.'How can you stay so calm ? We need to help them !' .
"There are no hideouts even in a quiet place."
She slowly made her way to her fallen teammate. She went to Sasuke first, by the mark in his neck she could easily understand that he was the principal target of the attack. She looked around, staying here would be a disaster, she needed to move them, hide them and prepare. With Sasuke on her back she slowly made her way. A few minutes later she came back for Naruto.
"It's important for a ninja to know the right time."
She started to work on the traps, some obvious some not, the point wasn't really to harm the enemy. She needed to destroy the trees to make space for Kubikiribocho, the place being too narrow for the large movement of her sword. Assured that everything was in place, she slowly retreated in the bark where she had hidden the body of her fallen teammates.
"The time when the enemy is tired and had his guard down."
Hidden, sword in hand, Sakura waited for the enemy. She wanted blood for her fallen teammates.
XxX
A gust of wind knocked her far away from the sight of her teammates. Her head hit one of the numerous trees, making her sight blurred. Trying to gain back her spirit, she stood up. She needed to find Sasuke and Naruto, they were being attacked and chance were that one of them was fighting the enemy alone. She nee- Fear blocked her every movement.
'Kidney and heart.'
Mist. There was mist everywhere. Sakura wasn't alone anym-
The pinkette forcefully opened her eyes. She couldn't afford to sleep. Slowly she stood up and changed the wet towel on her teammate's forehead. She didn't how much time has passed since she could rejoin her team. At the time, it was only the adrenaline that made her able to stand, hours after, her body was starting to fail her.
The two boys were still passed out and didn't show any sign of recovering. Her medical knowledge was more than limited, as she didn't really know how to take care of their fever, apart front the cold towel. What more could she do ?
The silhouette was tall, an adult compared to Sakura's small stature.. The pinkette couldn't really anything else because of the thick mist floating around her. But her sight zeroed in the weapon that it held. One of the edge of the kunai was curving inward, a sharp protusion on one side, making the blade sharper. This one a kunai designed for stabbing instead a slicing. It was Zabuza's kunai, in other words, the stranger was from Kiri.
Larynx, spine,…
'At first, I thought I was mistaken." The voice said. Impossible to say if it was male or female. Even if she could see, the silhouette in front of her, the voice resonated around the forest. Sakura know that she couldn't rely on her sense of sight or hear right now. 'But here it is ! The famous Kubikiribocho in Konoha and held by a genin no less. What has the world fallen to ?"
What ? How could he know its name ? She named it ! The sword pulsed around her, warning her, but Sakura was lost.
'One of our legendary swords held by a weakling like you. I'm sure you don't even know what it means.' The words were hateful, obviously, the enemy wasn't here for her scroll. It was personal. 'Don't worry, I will take it back.'
Then the silhouette attacked.
Sakura held her side. The cut wasn't really profound, Kubi forcing her to move at the right time. But she knew that if it wasn't for that, the kunai would have performed her liver. Some light softly warmed her face, 'Dawn? Already ?'. It wasn't a good new, more teams will start moving again; and even is the forest was quite dark, with the light she couldn't hide herself as much as she wanted.
Sound on her side, startled her. She took the kunai in her hand. A sharp profusion on one side, the edge was curving inward.
It was a squirrel.
Seeing it run toward one her traps, she threw one of her kunai.
Kubi was alert and she could understand why. As much as she had seen strange things in this forest; a squirrel wasn't one of them. They were here.
XxX
As much as Sakura was lost, she wouldn't let herself be killed by something as insulting as a Zabuza copy. She didn't have time to run away, she needed to get back to team 7. If he decided to follow her, he could team up with the other enemy. What if they were hurt? They would only be liabilities. No. She needed to get rid of this ninja of the Mist before regrouping.
She side stepped another hit, this time it graced her neck, cutting her bandage but not her skin. What could she do ? She couldn't see anything ! Kubi calmed her down, but it wasn't enough.
Lungs, liver, ju…
That's it ! This time when the hit came, she was prepared. As the kunai reached for her collarbone, she swung her blade. Of course, the stranger dodged it, but he had to step back. This momentum permitted Sakura to spine the sword around her.
It had been months since she first touched this blade. Now, as light as a feather for her, she had trained with it every single night. Far from Zabuza's level, she could at least defend herself against a genin.
Collarbone, kidney, …
Spinning the sword around the finger of one hand, Sakura closed her eyes and let Kubi infiltrate her mind; his aura growing around her, until she could only feel peace. Her finger was nimble, moving the sword faster and faster only it became almost a blur. Her shield was ready.
As she expected, the kunai tried to slash her side, aiming for her kidney, the movement of her sword on one side, forcing the attacker to go for the other. Prepared, she grabbed the hand holding the kunai and rapidly made her other hand fall. She heard the yell, distinctly feminine as the arm fell to the floor, clearly cut off.
"You piece of shit !"
But Sakura wasn't afraid anymore, losing an arm was as good as dead in their world. Unable to cast jutsu, Sakura could run away now, the enemy wouldn't run after her, she would retreat or die bleeding out if her team couldn't find her. But she wasn't happy with that. She threatened to steal her Kubi. She came alone, but there was 20 other mist ninjas in this forest, how many of them recognized her sword? She needed to send a message.
Taking the fallen kunai out the dead arm, Sakura retreated into the mist; she was now the predator. Running at a speed she didn't know she possessed, Sakura attacked. Kubikiribocho was a sword made for execution, its semi-circular cut outs near the handle made it perfect for decapitation. Sakura cut thought the girl neck like butter.
The head fell, there was no smile this time. The girl took a step back, staring at the scene. The stranger had been holding her shoulder, clearly trying to stop the bleeding. That wasn't shocking. What made her puke was the fact that the body fell on its stomach.
Sakura had attacked when she had her back turned, like a rat.
'You did it again..'
Sensing the panic rising stronger than before, Kubi rose its aura. Now unseeing, Sakura felt calm and numb. Slowly she took the head, not seeing any distinctive trait, and drove her kunai through it. Only the handle was out, but distinctive enough. A decapitation, the kunai from Konoha. The message was less than subtle.
Slowly, not really aware of her action anymore but following the soft murmurs of Kubi, she ran back to her team. It was still numb that she found them unconscious. The password useless but said anyway.
'We weren't protecting ourselves..'
Sakura tried not to listen to Inner, as she changed Sasuke's towel. The sun shined bright on the forest now, she knew that they were watching, waiting for the right moment. She couldn't give them that.
Inner had seemed silent during all the fight, surely shut down by Kubi and herself. But now, at the brink of exhaustion, Sakura couldn't contain her anymore.
Shut up, shut up.
'Not so tough now that you really did it, huh ?'
The words were vicious. Slicing through her, as easily as she cut this head.
'You thought of killing at least three people since we came back ! One was from Konoha! But now that you really did it, it's not the same, huh?'
Leave me alone.
'You're a fucking hypocrite ! That's what you are !'
Sakura wanted to look away, but this was Inner, this was herself. Exhausted, physically and mentally, she couldn't control her shaking. She needed to close her eye, just a few seconds, she couldn't go on. Killing again, being alone, Inner, it was all to much. She wanted to sleep. Slowly Sakura, let the control to Inner.
Of course, it was at this moment that they attacked.
XxX
"It's only Sakura now."
Team 10 didn't mean to be here. Being the weakest team physically, they hoped to pry on an already weakened team. They didn't think of what would happen if they met one the rookie 9.
"What do you want to do Ino ?"
Ino was shaking. She could see that the pinkette was exhausted, the sword on her back way to heavy for her small frame. She was far from the confident girl that she saw at the first Exam.
Sakura was on the floor, her body shaking as much as Ino's. Ino didn't know what to do, even if she wanted to, she would get herself as beaten. But Shikamaru was right, Sakura had been her friend once and those guys didn't seem to want their scroll.
What should she do? It was impossible for them to help; they were too weak!
Sakura was now on her knees, her body falling forward under the weight of the blade, but her head held back by the hair. The stranger pulled hard.
"You got such beautiful hair. So much glossier than me. I'm sure that's why you're so weak. You spend all your time taking care of instead of training." Taunted the girl.
Ino was hurting from the inside. She wanted to help. She will hel-
"I understand now." The words were said softly through the pain that the pinkette was surely enduring.
"What are you saying?" The girl pulled harder on Sakura's hair. "Shut up !"
"I'm too weak like this." Sakura let a hard laugh, it was pathetic. Ino started to stand up, she needed to help Sakura. "I need to kill you."
Everything stopped. Ino, couldn't believe what she heard. Has Sakura gone crazy? She couldn't move! The enemy nins seemed to think the same thing because they started to laugh.
As Ino decided that she had enough, she felt Shikamaru's hand on her shoulder, stopping her.
"Shikamaru ? What are you doing ?"
Didn't he want to save her too ? But her friend didn't answer, eyes hard and serious, he only mentioned to her to look back.
Not understanding, Ino stared back. Nothing changed ! What did he want her to look at ? Shikamaru's eyes were glued on Sakura. It took a few seconds, before Ino could see it too.
Sakura wasn't shaking anymore. The pinkette had her head hung forward now, so Ino couldn't see her eyes but Ino sensed that something was going on. Something was wrong.
Then Sakura moved.
A strange kunai in hand, the pinkette cut through her long mane of hair. Hair floating around her, Sakura effortlessly took the sword in hand, as it was as light as a feather, and cut through the middle of the enemy.
"Don't underestimate me."
XxX
'Y-You did it ?'
Inner understood now, as she stood in front of the fallen body. Even if she had been the Outer once, now she could never be again. All that she was, her civilian upbringing, her fear of hurting someone or dying, they couldn't be dominants part of her personality anymore. They would have died back in the land of Waves if for her, the then Inner had been the one in control since then.
They were Sakura together, but she couldn't be what drove them forward. She was too soft, too naïve, too weak. She needed the other to go on this path and is was too late to go back. So with a soft smile, she gave back the control. If she couldn't control the body, she would protect their mind, be sure that even if they changed, they never forgot were they came from.
Sakura opened her eyes, Kubi in her hand. She was hurt and tired, but she could still protect team 7. Encouraged by Kubikiribocho warm embrace, Sakura ran forward.
This time Inner, will support them.
Hey ! I hope you liked this chapter ! SO this is a very important chapter for me because this was one of my favorite scene from the anime, the moment where Sakura cut her hair. In the anime, she did it because she wanted to show that she wouldn't be the weak link anymore, as this Sakura always fought with her team 7 she never had this impression, on the contrary she feel on the same level as them. Here, it's Inner (the canon Sakura) that finally realize that they have to go with the other Sakura way (the old Inner, that became Outer with she decided to fight in the Wave mission) and that she just couldn't stay passive and "innocent" forever. so what do you think ? I hope you're not too confused, see you next chapter ! Don't hesitate to leave a review !