Chapter 11

One Year Ago Part V


"Talking"

"Thought"

"Inner/Demon Talking"

"Inner/Demon Thought"

"Move/Ability Talking"

"Move/Ability Thought"


Last Time: After Naruto's outburst, Tsuki apologised to him for acting so rash when referring to her parents. Tsuki learned a little of Naruto's past history with a woman named Sakura, and she mistreated him, which only added to the guilt. Meanwhile, Sakura's practice team mission had gone off the rails when Konohamaru got kidnapped by a bunch of thugs. Will Sakura get Konohamaru back?


(Story Begins)


(Location: Forest, Specific Location: Sakura)

Sakura, along with Moegi and Udon, jumped from branch to branch at a fast pace. As far as Sakura could tell what Moegi told her, Konohamaru must've been taken North from their campsite. If they were dealing with bandits, Sakura knows for a fact that bandits always set up camp near a village, and in this case, they would set up their camp near Konoha, especially if they would ransom Konohamaru back to the town.

Usually, if a member of the Genin group led by a Chunin would face a scenario where one of the Genin is taken hostage, that Chunin would have to call for backup from their village. However, Sakura knows Konohamaru, she knows he'll resist and if that happens the bandits would lose their patience and hurt the Genin, or worse, kill him.

Sakura had to stop in her tracks when she saw a large bonfire, a bonfire surrounded by four large tents and twenty men and women who surrounded the fire. One man stood out from the rest, wearing a grey vest, eyepatch on his left eye and tall spiky hair.

He stood in front of the fire with his back turned against it, as two of his men held Konohamaru, who was tied up, side to side. The man who stood out slowly gazed at Konohamaru and leaned forward to have a better look at him.

"So, this is the face of a Sarutobi? The grandson of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Hokage of Konoha, and the nephew of Asuma Sarutobi, the son of the Third Hokage." He smiled.

"Yes! And I would be afraid if I were you!" Konohamaru growled but got hit on the head by one of the men for his outburst.

"Wow! Such a brave kid! Talking up to someone like me!" The man who appeared to be the leader of the group said in humour. "Here's how this is going to work. Since, you are a Sarutobi, one of the few Clans who are the founders of Konoha, I believe the village would pay a lot of money for someone like your standards?".

"Ehhhh! Th-They'll never let anyone like you get away with this without a fight!" Konohamaru said, pulling his slumped head back up from the hit from earlier while glaring at the leader.

"I sincerely doubt that…" A woman appeared next to the leader. "Your blood to this village is too important to be spilt this young, and your heritage as the Grandson of the Third Hokage only makes the situation for Konoha all the more difficult, they will not allow harm to come to you." She said.

"And it is exactly why we're here. Although we did plan to kidnap you in a months time with a plan, since you LITERALLY walked right up to us, it was an opportunity we could not pass." The leader said.

"I didn't walk up to you! I cam here to beat your ass, creep!" Just then, the whole campsite grew silent, so silent that the wings of a fly could only break it, along with cracking of flames from the fire.

And all of a sudden, all twenty people burst out in laughter. The leader was also laughing before he spoke to Konohamaru, "Seriously! I've fought Genins, Chunins, and some Jounins, and a little Genin such as yourself thinks you could possibly stand toe to toe with the likes of me?!".

Moegi looked at Sakura, which her, Udon and Sakura were all hiding behind trees and bushes. "Is he serious?" She asked in concern.

"No, he's not. His name by the Bingo Books is Liar, he lies to people, but he's very persuasive. In terms of combat experience, he only ever could hold his own against Genin, probably Chunin-levelled depending on the Chunin's experience. He gathers followers weaker than him to show off his strength. What he just said is mostly a lie, mostly about the part of him going against Jounins, he never had the chance while going against one." Sakura explained, which lessened the worry of Moegi.

"However, when his plans don't go well, he tends to go a little overboard. Not only that, but some of his methods are… Well, they're bad, like, REALLY bad." Sakura explained.

"Can we do something?" Moegi asks in utter panic.

"As far as I can tell, I think I might be able to handle them all but not at once. There's too many of them, they'll overcrowd me in seconds. We need a strategy, a plan, we need to disperse them and take them out one by one. For now, our main goal is to separate everyone from each other in order to get to Konohamaru, then we'll take them out." Sakura said.

"But what if we can't beat them all?" Udon asked.

"Wouldn't it be easier if we get Konohamaru back and return to the village?" Moegi asked.

"It's a four-hour trip back to the village, even if we were at our top speeds. Some of them are Shinobi, and there's many. Judging from their tents, I can easily say they've been here a while, so they know these parts of the forest better than we do which might work to their advantage in terms of travelling. Also, as I said about our top speed, I am referencing your speed alone, how long do you think you could last while outrunning them?" Sakura explained. Both Moegi and Udon looked at each other, before looking at Sakura with defeated looks, realising she was right. "But, if things do go south, and they don't go our way, then I want you two to get Konohamaru and run as fast as you could, cover your tracks, and return to the Leaf Village. Meanwhile, I'll stay behind and fend against as many of them as possible to slow them down.".

"You want us to abandon you?" Moegi asks, saddened.

"Only as a Plan B. But yes, and that is a direct order," Sakura said before she leaned forward and whispered into the Genin's ears.

Meanwhile, Konohamaru was dragged by his feet to a tree near a tent, one belonging to the leader of the group, before being tied up to a tree. He stuck his tongue out at the bandits, before reeling it back in once they left.

He twisted and turned his arms and shoulders in order to loosen the grip of the rope, but it proved to be utterly futile but refused to give up. Several minutes passed by and it seemed like the leader returned to his tent, either to plan for Konohamaru's ransom or to get some bed rest.

Konohamaru started to growl, moving more violently before anger filled him. "COME ON! STUPID ROPE! LET GO!" He yelled while continuing his futile struggling.

"SHHH!".

"DON'T SHUSH… Me?" Konohamaru's anger in his eyes disappeared as soon as he saw the person who shunned him. It was Sakura, who was hiding behind the tree Konohamaru was tied up. She held a Kunai out, before checking the area to make sure Konohamaru was well protected from the public eye.

Some bushes moved, and noises were made. Some of the bandits saw this and decided to investigate before a massive explosion was heard that forced the leader to come out of his tent to investigate himself.

Sakura gave a stern look to Konohamaru, before nodding and walked by his side to remove his bindings. Once she freed Konohamaru, she told him to follow her, and he complied.

"What happened here?!" The leader demanded as he looked around, before one of his men pointed up to a tall tree, to reveal that about half of his fighting force was trapped in a steel net, made by a very powerful Earth Style Jutsu which hung them hundreds of meters in the air.

"Someone's here. I don't know who, but I want to know." He looked at the female population of his remaining force, who seemed to be the dominant population at the moment, before saying, "I want whoever did this head on a silver platter yesterday.".

"It will be done." One of the women spoke before they scattered to look around.

"They're separated! Let's take them down!" Konohamaru said, readying his fists for a battle before Sakura's arm stopped him.

"There's only ten of them left. One leader, two males, and the rest of females. Moegi and Udon need to trigger the next phase of the trap." Sakura said.

"But we can take them down right now!" The Genin complained.

"You and your teammates won't stand a chance against a group like this. I can, but I can't do it without putting your lives in danger. Trust me, Konohamaru." Sakura said.

Konohamaru looked hesitant. He didn't wanna listen to Sakura, he did not want to hear a word she would've spoken due to his blinding anger towards her. So, just for her to get off his back… "Pfft! Fine!" He agreed.

"Good," Sakura said. "Now we need to wait a few more seconds." She said.

"Why?" Konohamaru asked.

BOOM! A massive explosion appeared which knocked three trees down upon the group of bandits. Sakura pulled out her Kunai and rushed out into battle while guiding Konohamaru to follow her.

Since the remaining bandit forces were separated from each other, Sakura saw it as her opportunity to attack. She and Konohamaru faced against three female bandits, before kicking and punching them in the head, rendering them to be unconscious.

Two male bandits were coughing from the smoke, unknowingly approaching both Shinobi before getting kicked in the head by them, also rendering unconscious.

After jumping from the heads of their targets and into the air, both landed on their feet where they were surrounded by four female bandits, who pulled out weapons and Kunais out for battle.

Sakura jumped towards two of the female bandits before one of them attempted to strike her with a Kunai. Sakura kicked the bandit's wrist before delivering a powerful knee to the face attack against her, sending her to a tree causing it to collapse down. Sakura then looked at the other female bandit to her right and saw that she attempted to attack her with a Katana. Sakura managed to dodge the blade by rolling her body in the air but received a small cut on her back. Luckily, the cut was only made to her clothing, not her skin. She landed on her two feet and jumped incredibly fast like a bullet delivering a powerful upper kick to the woman's jaw, sending her flying before falling headfirst like a missile to the ground, creating a crater.

Konohamaru attempted to use his Kunai against an axe-wielding female bandit, who she used the face of her axe to swat Konohamaru away like a bug towards a tent. She seemed like she was gonna attack Konohamaru until Sakura came in and cocked her fist back for an attack. The woman smirked, reading her axe before throwing the sharp edge against Sakura. She expected that her axe would cut Sakura's fist in half, but to her disbelief, Sakura's fist, upon contact, cracked and bork the whole face of the axe when punched the sharp edge, which then continued to the woman's face sending her flying to a large boulder, cracking it before falling apart creating a dust explosion.

The last woman was short, she held two long sharp claws on her fists which she tried to use against Sakura. Sakura managed to dodge swipe after swipe by doing some acrobatic-like jump backs. She landed on her hands before she pushed them against the ground and threw herself up from the ground to her feet where she then grabbed another Kunai. She charged towards her opponent who attempted to block Sakura's attack by crossing her claws in an X-shape. Sakura crossed her arms and she split them up once she got close to her opponent, which to her opponent's surprise, Sakura broke the claws off completely sending shards around the area. The short woman looked at her claws in fear, before Sakura delivered a powerful punch to her face sending her flying towards her unconscious friend.

"TAKE THIS!" PUNCH! "ARGHHH!" Sakura looked behind her to see Konohamaru with a red marking on his cheek, where the leader had punched him. When Sakura got a good look at the leader, she could see his right eye was cut, probably the product of Konohamaru's training.

"STUPID BRAT!" He kicked Konohamaru against his right rib. He continued to kick Konohamaru before his anger got the better of him. To Sakura's surprise and shock, he pulled out a long Kunai, nearly the size of short-sword, which he was gonna use to stab Konohamaru with.

BAM! Sakura placed her foot hard against the leader's foot, which caused him to drop the Kunai when he felt his foot crushed by the Kunoichi. "DON'T!" Sakura cocked her fist way back for a very powerful attack. "YOU!" Her eyes were written in rage. "DARE!" She yelled in an angry manner, perhaps one of the few types of anger she would display in the open. "TOUCH HIM!" PUNCH! Sakura's punch collided with the Leader's face, more specifically, his right jaw. Every second of the punch felt like an hour, an eternity to be more specific. Her fist felt like it was crushed every bone in the Leader's head, making every moment misery and painful for him. Sakura sent him so fast, so powerful, even the human eyes could not see him launched towards many trees and boulders, the leader was sent to what seemed to be through hundreds of obstacles, before he crashed straight towards a boulder, with his body imprinting it in cracks and holes. He was still alive, but in pain.

Sakura's anger lightened up into worry, as she looked down at Konohamaru before kneeling next to him. She flipped Konohamaru before grabbing him by the shoulders and lifting him up. "Konohamaru! Are you okay?!" She asked in panic.

Konohamaru seemed a little hesitant to ask at first but nodded to Sakura's question. He couldn't believe what he just witnessed, he only saw Sakura punching that man in anger, anger for Konohamaru's health, his safety.

When looking into Sakura's eyes, Konohamaru could see the concern deep within them. He started to speak and said, "But… Why are you worried?".

"Because I'm your superior, I'm supposed to worry about the people I am in charge with," Sakura explained before she gave a small sigh and kneeled back from Konohamaru.

"Konohamaru… I know why you distrust me. Why you hate me. Why you think so low of me. I made some mistakes in the past… Some BIG mistakes. A year or two, I would probably never have thought about your safety and returned to the Leaf Village to get help, despite knowing how long it would take. But… When I look at your friend, your boss, I started to realise some things I've never seen before in him. He cares, he loves and he protects, no matter how much anyone hurt him." Sakura began.

"I realise how selfish I was in the past, how I only ever wanted to be seen by Sasuke's eyes and no one else," Sakura said. "Konohamaru, I just want you to know that I am not the same person as I was back then. Maybe I don't deserve your or anyone else forgiveness, and I don't blame any of you.".

"S-Sakura…" Konohamaru said in shock. "I'm… Sorry. I was just-.".

"I know. You were just upset over what happened. I forgive you; I really do." She said.

"KONOHAMARU!" The Genin turned his head, to meet with the view of his teammates, and smiled.

And thus, Konohamaru's anger towards Sakura died that day…

Meanwhile, Naruto would be in a little bit of trouble on his own by tomorrow, something that would change perspective for a long time…


Author's Note: HELLO THERE! This is the first chapter of a brand-new year!

Now, this will be a serious update, not serious, serious, but serious in terms of timing.

I'll admit, my timing has been getting sloppy and bad. Looking back on Konoha's Runaway Demon, the fanfic took me four years to finish where I intended to finish that and this fic within the year it was released on, or before their 1st year anniversary. I have been making a plan on how to end this story, and yes, I already did make a plan, but I decided to change it because that would just prolong the story which would not be a good idea.

If I had the chance to change things in the past, one of them would be Konoha's Runaway Demon. That Fanfic was about Naruto running away and gone to a certain point where I already fulfilled what was meant to be the main part of the story. I should've made a sequel to the story about the Chunin Exams after I reached after the diverging point where I introduced the Chunin Exams.

Anyway, some of you just want this story to get over with, and I already planned and alternate ending to it, similar to what I originally planned, but it'll come sooner than later. For those who wonder how much left I am going to do of this one year ago flashback sequence? Probably for two more chapters and we'll get back on the Chunin Exams.

Reviews:

EMR-one7: Made a review on the very first chapter which I do agree with in terms of how I should've done the first chapter and my own misconception of it. I thought I already knew about Naruto enough to make assumptions but I was wrong, Shikamaru's family shadow Jutsu along with Ino's family Jutsu are NOT bloodlines, they are secret techniques, there's a HUGE difference between them and one day I will rewrite that chapter. Also, he's/she's right about Kakashi acting out of place, simply blaming Naruto over Sasuke's injuries which were his own fault for trying to leave the village, I should've gone into deeper detail about this and gave Kakashi a different but similar reason for being ashamed of Naruto, and that is a bit I am going to have rewrite one day.

By the way, the next thing I want to discuss is my plan, my plan is to upload a weekly chapter of one-story ad this story. In other words, the next chapter I am going to do and publish is Fair Worlds Beginning on January 19th, and then on January 26th I will upload another chapter of Trying To Move On.

Anyway, as usual, if you enjoyed this story, I have more below here:

Konoha's Runaway Demon.

Trying To Move On.

Fairy Worlds.

Long Lost.

Journey Of Happiness.

Straw Hat Or Nine-Tailed Fox… Choose Wisely.

Naruto Uzumaki Mitarashi.

Konoha's Proud Demon.

Also, please do write your reviews and your thoughts on this story, so I know what I did wrong what I should've done, or maybe if I'm on the right track?

Anyway, thank you so much for reading this short chapter, and I hoped you all well.

DON'T FORGET TO READ AND REVIEW.

I hope you all enjoyed.

Thanks dudes😊.