Chapter 3 – Changing

Sakura woke up with a start, barely holding in a scream. The dream responsible for her distress was already fading from her mind, but the horror was still all too real. Sitting up, she hugged her pillow and let the tears flow down her cheeks.

It was early, 3 in the morning, she instinctively knew, glancing at her clock to confirm it. She had thought the dreams were under control over a year ago.

It had been a simple mission that Tsunade had sent her on as medical support when she had turned thirteen. It was supposed to be a "positive experience for a kunoichi" of her caliber. They were to retrieve a stolen scroll and get out without being spotted. Quite a tame B-Ranked mission, it didn't even rate any Jounin support, with two Chunnin and Sakura expected to accomplish it.

She was still unsure what happened. One second the mission was progressing smoothly, they had retrieved the scroll and were proceeding to the exit point, and then things went to hell.

Six masked ninjas appeared out of nowhere, ANBU, by their appearance, though it was unclear which village claimed their loyalty. She had been taken out early in the fight with a kunai to the gut, which, combined with her medical skill, was probably what saved her. While she lay in pain trying to perform some of the emergency healing techniques Tsunade had taught her for such situations she saw her teammates cornered like dogs.

They had both tried to fight, quite a futile gesture to be sure, but a brave one nonetheless.

One had lost an eye to a shuriken, his opponent took only the time to slit his wrists before moving to help with the other.

The second had not been quite as "lucky." The ninjas tore into him brutally, taking out chunks of flesh with well-placed strikes. She heard his screaming for many long minutes which seemed like ages, and each time she prayed their opponents would just let him die. When at last the screams stopped, she waited for them to return for her, but the fatal strike never came. She had passed out at the time, her healing giving her the strength to last through until the morning.

When she woke, no help had arrived. She took the little strength her forced slumber gave her to stumble towards the village, not looking back to check on the remains of her partners.

To this day she wasn't sure where she found the will to stumble for hours on tired legs, and when they finally gave, she had been near a training encampment for Konoha ANBU candidates. The last things she remembered were the white walls of the hospital and the worried faces of her parents and Tsunade.

She remained there for over a week, almost exclusively under Tsunade's care. The woman blamed herself for Sakura's experience; she even let the girl know that those responsible had been found... And taken care of.

Sakura never did get the full story explaining why six enemy ANBU were guarding a scroll stolen by common thugs. Mentions of revenge and a minor daimyo were circulated around for some time, but nothing concrete was ever explained, Tsunade admitting that there were some secrets not even she could reveal. So Sakura moved on. When Naruto and Sasuke returned, she never mentioned her experience, hoping to forget it.

It was during her stint in the hospital that the nightmares started, and she woke in abject horror morning after morning. Several months of episodes later, she was finally able to get the dreams under control, and tried not to look back. Yet the past three nights she was up with the same cold feeling of fear that she had grown to hate so much during that period.

Shaking her head, she decided to get up. Her rest was ruined anyway, and she did not feel nearly as tired as she should have considering how little sleep she had gotten the past few nights.

Putting on a light shirt and shorts she opened up her window and hopped onto the roof, enjoying the warm spring air.

It had been a week since... that... and she was still trying to understand what had happened. Naruto was no help, having grown strangely quiet around her since then, to the point where even Sasuke was asking if something had happened between them. She was at a loss for an answer, so she remained quiet.

A star twinkled slightly in the sky. It was a rather close one, she noted, wishing it would provide her with an answer.

When the star remained quiet she resumed her musing. She hadn't seen Naruto dance since that night either, but each evening she would find a quiet place and practice a dance that seemed to flow into her mind. It was ugly compared to his, but she did it anyway, hoping to discern some special purpose in its movements, to feel the magical air that seemed to flow within Naruto those few times she had seen him perform.

Thus far the dance showed her nothing she wanted to see, leaving her tired enough to stumble home and collapse into bed, only to be interrupted by nightmares as she had been just now.

"Naruto. Baka," she muttered to herself.

She was going to confront him tomorrow. She wanted more then just some ugly moves, she wanted to fly over the water as he had.

Her eyes caught an ANBU jumping from building to building in a rush to get somewhere. She followed her progress, jealous of the skill and style the woman displayed. She wanted that. Following the retreating ninja with her eyes, she sighed and lay back, resuming her scrutiny of the sky as she searched for answers that would not come.

It was later the same morning that Sakura moved gracefully around the kitchen, looking for miso paste. She was not a particularly skilled cook, usually avoiding the activity in favor of training, but she was able to make a traditional breakfast if so asked.

To find her doing this willingly would have left many of her friends questioning their sanity. In her defense, she did not seem particularly thrilled about the activity, only doing it to keep her hands and mind busy. Inside, she had stilled, not calmed down; the night of staring at the sky until the sun began to peek over the Hokage monument had left her as many questions as she started with.

Finally she spotted the elusive ingredient, happily grabbing the can and making her way back to the stove.

Her mother would be up soon, and her father not long after. Sakura was the only one of the Haruno family that enjoyed her beauty sleep. It made a weird sort of sense though, as neither of her parents were active ninjas. When your life could end at any moment, you chose whatever comfort you could glean, even if it was in sleep. Fortunately, no one commented on the habit. As if on cue, she heard sounds upstairs as her mother lazily got out of bed and headed towards the shower.

Sakura realized that she should hurry it up a bit. What was the point of preparing breakfast if it was not ready by the time someone was up to eat it? Going through these motions was foreign to her. Sometimes, her mother would speak of the unprecedented joy she felt when cooking, however Sakura could not relate; all of this work was mind numbing at best, which, she remembered, was why she was doing it. She wanted to find Tsunade and get the woman to teach her something new and interesting.

Pausing a bit, she smacked herself. Now she was starting to sound like Naruto.

Upstairs, the shower turned off just as she was putting the finishing touches on the meal. She moved the miso and rice to the table, heading back for the Tamagoyaki. Her task complete, she seated herself and waited for the inevitable steps on the stairs.

She did not have to wait long, her mother walking slowly, almost cautiously into the room. The older woman wore a simple dress, her reddish pink hair cut short. When she saw Sakura at the table she stopped, surprised, and then sighed in relief.

Sakura suddenly realized how unusual this scene was. Her mother must have been expecting to see some sort of crazy robber who decided to cook breakfast by way of an apology. The idea that her daughter would be up at such an hour, and making breakfast, no less, had not occurred to the poor woman.

"Good morning, mother," said Sakura cheerily, "I woke up early and couldn't get back to sleep for some reason, so I decided to try my hand at breakfast." It was basically the truth.

"I can see that, Sakura-chan," the woman replied.

Something about the way her mother said that caught Sakura's attention. There was some unusual air hanging about her today, lighter, happier then the normal calm feeling.

"Come have a seat, mother. It's been a long time since we had a breakfast without a rush," Sakura chose not to mention that the rushing was usually on her part.

As her mother sat down, Sakura heard her father entering the land of the living as well.

The older woman filled a bowl before bringing it to her lips. After a quick taste, she glanced at her daughter with an expression akin to surprise.

"This is really good, Sakura. Better then I usually get it," she smiled. Her daughter did not like cooking, and to have something as simple as miso soup taste this good meant that Tsunade must have sneaked some culinary practice into her daughter's schedule.

In response, Sakura gave her mother a curious look. "What are you talking about mother? I put in too much salt, and the taste is far too strong." The girl had tried the dish before serving it and, while not bad, it was not as high a quality as her mother's.

Her mother gave her a smile for her humbleness and resumed eating.

They sat in silence for several minutes, each lost in thought until, at last, Sakura's father descended into the room. He sat down next to his wife, putting a hand on her shoulder; the gesture didn't go unnoticed as, again, Sakura wondered what was going on. Her parents were usually not this affectionate, at least not around her.

Breakfast continued, her father only briefly commenting about the unusual cook.

"How is your teaching going, dear?" asked her mother.

"It's fun," Sakura smiled in response. "You just have to get over some of the more annoying kids. I sort of miss my training sessions with Tsunade-sama though. These days we barely have time to train together more than once or twice a week." Sakura sighed at the loss. Under Tsunade's tutelage, she rarely had a boring day, often not coming home until obscene hours of the night. Now, though, she was at school until evening, and that was usually too late to review any of the things a kunoichi needed to know.

Her mother nodded, smiling, "And how about that Sasuke boy? Have you thought about another date?"

Sakura tensed. Her mother, in her efforts to engage in light talk, brought up a rather uncomfortable topic.

"We're... not too sure about that yet, mother. Give us some time, we're still young after all," she paused after she said that. Her parents were sharing yet another one of their affectionate looks.

Now that she thought about it, the conversation was far too involved for this early in the morning. It was as if they were trying to gather up the courage to tell her something..

Sakura's mother didn't seem to be finished yet. "Oh, that's too bad, what about..."

"Mother," Sakura interrupted the woman, "I've known you for fifteen years now. I know you've got something to say, so out with it."

Her mother looked at her for a second. The woman expected this, but still felt some apprehension.

Finally she took a deep breath and turned to look her daughter in the eye, "Sakura-chan. That was rude of you, I taught you better then to interrupt your mother," Sakura winced, "but you do have a point. I'm not the best at keeping secrets am I?"

Sakura nodded despite herself, earning another mock glare from her mother.

"Well, Sakura, dear. You're going to have a sister."

At that, Sakura stared.

And stared.

She had often wished for a little sister to take care of, someone who would look up to her and give her the respect she felt she deserved… most of the time. Before she had met Ino all those years ago, she would often ask her parents when she was going to get a little sister to play with.

Be careful what you wish for, for you may just get it.

"Umm, wow mother. That's great news!" she said, putting up her happiest front. Truly, she wasn't sure how to take the news. Yes, she had wanted a sister when she was younger, but now, it would mean a child in the household to look after. It wasn't that she was against it, she just wondered if she could be the big sister she always hoped to be.

Her mother seemed satisfied, "I'm glad you're happy Sakura. We were afraid you might find this too unexpected."

Putting on a bright smile, she assured them that she was ecstatic. The remainder of the breakfast was spent in conversation over the newest addition to the Haruno family.

Sakura stood in front of her class, her lesson proceeding on autopilot while her mind revolved around the revelation from earlier that morning. She was starting to see some benefits to the deal. She would get an avid student and fan to be sure. She grinned, confusing a few of her students who wondered what part of chakra surgery was worth such a smile.

The child would not suffer the same problems Sakura did, she would make sure of that. She would teach her sister to be the greatest kunoichi there ever was.

On the topic of teaching, she realized she was getting way above the level her students were expected to know. These kids weren't going to be doing complex tenketsu repair any time soon.

Stopping her speech, she coughed uncomfortably. "Sorry about that, my mind was elsewhere," she said, which earned her a few muffled chuckles.

She pulled out a small flower she had picked on her way to school. "Anyway, back on topic. As you know, the most important aspect of chakra surgery is feeling out your patient. Even the best control will not help you unless you know what it is you are healing."

She lifted up the flower, "Chakra exists in every living thing. A life that is not intelligent cannot generate it in any decent amount, which in fact leads so many to believe that chakra is a human only trait. Any truly skilled medic will tell you such a misconception is incorrect. Take this flower, for example, a truly resilient life form. Its chakra pathways are arranged in such a way that it continues to live even though it's been separated from the main body. Within it resides the smallest strand of chakra; it is fading now, of course, but as a medic you could do something like this..."

She focused a bit of her chakra into her hand, gently nudging it along the stem where the main chakra line of the plant lay. The petals of the flower started to gain color and the stem practically shone with health.

"Here I am guiding the slightest bits of my chakra up the stem, massaging the lone pathway within the flower, which causes such a clear reaction. You must be careful though. Since chakra is a powerful energy, more then the slightest trace can flare out of control, and, while that's wonderful for all of those techniques that leave craters in the ground, it's dangerous for very precise healing. If your chakra deviates even a breath out of bounds, you'll have a scalpel sharper and more deadly than any surgeon, ninja or no, could ever have instead of a healing tool."

Intent on demonstrating her point, she focused a sharp spike up the chakra path of the flower, looking up to see the reaction of the class.

The students were entranced, watching her hands in awe, a reaction she had not expected. This was not quite the reaction she had expected. A withering flower should result in something quite different.

Looking down, she was notably shocked. Instead of becoming a wilted husk, the flower in her hand was growing. Already another stem separated from the one she held, and in front of her eyes, a bud bloomed. The process continued for over a minute as the entire class, teacher included, simply stared. Suddenly, Sakura realized what she was doing and cut off the flow of chakra, unnerved. By all rights, she shouldn't have had the ability to make things, not for a few more years, at least. After all, to control the amount of chakra she was putting into the plant was something Tsunade could do, not a young Chunnin teacher.

With the disappearance of chakra, a small flash filled the room, and Sakura's eyes went wide… The flower did not simply wilt: its stems shattered into dust, and the buds began to fall as if in slow motion, a trail of white petals following them. At last they settled on the floor in a white carpet.

The class burst into applause, clearly amazed by such a performance, though Sakura was the most impressed of the bunch. Nodding to the class, she kept staring at the remains of the flower, the fact that she had caused the death of such beauty the only thing running through her mind. Eventually the antics of her class caught up to her and, putting on an annoyed face, Sakura told her students that the explanation for what happened would have to wait. The class under control, she resumed the lesson after gathering the petals.

At the same time as Sakura's class was watching the girl's performance, Sasuke walked into the teacher's lounge trailed by Iruka.

"How is the job going, Sasuke?" wondered the older man. There had been times when he was not very pleased with the boy. Sasuke had caused his favorite student such pain that he often wondered how Naruto had found the will to forgive, but forgive he did, and because of that Iruka could not remain mad at the Uchiha. Over the past few weeks he had even grown to enjoy the quiet boy's company.

Sasuke for his part did not mind his old teacher. The man was good with kids, something he realized now was quite a difficult task. "The students are annoying," he muttered, though his face betrayed his true feelings. "There is no skill among the class, the bunch of them can barely hold together a bunshin," again one could guess from his expression that some of the kids had truly impressed him.

Iruka smiled at Sasuke knowingly. The boy was starting to show more emotions around the people of the school. No longer did he need his faithful Sasuke translator. Naruto had taken it upon himself to interpret everything the Uchiha said, much to Sasuke's annoyance. Fortunately the boy wasn't around at the moment, currently teaching a class.

That was another thing Iruka was curious about. During his time teaching Naruto, the boy had never remembering even the most important dates of Konoha's history, showing absolutely no talent for the topic. Now, he was one of the children's favorite teachers. They would absorb what he had to teach and be happy to repeat it to any ear willing to listen.

What had Iruka missed that had granted Naruto such insight? Were those years under Jiraya's tutelage really that educational?

"The dobe has always been good at surprising everyone," Sasuke guessed what the man was thinking, "I've learned not to underestimate him, even if I am better."

"That he has," agreed Iruka, and smiled.

With his revenge complete, Iruka noted that Sasuke seemed to have mellowed out. Most had expected him to find nothing he wanted in the victory; in a way it was relieving everyone had been wrong. It was also quite shocking that the boy no longer focused every ounce of effort on being the best. Sure he trained more then most shinobi of the Leaf, but gone were the days of total isolation.

He had even gone on a few dates with Sakura, if rumors were to be trusted. Which brought up an interesting topic.

"Sasuke, have you noticed Sakura acting strange lately?" asked Iruka. Sasuke quirked an eyebrow, indicating he was listening.

Iruka chose his words carefully. "She's been a bit distant lately, always lost in her thoughts. I remember her being the type of girl who was in the middle of everything."

Sasuke nodded, interested. "I don't know what is going on with her. She used to bug me endlessly until I finally gave in and took her on a date."

Iruka nodded at the confirmation of the rumor.

"Since then she's been acting strange. At first I thought it was me, since I don't think I can return her feelings. Lately, though, you're right, something heavy is on her mind. She seems to be more graceful." Sasuke pondered for a moment. "She's been like that since the exam."

Suddenly the boy's eyes lit up, "It may be something to do with dobe. She was telling me not to copy him," he stopped suddenly. He had let slip something he had not meant to. It was unlike him.

"Then again, I may be looking too deep," he amended himself. Iruka, noticing the sudden change of pace, accepted that he had gotten all the information he could.

"How about we see how things go then?" he asked before walking to his seat to grade papers.

Sasuke took the cue and resumed his previous tasks.

Punch. Punch. Kick. Slide. Roll. Punch.

This pressure was getting on Sakura's nerves. First the nightmares, then finding out she was going to be a sister, then the debacle in the classroom. Things were really messed up recently.

Kick. Spin. Handstand. Reverse kick.

She hadn't had a chance to speak to Naruto either. It wasn't like he was avoiding her, but each time she saw him he was surrounded by students or friends. Not one time was he alone and free to discuss some more private things. She'd be damned if she had to pull him away from someone who knew her. The potential for misunderstanding was far too great.

Punch. Rising punch. Roll. Crescent kick. Spinning takedown.

She really needed someone to talk to. Ino came to mind, but was quickly dismissed. That girl was way too busy these days; Sakura had barely seen her two times during the past months, and both instances the blonde was in a rush. Kakashi was also a possibility; he wouldn't be able to offer the same type of support, but at least he knew how to listen when she truly needed it, and would not babble on needlessly. No, Kakashi was on a mission right now, she remembered. Something really secret since Tsunade could not tell her much about it.

Who was left?

Double strike. Follow through neck chop. Braced palm strike.

It was all Naruto's fault after all, she decided. Him and his freakishly beautiful dance. It was messing with her mind as if it was a toy. Unconsciously, she began to pour a slight bit of chakra into her limbs, increasing her speed past what she was normally capable of. Had Sakura been paying attention she would have been quite shocked that this was possible for someone like her. Often the upper level ninja would talk of this skill but whenever she broached it to Tsunade the older woman said she wasn't ready.

Rolling kick. Redirect momentum. Toss opponent.

Instead she had decided to put all her trouble into this battle. She could almost see an opponent in front of her, getting pummeled. It had features of Naruto, the cause of all this. Sasuke was there, too, since the boy had a bit of the blame on his shoulders as well. And Tsunade, keeping the Hokage's secrets even while training her. There were small parts of her parents and numerous other people she knew. The image of all her troubles firmly in her mind, she lay into the opponent with all the gusto she could manage.

Intercepting strike. Drop slam. Rolling Recovery. Death point attempt.

She was now lost in the feeling. The elated sense of causing harm to another being, even if only in her mind, had caught her and trapped her in this state between consciousness and sleep, so she kept moving with speed more suited to Sasuke than a medical kunoichi.

Paralysis technique. Two point break. Redirected Drop.

She also missed the eyes that tracked her every movement. They bore no color, just pitch black, interrupted by millions of motes of light. As she performed move after move, they seemed to grow heavier, sadder. At the same time they were laughing. She was quite an incredible specimen after all. How much she would learn was still up for question, but if tradition could be trusted she could grow to be quite powerful.

But not yet, the girl was young. She would learn at her own pace, and when it came time to finally understand, she would do so without question or hesitation. That was just the type of person she was.

Bracing technique. Six point circle seal. Fading willow strike...

Endgame.

Sakura froze in the final position, her imaginary opponent's lifeless eyes staring at her peacefully, her open palm piercing his heart. In dreams no one died painfully. Still, what the hell was a fading willow strike?

Now that she thought about it, what did she just do? She remembered moving, flowing from one position into another but everything else was a blur. Terms she had never heard were pouring into her mind. It was assuring her that she had performed these moves, more complex than she could ever imagine, much less hope to perform.

Her mind had had enough. She fell to her knees, the light in her eyes growing dull, the stress of the day, and month, in fact, catching up to her, leaving her sleeping peacefully for the first time in days.

As her body was about to hit the ground, two hands caught her. The boy cradled her to his chest and looked at her face, his blue eyes studying her features. Sighing, he moved a hand to her cheek; she was now truly beyond the point of return. Gently he ran a finger down the smooth skin, leaving a small trail of blood, which almost instantly disappeared, to be replaced by a single, stylized black line.

"Welcome, Sakura-chan. To the path of first mastery," Naruto paused looking up from the girl into the night sky, "I'm sorry."

A leaf came loose from a nearby tree, a victim of too much air pressure. It flew through the air before settling on the ground of an empty training field, unnoticed by anyone. After all, who would be up at such an hour?

Shadris Corner:

Prime Weapon – Any member of the two Shadris sub races possesses a single weapon that is completely soul bound to them, usually it is crafted by the user, but in some cases may have been crafted by one of the great sages. It is indestructible and serves as a strong focus for their magic. Normally the weapon is kept dematerialized, but can be accessed instantly if it is needed. The weapon may also contain very high level enchantments crafted by the wielder, usually used to aid focusing of a particular type of magic of technique. Further they are partially sentient and can not be used by anyone other the recognized wielder and perhaps his or her mates. Since they are part of the wielder's soul, should the wielder die the weapon dies with them.

In addition to a prime weapon a Shadris will possess an Honor weapon often used in duels, several Shadris common weapons which will be discussed at length later, and a racial weapon which is a part of the Shadris' body.

To Note: The house Endrai Prime Weapon is traditionally a bladed staff, though it can take the place of the Honor Weapon if the user possesses an affinity for a different type.

Author's Notes:

Having read this chapter with the edits and changes I am happy to say that it is satisfactory to the point where I will call it version 1.1. Though true some things are a bit too sudden, they get across the point I wanted to show. I do wonder if anyone's yet noticed a certain similarity with Ch. 5 yet.

Thanks for reading this trash, if you still are.

Oh, and for reference, the dark part hasn't even remotely started yet.
/me REALLY evilgrins

Ch. 3 – Version 1.1

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