Chapter 2 – A New Beginning

The woman I called Sensei looked at me with a sad expression plastered upon her face. It looked too human for her. There was something wrong and I didn't know as to why till I returned to the village soon after.

~XXX~

The training was placed in different sections of area. One being to focus more on the chakra aspects, the usage, output and input of each method when using such energy. Of course general knowledge was taught however, the materials provided was scarce.

At the end of Sana's training for the day, another go of the obstacle course was taken by her own decision. By applying chakra to the sole of her foot, she could witness the results being much faster than without them. The level of difficulty changed soon after when Sensei noticed the course being easy for the girl. Weapons was applied autonomously with its target being her and she was left with cuts and bruises for the day.

The next was focused in what she was lacking; Taijutsu, in other words close combat or martial arts. Laps was the general method along with wearing weighted items over her clothes. Push-ups, squats, and simple spars with her being thrown and put in her place by the women every time.

Training dummies was created in order for Sana to practice move sets before moving to a different section which was to dodge weapons thrown at her by the woman with the intent of making her disabled. She was serious and the girl's carelessness would result in her leaving before the training finally ended. She never did escape unscathed for the training.

The week for what was left had made the girl more light with her movements, more faster in performing her attack sequences and she smiled with a slight glee with her own performance. A thought came of keep on putting the item on but the women disagreed, it would be a bad idea to not understand the current body capability before continuing to focus on improvement. There was a reason why Sana called her Sensei, and she acknowledged her wisdom for whatever she suggested.

The speed which continued to grow left her to be unresponsive with her vision in performing certain steps of attack and swift motions. While the speed of her movements was to her advantage, if she herself could not process what she was doing then it will surely lead Sana to her own downfall. In order to fix the matter, the days was focused in adjusting and responding to her own speed, it had felt like weeks in trying to focus in having her eyes respond quickly, becoming more aware and increase the perception in what she was doing.

Training, eating, resting. There was no end to it but, she knew she chose this decision and she would have to continue in order to survive the shinobi world. That was the only motivation that continued to make her move onwards, her father being only placed at the side of her mind.

~XXX~

For how long was she here now, counting the days to weeks wasn't accurate with the area showing no difference as usual. The girl looked at the woman she called Sensei, "Why did you train me all this time?"

"It was an experiment," the women said offhandedly, covering her mouth with the fan she held. Sana didn't really expect it to be out of kindness but at the same time it did hurt her chest.

"I'm nothing special…"

"Yes…you are not."

"…"

"Knowing that, this will make you stronger in many ways at the same time." Sensei said with bright eyes. "I believe in the hard working girl I used and because of that, I cherish our time together."

Sana looked at the women with a widened eyes while her mouth twitched and wavered, her voice hitched as she tried not to cry. "I thank you…for all of what you have done for me." She bowed her head as the woman placed her hand on top her head, the woman did not say anything while noticing the girl sniff silently and cover her face with one arm.

"Always remember that you only need to call upon me if you want to become stronger, she sighed while looking at the misty sky. "I expect great things from you…Sana."

Her name, it felt so weird being called as such when no one really called her such. It was almost like she too forgot her own name.

"Farewell…my lovely student."

XXX

She watched as the girl drifts in a quiet daze, the girl's focus distracted. Her hand caressed the dark hair tipped with shades of blue which now reached her shoulder blades, her violet eyes with round pupils had almost a slight slit to it if looked upon closely but unnoticeable at the same time.

"There is no destiny towards this girl, there is nothing holding her. Her fates lies with her own," Carrying the girl to the bed which she slept, she place her hands together. "Perhaps you will be the lucky one to achieve a higher state, time will only tell."

~XXX~

Sana woke up to with a slight uncomfortable to herself to what she laid on. The bed in the Ryūchi Cave was one Sana desired to want right now but knows she couldn't have it.

The loud cheers and chattering showed she was near a park. She was in the village again and no one had known of her disappearance at that time. She got up from what she was lying on, a bench and she raised her arms to relieve the tense muscle in her shoulders.

"How long has it really been now?" Sana walked the same direction she always remembered when walking to her small home. It felt like it's been a while or was time manipulated during her time in the cave, she didn't know.

Looking at the busy district area and buildings which showed no slight changes, there didn't seem to be a large time gap in when she was gone.

Sana sighed at the prospect of maybe having disappeared for a year or so but shook her head at that, it's fine now. "Did father even look for me all this time though?" She pondered on that question while nearing her area of home. It was more livelier than before, more alive in retrospect to when she was there previously, yet everything was still the same. Why?

Sana could only reveal a shocked expression, her arms trembled and a slight wavering of her mouth showed she was about to cry even when she tried to hold it in. Her home was no more.

A family which was not her own with their small children running around. There was new fresh smell coming from there which she could tell. There was a brief moment of anger before it vanished, the expression of anger caused her to think of removing those innocent people from her 'home'.

It was her home no longer, not when they have been occupied by someone else entirely.

She walked away, "So father really has abandoned me," Sana already knew of this long ago when the carer became non-existent. "I was left to die so he can sell it huh…" The raven haired girl looked at the clear blue sky, there was no rain to hide the fact she was crying without making a noise.

She was again reminded in what Sensei had said to her, "You're no one special." Yes that quote was true in so many ways, believing so as she walked emptily to the busy streets.

She didn't bother recognising the bump she had with a bundle of bright blonde hair compared to her own. The boy made noises about something but Sana merely ignored the boy and continued her path.

There was maybe other options to live, a job in one of the many shops may be willing to allow her to work for them, but the expectation that Sensei gave to her made her believe that the only way to really survive is becoming a shinobi.

Ironic that to be alive and thrive, Sana had to risk her life everyday while doing so.

She found a place near a lake which was clear and empty, it looked like the perfect place to relax, and so she did so. There was no one looking for her and she was technically what she desired; freedom but at the cost of losing my special home.

~XXX~

The voice faded away and left the young girl floating within the dark limbo of unconsciousness. It wasn't until she felt someone flick her forehead that her eyes shot open. "Hey, you're finally awake! Oi! Come here! She's awake!" A dark messy-haired boy called, the boy turning away from her laid position to face a different direction.

"Hey, I said not do it," another voice said with an resigned tone.

There was a few questions that came to the girls tongue. She remembered that she was in Konohagakure again, it had been a while seeing the sky which was clear blue to now showing the night with its glittering stars everywhere she looked.

The boy who woke her up gave her a smile nevertheless of the light scolding he received. "Doesn't matter when she's awake now, that's what matters right?"

The other boy sighed while approaching the both of us. The boy looked to possess no pupils in its lavender eyes, long brown hair which reached to his waist. The boy although was quite calm for his age compared to the other kid who was more hyperactive and had dark hair and eyes.

The girl looked at them and started to analyse the two boys. The training with Sensei forced her to be wary of her surroundings. Maybe she still wasn't good enough in that aspect when she fell asleep.

There was also two adult with other kids who wanted their attention.

The girl got up with a sigh before walking away from them while they started to argue, ignoring the startled sound of the two boys as they called out to her, but she was already too far to clearly hear what they was saying.

There's no point getting involved with any of them.

The girl walked till she found directions to the park. Entering the area and laying down in one of those giant one swing which held a circular made net out of bamboo sticks, Sana stargazed while thinking of what to do next.

The age curriculum to start the academy was around 7 or 8 but some could start to enrol around at the age of 4 if they wanted to.

Sana gave no thoughts about doing so, while studying early was a merit, there was surely going to be a hassle with older students not liking a student her age being able to do the same thing as them.

It was better to wait a few more years before she enrols. She was too young and didn't want to waste her life early. Learning theory's or the history of Konoha wasn't one thing Sana felt to be of that much of an interest. She could find the information in books if she so pleased, she'd rather learn new things that would provide assistance to her survival.

Then again, what was the perfect age to enrol for her? Would it be when turning 8 or maybe earlier? There was questions after questions that there was currently no answer for but waiting. Closing her eyes, she listened to the air brush the tree leaves, the bush and the sounds of air itself dancing around her.

~XXX~

How much time has now passed? There didn't seem to be any changes the dark sky so it couldn't have been long. But this silence was peaceful and calming.

"Hey! Why'd you run away?!"

"?!"

The calming atmosphere was disturbed with the loud hurried stomps of the two boys' sandals as they came near her. They caught up to her and focused on what she was looking at, "Do you know what's wrong with her?" The dark haired boy asked the lavender-eye.

"Whatever the case she's an orphan and our caretaker told us to bring you back," the boy held her hand and she let him without any struggle. "You gave us quite the scare when you left us."

"Yeah, you're really quick on your feet," the dark haired boy said. "I'm surprised you covered this much distance in such a short time."

Looking at the two boys closely, she noticed the slight sweat they had from coming to find her. Ah, she just realised what the lavender-eyed boy said and remembered. With no home and parents anymore, she's become an orphan and was being brought to the orphanage.

XXX

The boy with the lavender eyes came back from a small but big enough building with 3 cups of water. "Here, this should quench your thirst."

The girl sat down on the grass ground along with the other two as they watched her finish drinking. With a light sigh, she looked at the two before opening her mouth. "I was just lying down resting, was there something wrong with doing that?"

The dark haired boy scratched his head while frowning, "W-well there's nothing wrong with that but…" He looked at the other boy for advise which he didn't provide, "you were just sleeping in the open when you could've have gone home. So we thought you were like us?" The boy didn't sound sure of himself but she gave no answer to his slight question.

Sana processed his words and nodded her head at his statement, truthfully it was rude to view her as such but at the same time, it was a keen and smart guess on his half, however. "Us?"

The lavender eye boy coughed gaining Sana's attention while replying, "Some of us left our home because we was abandoned or our parents have died, disappeared or whatnot," he pointed at the building which brought the cups from. "We are currently in an orphanage in the Land of Fire of the Hidden Leaf Village, which is also known as Konoha, it is but one of the many and this is the furthest from anywhere else." the boy said.

"So…I'm guessing that you're like us and don't have a family anymore." The dark haired boy chuckled only to get a punched on the head by the lavender eyed boy. "Ow! Too much, sorry."

"I had a house near the outskirts of the village, it was recently bought, do you know of the person who sold it?" She was surprised of strangers living there and was confused as to why they were doing so, no. She already knew the answer, she only just wanted confirmation that it was actually true.

"Hmm…Ah, if you're taking about that small house that could fill at least 3 people, the house was abandoned for almost 6 months now, the owner of the house decided to sell it for a cheap price, "The girl's mind shattered at the knowledge but her expression which revealed a slight shocked expression was hidden. The lavender eyed boy noticed this but didn't comment on the fact. "From what I know, the owner showed no attachment towards the house, quite weird he would even keep it."

It sounded ridiculous. It was maybe a mere coincidence that she was near the orphanage. She examined them for a brief moment, trying to gauge their honesty, but their eyes revealed that they weren't lying. "Let's do an introduction of ourselves, I am Hagami from the Hyūga clan in Konoha, but I'm a half-breed of the Branch side."

"Everyone knows that about you Hagami, your eyes are pretty famous around the village." The dark haired boy said. The lavender eyed boy now known as Hagami rolled his eyes and waved his hand away.

"I ain't like those stuck ups from the clan, remember, I said I'm a half-breed." The girl couldn't really say much in what was the matter in being a half-breed but it was not her matter to indulge in his own private affairs. "I was lucky enough to not get branded since they don't know of my existence that well."

"Guess I'm next," He pointed at himself with a grin before he was interrupted by Hagami. "This idiot here is called Giran, he's quite smart when he really focuses…at the very least." He muttered at the end causing the boy known as Giran to frown.

"Oi, that was uncalled for." The boy didn't really seem hurt of the insult before they both stared at her with a small smile. "It's your turn now…"

"So what's your name?"

"My…name?" The two boys watched her as they waited for her to present herself, there didn't seem to be any problems with sharing her name, there was nothing important about it anyway, "Sana, I don't have a last name."

Hagami and Giran nodded their head with perhaps understanding but to what was the question.

Although her perception of them being a threat was unwarranted in the first place. They were friendly and kind. It healed her lonely heart. Perhaps she had something common with this orphans as well.

"So Sana," Giran said with a smile reaching his hand out again alongside Hagami. "welcome to our cosy little family."

~XXX~

In hindsight, Sana only agreed and grabbed both their extended hands in order to prevent anything else from happening if she decided to leave again. She could live in the forest and maybe make a home for herself somewhere there. Though that was if she had the knowledge in camping to begin with.

Sensei never taught her the methods of living in the forest. Maybe because that knowledge would be provided in the Academy? Sana shook her head as she listened to several kids around her age, either older or younger, it varies but we all had the most common fact of having no parents.

Sleeping here was not the most annoying but at the same time uncomfortable. Nothing could compare to the bed Sana used in Ryūchi Cave. From what she has currently seen, the caretaker are similar to the carers that came occasionally from when she still lived in her little home.

There wasn't much fondness given to the other children, of course they treated the toddlers who required more care than others, but at the same time they ignored the other kids if they could take care of themselves. They weren't really aware of several kids sneaking out or not inside before they too fall asleep. Sana merely nodded at their methods, in other words she could simply stay somewhere else and arrive back here around the time before they woke up and would not know a thing.

It would be a hassle staying in one place and being monitored but alas this gave her some advantages due to their carelessness. With that thought ground through Sana's head, she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

~XXX~

Sana woke up way too early, the time frame of her resting was quite dismantled due to staying in the cave. The black-haired girl looked at the sky and noticed the sun still not rising yet.

"It's the best time to train then," she muttered as she got up and opened the window that was in the corridor. The room she stayed in had other children in 2 other bunk beds and she did not want to risk waking them up to call her out, so the corridor was the bests choice.

The village was quite eerie and silent during the night, no other people other than animals such as cats or dogs making noises when noticing her presence. She felt as if she was being stared at by someone but she couldn't find them. Maybe it was those said animals that was giving her attention, it was different and more focused.

The feeling continued on till she found an empty field. The grass was quite short around the area and there was logs embedded by the ground. Said logs when walking up to them were in fact, target practice for throwing weapons.

That was good to know but ignored it for looking at the field. The blonde walked around the field while looking around the trees that went further in to the darkness. The moon's ray didn't seem to beam its light due to turn the amount of leaves the trees covered.

"Good place to train…" Sana muttered so before doing simple body exercises.

Few hours passed as Sana stood in the centre of the field with an slight irked look on her face. Air came in laboured puffs from her mouth, and sweat beaded on her forehead. The night had already begun to disappear to show the clear blue sky. Nevertheless, she stood looking at the field more clear and bright.

The sombre air that had taken over her during her first time doing this amount of training was in the cave and she puked her food which she had recently ate during the time. Sana looked at her hands with a small amount of pride in not vomiting again even while her legs continued to shake.

'I wonder what I should do next later on when I come here again?' she thought disparagingly, stretching her arms above her head and willing her heart to calm.

The evening air had cooled enough that she could see her breath as the wind took it from her. It must've been bordering on fall, by now.

Shaking her head, she decided on thinking of what to do the next time she arrived here.

Accepting that thought process, the girl set off in a dead sprint, following the long-memorized route around the field. It wasn't a large area when looking at with the sun now out, but it took its toll on her.

There were inclines, declines, unsteady ground, roots and branches and holes to either jump over or vault. It was an obstacle course which she appreciated it existing here, and she ran it over and over and over again until one tree blended into the next and the motions she went through, she could do with her eyes closed.

She would need to start using chakra after in evaluating how fast she could go afterwards when she was truly confident in running the course without even giving a thought.

Sure, it took its toll in the body, she bumped into some obstacles and may have bruised herself. Even so, the actions of doing so gave her a slightly more awareness to her surrounding as she continued to do so.

"Maybe it's time to use chakra now…" Saying so, Sana channelled her energy and let it out towards the sole of her feet while placing her arms behind her as if there was one with the wind while she ran.

She was of course focusing on the tracks again with her eyes open as the speed of doing the obstacles was now faster to be aware of quickly.

She grit her teeth, forcing her protesting muscles faster and faster as she jumped over branches and dips in the ground. She would run until she was nearly drained of her energy, after all she did far worse in the cave.

"You're looking pretty savage for how small you are," a voice suddenly said. Her green eyes had been focusing on her feet as she tried not to trip, but now she glanced up, looking at the new arrival.

She didn't know him, of course, she really didn't know anybody as she was a nobody in the first place. The man looked to be important if the clothes he wore said anything about it.

He looked to be secretive in what his face was as he wore a ninja mask covering his face up just below the eyes and his headband which had the Konoha symbol embedded on its metal plate which was covering the left side of his eyes. The silver hair he had was spiked up but looked to be held up there due to his headband.

He didn't seem to be doing anything but reading an orange and yet Sana felt as though he was focusing on her at the same time, either way, he was a suspicious guy. Maybe the feeling of being watched was because of him perhaps? It didn't really matter anyway since he didn't look to be wary of her so she didn't need to pay attention to him and let him be.

Though she frowned as she dug her heels into the dirt to stop from running in the guy, and stared at him, skidding to a stop right under his nose.

"Can you move please?" she said without thinking, eyebrows drawing together. "I don't know why you're here to begin with."

The silver-haired man grinned at her behind his mask. "Well, I thought this was a nice, quiet spot to read." He flapped the suspicious orange book in his hand. "Imagine my surprise at seeing such a little person working herself to death."

The dark-haired girl frowned. Sure, she was only 7, but she wasn't little. It felt strangely humiliating to be talked to like that, especially since she'd grown out of being little after getting her stomach constantly bloated and provided with several amount of nourishments.

"I'm not working myself to death, I'm building myself. Excuse me please." She brushed past him. Although he was an odd person, Sana gave him some sort of respect as a shinobi if nothing else.

She thought with her ending her brief conversation, she would be alone once more but raised a brow when noticing the person still there, though moving slightly to the side to not block her path.

He watched her, his one dark eye following her form as she trampled the ground underfoot. Never once did he flip open his book, though he did seem lost in thought.

The man kept watching, until the sun finally rose completely and the girl stopped her pace along with halting her use of chakra. She sat on the ground and gave heavy breaths before lying on her back.

Her body was hurting more than usual, she may have overdone it by doing more than she had to. Her muscles ached and her insides burned as if someone was frying her body. Placing and hand to her chest. She listened and felt the sound of her heart.

It was beating fast, trying to calm her breathing she hitched a slight shock as her adrenaline rose even quicker when the man's face suddenly appeared over hers.

He blocked out the sun, and just stared at her.

"You didn't read your book," she noted, raising a single eyebrow.

"I couldn't very well let you pass out here, after all," Kakashi explained, giving her that eye smile again.

Sana found herself smiling at that. "I see. You don't really mean that. Even so, thank for worrying about me." She stuck her hand straight in the air. "Nice to meet you."

He slowly shook her hand with the only raised brow she could she, "Why do you say I didn't mean that?"

"Because of your eyes…" She only said that as the man hummed at her answer "How perceptive of you." He mummers as he brings his hand back from her own to his pocket.

Sana stayed in her lying position while the man continue to stand near her while reading his book. She could sleep here and rest but decided against it, who knows what the caretaker would do if they notice her or the two boys that would try to look for her.

She cleared her throat to cover a small wheeze as she pulled herself to her knees, and then to her feet. "I'll leave you to your reading," she said, though it was kind of hard with the trees shadow blocking some light for him to read anything.

"Goodbye," he called as she strode off, and she threw a casual wave over her shoulder.

She had a feeling she'd be seeing more of him. Though she didn't really see as to why.

She followed the path in which she came and arrived at the orphanage with the doors still shut. She smelled quite a bit and decided to wash herself by showering.

The thing about the hot water was that it was limited and there a set duration of how long you could stay there which she now first experiences.

Sana wiped herself and used the spare clothes that were old and baggy and dimly wore it while placing her other clothes in her own small cabinet. She'll have to wash it herself to make sure no one else took her clothes as their own.

Slumping forward to her small and uncomfortable bed, she curled herself in a fetal position and fell asleep. A small rest was needed before she could go on for the day.