Chapter 17


"I remember there was a director who wrote movies starring strong female characters. One day in an interview someone asked him why he kept writing strong female characters, and he said something along the lines of, "Because people still ask that question."

Me? I just think that a strong female character is way more interesting than a weak badly-written girl who's just slapped in to appeal to female demographics."


Once upon a time, a little pink-haired girl visited a used book store and found a book that had no right to be there.

Less than three hours had passed since Team Seven set foot on the shores of the Land of Wave, and already everything had gone to hell.

Huddled around a low table in Tazuna's house, the three genin stared blankly at the cups of tea provided by their client's daughter, any ghosts of an appetite or thirst absent in the face of the dilemma they now faced.

Hatake Kakashi, the famed Copy-Ninja of Konoha, their Jounin Sensei, had been captured by an unknown enemy. Meanwhile a known threat with an A-rank danger level lurked somewhere unknown biding his time until he could recover, alongside a third threat of unknown capability. If their sensei's kidnapper could be trusted, they had at least one week before the swordsman would attempt to strike again.

One week. Seven days to train and get to a level where they might be able to fend off at least two dangerous enemies, potentially three.

Without a jounin sensei to guide them and offer protection, the sheer magnitude of the endeavor seemed insurmountable. Even Naruto, who never wavered and always spouted his motto of never giving up, seemed disheartened by the crisis facing them. His usually radiant smile had been replaced by a melancholic frown, his bright eyes dull and worried as he stared at his cup. Across from him the ever-proud Sasuke seemed equally daunted by the challenge, his normally stoic frown even broodier than usual.

Chewing her lower lip as she studied her teammates, Haruno Sakura slowly looked at her now-cold cup of tea, staring listlessly at her reflection in the greenish liquid. Muggy-looking spring green eyes stared up at her full of worry and concern, creases around her eyes and mouth formed by the heaviness of the frown she wore.

Her fingers curled around the cup as her eyelids slid shut, taking a deep breath and trying to calm the heavy dread building in her chest.

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Haruno Sakura who was a useless piece of garbage.

Harsh as it sounded, Sakura felt no shame in admitting that during her earliest years in the academy she had let her obsession with Sasuke dominate her life. Every day she used to wake up with thoughts of what kind of face Sasuke might be making when she got the academy. She stole glances at the small Uchiha throughout class, her attention focused on him so heavily that in retrospect it surprised her that she managed to keep her grades high.

Even now she still yearned for his affection and approval, but compared to the little six year old girl she had once been, she had matured a lot. After all, her life didn't revolve around him the way it used to.

It had been Uchiha Akari who had created the first ripple of change.

"You know, if you have the Uchiha name, you need to be more than just a pretty face. We Uchiha are warriors, the best of the best. Even civilian Uchiha women are badass, don't you think?"

Those taunting words had sparked a fire in Sakura, her eyes boring a hole into the back of the smug Uchiha girl's head as she skipped away from Sasuke-kun to join a quiet little boy at the edge of the training ground. While some girls around her began grumbling threats about not letting the stuck-up girl outdo them, Sakura felt her thoughts take a different direction, Akari's words playing over in her head.

Uchiha women were strong. Sasuke-kun even confirmed it. So if Sakura wanted to marry him, she needed to become strong too.

It had been the shallowest of motivations, but it had been motivation nonetheless. It had spurred Sakura to start working even harder, spending her free time training and researching. Strength had two parts to it. Physical conditioning would be considered the most obvious one, but arguably more important would be one's mental ability. Sakura knew that a single wily shinobi could take down ten stronger opponents with a single well-thought-out plan.

Sakura knew she lacked the physical strength of her male classmates, but she also knew she had more brains than the average person. Brains didn't always beat brawn, but it could still cripple them. With that thought in mind, she decided to throw herself into intellectual pursuits, scouring the library and bookstores for any useful books she could find: Tactics, history, strategy, chakra theory, political discourses...

If she found a book that seemed like it could give her even a slight edge as a shinobi, she snapped it up and devoured it whole, and then resumed her search anew.

It had been in that pursuit that she found herself inside a used bookstore at the age of six. Her meager allowance left her with very limited options, so she chose to root through a bin full of worn, damaged books marked at discount prices to maximize her potential material. A single book caught her eye, the black cover worn and unmarked, and curiosity prompted her to fish it out.

Holding the tattered volume in her small hands, the little pink-haired girl slowly opened the cover and found a photo of an unfamiliar man glowering at her, his yellow serpentine eyes cold and unforgiving and sending chills down her spine.

Bingo books had no place in civilian bookstores. Even old, outdated ones would normally be disposed before reaching the shelves, because no civilian had any need to know what powerful ninja might roam the world. Yet somehow one old bingo book had slipped through the cracks, and destiny had seen fit for it to fall into the hands of one six-year-old Haruno Sakura.

Flipping through the pages, she stopped when she found a photo of a woman with dark green hair pulled into a bun, her face framed by thick strands of golden-orange bangs and a hitai-ate engraved with a stylized hourglass on it. Her brown eyes held a quiet, firm resolve that gave her pause, seeming to draw Sakura's gaze to them with an almost hypnotic quality.

"Pakura of the Scorch Release," she'd mouthed silently as she read the text next to her name. The entry contained a lot of kanji she didn't know yet, but she began reading what parts she could understand with a growing sense of wonder.

In that quiet, unassuming moment, standing in a quiet bookstore with an outdated bingo book, Sakura's life changed forever. She had found herself on a new path to become stronger—not just to earn the right to marry Sasuke, but for her own sake. Vain as it might sound she wanted to one day open a bingo book and find her own face staring back, her green eyes filled with the same quiet confidence Pakura exuded and striking fear into enemy ninja even as her eyes stared lifelessly from a printed page.

As the years passed the dream began to evolve, taking on a solid form as she grew and learned her strengths. Idly fantasizing would not satisfy her. She needed to make it a reality, and for that she began gradually plotting her ascension, researching the various fields available to shinobi and the various topics.

Seated among her new team and facing her new teacher, Sakura sucked in a deep breath as she began. "My name is Haruno Sakura," she started. "I like anmitsu and..." Her gaze flickered to Sasuke, and her face flushed before she quickly snapped her gaze away. "Um, I dislike spicy foods. My hobbies are..." Another glance, and a small squeak caught in her throat, forcing her to swallow it back. "R-reading about history and biographies famous kunoichi. My dream is..."

Visions of white dresses and falling petals flashed through her mind, her face turning bright red and a small squeal slipping through. Shaking her head violently, she pushed away the fantasies and raised her head to stare at her new teacher, her eyes sparking with determination. "My dream is to become an ANBU captain, and be acknowledged by the world as an A-rank threat!"

Her words on that first day echoed in her mind as she sat in the room in the Land of Waves, her strong determination from that moment resurfacing and reaffirming itself in her mind. Pink eyelashes parted to reveal resolute green eyes, a powerful conviction blazing within them as she looked at her despondent teammates.

'ANBU captains do not let unexpected setbacks discourage them!' her inner-self declared, her voice steady and determined. 'They keep their cool and push forward!'

"We need a plan," Sakura proclaimed aloud, breaking the silence that had consumed them. Naruto and Sasuke raised their heads to look at her in surprise, the unwavering confidence in her voice catching them off-guard.

"We know that!" Sasuke snapped, shooting her a cold glare. "We're not stupid, Sakura!" His harsh tone made her flinch, the love-struck six-year-old girl taking hold of her as she reflexively wilted at her crush's disapproval.

"Oi, Sasuke, don't be so mean to Sakura-chan!" Naruto snapped, slamming his hands on the table. The teacups rattled and the tea sloshed around before spilling onto the wood, drops of amber and orange quickly pooling and spreading. "Apologize right now, bastard!"

"Don't tell me what to do, dead last!" Sasuke bit back, making Naruto growl in anger.

"What did you just—"

"Enough!" Sakura's cold voice made the boys freeze, whirling their heads to look at her in surprise. Her hands trembled on her lap out of their sight and she could feel tears threatening to prick the corners of her eyes, but she fought them back and tried to keep her voice as smooth and calm as possible, staring her teammates dead in the eye. "We're all stressed and on edge right now, but fighting won't help. We need to calm down and think of a plan."

A long moment of silence passed and she wondered if they'd just ignore her, but to her eternal relief both boys silently sunk back into their seats. She resisted the urge to breathe a small sigh of relief. Right now she honestly wanted nothing more than to curl up and cry in frustration and fear, but she knew that she had to stay strong. For all their strengths, Naruto and Sasuke were both too hot-headed to get a handle on the situation, so it would be up to Sakura to keep her cool and help guide their team.

Taking a few moments to compose herself, she swallowed the growing lump in her throat before speaking. "Let's think back for a second," she murmured. "When that guy took Kakashi-sensei, he kept saying he was just 'borrowing' Kakashi-sensei and that he would give him back to us."

"So what, you think he'll just release Kakashi?" Sasuke grumbled, shooting her a sour look. Even Naruto squinted at her, making her sigh and cross her arms, her head tipping back to gaze at the ceiling.

"I don't know," she admitted, "but I do know that guy had a lot of opportunities to kill us. You saw how fast he moved, it was like he teleported. We didn't even see him grab Kakashi. If he wanted to, he could have just taken him and left us there without ever showing himself, and we'd never know what happened."

Lowering her gaze to face her teammates, she held up a single finger and continued, "But instead, he hung around long enough for us to see him, and then he warned us Zabuza was still alive. Even if we weren't his targets, he didn't have to tell us that. Furthermore, he never showed any hostility to us, and he even insisted Kakashi would thank him."

"So what? Do you think he's actually on our side or something?" Naruto scratched his head as he mulled over it, his confusion perfectly justifiable.

"He kidnapped Kakashi," Sasuke countered flatly. "He's an enemy."

"I'm not saying he isn't," Sakura interjected, picking her words carefully. "We should definitely treat him with the assumption he's an enemy. But I get the feeling it's a lot more complicated than it seems. There's too many inconsistencies in his behavior, and we don't have enough information to figure out anything solid about his motivations. For now though, we can at least assume he won't kill Kakashi-sensei."

"What makes you so sure about that?" Naruto challenged, frowning at her. "For all we know, Kakashi-sensei could be dead right—hey!" He yelled as Sasuke smacked the back of his head, shooting the Uchiha an annoyed glare.

"Use your brain for once, dobe," Sasuke grumbled, offering his teammate a cold look. "If that guy wanted to kill Kakashi, he would've done it back there instead of kidnapping him."

"Then why take him at all?"

"We don't know," Sakura interrupted before they could start arguing again. "Like I said, we don't have enough information to make any gueses. For now though, we just have to trust that he needs Kakashi-sensei alive, and hope he won't kill him whenever he accomplishes his motive." Her answer didn't seem to satisfy Naruto but he didn't protest, pressing his lips together tightly. Sasuke, meanwhile, turned to regard her coolly, a calculating gleam in his narrowed eyes.

"So what do you think we should do, then?" he asked, and the pinkette frowned, quickly averting her gaze to the table. Her hands balled even tighter on her lap as her heart began fluttering anxiously, nerves suddenly overwhelming her.

"I... I think we should focus on guarding Tazuna, and figure out a strategy to hold off Zabuza long enough for him to finish building the bridge."

"WHAT!" Naruto leaped to his feet and slammed his hands on the table, and this time the teacups fell over. "What are you even saying! We can't just leave Kakashi-sensei!"

"But we can't rescue him either!" Sakura countered, trying to keep her emotions in check as she met his glare. "Naruto, let's say we find him. What then? That guy moved too fast for us to follow, and there's no way speed is all he has going for him. Chances are he's stronger than Zabuza, and you know how well that went!"

She couldn't help the bitter note that clung to the last part, making both of her teammates flinch and frown. Scowling, Sakura averted her eyes and squeezed them shut, counting backwards in her head from ten. Calm down, Sakura. ANBU captains can't lose their cool. When she felt sufficiently calm she resumed speaking, letting pure logic override any doubts and uncertainties she might feel.

"If Tazuna can finish the bridge, we can at least send someone to Konoha to request backup. As it stands, we're no match for Zabuza or the guy who kidnapped Kakashi-sensei, and there's still that fake hunter-nin, too. We need backup, and unless you guys are hiding something our only option is to deliver the message personally. There's no way we can sneak onto the mainland with Gato monitoring all the boats, so our best bet is to help Tazuna finish the bridge as soon as possible."

Having laid out her points she fell silent and opened her eyes, looking at her teammates hesitantly. Naruto stared at her in mild shock but Sasuke seemed to be contemplating her words carefully, his eyes narrowed. "We'd still have to take on Zabuza to build the bridge," he pointed out, and her breath hitched as she nodded.

"I know, but... Well, maybe we can speed it up...?" As she spoke her gaze flitted uncertainly towards Naruto, and Sasuke followed it with a curious look before comprehension suddenly dawned on him.

"You're kidding," he deadpanned, his face turning sour like he'd just sucked a lemon.

"Do you have any better ideas?" Sakura muttered, looking just as averse and unenthusiastic at the prospect. Naruto just looked at them in confusion, his eyebrows scrunching up as he flicked between them.

"What? Why are you guy looking at me like that?"

"She wants you to help build the bridge," Sasuke replied flatly, and Naruto stared at him blankly before the words processed.

"WHAT?! Sakura-chan, what the hell are you thinking?! I mean I'm not dumb or anything, but—I don't know anything about bridges!"

"Tazuna probably has a lot of books," Sakura pointed out blandly. "I mean, he kinda does it for a living, so. Yeah." Naruto physically shuddered at the prospect of reading, grimacing in disgust.

"Why me though?" he mumbled weakly.

"You can make shadow clones," Sasuke interjected. "A lot of them. Tazuna already said he's lost a lot of workers because people are too scared to risk Gatou's wrath. If you could supply the labor, even if it's just heavy lifting, he'd be able to finish faster."

"Oh... Right." Naruto grunted sheepishly at the thought, able to see the reasoning. Sensing that Naruto wouldn't complain anymore Sasuke huffed quietly, reclining on the cushion as he folded his arms with a small frown.

"Even if the dobe helps out, we'll have a week at a minimum before Zabuza shows up again. That's not much time. We should spend the time training, too. In case Kakashi doesn't come back by then."

The reminder of their teacher's predicament made the others frown, quickly looking to the table with grave faces. Leaving Kakashi at an enemy's mercy made Sakura's stomach churn, but right now they didn't have any other choice. As she'd just said, right now their best bet would be to finish the bridge as fast as possible so they could send someone to get backup. Hopefully by completing the bridge, the hit on Tazuna would also be called off.

"Okay, I'm all for training, but what would we do?" Naruto pressed, breaking the silence. "I mean, we could go over the stuff we already know and get it all locked down, but you guys saw Kakashi-sensei fighting that guy. We don't have any jutsu that could match those freaky dragons! Except maybe the teme's fireball," he added as an afterthought. "But water beats fire, so..."

Sasuke just scoffed and looked away, while Sakura tapped her chin in thought. Eyes wandering to the spilled tea, she quickly reached into her backpack to retrieve a small towel and wipe up the puddles, and once the table had been cleared she pulled out a notebook. Naruto and Sasuke turned to regard her curiously as she hunched over it with a pen, leaning forward to watch while she began writing.

"Maybe we can figure out a strategy using what we know," she murmured as she drew three vertical lines to divide the page into three columns. "We know he'll probably attack Tazuna at the bridge, and we have a week to prepare. We won't be on the spot like last time, so we should use that to our advantage and plan."

Even as she spoke she labeled each column with one of their names. Underneath Naruto's name she wrote "Shadow Clones," "High Stamina" and "Large chakra reserves". Under Sasuke she wrote "Fireball jutsu," "Taijutsu" and "Shurikenjutsu." When she reached her own name she hesitated, thinking over her own strengths before scribbling "Intelligence," "Marksmanship" and "Chakra Control."

"Any additions?" she asked, turning the notebook to face them. Gazing at the page thoughtfully, after a moment Sasuke nodded.

"I'm pretty fast at the substitution. That might help."

"I'm pretty good at pranks," Naruto offered, and Sakura groaned.

"Naruto, I meant something useful," she muttered, shooting him an disapproving frown that made him flinch. However, Sasuke didn't immediately scold him or call him an idiot, instead actually looking thoughtful as he considered this.

"No, that actually might help here," he murmured, catching both of his teammates by surprise.

"Wait, are you actually serious, or are you just messing with me?" Naruto asked suspiciously, earning a dry look from the Uchiha.

"I'm not going to joke around in a situation like this. I've seen some of the stuff you can do, and if we tweak some of your pranks, we might be able to use it to our advantage. Like that time you rigged paint bombs..."

As the trio began brainstorming aloud, the earlier despair and apprehension that had consumed them gradually faded, replaced by a hesitant yet firm resolve. Team Seven might currently face some of the worst circumstances imaginable, but they wouldn't let it get them down. After all, they had a future Hokage, an ANBU captain in the making and a righteous avenger among their ranks. Compared to those goals, this mission would be little more than a speed bump.

As long as even a sliver of a chance for success dangled in their sight, they would not give up. They would reach for it and pursue it until their dying breaths.

Once upon a time, a little pink-haired girl got inspired by a little brown-haired girl to become stronger. Then one day she found a book that should have never touched her hands, and found her own reason to become better.


(A/N: Hey guys! So I posted this chapter a day earlier than planned for a reason. I'm currently writing the Chuunin Exams arc, and thanks to the ripples from the twins (and also the Wave arc), it will actually involve some OCs. Since they don't play a major role and are probably only going to appear once, I thought I'd ask you guys to suggest some names for them! Don't suggest a full-fledged OC. They will likely appear for only a couple paragraphs at most, so I literally only need names for them.

I just think it'd be fun to give the readers a chance to get involved. That, and if I try to think of a name myself, I will inevitably start over-developing them to make their name match/fit their appearance or abilities, and ultimately waste an hour tweaking their super-brief cameo when I could just write more. So, yeah.

Thanks for all your feedback so far! I hope you guys continue to enjoy the Wave arc as much as I do!)