Sakura, being the young, curious, energetic kid that she was, had always been jealous of her two older brothers as she was never allowed to join them to train with their father. He believed women aren't supposed to fight in battles, and should only be left in the village to fend for the injured and the sick.

She was utterly gifted for her age, though; she had already mastered healing and knew everything she could learn about medicine, and she was only 13 years old, so she was usually left unoccupied until her brothers' training was done for the day and she could spend time with them again.

And even if she envied her two brothers, she was grateful that they'd teach her combat skills behind their father's back, as the two boys had contrasting beliefs from their father. They were very overprotective of her and wanted her to know self-defense, so they would make their way to teach her everything they could.

Her eldest brother, Hashirama, taught her how to master chakra control, and with it, she found out that she could destroy large rocks and giant trees with just her punches, making both of her brothers proud and terrified of her at the same time.

Her other brother, Tobirama, taught her how to use weapons, such as kunais, katanas, axes, and shurikens, which was quite easy for her to learn. She was a natural, as her brother would always comment.

During her free time, she would sneak out of the village to wander around the nearby forest and seek for animals to feed and play with. She loved animals. She would usually find deers, birds, squirrels, and bunnies, then feed them with the fruits she had gathered around the forest. She would also heal those that she found to be injured, making them trust her and remember her. Then, she would try to explore the parts of the forest that she had not seen yet, and memorize the places she wanted to visit again. She would come back home right before her family would realize she was not home, and so far she had not been caught sneaking out.

She was a smart girl, after all.

And one time, during one of her many adventures, she got to explore deep into the woods and found a strange boy who was skipping stones next to the river. This was the very first time she had encountered another person in the forest. She figured he was about as tall as her eldest brother. She hid behind a tree and just observed him for a while. He had dark, spiky hair that framed his young, boyish face. He didn't look like he belonged in her clan, as his clothes were also somewhat different from their traditional clothes. He was wearing dark robes.

And to her, he was just the coolest guy she had ever seen.

She wanted to befriend him and get to know him, but she was very shy and introverted. She barely had any friends from her village, so she just ran away before he could sense her.

The next few days, she kept going back deep into the forest, to visit the same river she stumbled upon and hoped that she could see the mysterious boy again.

And she always did. He was always there, skipping stones again, all alone. She always just watched him from afar while she was sitting on a tree branch, hoping that he wouldn't notice her presence.

To her amusement, he was sort of bad at stone skipping. She could likely beat him if she tried. Still, she thought he was very cool.

She wondered why he was all alone though, but then she remembered that she was too, so she couldn't really judge him either.

She wished she had the guts to approach him, but the thought of it made her anxious, and she didn't know what he would think of her. She didn't want him to think that she was stalking him, even if that was exactly what she was doing.

She quietly left again before she could be seen by him.

That night, she just couldn't stop thinking about him. She wanted to tell her brothers about this boy she always sees in the middle of the forest. Needless to say, she could not tell them about her daily adventures, even if she trusted that they would not snitch on her, as they were very overprotective of her and would never let her get out of the village all alone.

Albeit, her brothers did notice that she was not as focused on her training as she usually was, making her blush when she realized she was thinking of that boy from the forest. Hashirama would tease her about their neighbor who had an obvious crush on her, believing that it was a mutual attraction, which Tobirama would be mad about as he didn't want any boys to lay a hand on her, ever.

"What, Sakura-chan? Did Lee-san finally ask you out?" Hashirama asked jokingly.

"No! How many times do I have to say that I don't like him? He's too weird!" She replied annoyedly.

"You really better not, Sakura-chan, or I will kill him!" Tobirama said seriously, glaring at Hashirama for teasing her.

Her two brothers, though they usually get along very well, are polar opposites. Hashirama was the one who would always joke with her and was more laid back, while Tobirama was more strict and serious, just like their father.

Despite Tobirama always defending her whenever Hashirama would poke fun of her, Hashirama was still her favorite brother because of his easy-going nature, though he would never let Tobirama know about it, as to not hurt his feelings, since he was still quite sensitive despite his stoicism. Either way, both of them annoyed her from time to time.

The next day, she was stuck with many chores and errands, so she was not able to wander around the forest, much to her dismay.

When she finally found the time to visit the forest again that week, she left as quickly as she could, and to her disappointment, the boy was not there. She waited for about an hour while sitting on a tree branch until she decided to sit next to the river instead and just observed the flow of water.

"Eh, kid? What are you doing here? Don't you have anyone with you?" She heard a young male voice behind her. When she looked around, her eyes widened when she saw exactly who she was looking for. She didn't think he would arrive anymore, and yet, here he was, standing next to her.

She finally got to see him closely. Her heart suddenly started to beat so quickly and her cheeks seemed as if it could burn the entire forest just by how hot it felt.

She knew he was cute, but seeing him intimately proved that he was actually very handsome. Those dark eyes reminded her of her eldest brother's eyes, but it was still different. His was just much darker, almost as if she was looking into the void, but it was, nonetheless, mesmerizing as the shape of his eyes complemented the contours of his face.

"Uh-,"

"Are you okay? You suddenly look red. Could the sun be too much for you?"

He tried to place his palm on her forehead, but before he could touch her, she crawled away from her. He just blinked at her from confusion.

"I mean no harm." He said, before sitting on the ground next to her.

"I- I know. I was just shocked to see you."

"Oh. I visit this river frequently. Almost every day, in fact. I just thought it was the most calming river. This place is sort of far from my village, but I like this spot the best, so my father could never find me. Besides, I run quite fast, so I can easily go back to my village. What about you?"

"Well. I, too, live far away from here, but I do come to this place often as well."

"My name is Madara." He said, offering to shake hands with her.

"Madara." She whispered to herself, thinking about how the name suits him, while trying not to smile. "I'm Sakura." She shook his hand quickly, feeling nervous to touch his hand.

"Fits you, but is it real?"

"My name?"

"No, your hair."

"Of course, it is real! If there was a way I could change the color of my hair, I would choose either black or silver, just like my brothers!" She replied, finally gaining confidence to have a conversation with him.

"Why?"

"Even in my clan, it is bizarre to have a hair like mine. Some don't think I'm a real—,"

"I would rather not know what clan you are from, Sakura."

He explained to her then why they should never reveal which clans they are from, in fear that they could be enemies. Since most clans are still at war. Especially his clan who gained many enemies over the decades.

He took several stones from the ground and started throwing them to the other side of the river, and to his embarrassment, it only landed in the middle of the river, making her laugh.

"I could probably do that better than you."

"Oh yeah? Do it then!"

They made a bet, whoever gets to throw the rock the furthest, would dare the loser to do the most revolting tasks, such as eating a bug, as Sakura first suggested, and much to Madara's annoyance, she was winning their bet.

"I like how unusual you look from all the girls I've seen, though." He pointed out during their game, which surprised him, as he was not one to show appreciation towards others' appearances.

Her eyes lit up, but then she looked away. She could feel her cheeks burning again from the sudden compliment.

They continued to play different games together for a couple of hours that day, daring each other to do the silliest things whoever loses. And before they parted ways, they promised to see each other again as Madara enjoyed her company, when he usually would rather be alone when he would wander around the forest.

On her way back to her village, she thought about how thrilled she was that she finally got to know his name and even became his friend.

She thought about how they will be seeing each other again, and replayed every moment they've had together in her head. She was definitely looking forward to their next meetup.

And during her training that night, her brothers, obviously noticed her unusual glee, making Tobirama suspicious, wondering whether their neighbor still tried to talk to his younger sister despite warning him to stay away from her that morning, but she tried to convince him that she hadn't even seen him for weeks and lied about befriending a new girl her age from the infirmary to ease his worries.

She felt bad that her admirer had to confront Tobirama without her that day, and she hadn't even seen him for a while.

Hashirama said that he tried stopping Tobirama, but he was persistent and promised to never tease Sakura with Lee-san again.

The next day, she went to the river again to meet up with her new friend, Madara, whom she caught was fishing. She sat next to him, this time, not feeling nervous anymore to approach him first.

"So you know how to fish?"

"Easy task." He replied.

"Eating bugs weren't enough?" She joked.

"Don't remind me of that!"

She giggled at how hysterical and disgusted he looked, which annoyed him but he couldn't help but admire her either way.

He already found her pretty the first time they met, but every time he saw her laugh or smile, he couldn't help but stare at her. He liked the color of her eyes, especially when she looked happy, as it seemed to brighten more than it already was. It reminded him of the river just beneath them. He just wanted to keep looking at it as much as he could as he felt a sense of calmness. Everyone in his clan had dark eyes like him; you could barely distinguish their irises from their pupils. In his 15 years of existence, he found pride in that, as he thought it made his clan look far more intimidating, but seeing someone with vivid green eyes for the first time, changed his perspective.

He liked those green, viridian eyes of hers. He wanted to see it more often.

"What?" She asked.

"What?" He asked back.

She blushed.

"You're staring at me."

He peered back to the river again. He felt his cheeks reddening from being caught.

"No, I wasn't!" He said nervously.

She looked away from him, feeling equally embarrassed. The strong wind took over the awkward silence between them, but then, she remembered what just happened that morning, making her hug her knees then pout. Madara stole another glance from her and caught the change in her disposition.

"Are you okay? You can tell me anything."

"My brother scolded me earlier."

"Why? What happened?"

She absolutely hated it when she was not on good terms with any of her brothers, and usually, it was Tobirama.

"He caught me almost sneaking out of the village, so I had an argument with him and it was just stupid. He embarrassed me in front of strangers. I made an excuse and told him that I was playing with a shuriken toy and it accidentally went outside of the main gate. He didn't believe me, though. Good thing my eldest brother believed me, so I was still able to escape when my father called them for their training."

"Whoa. So your brothers are ninjas, too?"

"Yes."

"And I'm guessing you're not?"

"Well, no. My father doesn't believe women should be fighting during wars. And he's the clan leader, so that's basically one of the rules."

"That's stupid. People in my clan all get trained to fight, though, very few women wanted to join the actual war."

"Still, that's really cool that they had a choice! Mine doesn't! I want to become a strong ninja like my brothers, and I'm glad they teach me how to fight at night. The three of us would sneak out of the house when our parents would be fast asleep and they would take me to the training ground to teach me something new for a couple of hours."

"Really? You have to show me your skills!"

"Are you a ninja, too?"

"Of course! In fact, I am becoming stronger than most of the adults in my clan. I will be the clan leader someday, as I'm the eldest of my brothers and we're the main branch."

"Really? You're like my eldest brother, then! And wow, you have brothers, too?"

His demeanor changed.

"I had five, but only the three of us survived since the last war. I failed to protect them." He replied nonchalantly, though she could tell he was getting upset.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." She apologized sincerely. "I had two brothers before me, too. They were a lot younger than me, but since they were boys, my father still forced them to train at such a young age, and they both died immediately during the war they were forced to join. My father didn't even seem to care. Said that it was part of their fate to die as ninjas." She added, being able to relate to losing younger brothers. "So, even if I wasn't allowed to join the wars, my elder brothers still wanted me to be strong for self-defense, just in case our village gets infiltrated."

She caught Madara balling up his fists, which frightened her.

"I hate this. I hate wars. When I become the clan leader, I will make a change. I will end the wars."

She blinked at him.

"And you know what, Sakura? I will protect you, too. Even if we're from different clans. I promise that!"