Hiya, all! Thank you so so much for commenting last chapter, you guys are just the best, you have no idea the amount of love I have for you. Really, thanks for all the support.
Enjoy this one :)
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Sakura held her breath as a large puff of smoke covered most of the clearing. For a second, the immensity of it made her heart skip a beat and she unconsciously stepped closer to Kakashi until the back of her shoulder met his chest.
Low growling came from the chakra smoke before it slowly began to clear out.
In front of them stood a pack of nine wolves, different in sizes and colour. Some of them were crouched low, hackles raised and warning in their growls. Some stood eerily quiet, while two of them stood magnanimously tall and still.
All of them, however, were slowly beginning to look surprised.
"Sengen-sama…" the tiniest of the wolves whispered, her voice awed and childish. She was white and dainty, mostly resembling a medium sized dog, and she was standing on top of the largest wolf's head.
The dark grey giant-wolf, standing much taller than Kakashi even while seated, immediately bowed his head to the ground at the surprised murmur of the tiny wolf.
"Sakuya-hime," his deep voice resounded through the clearing.
Almost as one the pack began to get agitated and Sakura was feeling dread pull in her stomach. What the fuck was happening?
The two wolves that had stood still stepped forwards, breaking formation with the pack and making the others stop and observe. One of them was completely white, its right eye foggy with blindness from three long scars that scratched from its ear to its muzzle, pulling at the skin there to end at its fang. Its other eye was so blue it looked like it was shining with chakra. It stood as high as Kakashi's waist.
The other wolf was smaller but not by much, its pelt tanned with reddish streaks and its eyes a golden yellow. It stopped while the other wolf continued slowly making its way towards Sakura and Kakashi.
Sakura released the breath she'd been holding shakily and tensed further when Kakashi slightly nudged her forward.
The wolf smelled the air.
"You're not Sakuya-hime," he said simply, his voice deep and low.
Sakura's mind blanked. She knew she should say something but absolutely nothing came out of her mouth for the next beat. This was not what she was expecting from the Hatake Wolves.
"I'm Hotaka, I'm the alpha of this pack," he offered while Sakura gaped at him like an idiot, his one good eye not leaving her. "Are you worthy?" His voice had deepened at that question, Sakura's gut tightened in response. This was important.
Was she worthy?
She was a shinobi. A kunoichi. She'd fought for her village, killed for it. When it came to Konoha, she was worthy of being a jounin, an ANBU captain and teacher. She was capable and loyal.
But as a person. Was she worthy?
With all the blood on her hands, all of the lies she had told targets, the different cloaks and masks Inner offered her to wear… Was she worthy? She truly didn't know. Sakura had always done what she thought was right. She was fighting against rules and tradition to ensure her village would be kinder in the future, better for the people who would carry on their Will of Fire. In the end, she was trying her best and that had to count for something.
She answered.
"I'm Sakura."
The wolf smiled.
The reddish tanned wolf took half a step forward then and cocked its head to the side.
"Pup…?" She asked uncertainly, looking straight at Kakashi. Sakura was immediately put at ease by her melodic voice. It sounded regal to her ears, but something about it was inherently soothing.
"Yo," Kakashi said, "Kimi-obasan. Long time no see."
Hotaka's eye turned to him then and widened in recognition before he narrowed it at the man standing slightly behind her.
"Sakura isn't a Hatake, Kakashi." There was a certain type of growl to his words but Sakura didn't feel threatened anymore. It felt like she had passed some kind of test. "Have you given our contract away?"
"The Hatake line will die with me, Taka-ojisan," Kakashi replied, his voice uncharacteristically serious. "I chose Sakura to carry on their Will of Fire. She's worthy of it, as you've seen for yourself."
And then the focus was completely back on her. Sakura blushed slightly at the intensity behind their gazes. She had absolutely no idea how to go on so she took a deep calming breath and looked at Hotaka.
"Why would they call me Sengen-sama?" Sakura asked. "Sakuya-hime?"
Kimi chuckled.
"It's easy to forget how the shinobi of the Leaf don't hold the same beliefs we do." She looked at Sakura and her yellow eyes were warm even if her voice was cool. "Konohana-Sakuya-hime, or Sengen-sama, is the goddess daughter of Oyamatsumi, the kami-sama of the mountain that we protect."
Konohana-Sakuya-hime. Princess of the blossoming cherry tree. She could maybe see why they would mistake Sakura for her. And how fitting, really, that they served a goddess whose name resembled her so strongly. This felt like nothing else but Fate.
With her resolve strengthened, Sakura bowed in a way she hadn't done since Tsunade had prohibited her from doing so, almost three years ago.
"Yoroshiku-onegaishimasu."
Please take care of me.
Hotaka stepped closer to her until she could feel his breath ruffling the hair on top of her braid. Sakura held the bow so tensely she was afraid her spine would just break in half until she felt something warm and wet on the side of her face.
He had licked her.
Sakura gasped as Hotaka laughed boisterously, a few of the others behind him following while Kimi rolled her pretty eyes.
"Don't be so uptight, pup," he said before giving a signal to the others with a tilt of his head. "Everyone, come meet Sakura-hime, our new master."
"I-I'm not!" Sakura gasped as all nine wolves came forward to lick whatever body parts they could and sniff her in some very uncomfortable places. "I'm not a princess!" she sputtered.
Two identical wolves chattered over each other's voices as they introduced themselves as Hideki and Misaki. They were about a head taller than Hotaka, standing on equal height to Kakashi's shoulder and Sakura's eyebrows. Their tanned back had black hair darkening their ears but their paws, belly and muzzle were white. As soon as they thoroughly inspected Sakura, they moved on to Kakashi, nipping at his clothes until he conceded and went to play with them.
"How did you two manage to get even more hyper?" She heard him mutter over the sound of another wolf sniffing at her face.
She stood stock still as the giant grey-black wolf familiarised himself with her, the small white one not leaving its head to do the same while she yipped excitedly.
"I'm Chika!" She exclaimed. "It's so nice to meet you, Sakura-hime! Your hair is just the prettiest! Oh! This is Tamo-chan!
"Sakura-hime, it's an honour," the giant wolf said while stepping back. "I'm Tamotsu."
"Right, move, move, let me smell her already, goddamn it." An old man's voice came from one of the smaller wolves. His pelt was almost black apart from his muzzle which was completely white. The most interesting thing about him, however, was that there were bloodied bandages covering both of his eyes. It was frayed at the edges and torn in some places like he'd been wearing it for decades. He stepped closer to her with a slight limp.
"Anno…" Sakura tried to smile at him but immediately felt like smacking her hand on her forehead from how stupid that was. She averted her eyes to where Kakashi was getting refamiliarised with the wolves that had already greeted her while he sniffed at her.
"Hmhm! You smell like the forest, good, none of that fruity bullshit." He licked her on her wrist which was the only thing he could reach as he only came up to her hips. "Sweat, new, reeks of chakra. Good strong chakra, pure, precise. Sakumo-chan's shirt, for sure. Also the pup's. What the fuck are ye doing with them old shirts, girlie? Sakura-hime, I meant."
"I actually prefer girlie than Sakura-hime, to be honest." Sakura huffed a small laugh. The wolf snorted and kept talking, almost to himself.
"Mated yesterday… No pups in her belly. Yet. An orange 'fer food. Blood. Poison?" Sakura coughed loudly and hoped to everything she knew that Kakashi was being kept too busy so that he didn't hear what the old wolf was saying. "Call me Kaoru. Why were you poisoned inside the village walls?"
"I wasn't," Sakura rushed to say, glad that he had no interest in further commenting on her sex life. "I teach iryo-ninjutsu for ANBU operatives. Today I was showing them how to extract poison and used a paralysing toxin on myself to demonstrate."
"A healer!" Chika exclaimed. She was jumping around Tamotsu's head while he laid down on the floor between her and Kakashi, who was busy playing with Hideki and Misaki.
"I'm Yukari, Sakura-hime. Did you say paralysing toxin?" Another wolf had stepped forward. She was smaller than Kaoru even but not quite as small as Chika, her voice was so quiet Sakura almost hadn't heard her. She was completely black with many silvery scars marking her body where fur didn't quite grow back. Her fangs were too big for her mouth, making her look like she was always frothing and snarling but there was no hostility in her almost neon green eyes.
"Yes," Sakura answered. "Suxamethonium. Can you smell it?"
"No," the she-wolf answered, slight amusement to her words. "My nose isn't quite as formidable as Kaoru-sama's. I can, however, replicate it in my bite if you feed it to me sometimes. It's always good to increase my arsenal."
"Oh," Sakura blinked at her. "That's really useful. I have full access to the laboratories at Konoha General. I'll see what I can get you."
Sakura was sure the gnarled wolf smiled at her before trotting off. She huffed a laugh when she noticed Hideki—or was it Misaki? She couldn't tell yet—finally get the upper hand on Kakashi and knock him to the ground. He didn't stay there long, merely grappled with the wolf playfully before flipping over and landing on a crouch that looked almost animal-like.
"Sakura-hime," Hotaka approached her again. "This is my mate, Kimi." The regal wolf from before bowed her head in greeting. "And this is our youngest son, Kaede."
The last wolf stepped forward between his parents. While his mother only held reddish accents to her pelt, his was completely red. On some parts it was blood red, darkening so much around his ears, tails and paws that it almost faded into black. The other parts of him were a red so vibrant, it almost looked like fire. He looked like the Kyuubi in wolf form.
He was taller than his dad but still looked young. While she didn't know much about wolves, she figured he'd grow to be about Hideki and Misaki's height by how his paws looked to be slightly big for his body. His eyes were the same chakra-infused blue of his father's but there were streaks of gold in them that made him look almost ethereal.
He watched her quietly as Hotaka continued speaking.
"He's only five months old but he's the only one from our litter to express the mark of a leader, and at such young age too." Hotaka seemed like a goofy, proud father then and it was endearing as much as it was jarring what with his fearsome appearance. "He'll lead this pack soon, and you are his as much as he is yours. Just like I was with Sakumo."
Those words hit Sakura hard, taking her breath away with them.
Kaede stepped forward, his eyes not leaving Sakura's for a moment as he stood before her. She could see the same swirl of emotions she was feeling reflected in them and in that moment, she knew what to do.
Sakura lowered her forehead to bump into his and they both exhaled. Hotaka was right. She was his and he was hers. At that moment, it felt like their very soul was connected.
Holy shit, Inner echoed the only thought going through her mind and Kaede instantly raised alarmed eyes at her.
"Sakura-hime, was that you?" His voice was just as deep as a boy with her age's would be but surprise had painted a growly quality to it.
Sakura's eyes widened. Could he hear her?
The slight nod he gave her made her gasp. Instantly, she tried to convey that he shouldn't talk about Inner, shouldn't voice something that she wasn't sure she wanted to deal with. Ever. She was quite happy coexisting with Inner without asking too many questions.
"You two will be able to hear each other thoughts at will," Kimi explained. "It's something the whole pack can do, but since your bond is the closest, it will come more naturally than with the rest of the pack."
Kaede buttheaded her on the stomach gently and Sakura couldn't stop a smile from stretching her lips. She placed both hands on his head and scratched him behind his ears. Kaede huffed at her and it was like she could feel how happy that made him. Sakura giggled.
"Since you're not a Hatake, we're going to have a lot to teach you, Sakura-hime." Hotaka sat next to her feet, his eye trained on where Kakashi was entertaining Hideki and Misaki. "I assume the pup told you we used to live in these woods?"
"He did," Sakura replied, her eyes on Kakashi. He looked so carefree. "If you want to continue living here, I'm sure the deal with the Nara is still up. If not, I'll talk to them."
"No," Hotaka said simply. "We have grown accustomed to living in Oyamatsumi Mountain. We'll stay with you for training and come whenever you activate the seal, for whatever reason you call upon us. But we'll live in the mountains."
Sakura raised an eyebrow at him. That was oddly assertive for someone that had called her master, but since she wasn't actually looking to be anyone's master, she let it slide. They must have their reasons.
Kimi huffed when Misaki—Hideki?—bit too roughly on Kakashi's sleeve, almost tearing into it. She made her way over to them in a quick trot and growled something Sakura couldn't hear, then the two identical wolves moved to play by themselves, tails between their legs.
Sakura watched with a smile as Kakashi petted Kimi on the head before he sat down. Kimi then sat next to him and snuggled her head against his chest.
"He called you uncle and aunt," Sakura said, a question to her tone as Kakashi kept talking quietly to Kimi.
"Ah, yes," Hotaka laughed. "Sakumo used to leave us with the pup whenever he had to go on a mission. His first word was Taka! Poor Sakumo tried to pretend he'd said papa but we all knew." He laughed again, nostalgia written all over his tone of voice. "We raised the boy together and when he signed the contract with his mother's dogs, we helped him train them."
So Kakashi's pack used to be his mother's summons. She didn't know why that information stuck with her. She couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for Kakashi's dad to have raised him by himself, enough so that he'd asked his pack for help. Sakura frowned and didn't say anything else.
"Don't feel sad, Hime-chan." Hotaka gave her a lopsided wolf smile and in Sakura's mind, that was how Hatake Sakumo looked. "How about we talk about your training now?"
"What kind of training?" Sakura asked, glad for the change of topic. Kaede huffed excitedly.
"We're going to teach you how to work with the pack!" He licked her on the face, making Sakura scrunch up her nose, and then walked a few circles around her and Hotaka.
"A Hatake has enhanced senses, they're born with them. Smell is the most prominent one, we use it for almost everything." Hotaka gestured with his head at her. "I bet you can train your nose to get better with time, Hime-chan. Medic-nin are crafty like that."
Sakura tilted her head to the side. Technically, she enhanced her muscles with chakra so she could be faster and stronger, all ninja did. Could she do the same with finer things like her eyesight and smell? With enough control… Maybe.
"So, you'll train me to have a better sense of smell?" Sakura asked.
"Briefly." Hotaka's ears perked when he heard Kimi laugh in the distance but he didn't turn away from Sakura. "What's more important now is that you learn how to run with the pack. We have to learn each other's strengths and weaknesses and how we operate in battle. I'll teach you the commands this pack is used to, the ones Sakumo created, and if you want to change anything, we'll learn together."
"I'll be your primary wolf, Hime-sama!" Kaede huffed, his rear wiggling a bit in his excitement. "We'll both be training together to become Alphas!"
Sakura couldn't help the small smile that came to her lips, his enthusiasm was so contagious. It made sense that they would be trained together like that since Kaede would take over the pack before Sakura was dead… if everything turned out okay.
"Yo!" Hotaka set on a slight trot towards where Kakashi and Kimi were talking quietly. "Are you staying with us for training, pup?"
Sakura followed behind him with Kaede running excited circles around her. Kakashi glanced at her briefly before focusing on Hotaka.
"I have a mission tonight, actually," he replied. "I just wanted to make sure everything was okay before leaving. Sorry I can't stay longer, I'm already half an hour late for debriefing."
Sakura rolled her eyes. It was nice to see some things never changed.
"ANBU?" She asked, without really meaning to. She wanted to know, of course, but she really didn't know where they stood. Were they close enough to have chats about missions? She worried about him—she couldn't really not worry—but despite their history, they didn't have a lot of interaction.
He gave you his family's ancestral summoning scrolls, Inner reminded her on the back of her mind.
Well, yeah. Maybe they were past things like skirting around social norms.
"Yes," Kakashi replied before she could torture herself any longer with trying to figure out what she could and couldn't do.
Sakura frowned. ANBU missions rarely started at night unless they were assassinations somewhere inside Fire Country or emergency situations. Since he wasn't exactly in a hurry to get up, she guessed the former.
"Don't worry too much." Kakashi was looking at her with his eye creased in a hidden smile. "Tenzo is coming with me on this one. It's a simple hit-skip."
"I didn't know Tenzo-taichou was leaving Konoha today!" Sakura fought the urge to cross her arms. Stupid ninja that insisted on keeping people at arm's length sometimes. "We have a team training session tomorrow!"
"I'm sure we'll make it back before sunrise, Sakura," Kakashi assured her.
Sakura scoffed.
"Knowing you, some S-Rank will drop by before you can finish the mission and you'll both need to be rescued." Sakura joked, making Hotaka and Kimi laugh. Kimi got up from her perch on Kakashi's lap and stood next to Hotaka. Kakashi chuckled lightly.
"Who will sign the contract with you?" He asked and before he was even done speaking, Kaede was already jumping from side to side.
"I will!" He quickly went to stand in front of the large scroll next to Kakashi and bit his right paw until it bled. Being extremely careful about it, Kaede pressed his large paw beside her name. It was done.
There was a rush of chakra through the clearing and as one, the wolves howled. Sakura got the ridiculous feeling deep in her belly that if she opened her mouth, she'd start howling too but she brushed it away while Inner laughed at her.
Kakashi carefully rolled up the scroll and sealed it inside the smaller one.
"I can take this to your house if you want," he offered while getting up.
"Oh, no," Sakura smiled at him. "It's okay, I don't want to make you even more late."
"I don't mind." Kakashi crinkled his eye and Sakura felt instantly annoyed that he would just keep people waiting like that. Many times that had been her on the other side. But, oh well, he was doing her a favour.
"Go on then, pup," she said.
Kakashi pocketed the scroll and gave them a friendly eye crinkle.
"I'll be going then." He formed a sign. "Ja ne."
And shunshined away with a puff of smoke. Sakura coughed slightly and waved her hands to disperse some of the chakra-heavy smoke.
"Bastard," she said grudgingly. "Didn't even stay long enough so I could thank him."
Hotaka huffed.
"The pup was always a no nonsense child." He looked at Sakura and shot her a wolf-smile. "Used to make grown shinobi cry."
Sakura couldn't picture it, but the thought still made her laugh slightly.
"Let's move on to your training, Sakura-hime," Kimi interrupted, her cool eyes narrowed slightly. "Are you ready?"
"I'm—what?!" Sakura didn't get to finish her sentence before Kimi was lounging at her, a snarl on her mouth. Sakura dodged, almost tripping over Kaede in the process.
"Not fair!" Kaede protested, pulling on her pant leg with his teeth as they both dodged his mother's attack again. "You didn't say go!"
Hotaka interrupted Kimi's next attempt, coming to stand between the three of them. He stood impossibly tall even when he wasn't the biggest of the pack. The others had slowly come to stand behind Kimi, their hackles raised, Hideki was even growling. Sakura felt her heart speed up.
"It's the two of you against us. If you're still standing by sundown, you win. If you're not…" Hotaka's one blue eye, filled with chakra, bore into Sakura's and she fought a shiver. "We eat you."
Sakura gaped at him. He couldn't be serious. They were just having a cute moment! Why the fuck would he… he wouldn't! Would he?
Sakura-hime, Kaede spoke inside her head, when they give the signal, you run as fast as you can towards the riverside. Don't hesitate.
Sakura took a deep breath to calm her nerves. Inner wrapped her in the cloak and mask used for battle and helped centre her mind. She had to go all out. Sakura closed her eyes and when they opened again, she let her Killing Intent out.
Chika immediately whimpered from her place on Tamotsu's head. Hideki growled louder as Misaki scratched the ground with her paws. Something flashed on Hotaka's eyes and the others gave her fierce wolf-smiles… or maybe they were snarling at her, she couldn't tell.
"Go!"
Sakura didn't waste any time before doing as Kaede told her.
She had long ago stopped wearing Lee's weights to train but she had gotten to a point where they weren't needed anymore. She could keep up with Lee now, even though she had never managed to go faster than him.
Sakura had developed her speed by training alone and then worked to get the precise amount of chakra she'd need for going faster without running out of chakra. By circling it faster through her pathways, she needed only to add the slightest amount of it to her legs to make her too fast to be even seen.
The only problem was that her eyes couldn't quite keep up with her speed. So while she used this technique often to escape or during short bouts in battle, it wasn't something she relied on.
What Hotaka said… Maybe I can enhance my eyes with chakra…
Kaede's warning growl made her snap out of it.
Sakura had been hurtling through the trees at top speed, using her chakra to guide her while mostly keeping her eyes shut to avoid getting sick. It took her a moment to realise Kaede was running beside her.
He must be insanely fast.
Sakura barely dodged a stray bird. Kaede's laugh was so tiny she figured she heard it just inside her head. They weren't that far away from the river now.
I'm the fastest of the pack, remember? You're really fast too, it's not common for a human to be able to keep up with me, Kaede said, the smallest of traces of gloating in his voice, Your idea to train your eyes might be a good one. I'll work with you in the future! Right now, you need to get to the river, the water will help us mask our scents a bit but Kaoru-sama will catch up to us even when we cross so we're going to have to have a game plan for when they do.
Sakura thought over many scenarios while they hurtled closer to the river. Kaede always at her right.
Kage-bunshin, she thought, if I give it my own clothes, that might buy us some time. Do you think they'd split up?
If they do, my dad will lead a group and Kaoru-sama the other, Kaede answered.
With a plan beginning to form, Sakura created a clone with the smallest amount of chakra she could spare and then took all of her extra shirts to exchange with it. It would have to be enough. When they reached the river, Sakura immediately dunked beneath the surface while her clone crossed it over the water. When they reached the other side, Kaede and Sakura, both dripping wet, went left while the clone went right.
Her clone was placing exploding tags as she went, creating tiny diversions and traps. Genjutsu wouldn't help her because the wolves would be able to see through it, so she focused on trying to lead them as far away as possible.
Kaede was talking nonstop inside her head as they ran, slightly slower now that they were trying to keep from being noticed. He went over everyone's strengths and weaknesses, trying to give her an idea of what they were going to be dealing with. Sakura gave him a brief overview of her own skills in return.
Hotaka was the strategist, he used lightning based chakra and while he couldn't keep up with Kaede in speed, he was still very fast. Kimi was his second in command, and she preferred fire based chakra attacks. Hotaka's vision was obviously impaired and his nose wasn't the best amongst the pack while Kimi had an old wound on her back.
Tamotsu was the slowest but he could eat her whole. Basically.
Chika was an expert in covert ops because she could pass as a stray dog and was very good with genjutsu. She almost never left Tamotsu's head.
Kaoru was blind but his nose was the absolute best. He wouldn't be exactly fooled by their diversion technique, the only reason Kaede thought it would work was because Hotaka was thorough and wouldn't leave anything to chance. Kaoru was the slowest both because of his stature and the never completely healed wound on his leg.
Hideki and Misaki were twins, and they worked better together. Their combo attacks were completely melee focused, but incapacitate one and the other ceased to be an issue.
Yukari's bite was poisonous and, if she wanted to fight for real, she could even create a poisonous mist. Her very flesh was poisonous, so Kaede wouldn't be able to go against her, but her stamina wasn't the best, he figured Sakura could outrun her and knock her out before she became a problem.
Sakura dodged just before Hideki and Misaki reached her, two blurs as they attacked in a formation similar to Kiba and Akamaru's dual beast technique. The sound of snarling was overwhelming in the clearing and Sakura felt her own Killing Intent leak heavier in response.
Hideki and Misaki were both engaging her as Kaoru and Yukari kept Kaede busy. It was a smart strategy since Kaede couldn't really fight Yukari. Sakura had to trade opponents with him.
The next time Hideki lunged for her, Sakura stepped forward and grabbed him by the sides of his neck. Using her chakra enhanced strength, Sakura turned on the spot and threw him at Kaoru. The two wolves stumbled on the forest floor and Sakura used that moment to engage Yukari herself.
As she'd predicted, Misaki followed her brother into battle.
"Yukari-san, I'm sorry," Sakura told the black wolf. Yukari paused in confusion before yelping as Sakura knocked her on the back of her head. She had moved too fast for the wolf to react.
One down… seven more to go.
Sakura checked that Kaede was holding his own against the twins and was impressed to see he was still standing. She moved quicker than ever to knock Kaoru on his head too, careful to not unnecessarily hurt the old wolf. Even if they did say they would eat her if she lost.
She didn't want to kill any of them.
Sakura hurled herself without a care into the fray, kicking and punching with slightly chakra infused punches at the twins while keeping her back to Kaede. She didn't want to kill them with a punch but she felt their bones breaking beneath her hands.
Kaede clamped his jaw on Misaki's hind leg and Hideki immediately threw himself at the younger wolf. Only Sakura was much faster. Before he could make any contact, Sakura met him with a kick that sent him hurtling through a few trees before falling to the floor. He didn't get up.
Misaki's whines and yelps were interrupted by Sakura's fist coming on top of her head.
Kaede let her go when Misaki fell to the floor and turned to look at Sakura, blood dripping from between his teeth. His mouth was still poised in a snarl and the small growl coming from him made something tighten on Sakura's stomach. For a second there, the bloodlust coming from the wolf cub and the delighted shine to his gold streaked eyes made her want to growl.
"We make a wonderful team, Sakura-hime."
Sakura laughed instead.
"We're not done yet, kiddo." Sakura smirked at him and was rewarded with a deep growl. "Let's hunt some wolves."
Kaede was leading them towards the scent of the pack but it wasn't really necessary since there were many explosions coming from where her clone had led the rest of them. Sakura started formulating another plan.
What's your chakra affinity?
Lightning and fire, Kaede answered.
Sakura almost lost her footing. It was extremely rare to have two chakra affinities and her partner had lightning and fire while she had earth and water. Between the two of them, they had almost all five of them. Not that would make much of a difference now since she had largely ignored her chakra affinities while training.
At first, she just didn't have the chakra reserves to safely use ninjutsu in battle and later when she did, she had already developed enough skills to put her in jounin level without messing with nature chakra. Her interests had gone the complete opposite direction while training with Tsunade and then in ANBU but now… maybe she could rethink that.
You're going to have to fight your dad, I suck against lightning techniques, she told Kaede.
He huffed a small laugh from her right.
I can't take him and anyone else, you'll be on your own against the others… And I won't last long.
Sakura deliberated. Could she take on the others? Chika wouldn't know she was a genjutsu type so she might lead with a technique that Sakura could use to her advantage but the others… She would have to end Tamotsu first, a chakra pumped fist to his hind legs before he could eat her whole.
Kimi was the unknown variable.
A bad back didn't say much about her skill in combat and she must be Hotaka's second in command for a reason, right?
Before Sakura could consider any further plan of actions, they entered the clearing that her clone was fighting against the whole pack. Hotaka had his teeth sunk on one leg while Kimi held the other and Tamotsu…
Tamotsu came up from behind and cut her in half with a single bite.
Sakura gasped as the clone's experiences came back to her and from the gruesome scene in front of her. The clone's legs disappeared with a pop and the wolves turned to look at her and Kaede.
Stay back!
Sakura jumped down on the clearing and let her leg drop to the floor filled with chakra. The wolves dispersed, their eyes widened in surprise as they jumped away from the crater on the ground and the cherry blossoms scattered around the clearing. Kaede immediately engaged his father and Sakura turned towards Tamotsu.
Before she could move much, she felt a lightweight chakra settle on her senses, slithering over the forest floor so thinly, she couldn't have felt it if she wasn't expecting it. Sakura was impressed. This level of finesse for a genjutsu was… extraordinary. There weren't any hallucinations but her senses were just slightly skewed to the left.
The genjutsu was carefully crafted so that she would think her target was about five centimetres to the left while it was directly in front of her.
It was genius. The same rules applied to when Tsunade had taught her how to disguise her chakra to fool the elite. If the difference was too big, it would be noticeable. But changing something just slightly… Something as stupid as a rock on the ground could be a death sentence.
Sakura purposefully tripped on her way to Tamotsu and Kimi immediately stepped up, her reddish fur barely a streak as she moved.
"Onibi no Okami!" Kimi growled.
Sakura had been ready to stop a direct hit from her, but then about ten small balls of fire surrounded her. With not enough time to redirect herself, Sakura coated her skin with chakra so that the burns wouldn't be too extensive.
The fire orbs were about thirty centimetres at best but as soon as they surrounded and touched her, the pain was almost enough to make Sakura blackout. Even with the extra layer of chakra protecting her.
It didn't burn like normal fire. It consumed her and overwhelmed her senses and it took Sakura a while to realise they were sucking her dry of chakra.
A bit like the kikaichu bugs, they were eating her alive.
Sakura couldn't contain a strangled yell. Her throat hurt as she forced her eyes to open and her body to stay upright. Panting with effort, Sakura fell to one knee and forced a thicker layer of chakra to protect her.
It wasn't working like it did with the Aburame. For some reason, the little balls of hell were consuming her chakra with increasing speed and efficiency. Sakura felt tears forming in her eyes as she choked on a sob. It fucking hurt.
"Sakura-hime!" Kaede yelled from across the clearing.
He was fighting one on one with his father and she could see Tamotsu approaching him. Kimi stood before her, eyes as cold as ever, completely unmoved.
"Pay attention to your own fight!" Hotaka snapped, his lips forming a snarl. "Raiju!"
What little breath was still in Sakura's lungs escaped in a gasp as a gigantic wolf appeared between Hotaka and Kaede. It was made of pure lightning and it stood even taller than Tamotsu. The air around them was heavy with electricity.
Sakura clumsily dodged Kimi's attack, using her tanto to parry the wolf's claws. Against all possibilities, Kaede was fighting back against the god-like lightning wolf. He was using a smaller version of lightning made wolves, and three of them took on the Raiju's attacks. When one was disposed of, Kaede created more.
Sakura could barely think straight.
It had been such a long time since she felt that kind of desperation. Kimi was mostly toying with her at this point, her attacks merely illustrating her superiority as Sakura stumbled on her own feet. Sakura's chakra levels were getting dangerously low, and the sheer pain behind the fireballs' attacks was enough to make her vision blur.
It was with a sudden moment of clarity that Sakura realised she wasn't going to win this fight.
She could see Tamotsu closing in behind Kaede as the young wolf fought with everything he had against his father's attack. What the giant wolf had done with her clone was still fresh in her mind and a bout of panic made her centre herself.
She didn't want to die in that clearing. She didn't want to fucking lose, goddamn it, but most of all, she didn't want Kaede to be hurt because of her.
"Kaede!" Her desperate scream echoed around the clearing, ringing higher than the lightning of the Raiju, higher than the sound of Kimi's claws digging in her back as she moved.
With a burst of chakra, Sakura ran faster than ever, barely making it across to where Kaede was standing with his back to Tamotsu. Sakura threw her body with everything she had right into Tamotsu's bite. Her arms weren't big enough to find purchase around his neck to throw him off, but she managed to push him away so that his teeth weren't ripping through her shoulder.
Sakura fell to the forest floor, clothes in tatters and blood dripping from… everywhere. She didn't have a lot of chakra left but what was still there was subconsciously moving towards the worst of her injuries to staunch the blood flow.
"Tamotsu! What the fuck, you weren't supposed to kill the fucking girl!"
Sakura registered the discussion going on around her in the back of her mind. Really, it had been a bit stupid of her to take Hotaka's warning so seriously. The dude had practically raised Kakashi, the same Kakashi who had shown her a vision of her crush dying on a test when she was twelve. Limits were something to be laughed at for them.
She couldn't really focus on what was happening around her, though, because every ounce of her energy was going into healing herself. It took her way longer than usual, but she closed the wounds well enough so that they wouldn't open easily again.
"H-How?" Kimi asked, slowly breaking through Sakura's foggy head. The others were whining softly, forming a protective circle around her. Kaede was anxiously nudging her shoulder and licking the side of her neck while Tamotsu's gigantic muzzle supported her body where she had sprawled belly down.
"I've never seen a medic ninja work like that," Hotaka wondered.
"I was trained by Senju Tsunade, she's the best in the continent. This is actually a pretty shoddy job I did, she'd probably hit me over the head for it," she confessed to them, slightly petting the fur on Tamotsu's cheek.
"Ah, we've met Tsunade-hime," Kimi said, laughter in her voice. Sakura managed a tired one and rested further into Tamotsu.
While she rested her eyes, the others arrived at the clearing and soft conversation broke out as Sakura continued to lean on Tamotsu with Kaede's body warming her side.
She must have dozed off because when she opened her eyes again, there was a fire and the others were roasting something over it.
"Eat this, pup," Kimi's soothing voice reached her ears and Sakura blinked slowly at the reddish wolf. She was holding a charred bunny between her jaws.
It was kind of gross and definitely over the point of acceptably overdone but Sakura didn't hesitate in scarfing it down. Around her, the wolves chewed on different types of carcasses. The smell of blood was heavy in the evening air but Sakura somehow relished in it.
She was alive. She had a pack. She had stood until sundown. Ish.
"Kimi-san," Sakura said, sometime after she had filled her belly. She was leaning backwards on Tamotsu's head now, the giant having refused to leave her side, and Kaede's head rested on her hip as they all prepared to sleep. "Could you tell me about Sakuya-hime?"
"Of course, Sakura-hime." Sakura was surprised she even had the strength to blush at the teasing remark. She was ridiculously happy that the pack had chosen to sleep with her in the woods after Hotaka had so vehemently disagreed with moving back there. "Sengen-sama was chosen by the god Ninigi-no-Mikoto over her older sister Iwagawa-hime and that is why humans are said to have such short lifespans, like the sakura blossom. On the day after her marriage—"
Sakura couldn't hear much of anything, already far away. She fell asleep with the stars shining down on her, surrounded by warmth and pack and she dreamt of a girl who was fiercely loyal and fearless, a girl that was both a good judge of character and a healer. A girl whose name meant something so similar to hers. A girl who was a protector.
.
.
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OKAY, OKAY, I HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY. I'll say basically nothing important but it's gonna be gigantic, so you can totally skip this and go straight to leave me a comment about what you thought of this one, okay?
So, I was online doing some research on wolves and japanese lore and shit and then I read some samurai tales talking about how wolves were the fiercest of beasts, silent killers (literally what they said was that a wolf could hide if there was just a single reed, lol) and I immediately thought "holy shit, that fits perfectly with the abilities I had Sakura develop here, yay!" BUT THEN, not only that but wolves aren't unjust killers, they're supposed to be the greatest judges of character. Many legends portray wolves killing super bad guys while guiding the nice people who get lost home.
Then, I did a bit of connecting the wolves to the Hatake and figured out they totally already fit because while ancient tales have a bit of a hard time discerning wolves from foxes (like this is a huge parentheses but legend says that wolves protect rice fields but also that the deity that protects rice fields takes the form of foxes, so farmers all over japan seem to think that foxes and wolves are seasonal permutations of each other. During harvest time, the foxes protect the rice fields then during winter they ascend the mountains as wolves, the deity that protects the moutnains). Anyway, all of that to say that wolves protects fields which is the literal translation to Hatake. Also, Kakashi means scarecrow and Sakumo is adaptation of a word that means crop. Sooo, I went with that vibe while naming Hotaka which means tall grain. Lol.
Moving on. I thought to myself, how do I name the place where they're gonna live? I say fuck it to that notion that only slugs, snakes and toads are legendary animals and have special places like okay so maybe not everybody can be a sage and have a super special bond to their summons and have their summons live in cute places but that's just 'cause either people weren't strong enough to be worthy or smth, you know? Anyway, I thought, yes, the wolves need somewhere to stay. A mountain. Should I look for mountain gods? There should be tons. AND. YOU GUYS. OKAY, SO. I found this dude named Oyamatsumi (there are like several different types of way I've seen people write the dude's name but I chose this one) and he's the mountain god and super powerful and whatnot. Wikipedia says that he's Amaterasu and Susanoo's older brother and that he used to be called Watashi-no-Okami (Okami can mean wolf but if you separate the particles Oo= big, great and Kami = god. I know.) Then, Amaterasu's descendant Ninigi-no-Mikoto gets the opportunity to choose to marry one of Oyamatsumi's daughters Iwanaga-hime (rock princess, kinda. She ugly according to the myth) and... KO-NO-HANA-SAKUYA-HIME.
WHICH MEANS PRINCESS OF THE BLOSSOMING CHERRY TREE (roughly, japanese is hard).
So Amaterasu's descendant (which I think Kishimoto was going for Sasuke? I dunno, reading the myths a lot of the people in Naruto were named after these deities in the myths...) ofc chooses to marry Sakuya-hime, cause she pretty. But because he chose pretty over durable (her sister) humans were doomed to have short lives like the cherry blossoms. Btw, this chick Sakuya is the goddess of Mt. Fuji. Anyway, they get married and like a day later she's already preggo. So the dude accuses her of sleeping with another god and this lady just FREAKS OUT and says: "Oh yah? You think I fuck someone else? Bitch, I'm loyal. Imma set this doorless cabin on fire and if me and my unborn children (they were triplets) come out fine, then they're your children." And she did. She set the cabin on fire and proved her innocence.
Okay, crazy historical fic aside, this Sakuya-hime also called Sengen-sama by some (don't ask me why? Like, it was just there and I couldn't find it anywhere), turns out she's considered a protector, a great judge of character and. A HEALER. I SHIT YOU NOT. It's like the Japanese told myths thousands of years ago just so it could all fit perfectly into DoF.
So anyway, that's the crazy story and I'm almost out of characters lol. I'm probably gonna come in the next chapter saying a bunch of other things I /should/ have said in this AN pertaining to the actual chapter haha Oh yeah, I chose the names for the wolves because of this. Check it out and please leave a comment? Like, I think after I spent countless hours doing this, it'll take like a second to give me a sentence on what you think :) Love you all.
Hotaka: tall grain
Kimi: noble (cause I wanted to show how noble the wolves are lol, I'm obvi)
Kaede: maple (cause he's red)
Tamotsu: protector, keeper
Chika: scatter flowers
Misaki: beautiful blossom
Hideki: excellent timber trees
Yukari: beautiful pear tree
Kaoru: fragrance