Things have changed.
This village, Konoha, was running high with life. The laughter of the children running around her, the chatter of their mother accompanying them and the soft sound of the shinobis jumping from roof to roof.
Ryuu was walking down the busy streets of the village, her green eyes absorbing every information that her mind could contain. The smells of the different restaurants surrounded her, transported by the soft breeze, flowing with her long hair.
The sunlight caressed her body, like a soft embrace, warming her skin. She closed her eyes, absorbing the sensations, tattooing them in her mind. Peace, she thought, was like a genjutsu. Seconds stretching indefinitely, time passing so slowly yet always so short. Ryuu didn't fight for peace, the notion had never entered her mind, a thought that she never entertained. After killing the Senjus, they would have gone for the Hyuga, after them the… She didn't fight to survive nor to protect. Ryuu have fought because she could.
Peace was like fighting. A strange moment in time where everything stopped and accelerated. But while peace roused you to sleep, the moment where she entered a battlefield Ryuu was never more awake. Thinking of those good times made a soft smile appear in her innocent features.
Then they stopped. Her hand still in his hold, she stared at her father.
"We are here, Sasa."
His hold was strong, fearing of letting her go. His palm was calloused from crafting weapons, the callouses were a familiar sensation but at the wrong places. Hishand always exuded warmth as he just left the forge, even warmer than the sun on her skin.
After an exchange of words, Sakura let her father's hand go.
XxX
Ryuu had made a bit of an entrance to her class. Someone entering at the middle of the year was strange after all, it being a civilian was stranger. She had been stared at all the way to the classroom. Wisper and gossips jumping around her head. The pinkette didn't pay them any mind. Rumors have always surrounded her.
"… We have a new student today! Naruto sit down! This is Haruno Sakura, she will join our class from now on!"
Ryuu stared at the classroom, it was full of approximately thirty kids, all staring at her. She recognized easily the numerous clan kids around her: Yamanaka, Hyuuga, etc. The civilian born were a minority and Ryuu wondered how well they faired. Ryuu's body had been created to fight, born out generations and generations of soldiers, the Sage of sixth path's blood run through her veins. Sakura was none of that. Without her sight it had been difficult to train, her father's eyes always on her. While Ryuu's had killed, at the same age Sakura's hands have never held a weapon. Right now, she was surely the weakest kid in this classroom.
Slowly, she moved to the front row and took a sit next to the Hyuga girl, who tensed. Ryuu send her a look and the girl seemed to curl up, her face going red.
"A-Ano. I-I am…"
But Ryuu wasn't listening.
Iruka, as she learned that he was called, told them the story of the founding of Konoha. Ryuu couldn't understand what she was hearing. In this time as she has never heard of them, she though the Senju were exterminated. In her fantasy it had been their death that had permitted peace to prosper. Ryuu didn't really care about the last part, it was more Senjus being dead that had given her joy. And yet this wasn't was happened. No, the Uchiha and the Senju proclaimed peace. To be more precise, Madaradid it. Ryuu gritted her teeth.
The rat ! The traitor ! Liar !
Fury was blooming in her, chakra blocked in her stomach unable to vent via her eyes.
She found them a few second after the explosion. Even with the smoke still floating around and only one eye, Ryuu recognized the body. Body taking its last breath, he perseverated, trying to convey his last word. Ryuu was instantly at his side.
"Promise me…t-to never trust them again. Promise me to kill every last one of them. P-promise me!" his voice was erratic, urging for the promise to be made. "Brother, t-take my eye and Ryuu…"
She didn't wait for him to finish.
XxX
Konoha was full of life.
Their eyes were dark, almost unseeing. Their skin was wrinkled, blue and green veins visible. Their back was crouched as unable to support their own weight. Or maybe it was time pressing against their body? Hair as white as snow, slowly losing its colors. Ryuu stared in awe at the elders of the village. How long could a human live? The pinkette watched a woman slowly walking down the street. A cane in one hand helping her in shaky steps and a bag full of groceries in the other. How old could she be ? 50 ? maybe even 6-
"Hey you ! Don't you see that I need some help ?" yelled the lady. Her voice was strange, some sort of accent that she never heard before but shared by some other elders. Was it something gained by age ?
Sakura looked around, was she talking about her ?
"Yes I'm talking to you ! Come help me you brat !"
Slowly, Ryuu approached her.
"Why will you need my help ?" she asked, genuinely surprised. " To live as long as you do, you must be the strongest of them all."
Ryuu could recognize a shinobi when she saw one. Even with the weight of her groceries and the cane, her steps were silent. Even half blind her eyes were lucid. Callouses on her fingers and scars on her hands. Warm chakra around her person, fire nature. The lady was an Uchiha, Ryuu could recognize family as easily as shinobi.
" Didn't you parents teach you some manners ?" The Uchiha raged. Her cane hit Ryuu two times on the head, fast, while not too harsh, it wasn't gentle either. "Stop asking question and take my bag !" Without more, she gave the heavy bag to Ryuu and continued to walk.
The pinkette let a soft gasp as she fell under its weight, her head hurting. Now irritated, Ryuu felt her chakra boiling in her stomach.
"Now listen your old-"
"What are you waiting for ? It's getting dark, we need to get back to the compound."
Compound ? What the hell was she talking about ? Then it clicked. The old Uchiha was almost blind, obviously relying on her chakra to navigate herself. Did she tough Sakura was one of them ? Their chakras were almost the same after all. Red came to her cheeks. Silently she followed, chakra flowing in her arms to hold the groceries.
The Uchiha "stared" at her for a few seconds before walking again, not saying anything
"How old are you Uchiha-sama ?" The woman showed that she should be respected after all.
The cane hit her two time on her head. Again.
" Learn some manners ! You don't ask those question of a lady."
Ryuu was confused.
"You're a shinobi."
This time she could avoid the first hit, but the cane hit her hand instead.
"Doesn't mean I'm not still a woman!"
Now irritated Ryuu walked in silence.
" You got good chakra control, kiddo. Parents made your learn early ?"
Sakura did not answer and continued to walk two steps ahead. The cane hit again.
" When an elder speak to you, you answer, you hear me ? Really kids those days …. What's your name again ?"
Sure that not answering will get her kick again and letting the woman alone wasn't an option, Ryuu had to answer. Yet, Sakura couldn't bring herself to, answering will mean acknowledging that she wasn't an Uchiha after all.
"We are here, shinobi-sama."
It wasn't really truth. There were at the entrance of the compound but with her bright hair Sakura couldn't enter.
The elder watched her, eyes still unseeing but lucid, assessing her. With a humph the Uchiha took easily the heavy bag and started walking, letting Sakura behind. The limp of her left leg has disappeared, and the bag seemed weightless in her hold.
Ryuu watched her go, her throat dry.
XxX
"You can start!"
Ryuu stared at her opponent. Short black hair, lavender eyes, Hyuuga. The posture of her opponent was hesitant, obviously not wanting to hurt her. Sakura's eyes were narrowed in anger. The Hyuuga used Konoha's standard fighting form, an insult in Ryuu's eyes. Konoha's standard fighting form have been made to teach the civilian born like herself. Made to suit everyone, nobody could really pull it off. Even if the forms were taught to every student, nobody expected the clan's kid to use them in spars. For the Hyuuga to do that meant that she wanted to give Sakura a chance to win. She thought her weak.
Taking the Uchiha's form, Ryuu attacked.
The Uchiha were not close-range fighter, relying heavily on their Sharingan and large chakra reserve, ninjutsu were their weapon of choice. If an Uchiha was close, then he would deliver the killing blow; if you cornered him, you should expect fire. They mainly fought with their legs keeping their hands free for a justu and distance themselves again.
Ryuu, even if a genjutsu user first and foremost, have always been good at taijustu. Of course, Sakura could never compare to an Hyuga. Their body were created to close range, theirs hands often their only weapon and their body a fortress, untouchable. If an Uchiha would kick and jump, the Hyuga was steady, his body straight, arms deflecting any entry. But Sakura wasn't Ryuu, her body too weak now to jump or empower her legs, form too stiff to raise her legs like she wanted too.
It all ended with one punch.
It was easily that the other girl blocked Sakura's weak punch. Letting Sakura's own movement opening her defense, the Hyuga only had to let her arm fly. Open palm connecting effortlessly with Ryuu's stomach.
Even without chakra the gentle fist hurts. Sakura's body went down. Holding her stomach, she vomited on the side. Tears were forming in her eyes, from the shame or the pain she couldn't know.
"A-ano I'm sorry Sakura-san ! A-Are you a-al"
She stopped at her glare.
"Never feel sorry for taking down an opponent." Sakura sneered.
Iruka-sensei did not pair Sakura and Hinata again that year.
XxX
"Are you sure Sasa ?" hisvoice was warm even if a little hesitant. "You have your mother's hair; it would be a waste to cut it."
Sakura hesitated. Her mother was never talked about in their house. Dying in childbirth, the woman was obviously his first and only love that he still grieved today. Ryuu couldn't care less, he was enough trouble, her feelings in his regard still confusing for her, she couldn't imagine if another non-Uchiha was thrown into the mix. Sakura was also happy to have the entirety of his attention, no siblings or other family members (at least in Konoha) to share him with.
Watching him in the mirror, she could see how tenderly his tanned hands caressed the pinks strands. The contrast between their skin was jarring, hers a pale rose, burning instead or tanning like her father's or Ryuu's. Pale skin now adorning a beautiful array of bruises. They didn't look alike; she was all soft and pale like nobility while he could easily pass as a ninja. A part a her, would have liked to look more like him and less the ghost of her mother. Unfortunately for him, Sakura shared hiseyes, only a few shades lighter than the original.
Ryuu could have forgiven the hair, the civilian body and even her stupid name if only the Sharingan would have stayed with her. It would have been easy to love him entirely if hiseyes were not a reminder of what she has lost. Blurring the two emeralds in her mind, she focused at the grease between hisbushy eyebrows. He was worried for her.
Sakura relaxed her features and gave him a small smile (it was harder for her to smile for him or even stare at hisface since she could see him).
"It's a tradition in some clans, I read about it at the Academy. Your hair should be as long as your victories, for only those who are strong could be allowed such a weakness as long hair."
"But Sasa, you're only at the Academy and not of any clan, you're not obligated to do that."
His voice was as warm as his hands still in her hair, comforting. There wasn't any reprobation, her father was after all a practical man, hair didn't mean much for him. He wanted just to make sure that she had a choice. It warmed her heart.
"One day, I will be a clan and every clan need traditions."
Seeing her motivation, no more questions was asked and only the sound of the scissors could be heard in their bathroom. Even as an Haruno, Ryuu would always follow her traditions.
XxX
"Ryuu? What happened! Y-Your hair!"
The little girl just continued to cry on the floor. Detached strands of tick black hair were running down her back, her shoulders and face. Her breath was erratic, big tears full of hair leaked down, irritating her skin and leaving it red. It was pretty ugly sight one that he couldn't reconcile with the pretty girl of this morning. It was when he put his hands on her back that his cousin quieted down. The tremors against his hand stopped.
"I lost." Her voice was crackly from crying and she could still remember the shame as she fell down.
Then he understood.
Rumors around the clan has it that her father lost his mind after the death of his wife. Izuna heard his father say that Ichiro was angrier about his inability to produce a true heir to the clan. That Ryuu became a shinobi was now his only goal. Ryuu was good, Izuna could admit that without losing his pride, but she was still a girl. She could never awaken her Sharingan or lead the clan against the Senjus, even less win against Madara. The battle has been another of her father's scheme to prove Ryuu's abilities against the rising star of the clan. Nobody had asked her what she thought of it.
"I don't look like her anymore." The calm in her voice was frightening. Ryuu was full of life, 'the least Uchiha' they have liked to joke.
Her mother lost after another miscarriage, the baby alongside her. It had been a boy.
"It will grow back Ryuu…" he trailed. As a boy he had understood the tradition and had lost his hair a few times. His cousin, even if good, has lost battle before but, as a girl, she never had to cut hers. It seemed the battle have been too much of a humiliation for her father. "Look ! Mine is already past my shoulders again !"
He understood that hair was the pride of an Uchiha, even more for their woman but this reaction was too much. There must have been something else.
"You don't understand Izuna."
Then she turned toward him. There at the start of her right lips run a jagged cut that stopped a bit before the middle of her cheek. It gave a mouth the form of a distorted smirk. Ugly. So disgusted was Izuna, that it a few moments before his mind registered the red hues of her eyes. Bright like two jewels was her Sharingan.
'He did it' thought Izuna at this moment, amazed. 'He did it. Without beauty and with a Sharingan, Ryuucan become heir.'
XxX
Eyes closed; Sakura meditated. Her chakra was an inferno in her stomach, its flames licking her organs, too much for such a little body. She wasn't missing even a percent of it and it continued to grow, Sakura's chakra slowly diluting it. Ryuu could feel it buzzing under her skin, a sun ready to explode. Slowly she directed it down the maze of her eyes. The pathways almost identic to before but just before touching her eyes, the chakra disappeared. Ryuu checked her reserves, chakra was missing.
After one hour and still no result, Ryuu let out a soft sight. Even with a big amount of her chakra missing, there was still too much under her skin. Not thrusting this body but still following her instinct she concentrated of letting a small stream of chakra flowing toward her eyes at all time. There was no difference in her vision or eyes, but she could already feel the star in stomach subside. Less chakra meant more control.
Feeling confident with her chakra now under control, she moved her fingers. The hand seals were shaky, her body unable to cooperate with her mind. Rabbit, Boar, Ram. Never less, if her body was lacking her chakra instinctively knew what to do. Slowly she felt the thin veil of a genjutsu around her melting into reality.
Without the Sharingan, Sakura will never be able to produce illusion as prefect as Ryuu's. Still, Sakura will have to do with what she had until it was hers again. She had bend reality to her whims before, she will not be stopped by this hindrance. Letting the vision seemingly unchanged, she concentrated instead of the feelings. She felt warmth on her skin, sun or caress she couldn't tell as she was inside and alone. Softy soft sounds came, not voices, more like the gentle hum in the back of your mind as you walked. Warming your heart, relaxing your furrowed brows. So much stress and tenseness slowly flying with the sounds around you. Then was the heart, so light so free. You could close your eyes and finally breath. As you inhaled you could feel it, deep in your stomach. You're satisfied, happy will be too much, too strong. Time was slow, and you could never stop breathing in.
Never mind if the hum was too high or foreign, a song you never heard before. Never mind that it was winter, you were inside or dying in the cold river, the warmth was all that you needed. You inhaled and you closed your eyes.
Ryuu exhaled and the genjutsu broke. A smile painted her scare less face. No, Sakura could never reproduce the perfect image or colors of the Sharingan but it didn't matter. If you didn't want to wake up you couldn't leave a Genjustu. Peace, she thought, would make a great genjutsu and Konoha was full of a peace that she could learn to replicate.
Closing her eyes again, Ryuu concentrated. She had forgotten the smells.
Rabbit, Boar, Ram.