Chapter FIVE
Itachi was given the next day off, for he had a mission the following day. Fugaku left to do duties the moment breakfast was finished and Mikoto hurried off to do the dishes, leaving Itachi to look after his brother and Sakura.
Usually, the girl was quick to hurry off to continue reading whatever book she had gotten her hands on, but today, she remained where she was seated. She appeared to drift from reality into her mind and back even as she sat completely did not seem to notice anything different. "Uh, Sa-Sakura?"
The girl did not respond.
Sasuke frowned. "Sakura?"
The girl stiffened and quickly looked up. "Yes?"
Sasuke fisted hands into his shirt and glanced down nervously. "Would-would you like to go to the park with me?"
Sakura stared at the boy. Her eyes were blank, telling Itachi that the girl had retreated back into her mind. However this time, she was quick to snap back. "What is a park?"
Sasuke uncertainly glanced over at him and Itachi smiled encouragingly. "It's a place you play." His brother said. "A public area where we can play."
Sakura seemed to consider this for a while, before she nodded. "Okay."
Sasuke brightened and jumped off his chair. "Great! Let's go, then. The Dobe's probably already there."
Sakura followed the boy as he rushed up towards his room. Itachi sighed and got to his feet considerably more calmly. "We will be going out." He called out.
Mikoto stuck her head out of the kitchen. "Be careful, have fun!"
Sakura watched Sasuke struggle to put on his shoes. She herself had changed out of the clothes the Uchiha Matriarch had lent her and was back in the white robes of her clan. It made her stand out, but the material was familiar and comforting.
She was Haruno Otsutsuki Sakura, the thought alone was comforting.
'You are Haruno Otsutsuki Sakura.' Her Inner says. 'You have a purpose in this world.'
Sakura took a deep breath.
Regaining her memories had been a shock to her, and a part of her found it hard to believe that she had forgotten something so important, even if had been intentional and under the influence of a jutsu.
'The Uchiha are a powerful and influential clan of Konoha.' Her Inner said. 'It will be beneficial to maintain a close relationship with them.'
I know. Sakura reached up at swept her hair out of her face, only half focused on what was in front of her. I am to just continue living here?
Her Inner hummed an affirmative. 'Yes. Toneri and you will make preparations for the final execution of the plan up until the time is right.'
And how do I know when the time is right?
'You will feel it. The moon will call, and you will know.'
If she were to spend the next how many years living in Konoha, she was going to have to adapt. Sakura knew she had several advantages she could play to, one of them being that she was the lone survivor of a clan with sought-after techniques. The village would want to make her one of their own, and the best way to do that would be to indoctrinate her among the most powerful clan of Konoha. It would not be difficult on her part, too, because the Haruno had never been loyal to Kirigakure.
"Done!"
Sakura blinked and looked up to see that Sasuke had finished with his shoes. "Let's go Sakura."
Sakura mutely nodded. "Lead the way."
The boy brightened and he straightened. "This way." He made a beeline towards the compound gates and Sakura followed. Behind them, she could sense Itachi following at a much slower pace.
Her first look at the village had been from the roofs, from her perch on Itachi's back. Her second look had been the march to the Torture and Interrogation building accompanied by Itachi and an unnamed shinobi. This was her first time she was able to freely look around.
As they walked, Sakura observed. People greeted Sasuke and Itachi and sent her curious looks, but no one turned any hostility in her direction. Sakura thought of the sibling clans of the Haruno, the Kaguya, and the Hozuki, and thought of how, besides interclan interactions with the aforementioned families, she had no recollection of any interaction with any community within Kiri. Here, while no one knew everyone, they were all close enough to share greetings among strangers.
"Come on, Sakura!" Sasuke called.
"Sorry." Sakura gave the market street one last look and quickened her steps. She would have plenty of time to explore later, she was sure. She caught up to the boy, but Sasuke gave a huff and grabbed her wrist. Sakura stiffened at the sudden contact but she did not pull her wrist away. Sasuke did not seem to notice her discomfort and he impatiently tugged her along.
Sasuke let her go when they arrived at the border of a small clearing. "Dobe!"
A blond boy crouched in a squared off area full of sand stopped whatever he had been looking and looked up. "Teme!"
Something pulsed within her, a warmth similar to the one she had felt when she saw Sasuke last night, standing, half hidden by the shadows.
It feels like Ashura.
However, this time, it didn't stop there, because suddenly, something called out to her. She felt her Inner stiffen, then go silent. For a heartbeat, just for the briefest of moments, she saw fire. There was gold flames and a set of glowing glaring red eyes before it was gone, just like that.
That... Sakura had to fight hard to suppress the laughter that threatened to spill out. It was here, all this time.
'Sakura.' Inner's voice was sharp, and Sakura blinked and lost track of her thoughts. Instantly, whatever she had found funny vanished from her mind.
What-what was that? Sakura asked. That...thing...I know it, but I can't remember.
'Now is not the time.' Her Inner said briskly.
Sakura remembered with a start that she was currently in the company of people. She looked up to find the boys still arguing. She could feel Itachi standing behind her.
In between annoyed shouts, she caught the word 'Teme'.
"I thought your brother's name was Sasuke," Sakura said, directing her words to Itachi, hoping the teen would understand.
Itachi did. "'Teme' is a nickname for my brother." He explained. "A nickname is a name given to someone in place of their real name and is a sign of familiarity."
"Will I get one as well?" Sakura asked, more at herself than at Itachi, and more out of curiosity than a want for one. Itachi chuckled.
"Sakura!" Sasuke called. "Come on."
Itachi gave her a gentle nudge and Sakura turned to watch the older Uchiha move away to sit on a bench before she steeled herself and approached the younger Uchiha and his smiling friend.
"Dobe, this is Sakura," Sasuke said and she came to a stop. "Sakura, this is Naruto."
"Nice to meet you, Sakura-chan!" The boy, Naruto, exclaimed. "My tou-chan told me about you."
Sakura frowned. Whatever it had been, was no completely gone.
"The Hokage is my tou-chan." Naruto explained, apparently thinking her confusion came from her not understanding his words. "One day, I'm going to become an even better Hokage than him!"
Sakura examined the boy, noting his obvious differences to Sasuke. They were practically polar opposites. She felt her Inner give her a nudge and she quickly pulled herself back into reality. "The pleasure is all mine, Naruto-san." She said politely.
Naruto blinked in confusion and Sasuke was quick to explain. "Her upbringing is stiff."
Sakura had no idea what that meant, but Naruto seemed to understand. "Ooohhhh." He clapped his hands together. "Anyways, let's play, Sakura-chan! What do you want to do? You're the girl, so you can decide!"
Sakura could not understand how her gender made that decision, but she accepted it when both boys eagerly turned to look at her. "Well, I do not know what exactly is available for us to do." She said slowly, because she really did not know. "Perhaps you could show me around?"
'Be careful.' Her Inner said. 'They are Naruto and Sasuke.'
The moment she had awakened, everything had felt different. Sakura did not know how to explain it, but she had felt like she suddenly understood things. When Sasuke and stuck his head around the doorframe, something in her mind had screamed 'Indra'. She was quick to realize that it was her blood reacting to the reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
Sakura thought back to one of the few tales she had been told as a child, the bitter and tragic stories of the two brothers.
Naruto and Sasuke were friends and yet, their paths were set in stone by a grudge generations old. They were merely victims of the power and corruption the misuse of chakra had brought.
I know. She thought. I just forget.
'Their story is not one we should delve into.' Her Inner said, her tone suddenly kind and gentle. 'We already have one century old tale to bring to a conclusion. We cannot take up another.'
I know. Sakura repeated.
A few weeks later, at breakfast, Sasuke marched up to her, chest puffed up in boyish pride and a grin on his face. "I'm turning six in a week." He said proudly.
Sakura blinked. "Oh?"
Sasuke seemed to visibly deflate. "Ye-Yeah."
Her Inner helpfully sent her a memory from a while ago, in the Interrogation room, where Morino Ibiki had asked her for her birthday. "You were born almost six years ago?" She asked.
Sasuke nodded. "That's what a birthday is."
"It is...something to be proud of?"
"It's an occasion to be celebrated," Sasuke said. "When'd yours, by the way? I don't think you've ever told me."
"I-" Sakura thought through her words. "My clan does not keep records of dates of birth." She explained. "I merely know that I born sometime during the third moo-month of the...the..."
'Year.' Her Inner supplied.
"Year," Sakura said.
"Oh." Sasuke frowned at this. "Well, you've still got a long time until March, so maybe we can decide on a day by then." He grinned. "Anyways, I'm having a party, and since you live here, you're invited by default." He paused as if to revel in the pride of having used such language. "Dobe and his parents are also coming." He spun on his heels. "Make sure you bring me a present!" He said, then ran off again.
Sakura blinked at the mouth of the corridor, where the boy had vanished around. A present...
Mikoto had just finished putting away the last of the laundry when she heard mumbling coming from the living room, and stuck her head in to see what was going on.
Sakura took by the bookshelf, squinting at a book her in her hands. The girl had arrived without any literary knowledge, but she had been very quick at picking it up. Now, she could read most of the books on the shelf.
"A present, a thing given to someone as a gift." Sakura flipped back through the dictionary. "A gift, a thing given willingly to someone without payment; a present." She frowned.
Mikoto approached her. "Do you need some help?"
Sakura turned around to look at her and Mikoto smiled reassuringly. The pinkette held up the dictionary. "Sasuke requested a present for his birthday." She explained. "However, I do not exactly know what a present is."
Mikoto tensed, just a little, at the reminder of just how different the girl's upbringing must have been. If she did not know what a present was, it was unlikely that she had ever received on. While she understood clan traditions better than most, the mother part of her hurt that some children were brought up like this. "I present is an object given to someone, in this case, to celebrate something. It's common to give birthday gifts to people on their birthdays."
Sakura hummed thoughtfully. "What would you recommend as a gift?"
Mikoto hesitated because she knew Sakura did not have anything material from her life in Kiri. "Anything with meaning and thought put into it is good." She said, trying to keep her awkwardness out of her tone. "If you need any money, you just have to ask."
Sakura placed a hand on her chin. "My clan was never truly a part of Kiri." She said suddenly. "Everything Haruno in the village is mine. If I do borrow money, I will be sure to return it to you."
"I doubt Kiri will simply relinquish it to you, now that you're in Konoha." Mikoto found herself saying before she realized she was talking to a child five years of age. "I mean-"
However, Sakura simply nodded. "I understand your worry," She said. "However, no one can enter the Haruno compound without the permission of the clan head. Everything on Haruno land will be as untouched as it was on the day of the massacre." The girl suddenly stiffened, but her expression did not change. She smiled. "So please do not worry." She said. "Soon, everything there will once again return to me. After all, I am the current head of the clan." She shut the dictionary and placed it back in its place on the shelf. "Thank you for your help, Mikoto-san." She said. "I will find you if I do find myself in need of some money."
Sakura bowed, then walked out of the room.
'What are you planning?'
Sakura closed the door to the room that had been given to her and immediately moved towards the bed. Something meaning and thought, She thought back to her Inner, then sat down on her futon and runs chakra through the seal on her arm. I have plenty of small clan trinkets with me.
'It is the last of your clan items.' Her Inner said, but it is more of a statement than a disagreeing argument.
It will be an act of trust. Sakura dug through her seal. Sasuke-san will not understand yet, but his parents and brother will. What they do not know, is that it will be an act of binding on my part too.
'We need allies.' Her Inner agreed. 'The boy will make a good follower.'
Sakura hummed in agreement as her fingers brushed something cold. Soon, there was a blue crystal magatama lying in her hand. This was one of the magatamas made from the Haruno Crystals of life from within the caves.
'The Haruno chakra is powerful and influencing. Sasuke keeping it with him alone will be enough.'
Sakura nodded, her mind made up. She borrowed a little money from Mikoto and went out to buy a chain. She looped the chain through the hole in the crystal and pulsed her chakra through it for good measures.
'We have some money to spare.' Her Inner noted. 'Why don't we visit that...shop over there and buy something to put it into?'
Sakura heeded her Inner's advice and did just that.
A week later, people gathered in the Uchiha head's house for Sasuke's sixth birthday party. Invited were Naruto, his parents, and a few of Sasuke's cousins.
"This is Shisui," Sasuke said. "And that's Obito."
Sakura observed the cheerful waves and greetings sent her way by the two older Uchiha and decides that they were a little different from the image of the Uchiha clan she had up until this point. Still, she politely bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Obito-san, Shisui-san."
The two males appeared to falter at her polite tone and she caught Itachi sighing behind them. Mikoto then ushered them all towards the dining table, where she had set up a huge feast.
Sakura sat in between Sasuke and Naruto, where Mikoto had placed her, probably in hopes that she would deter the two boys from fighting over the food. She uncertainly picks at the food for a while as the boys immediately began shoveling things into their mouths.
Ever since she had arrived in Konoha, she had eaten things she had never seen, or even heard of, in her life, and it was one thing she preferred over her previous life. It actually tasted good.
"Don't eat too much," Naru told her through a mouthful of food. "We still have cake."
"Cake?" Sakura asked.
Naruto nodded and turned back to his food with renewed vigor. Sakura wondered if she should ask, then decided that she could wait for whatever it was to appear.
Once the plates were cleared, Mikoto shooed them all out into the living room while she cleared up. "Don't leave the wrapping on the floor!" She called.
Sasuke darted off towards where the presents had been piled and Naruto rushed off after him. The two boys sat down on the floor and Naruto passed the first present on the pile to Sasuke."Mine first mine first."
Sasuke rolled his eyes but did as requested. He pulled out a large orange book with the words 'Best pranks for dummies 101.'
"Cause they're best pranks," Naruto said proudly. "And you're a dummy, so..."
Sasuke scowled. "Dobe." Still, Sakura noticed the way he carefully put the book to the side. "Thanks." He muttered.
Naruto's grin widened. "We've gotta try those out."
Sasuke smirked, then took the next gift.
He received a book on weapons and their maintenance from Kushina and Minato, a set of shinobi attire with the Uchiha emblem stitched proudly onto the back from Mikoto and Fugaku, and a weapon set from Itachi. Shisui gifted him with a shinobi pouch while Obito had gotten him several packets of senbon and explosive seals.
'These gifts they present Sasuke with are weapons.' Her Inner said quietly. 'Apart from Naruto's book, they are all means of killing and methods to achieve that.'
A gift with meaning. Sakura thought back. Perhaps what Mikoto-san meant was something that gave meaning. Weapons give shinobi a mean to kill, and killing is what gives shinobi an identity.
Naruto glanced back towards where the pile had been and noticed a small box. It was small, so he must not have noticed it among the bigger bags. He fished it up and held it to his face. "This is from..." Naruto turned the small box it over.
"Sakura." Sasuke snatched it from him and turned to her for confirmation, which the girl gave with a nod.
The boy slowly opened the box and gasped. Naruto instantly leaned over in an attempt see but Sasuke automatically pushed him away. "Wait." He reached in and slowly drew out a silver chain with a beautiful crystal attached to it. "Wow."
Naruto leaned in again and this time, Sasuke did not shove him away. "That looks so cool." He breathed.
"Magatama are a symbol of my clan," Sakura explained quietly. "That one is made from a special kind of stone. You will not find anything like it anywhere else in the world."
Sasuke gently ran a finger over the crystal and Naruto felt a sudden jolt as a strange feeling filled him. From deep within he felt a growl and he instinctively wrapped his arms around himself.
The thing was quiet, most of the time, but sometimes, he could hear its anguished, pained snarls. He glanced over at his parents, who were both looking at the magatama and quickly looked away. His father was a seal master and his mother had lived with this thing in her for years.
He could do this. Naruto shook his head clear of his thoughts and turned to Sakura, a grin on his face. "I want one too."
After his brother's party, Itachi helped his mother clean up while Sasuke dragged his friends to the park again, this time accompanied by Naruto's parents.
That night, Sakura approached him. "May I ask a question, Itachi-san?"
The Uchiha heir looked up from his scroll. "Of course, go ahead."
"How long does it take from Konoha to Kiri if you were to travel as fast as you could?"
Itachi slowly rolled up his scroll. "Why do you ask?" He asked carefully.
"I believe I have loitered around enough," Sakura said simply. "Regardless of our loyalties, my clan hails from Kiri. As the Haruno head, I have business I must look to." She glanced down. "My clanmates are still lying untouched in the exact places they had died in all those years ago. At the least, I must go pay them my respects."
Itachi slowly rolled up his scroll. "Untouched?" he asked.
Dead bodies released a terrible stench. Surely the village would have cleared up the site by now.
Sakura, however, nodded in a sure manner. "From the moment I left its grounds, the Haruno compound has been untouched. Those grounds are bound to the chakra of the clan head and is protected by impenetrable seals only I can release. Everything is exactly as it was on that fateful night."
"Relations between the two villages are not the best," Itachi said. "Even if Hokage-sama accepts your request to travel to Kiri, I highly
"What if Kiri sends an invite?" Sakura asked. "A formal one. WIll Hokage-sama accept it then?"
Itachi simply raised an eyebrow. "How do you plan to do that?"
Sakura slowly raised her arm, and Itachi did not know what he had been expecting, but it certainly was not bone like structures suddenly erupting from her limb. However that was exactly what did happened and, before his very eyes, the bones grew feathers and moments later, a black crow with its head covered in cloth with a white circle on it was perched on her arm. It let out a series of clicks before it nuzzled Sakura's cheek and let out a soft saw.
Itachi tried to reach out towards it with his own summoning contract, but it did not react. Not to mention, while it did emit chakra, there was something off about it.
"A clan summon," Sakura explained. "I will contact Hozuki Kagetsu. Out clans were sibling clans. He will heed my request and pass my message on to the Mizukage."
Itachi watched the girl for a while longer before he gave her a sharp nod. "Very well." He said. "I will bring it up with Hokage-sama."
Sakura dipped her head in gratitude, then turned to her bird and murmured softly to it. The crow let out another caw, raised its wings, and promptly proceeded to shed all its feathers. Sakura let out a gasp, then a soft laugh, then petter it some more. The bird hopped around on her arm, regrew its feathers, then flew out the window. Sakura watched it until it vanished, then turned to him again.
"Thank you, Itachi-san."
Update~
Darque: So, things are happening.
Raven: Yes, indeed, they are happening.
Darque: More to come next chapter.
Raven: Yup.
Darque: On a side note, I took a nap and woke up at around 9 pm, and my first thought was 'Holy cheese nuggets I'm laTe fOR ScHOoL.
Raven:...I do that too, sometimes.
Darque: Right, right?
Raven: Then I look out the window and it's dark and I'm like 'What on earth is going on.'
Darque: XD
Read and Review~
