This chapter will be from Sakura's view. You will get to know their past and their dreams. The next few chapters will probably be a little shorter than the first two. In this chapter you will find out about Sakura's past, in the one after that you will find out about Naruto's past are and in the one after that you will find out about Sasuke's past. At the end of these three chapters, I hope to be around the timeskip.
This chapter takes place just after the second exam of the chuunin exams. Thus in the thirty days before the final exam.
I saw some reviews stating that the previous chapter was very alike to the manga. I just want to say that that was my intention. I wanted to show how Naruto became a ninja and needed to introduce Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. First I wanted to do the mission to the wave and the chuunin exams too, but I decided to skip them. I am going to make some changes from the manga from now on, but the core of the story will remain the same.
"Hello": regular talking
'Hello': thinking
'Hello': Inner Sakura and Kyuubi talking
Don't forget to R&R ;)
Enjoy
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More than pink hair
Breathing hard, Sakura fell on the ground with a loud thud. She winced in pain and tried to stand up. But no matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't find the strength in her body to stand up. Deciding that it was futile to even try she closed her eyes and let herself fall backwards. With a content smile on her face she just lied there for a moment.
She opened her eyes when she felt a sharp pain in her right leg. She pulled herself up and looked to her leg. There was a huge scrape there and she could see that it was bleeding right. She moved one of her hands to her kunai pouch and got out a white cloth. After cleaning the scrape with some water, she wounded the cloth around the wound to stop the bleeding. When she was done with that, she took the liberty to look over the rest of her body. There were bruises and small scrapes everywhere and she had never been so dirty as today before.
Just why had she be so stubborn. Just why had she decided to go training on such a beautiful day? Normally she would go shopping or something when the weather was nice, but today she had decided to train. Sakura was dead tired from that training. Even though she knew that she had very little stamina, she thought that she would have been able to train for at least a few minutes more. This was exactly why she was training now. She was sick and tired of being out of breath so fast, she hated it to be the weak girl that always needed protection.
She looked around and saw that she was the only one at the training grounds at the moment. This was very odd, because in the past she had always been the one to skip training while the rest of the team would be working hard to get stronger. Knowing that this had been a mistake that she would end up regretting the rest of her life she tried to stand up again, but to no avail. She fell backwards again and hit the ground hard. Training sure took a lot out of her.
She closed her eyes again, because she didn't have anything better to do at the moment anyway. She had become a lot stronger the last few weeks and she could feel it, but in order to make her dreams come true she had to become far stronger. She had come a long way already, but she knew that it was only the beginning. While thinking this she became a bit scared. What would the future hold if this was just the beginning?
She opened her eyes and washed her worries away. This wasn't the time to be worried about the future. She had to focus on the here and now and the future would come some other time. So much had happened already and if she had to think about the future too, she would definitely explode. Her inner self agreed with herself, showing her what it would look like when she exploded and Sakura let out a horrified look. There were body parts everywhere and she could see the horrifying looks on the faces of her parents.
"Okay, that wouldn't be a good idea. Let's save that for another time." She said with a big smile on her face.
She turned around in order to see the village. She had been born and raised here and she loved the village more than anything. Glancing around, she could see the tower of the hokage. The hokage was the strongest shinobi of the village. Thinking about the old man who was the current hokage, she just couldn't imagine that the guy was strong. She just saw him as another old man with a pipe in his mouth. It is true that the man was very nice and he had helped her in the past before, but she just couldn't believe that the old man was actually stronger as people like Kakashi.
Deciding that it would be best to not dwell at this subject forever, she continued looking around. Her eyes stopped when she saw a small building with a pink door. That place held a lot of memories for her. It was the place she was born and raised in. So much had happened while living in that house. Some of the memories were nice, but some of them she would rather forget.
She used to have a perfect life when she was little. She didn't have any friends, but she didn't mind that. She had loving parents and she enjoyed spending time with the two. Her father was a strong shinobi and he was away on missions a lot. Her mother always told her that he had become a jounin at a young age and that he was well known in the village because of his huge chakra reserves. Sakura hadn't known what it meant when she was young, but she did understand that it was something to be proud on.
When her father used to be away, she always had her mother to be with. Her mother was a beautiful woman with pink hair and she was the most caring person she had ever known. Her mother didn't have a job, but she has helped the village a lot by advising the hokage about important matters. The woman was considered one of the smartest people in the village, so the people always looked up to her too. She had been a shinobi in the past too, but had to end her career when Sakura was born. Most kunoichi followed the same path, because they want to be there for their children.
So most of the days she would end up playing with her mother after returning from school. She didn't like to go to school though. It wasn't because class was boring. She liked to learn new things. In school she learned about flowers, about life and about kunoichi and she loved it. Her mother had always told her stories about how the fourth hokage had defeated the demon fox and Sakura was taken back by the story. She too wanted to become a strong ninja, so she did everything she could in order to learn as much as possible. Reading was one of her greatest hobbies, so that wasn't a problem too.
But going to school meant that she would have to be in contact with other people too. This was the part that she didn't like. The other kids had always bullied her because of her big forehead and her pink hair. It was true, she had a big forehead, but that isn't a reason to bully something, right? That's what she was telling herself over and over though. The other kids seemed to think that it was a good reason…
But she didn't mind too much. So what if she didn't have any friends, so what if everyone bullied her. As long as she had her mother and father everything would be alright. Those two were her pillar of strength. The days went by very fast and she learned a lot about being a kunoichi. But the bullying became worse every day too. They saw that she was trying to ignore the bullying and this only spurted the bullies on to take it even further.
The bullies then started to insult her parents. Sakura couldn't take this. Her parents meant more to her than anything and she wouldn't let them get insulted. So she started to get into fights every now and then to protect her family's honour, but to her shame she was always beaten by the other girls. So she would end up coming home with a bloody lip or a thorn dress. But her mother and father were always there for her when this happened. They took care of her and gave her smiles and loved her. That was all she needed at that time.
Her parents took her to places she never went before too. Her father knew a lot of places outside the village and he took her and her mother every so often to those places. He had connections outside the village and he would always meet up with them when we went somewhere. Somehow those people knew where they were going, because no matter where she and her parents would go, those people were there too.
But she didn't mind. The people were very nice and she had a lot of fun with them. They told her that they were from the hidden village of cloud and that her father had saved them from death one day. Since then the ninjas and her father had become the best of friends. Her parents were very distant though when they met up with this people. She didn't know why, but she didn't mind either. It were good times back then.
Eventually though she had to go to bed. She was still able to hear them talking though and she could tell that they would talk about more serious matters after she had gone to bed. One day she walked in the room, because she had to pee and her father had become so mad at her then. She didn't know what was so important that she couldn't hear it, but she decided to not think about that.
So the days went by and she was so very happy with her fun life. Sure, she didn't have friends, but she was one of the only kids who had gone outside the village before becoming a ninja. Too bad that nobody wanted to hear her stories.
But then something happened what would change her life forever. Her father was sent on a mission with three other ninjas. When she had asked what kind of mission it was, her father had told her that he couldn't tell her, because it was an important mission. Sakura's father said goodbye to her and her mother before he left and he told them that he would be back later.
But her father didn't return. Sakura and her mother waited and waited for her father to return, but even after three weeks he hadn't returned. Her mother sent Sakura to school, even when she didn't want to, because her mother knew that they had to continue living their lives. She told her that her father would return to them someday. Sakura complied and went to school every day. The bullying got worse and Sakura would get in even more fights.
Then one day she and her mother were called. They had to go to the hokage, because he had important news for them. They knew what this would be about and hurried to the tower with all the speed they had. The hokage then told them that a patrol squad had found the body of her father in a small café of a small village. His team mates had been found dead too and they had all been killed by kunai.
Sakura could still remember how her mother broke down then. She had tried to comfort the woman with everything she had, but she couldn't even keep her own tears from falling. Her father had meant so much to her. He was supposed to be invincible; he wasn't supposed to die in a mission. He was supposed to be there for her. Those had been her thoughts then and sometimes even now she hates the man for leaving her and her mother like that.
Life had never been the same again. School became harder and harder and she just wasn't able to focus. Her grades lowered and she skipped school a lot. The bullying became even worse too and for a time she thought that she couldn't take it anymore. Thank god for her mother being there for her. Although she wasn't the same person as before, her mother would always come through for her.
Her mother still took her with her to meet up with her father's friends from outside the village from time to time. But most of the times they would go there when it was always bedtime, so she wasn't able to talk to them much.
Sakura was broken from her thoughts when she heard a loud noise from somewhere behind her. She looked around, but didn't see anything. That was until she was covered by a big shade. She had never seen a shade that big and decided to look up. Her eyes widened when she saw a big frog in the air. The frog fell down again and she didn't hear anything again.
"What the hell was that?" She just said out loud.
She had never seen something like that before. She knew that there was something as summoning, but it was just impossible for a frog to grow that big, right? After shaking her head she let out a big sigh. She had been training a lot. Maybe she was starting to hallucinate because of chakra exhaustion. She decided that that had to be it and turned to the village again.
After a sigh she continued scanning the area until she stopped at a small park in the centre of the village. She smiled, because that place had a special place in her heart. It was a beautiful place full of grass, trees and flowers and by just entering the park you could smell all those beautiful flowers. The place was truly fascinating. The place had become precious to her, because she had made her first real friend there.
She had once again skipped school one day and had gone to the park to think about things. It was a beautiful place and she loved it. It had actually been one of the best days in a while for her. That was until she saw three girls coming her way. One of them was one of the most popular girls in school. Sakura didn't understand why, because the girl had purple hair for crying out loud. If pink hair was already bad, then purple hair had to be hell. But somehow the girl had become the leader of the other girls and it had been a fact that the purple snob didn't like Sakura, so the rest followed her.
She acted like she didn't know that the girls were coming and just looked another way. The girls stopped right in front of her, but she didn't turn to look up, hoping that they would just walk away. When the girls didn't talk to her, she started to get worried. When she did finally look, she saw that the purple haired girl was holding a finger in front of her forehead. She pushed the finger against it and Sakura fell down. The girls disappeared then, laughing hard and Sakura was left crying.
That's when she saw another girl coming her way. She had blond hair and beautiful eyes. It was one of the other girls from her class. The girl was almost as popular as the purple haired girl and she cursed her luck. Hadn't they picked on her enough today? But to her surprise the girl didn't call her names. She just looked at her forehead and gave her a smile. The girl said that she was called Ino and that she had a gift for me. She had been so surprised then.
When she came to the park the day after that, Ino was already waiting for her and gave her a red ribbon. The girl then told her that she shouldn't hide her forehead, because that would only make the bullying worse. After that Ino helped her to get more popular and she became happy again. She had finally made a friend. She followed Ino in everything the girl did. So when Ino fell in love with a guy named 'Sasuke', so did Sakura.
Their rivalry over Sasuke might have weakened their friendship over time, but Sakura knew that Ino was still one of her best friends even now. She sighed, because she knew that it had been so stupid to let a boy interfere with her friendship with the girl.
Sakura was surprised when she heard footsteps behind her. She turned around to see who it was and was surprised to see that it was no other than her own team mate. She was surprised to see though that he was pretty beat up. His clothes were torn, he had small wounds almost everywhere and she could see that he was breathing hard.
"Naruto?"
The boy turned to the sound and his face immediately lit up. "Hey, Sakura-chan! I didn't know that you were here."
"Yeah, I have been here for a while now." She said while looking over the village again.
Naruto walked over to her and that's when he saw how beaten up the girl was. "Are you alright, Sakura-chan? Have you been fighting? Has someone attacked you? Where did the bastard who did this to you go?"
Sakura couldn't help but laugh when she heard that the boy made up all those things. "Don't worry, Naruto. I have been training here today, so that's the reason why I look so beat up." She turned to him and when she saw that the boy relaxed again she gave him a smile. "It is nice knowing that you are so worried about me though."
Naruto became beef red and quickly looked the other way. "Haha, well of course I am worried about you."
Sakura just let out a content smile and turned to the village again. "So how is the training going? I figure that that's the reason why you look so beat up, right?"
"It is going great, Sakura-chan! I think I am able to defeat that hyuuga bastard now." He said with a confident smile on his face.
Sakura just closed her eyes. "That's good to hear." In truth she wasn't so sure that the boy next to her was able to beat the hyuuga prodigy, but she didn't tell him that. He was the number one ninja in surprising people, so she didn't give up on him yet.
There was a long silence after that, but it was a comfortable one. Both were sitting next to each other now and they enjoyed the view. Sakura was very surprised by this. The boy next to her could actually be silent for a while. But she hadn't seen the boy for a long time and had wanted to talk to him some more.
"So, what is on your mind, Sakura-chan? You have been quiet for a long time now." He said while he gave her a little smile.
Sakura who was surprised that the boy had seen right through her sighed before answering. "I have just been thinking about everything that has happened until now, you know? I think that I wouldn't be the person I now am without everything that happened." She said with a serious look on her face.
"You say it. So much has happened lately and I have changed so much. I am really happy that it all happened. It all began when team 7 was created. I still remember how happy I was that I was teamed up with you." He said with a smile.
"Yeah. It all happened that day, didn't it? I was a little disappointed at first when I heard that I was teamed up with you. I was glad that Sasuke-kun came in the team too, though" She said looking to the sky, thinking of what to say next. She glanced to her side to see that the boy had a sad look on his face now. She hit herself, because she knew that she had said something harsh to him. "But now I know that I was wrong."
This earned her a confused look from the boy. "I mean, I never hated you or something, but I used to think that you were so annoying and weak. I am glad that you proved me wrong. Sure, you can still be stupid, weak and annoying at times, but I have learned to see underneath the obvious. You are okay, Naruto." She said with a smile.
The boy's smile grew really wide then and she didn't think that she had ever seen the boy smile so much. She had seen his smiles a lot of times, but this one was exceptional. 'Why can't Sasuke-kun give me such a smile sometimes?' She thought.
"Thanks a lot, Sakura-chan. That really means a lot to me. You are really the nicest person I know."
This confused Sakura a lot. She just called the boy okay and then he tells her that she is the nicest person he knows. She just couldn't believe that. She had treated him like dirt whenever Sasuke was around. How could that boy think of her so nicely? She decided to ask that question some other time, because she didn't want to mess up this comfortable moment.
"You remember that stupid bell test that Kakashi-sensei made us go through?" She said with a smile. "I couldn't do anything then. I was only searching for Sasuke-kun the whole time. I can still remember that I fainted because of a obvious genjutsu. I really was an awful ninja back then."
"Kakashi-sensei was just far better than us. I couldn't even touch him with any of my kage bunshin back then. At least you weren't so stupid to try and eat lunch. I was such a fool then." He said with a grin.
Sakura had to laugh then. "Yeah, that really was stupid. You were tied to the log and looked so stupid back then."
"But then something really nice happened." Naruto said with a blush on his face.
Sakura didn't understand what the boy meant and gave him a confused look. But when she saw Naruto's blush everything came back to her. She clenched her fist and hit the boy on the head. "I told you to not talk about that anymore!" She said with an angry look on her face.
"Sorry, sorry." He said with a big grin on his face, which quickly disappeared again. "But then the action really started."
"Yeah, the mission to the wave…"
It had been their first real mission. Sure, they had done a lot of D-rank missions before, but those kind of missions didn't have the right to be called missions. You just had to walk dogs or catch cats. Those missions were really easy, but then they finally got their fist C-rank mission.
"It is your entire fault that we got that mission, you know." Sakura said with a serious look on her face.
It was true. They had only gotten the mission, because the third hokage was getting sick and tired of an annoying Naruto. He gave them the C-rank mission in order to make the boy quiet down.
"But we have become a lot stronger on that mission. And we have got to know a lot of people while we were there." He said while looking off in the distance.
"Yeah. That is true. Deep down I am really happy that we went on that mission. Because of those bastards Zabuza and Haku we have almost been killed, but we have become stronger because of them too. I can still remember how you and Sasuke rescued Kakashi-sensei from that water prison. I was really impressed with you two then, you know." She said while looking him in the eyes.
'I was really taken back by your determination that time. And I also saw that you can actually smarter than me at times. Although I am never telling you this.' She thought while still looking him in the eyes. Those eyes were the only thing he had over Sasuke. He had such beautiful eyes.
"Thanks a lot, Sakura-chan. But you are really something else too. You were the only one who could walk up the three in one go. You are really great with chakra-control. I wish that I could be so good at it."
'Yeah and that is about the only thing I am good at. Sasuke-kun nearly died on the mission, because I was too weak to help him.' She sighed and glanced to her side when she saw that the boy next to her was standing up.
"Well, it is time for me to go home. I am so tired and I just want to go to bed. Need to train tomorrow again too, so I am going to need my rest, eh. Are you going home too? We could walk back together if you would like that?" He said with a blush on his cheeks.
Sakura wanted to go home too, so she nodded. She saw that the boy made a peace sign and she didn't understand. After standing up they made their way to the village again. It was getting darker by the minute and Sakura couldn't help but thinking about the dark things that happened in the chuunin exams.
The first exam had been pretty easy for her. It had been a written test and she was one of the most intelligent people in the village. The final question was different than the others. If you got it wrong, you would be a genin forever. But they gave you a chance to back down and try again next time. The only thing you needed to do was raise your hand. She still remembered how she almost raised her hand, because she feared that Naruto didn't had the courage to do it. Naruto wasn't the most intellegent boy in the world and he always failed written tests. She knew his dream and although she thought it would be impossible for him to accomplish the goal; she didn't want to see it crushed. Naruto proved her wrong that day again by slamming his hand on the table hard and telling everyone that he wouldn't back down. They passed the exam and headed to the forest of death for the second one.
She now knew why it was called the forest of death. So much had happened in there and most of the things she would rather forget. The encounter with the creepy snake guy named Orochimaru still scared her. If it wasn't for Naruto, he would have killed Sasuke and her on the spot. The boy now next to her had fought the man and lost, but still did some damage nonetheless. After that Sasuke fought the man and got bitten in the neck by the eerie man. He left a mark on Sasuke's neck and disappeared.
She had to take care of those two then, because they were both out cold. When she was attacked by the sound team and even Lee, who came to help her, was defeated and the enemy got hold of her hair, she had finally made up her mind. She had always been protected. First by her parents, then by Ino and now finally by Lee, Sasuke and Naruto. She vowed that she would be there for them from now on. She would help and protect them just like they had always done for her. She wouldn't let them get hurt any longer.
She then cut her hair in order to get free and then fought the sound ninjas. She had lost, but she had shown that she would do everything to protect those important to her. When Sasuke finally woke up she had been so happy at first, before she saw his new power. His chakra had been so dark that day and the look on his face had been truly evil. He had black marks on his body too. She had never been so scared before in her life and just wanted to run away.
After Sasuke had defeated the sound ninjas, he was about to kill them. Although Sakura had been scared, she had vowed to be there for him, so she had gathered all of her courage and embraced the boy to calm him down. She had wanted to hug the boy so badly before, but not like that. They boy calmed down, after giving her a look filled with hate, and the marks disappeared. She hadn't seen the marks again and Kakashi had said that it would be okay, but she couldn't help but worry, even now.
She now glanced over to Naruto and saw that he still had that stupid grin on his face. Should she tell the boy next to her about the marks? Even though Sasuke had told her not to, she wanted to tell the boy next to her so badly. Naruto would be able to help their other team mate. In the end she decided not to and wait for a better chance. She didn't want to worry the boy next to her before the final exam. He wanted to show everyone how strong he had become so badly.
Sakura had acknowledged the boy some time ago now, but she knew that a lot of people didn't know how strong he really was. He was always called the 'dead last' and the other genin used to look down on him, but after the fights in the chuunin exam most of them had changed their mind. She hadn't known too before she was teamed up with the boy, but now she knew that she needed to look underneath the underneath. She had even cheered the boy on during his match with Kiba. Nobody would have expected that from her and she still did it. People could change and Naruto and she were the living proof.
Sasuke had won his match too, but Kakashi took him somewhere after that. He had told her that the boy was alright, but she was worried nonetheless. She hadn't seen the boy or her sensei after that and was afraid that someone was out to kill him. Someone like that ninja from the sand, Gaara. He had crippled Lee for life with his moves and if Gai hadn't intervened, he would have killed Lee for sure. And Sasuke had to fight that ninja next. The sand ninjas were all very distant and they all had evil smirks on their faces. She didn't know why, but she was feeling very down now.
It must have been apparent in her face too, because Naruto gave her a worried look. "Are you okay, Sakura-chan?"
"I am fine, Naruto. I was just thinking about Sasuke-kun. I…I haven't seen him since the exam and he don't even know if he is alright. What if something has happened to him?" She was getting very worried now.
She was shocked when the boy next to her put a hand on her shoulder. "Sasuke will be alright, Sakura-chan. He is a tough one. He will come back." He said while flashing her that million dollar smile.
Sakura couldn't help but smile. Somehow the boy always managed to make her worries go away. She put her hand over his and squeezed it a bit. "Thank you, baka."
They walked further after that and finally reached her house. Sakura walked to the door and unlocked it. She glanced over her shoulder one more time. "Thanks for the walk home, Naruto. I really needed that. Good luck with your training and I will be seeing you at the third exam, okay. I will be cheering for you at the exam."
She wasn't lying. Talking with the boy had helped her a lot and because of him she had remembered her dream again. Her dream to be seen as a strong girl who didn't need protection. She wanted to be the one to protect her friends with her power. And he was one of them. He had helped her so much in the past and it was payback time. That was the reason why she had gone to the training grounds this day.
He, Sasuke and Kakashi had made a special place in her heart. Sure, she wanted Sasuke to be more….although she wasn't sure anymore after what had happened in the forest, but she was happy now. She only hoped that everything would be the same after the exam. She wanted things to be like they were before the chuunin exams. The loud and smiling Naruto. The silent, but not scary Sasuke-kun, a weird Kakashi-sensei. This was all she wanted.
"Sakura-chan, How about a goodnight kiss?"
Okay, there would be one thing she wanted to change.
Slam
"You annoying baka! You just had to ruin it again, did you?!" She said before slamming the door shut.
Naruto turned around and headed towards home. He was very confused. What did he do wrong this time? He only asked for a kiss from the girl he had loved so long. He knew that it wasn't a smart question, but she didn't have to react like that. He figured that she was still in love with the bastard. He cursed his luck and walked through the streets of Konoha with a big hump on his head.
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AN:I know, the chapter is shorter than the other ones, but I just wanted to show you Sakura's youth and a quick glance at what happened between this chapter and the previous one. The things that happened in her youth will come back later in my story. I know that I skipped the chuunin exams, but everyone knows what has happened anyway. Sakura likes Naruto here as a friend and nothing more, although their friendship is growing. I tried to make this chapter a little NaruSaku-like and I hoped that I did a good job. I will change the coming events a bit, but the result will be the same as in the manga. The next chapter will mostly be from Naruto's point of view as this one was for Sakura. In the next chapter the story will continue and there will be action. I think there will be two or three chapters until the timeskip.
And please keep reviewing. It means a lot to me.
Until next time!