One Change; Chapter 4 – Lost

I present to you the next chapter! I'm glad that people are enjoying this story because I'm enjoying writing it :)

My update may become a little irregular because I've just started studying for my A2 exams and I have a lot of homework but I'll try to keep updates regular and as often as possile!

Thank you to: GingerLily01,leosbabygirl84,MoonStone-Secrets, Shadowlove'scookies, Doujin-Maker, Guest, annashina, JustFabulous, silverwolfighter00, angel897, Queen's Knight(Anon) and kyoko minion !

leosbabygirl84: Thank you for the ideas! I'll take that into account in later chapters :) I'm glad you like Itachi's method of assessing their strengths and weaknesses

Shadowlove'scookies: You read my mind ;) Look out for it in a later chapter!

Standard Disclaimer Apply.

04: Lost

2 months later.

Something was wrong. While having no proof that his assumption was in fact true, Itachi knew that something wasn't right. Why did he think this? His reasoning was simple really, Haruki and Shin had already shown up for training 30 minutes ago and Sakura still wasn't present.

Most people would assume that she was just late but Itachi wasn't most people. His pink-haired student had never once been late for a training session and she couldn't e skipping because it just wasn't in her nature. A few weeks ago she had shown up to training even though she had a fever of 102.3 degrees because she had unknowingly exhausted her chakra reserves while practicing the jutsu he had shown her earlier in the day.

He wasn't worried because Uchiha Itachi didn't worry. About anything. If anything, he was mildly annoyed at not being able to start his training session when he wanted to, the girl was delaying his schedule and Shin and Haruki were beginning to look anxious.

"Ne Uchiha-sensei, Do you think we should go and check on Sakura-chan?" Haruki inquired, stepping forward slightly and wringing his hands in front of him. It was obvious that the boy was worried about his teammate but didn't want to incur the wrath of his sensei. Shin stood in the background with his arms crossed looking as though he couldn't care less but Itachi could see him glancing towards the forest on the North-Eastern border of the training field every so often.

Realizing that they weren't going to get any work done until they located their missing teammate Itachi made the decision to post-pone the training session until the afternoon. He sent the two boys of in the direction of their respective homes and told them that he'd ask around the village to see if anybody knew the girls where-abouts.

With the two boys completely out of range Itachi stood completely still and expanded his senses outwards to see if he could locate the girls chakra signature. If she was still inside the village, and he doubted that she would have left, then he should be able to locate her fairly easily.

It took approximately 2 and a half minutes until he found the familiar chakra signature, Itachi wasn't surprised to note that she seemed to be by the cenotaph. He wasted no time in forming the seals of the shunsin and disappearing, only to reappear at the girls side moments later.

When he arrived he froze momentarily when he realized the girl didn't seem to be moving. She was laying on her side on the polished stone tablet that formed the base of the cenotaph, her pink hair splayed out around her head and concealing her face from him. He relaxed when he saw her chest rise and fall with her slow breathing and crouched down by her side to inspect her for any sign of injury. When he was satisfied that she was unharmed he lifted her into his arms and proceeded to use a transportation jutsu to move them to the residence of Umino Iruka.

He didn't know if the man would be home but he took his chances with the door and found it to be locked, as much was to be expected seeing as the man was a ninja so he settled for knocking and hoping th man was in. Usually he would have been able to break in with ease but the pink-haired bundle in his arms was currently making that difficult.

The brown haired chuunin opened the door, a mildly surprised look on his face when he saw Itachi which transformed into pitying murmur when he spotted Sakura.

"You had better come in, I'm sure you're wondering why Sakura has driven herself into such a state?" Iruka asked, ushering Itachi inside before taking the girl from him and saying that he would return as soon as he had placed her in bed.

While Iruka was on the upper floor Itachi walked into the living area and began inspecting the photographs that littered every available surface. It seemed as though Sakura had been a happy child with a bright smile. It wasn't difficult for him to believe in all honesty and he found that he liked the idea of Sakura being a smiley child. During his inspection of a photograph of Sakura on what seemed to be her induction into the academy, Iruka returned to the living area and beckoned him to take a seat.

The older man sighed and ran a hand over his face, Itachi could tell that he was tired and idly wondered what was troubling him.

"Itachi-san, I don't know if you're aware but today was he anniversary of Sakura's parents death. I feel as though I should have informed you before now but it didn't occur to be that you should know." The resignation in the mans voice was audible and Itachi felt a slither of pity for him, it was obvious that this day was difficult for Iruka as well.

"As I told you before, Sakura-chan's parents were killed while on a mission 4 years ago. She was only six years old and she didn't really understand. Due to the fact that she had no other traceable relatives, Yondaime-sama was forced to put her into the care of the village orphanage. When I heard about this I felt guilty, Kizashi and Mebuki were friends of mine and I had come to think of Sakura of family." Iruka's eyes were turned towards the floor as he recalled the tale and Itachi wondered if he should stop him from speaking, it was obviously causing him pain.

After contemplating it for a few seconds he decided it would be better to let the man finish his story. Iruka looked thankful for the lack of interruption and continued where he left off.

"I asked Yondaime-sama if I could take the girl into my custody but he questioned by motives and he doubted I'd have the time to look after a child. It took me a long time, 7 months to be exact to convince him otherwise but he eventually allowed me to take her home. Sakura, for the most part, was confused. Nobody had really told her where her parents were and she had convinced herself that they didn't love her anymore and had abandoned her. It took me nearly 3 years to convince her that her parents loved her dearly and wold have wanted her to be happy.

As soon as she came into my custody I had Sakura enrolled in the academy. She was six years old at the time and found it hard to fit in with the other kids. Her time at the orphanage had left her introverted and shy and she never really made friends. I didn't realize at first but Sakura was being severely bullied, some of the older children had caught wind of what happened to her parents and teased her mercilessly about it. I only found out when I discovered her crying in the corner of the academy grounds and I'd never felt so terrible in my life.

I believe it was because of this sever bullying and social seclusion that Sakura excelled in her studies. She was top of her class in no time so I moved her into the year above. Things went down hill even more from there, the taunting increased because the other children believed she was being favoured, Sakura couldn't stand it so she withdrew into herself even more. I watched her slowly lose all her motivation so I moved her up again. For a while the bullying stopped and Sakura excelled even further in her studies, academically she was about 4 years ahead but physically she was barely on par with her own age group.

The bullying started again when the children noticed that she was physically weaker than them so in the end I decided to let her graduate and continue to develop her taijutsu with her team, I placed her with the Hyuuga and the Ashimatsu because neither of them had ever been bad to her before.

This year was the first year that Sakura realized her parents actually loved her when the anniversary of their deaths came around so I think this was her way of dealing with the emotional stress and physical weakness that she possesses."

When Iruka was finished speaking Itachi didn't quite know what to say, he didn't want to feel pity for the girl but he was finding it increasingly difficult not to.

He sincerely hoped that she wouldn't allow her penchant for letting her emotions get the best of her to get in the way of her training but he also felt as though he was finally getting to know just who Haruno Sakura actually was.

So we now know Sakura's story. I didn't want to make this a generic 'Sakura is super-strong and so she becomes a prodigy and is so much bad-ass than anybody else' story, so I hope i did the idea justice.

I hope you enjoyed reading! Don't forget to leave me a review to let me know what you thought, things you liked and what you think could be improved!:)

Sei x