Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage
Chapter 3 – Forehead Girl, Haruno Sakura
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a story using his characters and I'm not looking to make any money out of this.
"Demon/Inner Sakura" talking/thinking
"Flashbacks"
"Normal"
Warnings – Strong (though not invincibly strong), smart Naruto, Major OOC and possible Lemons (unsure at this point)
Six months later
Uzumaki Naruto walked down the streets of Konoha feeling rather content with himself, despite the glares he was receiving as he walked by the villagers. Six moths had passed since that horrible incident on 10th October where he had been forced to kill that man in self defence and just as the Sandaime had predicated, the incident sent shockwaves throughout the village and the villagers had been after his head more than ever for the next two months until the Sandaime had managed to calm them down when he had gathered the villagers outside the Hokage Tower and explained how it was only an act of self-defence. Needless to say, this didn't sit well with the villagers; especially those who had been there that day as part of the crowd that had chased him. It certainly didn't help Naruto as far as earning the village's acceptance and respect went. Even if they knew what really happened, it didn't matter to the villagers. Since Naruto was the demon container, they felt that he had no right to defend himself and should just die. However, since then, Naruto had started sending the villagers' glares whenever he felt that they were moving in to attack him and had gotten ready to defend himself as he remembered the Sandaime's lecture and it usually scared them off, but a few brave people did attack him and he did defend himself, though his efforts were mostly futile, but at least his attackers didn't get away unscathed and the ANBU or some regular ninja would always break up the fighting before it turned ugly, especially Kakashi.
Also since that day when he killed the man and had a lecture with the Sandaime, Naruto had been taken under the wing of Hatake Kakashi, whom he learned was Inu's real name and that Inu was just a codename he used while on duty as part of the ANBU. Kakashi had helped train Naruto in the ways of the shinobi, though he still attended the academy. However, Kakashi had explained to him that the Sandaime had told him that he felt that the academy senseis were intentionally sabotaging his education and that Naruto was to tell him what he was supposed to be taught so he could correct the teachings that the senseis gave him, which he did.
Naruto's life in the academy was no different than life out on the streets. None of the other students spoke to him and it was clear that the senseis, with the exception of Umino Iruka hated him as much as the villagers did. They paid little attention to him and whenever he asked to have something explained to him in a simpler explanation, they would always berate and yell at him, telling him to go stand in a corner or go wait outside so he could be "punished" for "misbehaviour". It was no better with written tests. Naruto had always found the questions too hard and were clearly beyond someone with his age group's capabilities to answer. He had once tried looking at the test paper of the person sitting next to him to try an copy off him, but to his surprise and shock, it was a different paper with questions that he could easily answer… well most of them. Sure, there were a few questions he couldn't answer even on the correct test paper, but the fact was that he had intentionally been given the wrong paper to ensure that he failed and whenever he did manage to successfully answer even one of the questions on the blue on a blue moon occasions, the sensei would immediately accuse him of cheating with some lame excuse to justify his accusation. Naruto had originally thought that he was given the wrong paper by mistake, but from the way the sensei had verbally lashed out at him. It was clear that they were doing it intentionally.
With Kakashi's training however, Naruto was getting better and the senseis at the academy were finding it increasingly difficult to fail him, as he was also becoming braver and Kakashi helped him with his knowledge, which caused him to answer the advanced questions easily and when accused of cheating, Naruto bravely demanded that they prove it and much to their displeasure, they found that they couldn't and had no choice but to pass him. The same was true in the practical side of the training. Naruto's jutsu was greatly improving and the frustrated senseis had no choice but to pass him. Sure they could just fail him anyway, but the problem was that the Hokage had been made aware of Naruto's improvement and the senseis were smart enough to know that failing Naruto regardless of his performance would bring the Sandaime's wrath upon them and that was something they feared immensely. Despite the Sandaime's old age and the fact that he was nowhere near as powerful as he was in his prime, he could still take down chunin level ninja, which was the rank of an academy sensei.
Kakashi's training also made it easier to ward off would-be attackers, though true to his word, he never killed any of them whenever he beat them. He would just walk away giving the person a threat to never attack him again or else. This led to a very small minority of the villagers starting to rethink their views of Naruto, though they were still wary of him and the majority of the village were still out for his blood. The small minority that were rethinking their views of Naruto weren't prepared to let go of their original views, but with their re-evaluations, they were starting to at the very least tolerate him, though should something happen that would seemingly prove everyone right, they would immediately rejoin the majority in wanting him dead.
It wasn't much, but it was a start, though Naruto was aware that it was pretty fragile and even the smallest of incidents could break it, like pranks, which he still used as his means of revenge. However with his constant refusal to kill and his revenge pranks, the small minority was both gaining and losing members and was never really getting any bigger.
Naruto was currently on his way home from the academy. Kakashi had given him the day off since the situation at the academy had reached the point where most of the senseis felt that it was pointless to try and sabotage Naruto's education as they had learned that he'd figure it out, though Kakashi still trained Naruto just in case, as he knew the sensei's still hated Naruto and he wouldn't put it past them to investigate how Naruto was overcoming the flaws in the training that they intentionally gave him and if they discovered that Naruto's secret training had stopped, they'd immediately go back to sabotaging his lessons as well as a few senseis still tried their hand at sabotage regardless.
Anyway, Naruto was content with himself. Things weren't looking up as much as he'd like them to, but it was a start. He ignored the glares and whispers the people he passed by gave him. His big smile seemed to only fuel the villagers' hate as it was something they were not used to and they were a bit afraid that the "demon" was close to having its power restored and from Naruto's actions after that 10th October; they believed that that only confirmed their fears.
"Disgusting vermin," Naruto heard a woman say, "Go back to Hell where you belong."
He then noticed a projectile hurling towards him out of the corner of his eye and quickly raised his hand and caught it before looking in the direction it had come from to find a woman with an outstretched hand looking at him with an expression of shock and fear. He then brought his hand in front of his face and studied the projectile that the woman had thrown at him and shook his head. It was nothing more than an apple; painful if it had hit, yes, but nothing lethal.
"Right back at you," he said as he brought his hand up and pulled it back before launching it forward and releasing the apple, which caused it to hurl towards the woman at near impossible speed.
Luckily for the woman, the apple just narrowly missed her head by a few centimetres and slammed into the wall of the building behind her, causing a crack in the wall and the apple itself exploded before falling to the ground in pieces.
"Be glad that wasn't your head," Naruto said in a serious tone as he backed it up with a hard stare, "I don't kill people, but next time you decide to try something like that… well let's just say you'll be seeing death as more of a generosity compared to what I'll do to you."
He then turned and walked away, his good mood darkened as the woman just stared at the pieces of apple on the ground with a shocked look on her face as she realised that Naruto had missed her on purpose and that if the apple had hit her at the speed it was travelling when Naruto threw it, she'd probably be dead.
Seven-year-old Haruno Sakura was walking along the pathway in Konoha Park admiring the scenery. It was a beautiful day today. The sun was shining brightly down on the village, highlighting its buildings in a beautiful golden glow and there was not a cloud to be seen in the sky anywhere. It was warm with a soft breeze that cooled the temperature down a bit and Sakura watched as a bluebird returned to its nest in a nearby tree with food for its chicks. Butterflies hovered around the flowers and there was something about the peace and tranquillity that made the pink haired girl feel at ease.
Unfortunately, she was also a bit disappointed. Yamanaka Ino, her best friend couldn't come out and join her today as she was currently experiencing a really bad cold, which was unfortunate. Ino was part of the Yamanaka Clan, whose main jutsu revolved around getting into their opponents' minds and using it for spying or to get their enemies to turn on their allies or cause harm to themselves. The Yamanaka Clan's jutsu also allowed them to enter another person's mind and have access to the person's memories, thoughts, personality and so on. A Yamanaka could find out everything there was to know about a person just by going into that person's mind, which would make the Yamanaka Clan excellent psychiatrists.
However, the Yamanaka Clan were into botany and they owned a flower shop in the village. Sakura had been hoping that Ino would help her in their flower arranging assignment that they had gotten from the academy. Since Ino's clan owned a flower shop, Ino was somewhat of an expert on flowers and Sakura… well she was just clueless about the whole thing. In the classes with Suzume-sensei, Sakura always had Ino to guide her, but now that Suzume-sensei had given the class an assignment to go off and do flower arranging on their own as a homework assignment, Sakura found herself struggling. Everything Ino told her seemed to just vanish from her head. She had tried arranging flowers on her own, but the end result was downright terrible and very off-putting for anyone being offered that particular bouquet. Her mother had said so, though she had told her in a polite manner.
Sakura sighed as she shook her head. She just wasn't good at anything like Ino was. One of Sakura's main down points was her lack of confidence and self-esteem. Before she met Ino, she was the constant target of bullies because of the fact that she had a wider than average forehead, so she used her bangs to try and hide it, but it only served to make things worse and add fuel to the fire. Because of that, she was mostly alone and constantly crying because of her loneliness. However, one day, Ino found her crying sitting on one of the pathways in the park after some girls had another session of poking fun at her forehead. Sakura remembered how Ino befriended her and told her what the problem was and the next day, she had given her a red ribbon for her to wear on her head to divert attention away from her forehead. Ino then introduced her to her friends and none of them made fun of her forehead and whenever bullies approached her, Ino would deal with them. That had been the start of their friendship. Sakura really admired her best friend. Ino was popular, confident and so sure of herself; everything Sakura wanted to be. However, all the taunting and poking at her forehead had severely crushed her confidence long ago and unfortunately, without Ino; Sakura didn't feel as brave as she did whenever Ino was around.
"Well, well," a voice came, causing Sakura to cringe as she stopped and slowly and hesitantly turned around as if fearing who was behind her and hoping that she was mistaken.
"Still strutting around like you're some big shot," the voice continued tauntingly in a boastful tone.
"Ami," Sakura said fearfully as she laid eyes on three girls who had clearly been following her and backed away as she looked into the eyes of the girl in the middle and started sweating.
Fear quickly overcame her as she recognised those three girls. Her breathing became heavier as she frantically searched for a means of escape. Of all the days those three had to bother her, it had to be a day in which Ino wasn't there to stand up for her.
The girl in the middle; Ami just smirked at witnessing Sakura's reaction as she looked around as if to see if anyone was around and when she saw that there wasn't, her smirk widened into an evil grin.
"Not so tough without Ino backing you up, eh Billboard Brow?" she said in a gentle voice, but laced with a cruel arrogant tone.
Sakura clenched her eyes shut and shook her head, wanting Ami and her lackeys to go away and hoping that it was just some cruel nightmare.
Unfortunately for her, this was real and Ami slowly walked round Sakura till she was behind her, blocking off her escape as her two lackeys stayed where they were, blocking off Sakura's retreat.
Ami had long purple hair with cruel brownish purple eyes filled with nothing but cruel pleasure at Sakura's predicament. She wore black sandal, a red skirt and a white shirt with a blue cardigan over it and she stared at Sakura, giving her a mocking look as if to say, "What're you gonna do now?"
Sakura gulped as she opened her eyes and to her displeasure, her main antagonist was still there with her two lackeys mocking her feelings of helplessness.
"Leave me alone," Sakura croaked as she attempted to gather what courage she could muster, but Ami's sneer only served to smash what little confidence she had gathered.
"I'm afraid we can't do that, right girls?" Ami replied as she looked towards her two friends who just nodded in agreement, "You see, it seems that you're forgetting your place. You really think you're something special when you're not and to tell you the truth it's pissing me off. We're going to put you right back in your place where you belong you big-headed little freak."
Sakura continued to stare at Ami, frightened at what the cruel girl had planned for her and her fear only increased as Ami let out a cruel laugh as she eyed the ribbon tied on top of Sakura's head.
Out of all the bullies who had picked on Sakura because of her forehead, Ami was by far the worst. She had been the one to start it all off and the others just followed her example. However, most of the bullies had given up once Ino entered the picture. However, Ami was persistent and constantly went out of her way to make Sakura's life miserable as if it was her life's mission. She didn't know why, but she really couldn't stand Sakura. Maybe it was her big forehead or her pink hair, Ami didn't know, but she would always make Sakura feel bad whenever she saw her. Besides, she found it fun and it gave her and her friends a good laugh and she'd be damned if she was going to let some Little Miss Popular wannabe as she saw Ino get in her way.
"And what do we have here?" she said her hand grabbed the ribbon and violently yanked it off Sakura's head.
Naruto was currently walking in Konoha Park. The woman's attack earlier had darkened his mood and he had altered his course so he could clear his head. His thoughts were currently on what they were always on; why was he so hated in the village? What was it about him that made others hate him so much? It was like they hated him just for existing and from what he heard the villagers say whenever they tried to kill him, it seemed that that was exactly the reason. However, Naruto was smart enough to know that it wasn't just that. He knew that there was more to it than that. People just don't hate others just because they exist. There was something else going on and Naruto found himself a bit afraid of finding the answer. He wanted to know why everyone hated him and yet, he was afraid of discovering it… afraid of what it could mean for him. He had this increasing feeling in the pit of his stomach that when he did discover the truth, he would not like the answer. However, he knew that he had to know, but at the same time, he didn't want to know since he feared of what would happen to him.
"Hey, give that back," a girl's voice came, causing Naruto to come out of his thoughts and back to reality.
He looked off to his left and saw a pink haired girl reaching up to try and grab a red ribbon held up high by a purple haired girl. He noticed another two girls standing behind the pink haired girl with cruel smiles on their faces. Naruto recognised the kind of smile as he had seen that kind of smile on the faces of the villagers whenever they hurt him or managed to cause him misfortunate. The owner of the General Store had a similar smile when he had demanded an even higher price for the pen Naruto wanted when Naruto had given his the amount he had originally asked and seeing that sort of smile on those girls' faces while they watched the pink haired girl struggle to obviously reclaim her ribbon from the purple haired girl infuriated him. It was not him that was the target this time, but it infuriated him nonetheless. Just what had that girl done to deserve such treatment? It reminded him of himself and how the villagers tried to kill him. The pink haired girl was in the same position he had constantly been in for most of his life, though he was sure that the three other girls weren't looking to kill her. However, that did nothing to sooth Naruto's increasing fury.
The purple haired girl violently grabbed the pink haired girl's face with her free hand and then violently shoved her to the ground, causing her to land on her butt and Naruto's fury only increased as he saw tears well up in the girl's jade green eyes and started crying and the three other girls just laughed at their victim's misfortunate.
"Maybe now you'll know your place you big-headed freak," the purple haired boasted in a cruel, almost sadistic tone, "Don't think that that overrated Miss "I'm so glamorous I can do anything" so-called beauty queen, Ino's gonna protect ya forever."
"W-why Ami?" the pink haired girl sniffed as she wiped the tears from her cheeks with her fingers, "W-what did I e-ever do to… do to y-you?"
"You were born and you entered my life," the purple haired girl, Ami said as her face twisted into an expression of pure anger and her tone became laced with hatred and venom and she balled her free hand into a fist and brought it back, ready to slam it into the pink haired girl's face.
That was all Naruto could stand. He had heard that kind of talk before, only it was directed at him and finding that he wasn't the only one who was hated just for their existence only served to infuriate him further. From what he could tell, this girl had done nothing wrong and those three were making her life a living hell just because they didn't like her. At least in her case they probably used the fact that their victim's forehead was wider than average as an excuse, Naruto figured. He had noticed the girl's forehead, but he didn't see that as a valid excuse for hating someone. The girl didn't ask to be born with a big forehead just like he didn't ask for whatever the reason was for the villagers hating him.
Ami brought the hand holding onto the ribbon down to her side and was about to launch her fist at her victim's face when Naruto quickly walked up to her and grabbed the ribbon and pulled it out of Ami's hand so fast that the material moving against Ami's skin caused her to feel a very painful burning sensation on the palm of her hand and her fingers.
"Huh?" Ami said as she felt the excruciating pain of the friction burn on her hand and took a step backwards and dropped her fist.
She then brought her sore hand up in front of her and saw a red mark on the palm and parts of her fingers that had been touching the ribbon.
"What the..?" she said as her face twisted in absolute fury as she noticed Naruto walking over to her victim and ignoring her like she wasn't even there.
"I believe this belongs to you," Naruto said as he held out the ribbon to the pink haired girl, who sniffed as she wiped the last of her tears away.
"W-who are you?" she asked, giving Naruto a confused and wary look.
"I'm Uzumaki Naruto," Naruto said with a big fox like grin on his face, "And who might you be?"
"H-H-Haruno S-S-S akura," the girl stuttered as she hesitantly held out her hand and took the ribbon from Naruto.
"Haruno Sakura," Naruto said as his face took on a thoughtful expression, before turning to one of realisation a few seconds later "I remember you from the academy. I never actually met you, but I saw you around with that Yamanaka girl a few times."
Sakura looked at Naruto with a blank stare, blinking a few times as she absorbed what he just said.
"Hey," Ami's infuriated voice came, interrupting Sakura's thoughts, "Don't just ignore me."
"Hey, isn't that that boy that everyone hates so much," one of Ami's friends whispered to the other.
"Uh huh," the second girl said with a nod, "That's him."
The two girls looked at Naruto nervously as they felt a growing feeling of fear and dread well up in the pits of their stomachs. They were now unsure whether or not to continue with Ami's plan and they looked at their leader as if looking for answers. The plan was to rough Sakura up a bit and scare her. They never thought that anyone would intervene, never mind Naruto. Now that he had stepped in, they were wondering whether or not they should run. The adults had always said he was a demon and a monster. What would happen to them if they stayed? Would Naruto kill them, especially since they heard whispers about an incident six months ago in which it was said that he had killed someone?
However, Ami didn't seem to care as she seemed more furious than scared that Naruto had ruined her "fun".
Naruto turned to face her and stood between her and Sakura, glaring daggers at her. He then turned his head both ways and shot a glare at Ami's two lackeys behind him and Sakura as if to say, "Try anything and you're dead" and the two girls gulped, not wanting to take the chance that it was an empty threat since the look in Naruto's eye told them that he was very capable of carrying out and he would carry it out if they tried anything against Sakura.
"Get lost, this don't concern you," Ami said as she continued to glare at Naruto who turned back to face her and returned her glare with contempt and disgust in his eyes.
"Just what the heck's your deal with Sakura-chan?" he demanded through gritted teeth, "I may not know her, but from what I saw of her at the academy, she's a very nice person who wouldn't hurt a fly."
"That's none of your business whisker face, not beat it," Ami said, using the thumb of her left hand to point to the left as if showing him the way to go.
However, Naruto's glare only intensified and Ami suddenly found her resolve shaken somewhat. However, she just gulped and reasserted herself as she resumed glaring at Naruto.
"I don't like the way your treating her," Naruto growled, causing Ami to jerk back in fright, "I heard what you said and you hate her just because she's alive…? Why would anyone hate her for that?"
Ami growled as she tried reasserting herself once again. No way was she going to be scared off by the most hated person in the village. She knew who Naruto was and knew how the village seemed to just despise his very existence, not that she cared or anything. As long as Naruto didn't cross her, she saw no reason to seek him out unless he happened to come across her when she had nothing to do. She also heard the whispers about how he had killed someone six months previously during the anniversary festival of when the Yondaime defeated the Kyuubi no Yoko, but she just passed those off as just pointless rumours the adults had thought up to further justify their hatred of him. Not that it mattered to Ami. She could care less about the reasons the adults had for hating Naruto. She would only deal with him if he ever crossed her path and that was that.
"Just look at her forehead," she said in response to Naruto's statement just to humour him and get him to shut up as she knew he wouldn't go away, "Look at the size of it."
Naruto turned his head and his eyes fell upon Sakura's large forehead as they scanned every inch of it as Sakura looked on in a mixture of wonder and fear; fear that Naruto would side with Ami in making her life miserable.
"Yeah, so?" he said, turning back to glare at Ami, "Her forehead is pretty big, but that's no reason to bully her. It's not her fault. She didn't ask to be born like that."
Sakura's eyes widened in surprise at hearing that as she felt relief wash over her, glad that Naruto wasn't going to judge her by the size of her forehead.
"Oh course you'd say that," Ami said in an unimpressed tone as she yawned and patted her open mouth with her fingers, "Takes a freak to know a freak. You're just as much of a freak as she is whisker face. I mean, what's with those whiskers anyway? Are you like part cat or something? I think you're just some monster that looks like a boy and Forehead Girl's the same. Freaks."
However, just as she finished talking, she suddenly found herself flying through the air before finally landing on the ground on her back with a really sore face. She looked up and saw Naruto with an outstretched fist glaring down at her with pure hate and contempt.
"AMI!" the two lackey girls screamed as they both rushed over to their fallen leader.
They both knelt down and tried to help her up, but Ami violently jerked her body away from them, feeling more humiliated than she ever felt in her entire life; even more humiliated than that time Ino threw flowers into her mouth and said they were poisonous, which caused her and her lackeys to run off to find Suzume.
"Don't touch me," Ami said in a dangerously low tone as she manoeuvred herself into a sitting position and glared up at Naruto, struggling to hold back the tears that were welling up in her eyes and threatening to flow down her cheeks.
"Say that again!" Naruto said in a dangerously low tone as he took a step towards the three girls, causing two of them to back off, "Only this time, say it to my face!"
Ami flinched at the harshness in his tone as her two friends screamed and ran off, abandoning their leader.
"You…!" Ami said as she clenched her fists into the grass, severing several blades from their roots and she picked herself up and shot Naruto and Sakura both a venomous look of pure hate, "You'll regret this…!"
She then turned and stormed off in a rage leaving Naruto glaring at her back till she was out of sight.
Once she out of sight, Naruto turned to Sakura and held out his hand to help her up.
"Are you okay?" he asked staring at her with concern in his eyes.
Sakura blinked for a few seconds as she just stared up at Naruto with a look of wonder highlighting her face as if she were thinking whether or not to trust Naruto. After all, he did just rescue her from Ami when Ino was unable to because of her cold. She had overheard Ami's two lackeys talking earlier and she knew that there was a boy in the village that nobody seemed to like and tried to kill frequently because of it. She had no idea why the adults were so determined to kill him for no apparent reason. She had asked her mother about it, but she wouldn't give her a straight answer and just said it was because he should've never been born. Sakura had been persistent, but her mother had urged her to drop it and told her that she didn't need to know why. She had seen Naruto once or twice at the academy, but those had just been passing glances and she didn't think much of it back then.
However, now that he was here right here and now and knowing that he was the boy all the adults had told their children to stay away from, she was unsure what to think. Her mother had told her to stay away from him and that he was a demon and a monster and like before, when Sakura had persisted in finding out why her mother had said that, her mother had told her what she had told her about why he should never have been born; that she didn't need to know and again told her to drop it. Sakura had done so, though she had still been curious about it. Just what was so bad about this boy? What did he do to merit such hostility from the adults? Most of the other children just followed their elders' example and treated him just like the adults did believing that he was bad somehow, but Sakura started to wonder. Someone who had just saved her when she didn't ask his help couldn't be bad, could he?
"W-why did you save me?" Sakura asked as she slowly and hesitantly took Naruto's hand and he pulled her up, "A-are you really that boy… the one everyone hates?"
Naruto looked down at the ground as here let out a depressed groan and sighed.
"Uh huh," he said as he turned and was about to walk off, believing that Sakura was going to turn against him. Like all the other children he befriended in the past.
Sure, he did befriend some of the children, but they all abandoned him when their parents found out about their children's friendship with them. Sometimes, a child's mother or father would just walk up to them and drag their child away while glaring at him and telling their child not to go anywhere near him and that he would only lead them to an early demise and the children all believed what their parents told him. Naruto found himself envious of the other children. They all had parents and parents were supposed to set an example for their children to follow. Naruto wished he had parents and he often wondered what happened to his parents. Did they abandon him and join the rest of the village believing that bringing him into the world was a mistake? Did the village have a grudge against his family and murdered them leaving him alive and now the village were out to finish the job of eradicating the Uzumaki Family? Naruto honestly had no idea what the story was. However, what upset him was that the parents of his temporary friends all hated him and that was the example they set for their children and they just followed them without question. It angered him to no end that the children were so blind, but then again, just about all the villagers hated him. He figured that maybe the children were afraid that the villagers would turn on them just for being with him. He knew that Teuchi and Ayame suffered at the hands of the villagers just for their acceptance of him. The only reason neither of them were the targets of lynch mobs was because the Ichiraku Ramen Stand was the only ramen stand in the village and as much at they hated the owner and his daughter for their acceptance of Naruto, they enjoyed their ramen and weren't willing to risk losing the only ramen stand in the village just because of the management's acceptance of the "demon brat". Naruto figured that perhaps the children feared similar treatment, only they wouldn't be so lucky since they had nothing to protect themselves like Teuchi and Ayame did.
"W-wait," he heard Sakura say, causing him to stop and turn to face her curiously.
Sakura remained silent for a moment as she realised that she had no idea what she was going to say to him and then, at length, she let out a soft sigh.
"Thank you for saving me," she said as she gave Naruto an unsure stare, as if unsure whether to trust him or not, "But, I must know, why? Why did you save me?"
Naruto was silent for a moment as he stood there studying her face and he looked into her eyes and saw the uncertainty and confusion within them.
"Because Sakura-chan, those three girls reminded me of what everyone did to me my entire life," he replied with a sigh, shaking his head, "I hate that. It's not your fault your forehead's so big. It was how you were born and I doubt you can choose how to be born."
Sakura nodded and then gave Naruto an unsure stare.
"S-so you don't think my forehead m-make me u-ugly?" she asked hesitantly, "Mostly everyone aside from Ino-chan and her friend thinks so."
Naruto shook his head.
"No, I think you're beautiful and kinda cute," he said as he broke out in a fox like grin, "You just wouldn't be you without your big forehead. Don't let those girls get ya down. I think it highlights your beauty perfectly and I'm sure this Ino and her friends think so to."
She's cheeks turned a bit red as she blushed a bit.
"Th-thanks," she said softly before giving Naruto a questioning look, "So N-Naruto-k-kun, why does everyone hate you so much, I m-mean if you saved me, you can't be all bad, right?"
Naruto sighed as he looked away from Sakura and down at the ground, feeling depression set in. He then took a few steps away from Sakura and stopped just as Sakura opened her moth to speak. He then looked up at the sky and gave another sigh.
"I honestly don't know," he said in a in a sad dejected tone, "Everyone thinks I'm some kind of monster or demon and I don't remember doing anything to anyone. Like those three girls picking on you, it feels like everyone just hates me because I'm alive. They even said so a few times when they tried to kill me. I wish I knew why though. There has to be more to it than that, but no one will tell me why. They seem to think I already know."
He then turned back to face Sakura as he felt tears start to well up in his eyes and Sakura gasped when she looked into his eyes. She may not know how to read people by looking into their eyes as well as Naruto, but she could see the loneliness and sadness Naruto's eyes held. They weren't the eyes of a demonic monster like her mother and the rest of the village believed he was. They were the eyes of a lonely desperate boy in need of love and affection who had been denied everything that was good in life. She knew right there and then that the villagers were all wrong about Naruto. However, she doubted they'd listen to her. They all seemed so fixated on their views of him that they probably didn't care. It kind of reminded her of herself before she met Ino. Up until that point, she had been lonely because everyone would poke fun at her forehead. Only, the adults didn't join in and it was nowhere near the level that Naruto must've suffered, but Sakura knew what it felt like to be friendless and alone, though she didn't have to watch her back every second of the day. She knew that she probably would never understand the full extent of Naruto's pain and suffering, but she knew enough to know that they were similar; Sakura had her huge forehead and Naruto had… well Sakura didn't know what, but she knew that it was something that he had no control over and so she came to a decision.
"Naruto-kun," she said as she walked towards him and wrapped her arms round him once she reached him, "I-I'll be your friend."
Naruto's eyes widened in shock and he just stared at her with a look of astonishment and disbelief written all over his face.
"Y-y-you'll be m-my f-f-f-friend?" he said, unable to believe what he just heard as Sakura wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded.
"Yeah, you're no monster," she said as she placed her hands on his shoulders and looked him right in the eye, "I may be seven-years-old, but I know that monsters never cry nor do they feel sadness nor sorrow. You're alone and I know it's not your fault. I can never understand what you've been through, but I understand what it's like to be alone and feel like everyone's against you. Before I met Ino-chan, everyone would make fun of my forehead because it was bigger than normal and like you said, I didn't ask for it to be like that, so in a small way, we're kinda similar."
"B-but the villagers might hurt you and try to kill you as well," Naruto said as he remembered Teuchi and Ayame and what some of their customers said to them after being served.
"You demon lover,"he remembered a man saying to Teuchi once he had finished eating, "If it wasn't for this stand, you and that whore you call a daughter would be next to that "demon filth."
Teuchi had just shrugged it off since he was used to it and had learned to ignore such insults. However, hearing those customers talk like that had taught Naruto one thing; that anyone who socialises with him will be in for the same treatment as him and it was the main reason he felt why the children who had become his temporary friends in the past had sided with their parents.
"I don't care," Sakura said with a determined look on her face and a hard look in her eyes that told Naruto that her mind would not be changed, "You need friends and even one friend is better than none. If I have to be treated the same as you, so be it. At least I know that everyone's wrong about you."
Unbeknownst to Naruto and Sakura, the woman from 10th October who had tried to incite hatred in Naruto watched the whole scene from atop a branch on a nearby tree with disapproval in her eyes. Her mood was sour and foul as she heard every word. Using the Kakuremino no Jutsu with a cloak the same colour and pattern as the tree, she was able to get close enough to hear without them realising she was there.
Six months ago, she had hoped to incite Naruto to hate the village so that he'd eventually become as much of a monster as the Kyuubi itself so that the Hokage and the few who didn't treat him like the plaque of the village to turn against him. Unfortunately, much to her fury, the old bastard of a Hokage had managed to steer Naruto from that path with his talk. Oh yes, she had overheard everything that was discussed between Naruto and the Sandaime. The old fool was growing senile in his old age. He had no idea that his office had been bugged, though she had to admit that she couldn't have done it alone and had enlisted help, but those fools were nothing to her other than mere pawns in her scheme to bring down the Kyuubi Container and even if the Sandaime did discover the bug in his office, their was no way they could trace it back to her. The help she had enlisted was from a group of separatists loyal to a man who had been at loggerheads with the Sandaime since the Nidaime was still in power and the Sandaime was well aware of this separatist faction's existence. The man in charge, a war hawk by the name of Danzo who was in charge of the ANBU ROOT division, which was officially disbanded, but secretly active, would get the blame. Not that she cared for the old one-eyed cripple. He may not be as senile as the Sandaime, but the woman had managed to dig up dirt on him that she could use to further exert her control over him should he discover that he was being used like a puppet. The woman's lips curled into a smile as she thought of the irony of it all. Danzo himself was a puppeteer, using others to further his own ambitions and yet, he was being used himself to further her own plans
"The puppeteer is a puppet himself," she thought with a smirk before coming back to reality and glared down at Naruto.
This was not supposed to happen. Naruto was not supposed to turn out like this. In the beginning, she had believed the Sandaime's talk to be a lost cause and believed that Naruto would give into temptation eventually even after making his vow never to kill again. After all, he was only human. Unfortunately, she had underestimated his willpower and resolve. He had come close in the past to killing s few people, but always managed to stop himself before the blow connected and it was causing a few people to rethink their views on him.
That didn't worry her though; they still didn't trust him and could easily be brought back into believing that he was the Kyuubi itself. His pranks were very good at that, but this… this could pose a problem in the future and make her plans more difficult. Sakura could see the truth; the woman could see that and she knew that all it would take was for one person to accept him and more could follow suit. Like a group of people who feared an enemy they clearly outnumbered; all it would take was for one person to stand up to the enemy and they could all stand up. This was similar only instead of driving an enemy out; they'd be accepting a lonely misunderstood boy with open arms. She knew that Sakura was brave and would stand by her pledge despite her apparent lack of confidence without her friend. The fact that Naruto and Sakura shared the experience of being alone due to things they had no control over seemed to have brought them together and increased Sakura's confidence dramatically.
Though the woman wouldn't kill Sakura outright. No, she could still push Naruto down the path she wanted him to take and maybe if she turned Sakura against him; the devastation he would no doubt feel from it would be enough to consume him with hate. He was only human after all and every human had their limit; some had greater limits than others. Why kill Sakura when she could be just as useful to her alive? Besides, how could she kill Sakura and get away with it?
Her plan had just become more complicated. She was sure that she could still pull it off, but this new factor just made things even more difficult.
"Damn it," she thought, clenching her fists as she looked up at the sky, "Even from beyond the grave you're still laughing in my face. Once that annoying brat's taken care of, all traces of you and your legacy will finally be out of my hair and then… we'll see who's laughing then."
Much later, after Sakura said goodbye to Naruto after they spent the day in the park together, she arrived home and immediately removed her sandals from her feet.
"Mom, I'm home," she said as she walked into the kitchen to see her mother, Haruno Fuhei preparing the dinner.
"Hello dear, how was your day?" Fuhei asked her daughter as she turned to face her daughter with a huge loving smile on her face.
"Fine kaa-chan, just fine," Sakura replied with a fake smile as she remembered that her mother was among those who wrongfully treated Naruto like he was some kind of monster.
Everything behind Sakura suddenly went black and a clone of Sakura that was all black with a white outline tracing her features, even those of her clothes appeared behind her. Written on this clone's forehead in white kanji letters were the word's "Inner Sakura" and she glared at the woman furiously.
"Shannaro! How can you be so happy when Naruto-kun's suffering because of you and the rest of this village?" the Inner Sakura said pointing at Fuhei.
Haruno Fuhei was basically a taller, much older version of her daughter as far as her appearance went, though she didn't have a wide forehead like her daughter had. She had long waist-length pink hair and sparkling big jade green eyes. She currently wore black sandals, red trousers, and a pink shirt with a red apron over the front of her body.
"Where were you by the way?" Fuhei inquired curiously as she gave her daughter a curious stare.
"In the park," Sakura answered truthfully as she averted her mother's gaze, causing Fuhei to eye her in surprise.
Sakura just couldn't bring herself to look at her mother at the moment. Spending time with Naruto and getting to know the real Naruto and not just what everyone said about him caused Sakura's respect for the village to drop significantly. Adults were supposed to set examples for children. Sakura knew that. However, from what she had learned from her time with Naruto, it seemed that the adults of this village were just teaching their children how to hate. She had always been somewhat smart for her age with an above average intelligence, though she wouldn't call herself a genius. That kid from the Nara Clan was smarter than her despite being lazy and only wanting to just lie back and watch clouds roll by every second of the day. Anyway, she knew that the children only hated Naruto because their parents hated him. The adults were infecting them with their hate and it sickened her that her mother was among those who partook in such behaviour.
"What's for dinner?" she asked, still refusing to meet her mother's gaze.
Fuhei studied her daughter, looking her over with a thoughtful expression on her face as she tried to figure her out.
"What's wrong sweetie?" she asked curiously with a hint of concern in her voice, "You don't seen too happy."
"I'm fine," Sakura replied, waving off her mother's question as she walked over to the table and took a seat, "So what's for dinner?"
"Sakura, what's wrong?" Fuhei asked in a slightly more serious tone with the concern more evident, "Did that Ami girl give you grief again?"
"Kaa-chan, just drop it, I don't want to talk about it," Sakura said, feeling slightly frustrated at her mother's persistence.
Fuhei then became even more concerned for her daughter. She knew fine well that Sakura suffered at the hands of bullies because of her huge forehead, especially that Ami girl who Fuhei knew was the worst of the lot. Fuhei swore that if Ami had done something to hurt her daughter in any way, she'd be having a chat with the purple haired girl's parents. She knew that Ino stood up for Sakura, but Ino was sick with a nasty cold and couldn't come to Sakura's defence this time.
"Sakura, tell me what's wrong, it's that Ami girl, isn't it?" she said as her face twisted with anger, furious at the thought that someone was out to ruin her baby's life just for something she had no control over.
"Just leave me alone," Sakura said in a bitter tone, giving her mother a harsh glare, "I don't want to talk about it."
"Nor do I want to look at you, Shannaro!" Inner Sakura added, putting in her two cents.
Fuhei's eyes widened in shock and she took a few steps back, taken aback by her daughter's tone and the look in her eyes directed at her. Fuhei had only one word to describe the look in her daughter's eyes; disgust. Her eyes narrowed as she regained her composure and stared at her daughter, all previous concern gone as she realised there was something else going on.
"Okay Sakura, enough's enough, what's really going on?" she said to her daughter in a demanding tone, "And don't give me that look young lady."
Sakura growled as she violently shook her head and she got up and made her way to the doorway, but Fuhei grabbed her wrist and spun her round till their eyes were locked with one another's.
"Sakura, you will tell me what's going on here!" her mother demanded with a hint of fury lacing her voice, "I am your mother and I don't deserve that kind of treatment from my daughter. What's made you so angry with me?"
Her tone became more calm and full of concern as she asked the last question.
Sakura just glared up at her mother right in the eye and let out a disgusted scoff.
"I think you know," she said in a tone of absolute revulsion before shaking her head.
"I think I…" Fuhei repeated before trailing off as her anger returned and she glared down at her daughter, "Tell me, I'm not sure what you mean."
"Uzumaki Naruto," Sakura replied as she intensified her glare and her mother's eyes widened and her grip on her wrist slackened somewhat and Sakura violently jerked her arm out of her mother's hand.
Fuhei's hands immediately flew up to her open mouth as she gave her daughter a shocked stare. However, once she recovered from her initial shock, her facial expression twisted to one of anger and she glared furiously at her daughter, her eyes oozing out hate and disgust.
"I thought I told you to stay away from him," she growled in a dangerously low tone, "What were you thinking, hanging out with him? He'll only lead you to your death."
"Says you," Sakura retorted was a furious glare of her own, "You're all wrong about him. He saved me from Ami when she was about to beat me up."
"He saved you from..?" Fuhei said, sounding genuinely surprised before she shook her head and reasserted her anger, "Don't let him fool you. He's just trying to trick you. He probably only did it to gain your trust so he can get close to you and then he'll kill you."
"You don't understand him, you don't know him," Sakura countered, furiously at hearing her mother's excuses, "All he wants is to be accepted and to have friends, but you and the rest of this village deny him that."
"WITH GOOD REASON!" Fuhei snapped loudly, before covering her mouth and her eyes widened in pure shock as she realised that she may have said too much.
"What reason?" Sakura demand, placing her hands on her hips as if trying to look brave, "Even he doesn't know why you all hate him so much. What did he do to deserve that kind of treatment?"
"He was born," Fuhei stated coldly after recovering from her shock.
"What?" Sakura said, shocked and disgusted at her mother's answer, "He was born? That's your reason? Not good enough. It's not his fault he was born. Maybe you should hate me because I have a big forehead."
"That's different!" Fuhei snapped in seething fury, furious at her daughter's persistence and also a bit fearful.
"How's it different?" Sakura demanded, folding her arms across her chest.
"It just is," Fuhei replied simply.
"Nonsense," Sakura said as she shook her head, "Just tell me why everyone hates him so much because I'm not going to abandon him, even if you disown me. I spent time with him and got to know a bit about him and he's sad; not the demon you all seem to portray him as."
"Sakura, that's enough!" Fuhei said in a furious tone, "I can't tell you that. I'm sorry, but I can't and if you continue to persist in finding out, I'll have no choice, but to kill you and believe me, that's something I don't want to do."
Sakura's eyes widened in shock at hearing this.
"Kill me…?" she gasped, shooting her mother a look of disbelief, "B-but why?"
Fuhei closed her eyes as her face took on a pained expression.
"Because it's something you and the other children are not supposed to know about," she replied with a sigh.
"I'm not supposed to know about?" Sakura said, her face twisting with anger, "Why?"
"That's none of your concern musume-chan," Fuhei stated serious with a look that said, "Don't argue with me".
Sakura glared into her mother's eyes for a few moments before she turned and stormed out the kitchen, leaving Fuhei, who just sighed as she shook her head, feeling depression set in as she slowly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She then turned her head to look at the picture of a man with reddish brown hair and dark bluish green eyes sitting on top of the mantle piece at the far right hand wall of the room. The man also had a wide forehead much like Sakura's.
"Oh musume-chan," Fuhei thought as she shook her head as a single tear rolled down her cheek, "If only I could tell you the truth. If only I could tell you how that thing killed your father."
She continued to stare at the picture of the man who was wearing a dark blue jumpsuit with a green vest over it and on each side of the vest's zipper was three compartments shaped as if they were pouches. He wore a dark blue hitai-ate round his neck as if it was a choker. He had his arms folded across his stomach was a cocky looking grin on his face.
"Takeshi-kun, just what would you have done?" Fuhei thought, looking at the picture of her late husband.
She wished she could tell her daughter the truth about Naruto, she really did, but unfortunately due to the Sandaime's decree, she couldn't. She wanted nothing more than to be honest with her daughter, but unfortunately she couldn't and she also fear that if Sakura dabbled in that subject, the Sandaime might order that Sakura be silenced if she discovered too much for fear that she might tell the other children. The Sandaime's decree never really covered the possibility that the children could become persistent in wanting to know why their parents felt the way they did about Naruto and Fuhei herself feared the Sandaime would order any children who were persistent to be eliminated to keep the truth from the younger generation. She knew the Sandaime's personality well and knew that he would probably not want to have such barbaric acts carried out, but unfortunately their were times when certain situations called for people to do things that would make everyone tremble in fear. It was something that the ninjas had to live with and the Hokage was a ninja himself. Fuhei found the decree rather foolish. It was supposed to give Naruto a chance at a normal life with the children, but the older generation easily found ways round that and were able to convince their children to side with them without really telling the truth since children normally followed their parents' example blindly and without question.
However, Sakura had started questioning her about it and unlike the other children, Sakura was more open minded and to Fuhei's horror, she had actually spent time with Naruto and she was convinced that he was a sad and lonely boy. Remembering Sakura's words caused the elder Haruno to snort. What did Sakura know? If only she knew the truth, she probably wouldn't be so quick to take his side. In Fuhei's mind, the "demon" was brainwashing her daughter, corrupting her very soul. She remembered Sakura mentioning about how she wouldn't change her mind even if she was disowned and that was something Fuhei could never bring herself to do no matter what. She had lost her husband to the Kyuubi and she couldn't bare the thought of being alone. Sakura was all she had left and she was going to fight to keep her, though for now, she'd just let Sakura have her way. Let her find out the hard way and she'd step in if her daughter was in danger. An evil grin suddenly appeared on her face. Sometimes people were so stubborn that they'd only change their mind through witnessing the person they were arguing with being proven right.
"I just hope it doesn't cost you your life my little musume-chan," she thought as her grin faltered as the fear that being proven right would cost her daughter her life, "Please be safe Sakura."
She then left the room and an astral form of her husband's face appeared in front of his picture and only frowned as if he were disappointed about his wife's behaviour.
Glossary
Chunin – Journeyman Ninja (mid-level ninja)
Kakuremino no Jutsu – Invisible Cloak Technique
Shannaro – No official translation, but translates into Damn it, Hell yeah or Yeah whenever Inner Sakura says it
Kaa-chan – Mother (the chan suffix probably means that the person saying it means mommy)
Musume-chan – Daughter (the chan suffix probably refers to the closeness of their relationship, though I'm unsure)
Author's Notes – That was longer than I had thought it'd be. I'm still not pleased about the review situation. Only one review last chapter, but I suppose it's better than nothing. I've fixed spelling mistakes I noticed in chapter two as well as updated the Glossary with words I mentioned in the chapter, but forgot to put in the Glossary, so that's sorted. Anyway, Naruto's met Sakura now and next chapter, it's Ino's turn and then Hinata. As for the naming of Sakura's mother, I originally thought up of the name, Fuhei (pronounced Foo-hay) when I was planning a Naruto/Bleach crossover fic in which Sakura would be the niece of Squad Nine's Lieutenant/Vice-captain (fukutaicho), Shuhei Hisagi (or Hisagi Shuhei since in Japan surname comes before your own name) and her mother was Shuhei's sister and the family had a thing for Ūhei, but that idea never really took off and I couldn't think up of a more suitable name for Sakura's mom, so I just stuck with Fuhei. I know progress may seem slow, but just give it a chance. By chapter eight/nine/ten, this fic will pick up and don't think that's the last of Ami either. I have plans for her.