Episode 7:

"Sakura"

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor do I make any money off of this story.

A/N: The rating of this story had to go up because of this chapter. This is due to rather graphic violence that takes place. If you feel that you cannot go on reading than I thank you for reading up till this point.

The next day found the three youngest members of Team Seven waiting at the main gate alongside their client Tazuna. They were supposed to have left over an hour ago but their team leader had yet to show up. Sasuke was passing the time by flipping a kunai around the air and catching it without looking.

This provided Sakura all the distraction she needed as she spent her time staring at Sasuke and making the occasional comment about how awesome he was. Naru stood to the side her arms folded an annoyed look on her face. Tazuna simply continued to drink from his seemingly endless supply of alcohol.

It would be another hour before Kakashi finally arrived at the gate. "You're late!" yelled Sakura and Naru together. Kakashi rubbed the back of his head sheepishly "Well you see there was this black cat and…" Before he could finish Naru had stomped her way on over to stand in front of him. Kakashi blinked and looked down at his short student. He was going to ask her what she wanted when she drew her leg back and kicked him in the shin. "Liar!" she yelled.

Kakashi's eye went wide and he began jumping up and down on his one uninjured leg. The grey haired Jonin went to grab for the girl but she darted away before he could grab her. The Jonin instructor spent the next ten minutes attempting to catch the blonde to get his revenge but she was remarkably good at evasion.

Eventually though all good things must come to an end and so with a swirl of leaves Kakashi used the shunsin to appear in front of the girl. Naru slammed into Kakashi and would have fallen on her ass had he not grabbed her. The blonde gulped and looked up into her teacher's enraged eye. "Eh…heh… Sorry?" she said meekly.

Kakashi spoke to the girl in a voice as cool as ice "If you ever do that again Naru I will introduce you to one of Konoha's most terrible secret techniques. A thousand years of death!" Blue eyes widened as the young girl stumbled back and away from him. "I'm really sorry Kakashi-sensei. I promise I'll never kick you again" she whimpered.

Kakashi took a step towards Naru. The girl looked as if she were going to bolt however it was all for naught as her teacher's gaze turned from menacing to friendly in less than a heartbeat. "Good, that's all I needed to hear" the grey haired man said fondly. Kakashi turned around to face the rest of their group and took in their slightly disturbed expressions. "What?" he asked.

Sakura gave him a blank look "Are all Jonin as insane as you are?" Kakashi pondered her question before nodding with an eye smile "Yep!" Sasuke snorted and continued to play around with a kunai. "It's official. I'm going to die" said Tazuna before taking another swig from his bottle. For once Naru agreed with him as she turned to face the old drunk "Yeah probably."

Kakashi gave Naru a disapproving stare "Naru don't tell the client that he's going to die." Naru shrugged in response "He said it. I just agreed with him." Kakashi let out a sigh and addressed the rest of the group "Alright we've wasted enough time fooling around. Let's head on out." With a chorus of "Hai Sensei!" and a grumble from Tazuna, Team Seven plus one passed through the gate and left Konoha on their trip to Wave.

The first part of the trip which took them through the forests of Fire Country was mostly uneventful. After a few hours the small group came upon a puddle in the road. The three Genin along with Tazuna didn't look twice at the small patch of water on the ground. At least not until a pair of shadowy figures burst from the puddle and launched themselves at Kakashi. The Genin squad watched in horror as their Sensei was wrapped up in a chain that was being held between the two figures.

A second later the chain was pulled tight and Hatake Kakashi a Jonin of Konoha was ripped to bloody pieces. The group now one member short was too stunned to move let alone utter a word. The two figures turned to face the rest of their prey. One of the pair, the one on the left spoke in a rough voice muffled by the mask that he wore "Well that's one down, Gozu."

The man named Gozu turned to his partner "Who do you think we should kill next Meizu?" Meizu gave a dark chuckle and turned to Sakura. "How about pinky over there she looks fairly weak" Meizu said with a growl. Sasuke, Naru, and Tazuna all turned to Sakura. This is what the pair known as the demon brothers were waiting for as they sprinted off towards Tazuna while the Leaf shinobi were distracted.

Sakura was the first to see since her gaze had remained on the dark pair. The young girl was frightened but she knew her duty so she reached into her weapons pouch and pulled out a kunai. A few quick steps brought her in front of the bridge builder. Sakura faced the oncoming demon brothers the kunai held tightly in her hands.

The demon brothers were less than three feet away from Sakura, clawed gauntlets reaching out for her when a fist slammed into each of their faces. The two Chunin flew backwards a few feet from the momentum before slamming into the ground and skidding to a stop. Gozu and Meizu looked up in surprise to see Sasuke and Naru standing before Sakura.

"You stay away from them!" shouted Naru. Sasuke narrowed his eyes at them "Sakura is our teammate and Tazuna our client. Touch them and you die." The demon brothers stared at the two before bursting out in laughter. The two missing-nin rose to their feet and with a slight movement of their wrists the chain that connected their gauntlets was released and dropped to the ground.

The brothers shared a look that lasted less than a second before they both flickered out of existence. Sasuke being the fastest of his team turned to his left before Meizu's leg slammed into his midsection. All the air in Sasuke's lungs rushed out as the kick sent him sailing into a nearby tree. A thud could be heard as the raven haired boy hit the tree and slumped to the ground.

"Sasuke!" yelled Naru. "I'm your opponent" said Gozu as he appeared before the blonde Genin his arm darting forward. The metal gauntlet flashed in the sun its' clawed tips digging into Naru's flesh when it slammed into her stomach. Gozu's arm would have completely impaled Naru had a flash of steel not come down severing it at the elbow. The man barely had a chance to scream before his head was separated from his body with a spray of blood.

Naru crumpled to the ground, blood flowing freely from the multiple puncture wounds on her stomach. The blonde's vision was wavering but she could still see her Sensei standing above her a sword held tightly in his hands. "Kaka-sensei you're alive" the girl said weakly. Kakashi's gaze moved quickly over each of his students and Tazuna as well. Determining that Naru was the worst off the Jonin placed his sword on the ground and kneeled before the blonde.

Kakashi grabbed the bottom of the girl's blood soaked shirt and uncovered her stomach. The grey haired man was surprised to see that the wounds from Gozu's gauntlet were slowly closing on their own. Kakashi studied the way the wounds hissed and glowed with a crimson light. He would have continued staring in fascination had he not heard Naru's breathing become labored.

Kakashi wiped the blood off of his hand and placed it against Naru's forehead. The girl let out a whimper as her small body was wracked with pain. "Naru sweetie you've been poisoned and I'm going to give you an antidote. It's going to taste really bad but you need to drink all of it, ok?" asked the Jonin softly while he reached into a pouch on his vest and removed a small vial filled with a dark green fluid.

She nodded and opened her mouth when Kakashi brought the uncorked vial to her lips. The dark syrupy fluid filled her mouth and slid down her throat as she struggled to swallow the bitter antidote. Warmth bloomed in the young girl's stomach and spread outwards to her limbs. Naru turned her head towards the sky as her vision went dark. "Sensei…" mumbled the girl softly and then she knew no more.

Bright blue eyes stared into the vortex of swirling red chakra. "Leave me the hell alone!" yelled the girl into the violently churning whirlpool. "YOU WILL NEVER BE FREE!" a booming voice roared. The girl stumbled back in fright. "Who are you? Why won't you leave me alone" she asked frantically. "I am…"

Naru awoke with a scream her bright blue eyes opening wide in fright. A small hand placed itself on her shoulder and the blonde jerked away. "Calm down Naru" said a deep voice as a larger pair of hands took a hold of her arms. Naru looked towards the person who was holding her and saw the single visible eye of her teacher. "Kakashi-sensei" the girl said in a slightly raspy voice. Kakashi gave the girl a fond look and helped her to sit up before handing her a canteen.

Naru took the offered canteen and drank deeply. She let out a happy sigh and handed the canteen back to her teacher. Naru finally got around to studying her surroundings. She noticed that she was on a small boat surrounded by fog. The boat while not particularly large was big enough to hold all of Team Seven as well as Tazuna and an old man who must be the boat's owner.

Naru looked back to her teacher "What happened Sensei everything seems so blurry." Kakashi let out a sigh "We were attacked. A pair of missing-nin from the Mist Village nicknamed the demon brothers used a special technique to hide themselves in that puddle on the ground." "But I saw you die!" the confused blonde interrupted. Kakashi lowered his head "When they attacked me I used the substitution to get away. I was watching from a safe distance. I should have intervened sooner but I wanted to see how you three would perform."

The grey haired man reached up to run a hand through his messy hair. "That was a mistake. At first you and Sasuke did well but I underestimated how fast they would be. They managed to take out Sasuke and seriously wound you before I could get to you. Naru felt a phantom twinge of pain and placed her hand against her stomach. "We almost lost you" the Jonin said.

"We're here" interrupted the boat's owner as he hopped out into water that only came up to his thighs. He grabbed a rope that was tied to the boat and pulled it the rest of the way until it was resting on the soft muddy earth beneath the water. Tazuna was the first to leave the boat. Once he was on solid ground he held out his hand and helped Sakura out of the boat. Sasuke took a short leap from the boat to land beside Tazuna. Naru let out a squeak as she was scooped up by Kakashi. The grey haired Jonin leaped from the boat with Naru in his arms and landed near Sakura.

"Let me go!" shouted a furiously blushing Naru. Kakashi's eyebrow rose slightly. "Alright" the Jonin said as he purposely dropped the girl. Naru let out a yelp as she hit the ground "Damn it Sensei I didn't mean literally." "Do you even know what literally means blondie?" asked an amused Sasuke.

Naru whipped out a kunai from her weapons pouch. "Call me blondie again Teme and I'll castrate you!" she said angrily. Kakashi moved in front of Sasuke to protect him from the girl's wrath "That's enough Naru. This is not the time to be threatening your teammates." The blonde let out a growl and spun on her heel to face the other direction before throwing the kunai in a nearby bush.

A squeal was heard from the bush as the kunai slammed into it. The bush rustled as a small white figure stumbled out. The snow white rabbit took two hops before falling over dead its pure white fur stained a vivid red where the kunai protruded from its' body. "Naru you idiot!" yelled a horrified Sakura. Tazuna gave the blonde girl a weird look and took an unconscious step away from her. Sasuke shook his head and muttered "Dobe." Kakashi sighed and rubbed at his temples "And that is why we don't just randomly throw kunai."

Naru wasn't the sharpest kunai in the bunch but one thing came to mind right away. The blonde turned towards her teacher. "Sensei, Why is it white?" she asked in her confusion. Kakashi's gaze shot towards the rabbit and the hair on the back of his neck rose. "Everybody get down!" he yelled as he tackled Tazuna to the ground.

Sasuke and Naru dropped to their stomachs at the same time as their Sensei. Sakura however wasn't so fortunate. The pink haired girl was still standing and staring at the poor rabbit when the blade made contact with her body. The rest of the group watched in horror as Sakura was ripped in two. The force of the spinning sword sent the upper half of the girl flying while her lower half fell over.

The upper half of Sakura landed a few yards away, a trail of blood and entrails following in her wake. Sakura heard the sound of the sword hitting the tree and looked up. The last thing she saw was the bandaged face of her killer. Haruno Sakura 12 year old Genin of Konoha and member of Team Seven was dead.

A/N: I would like to take a moment here to explain something. First I didn't kill Sakura because I hate her. Nor did I kill her for shock value. The reason that she is dead leads back to the change in Naruto's gender. In the original series when Naruto was male he didn't kill that rabbit. This shows how a small change can cause a dramatic impact in the world. Since the rabbit died this time Sakura was frozen in shock and well you saw what happened.

This will be a recurring theme in this story. Sometimes things will only change slightly like the difference between a living or dead rabbit. Those small changes though can snowball into even larger ones.

As always I thank you for reading and please review!