To Zany Clown: Yeah, I know, I spam commas. I understand that technically, commas are not always needed—especially in a narrative setting. But it helps me in forming sentences and I approach all writing under a business perspective, which means being a stickler for grammar with exception to passive and active voice.
To lycnt: You're welcome :)))
To Dispera: Well, it is in reference to the phrase exit stage left, and I hope to somehow bring the themes of the story to connect to that phrase somehow.
To jcdeadbeat: Thanks! Personally, this is how I've always seen Naruto's crush for Sakura, which is why I find dismissals of those feelings a bit cheap.
To Bi Girl: Probably ain't gonna push Sakura that hard. Though, her saying stupid things to the wrong people at the worst possible times is like a defining character trait. And I plan leveraging that a little for her growth and drama. Probably won't push for wood release in this story, and dismiss under the guise of 'cuz Kurama. I have my own vision for how natural energy works in this story, and I will just leave it at that.
Sakura's chase of Satsuki in this story is a bit of pity, but I plan on making it more complicated. As for bi-vibes, I'm not comfortable pushing that for Sakura at her age—at least not with the kind of gusto she had for Sasuke, if I did, it'd be more subtle.
To Gordon's Ramsay: Yeah, that was kind of the intent of the story. I thought senjutsu and meditation was begging for an introspection story. And the character-analysis sections are easily and will probably always be the most favorite parts to write.
To Guest: I think I saw someone mention it, but no harem. I am personally not shameless enough to do that, same goes for lemons. If I read a fic with a harem in it, it's in spite of the harem.
To Surya25addanki, nirmtheworm14, Mikasa99, Whyiseverythintaken, Yuzuki476, Ippy, and other: Thank you. Also, here's the chapter now.
Exit Sage Left
Sweet Blossoms
The looming presence over the Land of Waves was as potent as ever. Despite the weight of Gato's threats, the people of the Waves pushed on, living their lives without a thought. Tragedy and conflict seemed inevitable, and every citizen knew it. A scant few days had passed since Team 7 had arrived, and barely a day since Kakashi-sensei had woken up. Tsunami had asked them to pick up some honey from the market. Naturally, Sakura, having finished the assigned training early, volunteered.
The dirt roads of the small village bustled with a false happiness unrecognizable to the girl. Had Tsunami and Tazuna not exposed the troubles the village was having, the girl would have never known it. Under the thumb of a corrupt businessman, death of a local hero, and cut off from the rest of the continent—all of this may have gone unnoticed had Tazuna not gotten their team involved. Perhaps unnoticed wasn't the right word. Uncared for, heard but never listened to, just another point of injustice in this cruel world.
And the young girl with an obnoxiously overactive mind was …well stuck in her head.
Weeks spent doing menial tasks for missions and suddenly being tossed into the metaphorical deep end had thrown her for a loop. Every inch of self-preservation had wanted her to demand the team retreat back to the village upon learning the severity of their task. Still, at the beckoning of her two wayward teammates, Sakura ignored that instinct.
Why o why had she done that!
The mission seemed so simple at first. Go to point A, sit around, and then head back. No risk whatsoever! Then all of a sudden, Naruto spots at puddle and starts hollering on about it being weird. It was when he turned away to see if we were paying any attention that he was nearly made into a human pin cushion. Kakashi-sensei kicked him out of the way and had seemingly taken out of commission. It was all such a blur, Satsuki knocking them away, Kakashi-sensei actually being okay and knocking out our attackers, Naruto getting poisoned, stabbing his hand, riling us all up to dig ourselves deeper into this mess! And don't even get her started on the Demon of the Mist and that apparently fake hunter-nin!
The weeks of team training couldn't have possibly prepared them for any of this! Team training, individual training, none of it meant anything in the face of an opponent with all that and experience. Kakashi-sensei's lessons were the closest thing they had to experience, and while invaluable to their survival, that was nowhere near enough. Even with the recent training, the trio of genin have to do now, would that be enough to close the gap?
Goodness! She wasn't ready for this! What would her father and mother think?!
Her mother…
Sakura paused in her saunter through the village to let out a sigh. She knew why she had agreed. No one chooses to be a ninja, still, it is seen as a privilege. And it is privilege she wants.
The girl pulled her thoughts back, not wanting to think about that. Instead, her thoughts bounced back to her team. She was happy to be in the same team with Satsuki, even with the little wake-up call she had received on their first day. Kakashi-sensei was great when he was actually around to teach them. And then there was Naruto. Where did she begin with that?
After being chastised for her hasty, ignorant words, she had decided to give Naruto a fairer shake. She had expected him to be overjoyed with the more freely given attention. But to her surprise, the boy was much more reticent. And boy! Did that annoy her! All shouts and boasts, and then when someone actually starts speaking with him, he clams up! If she knew talking to him would get him to stop screaming in her ear, then she would have done it ages ago!
Amusement aside, in the back of her mind, she knew something was off about it. But the young girl couldn't bring herself to break through the mist.
Naruto fell flat on his back.
The sun peered down on him, mockingly with its heated gaze. It wouldn't be long before he'd be having this staring contest with the moon. Despite it being noon, the air still blew with a biting chill, thick with salt. Satsuki had moved away a while ago, claiming his squealing was too distracting. The last he checked, he was only slightly behind her. To his surprise, he had started with a slight lead that was lost as the first night came to a close.
The blond moved to sit up, flinching at the stinging in his hands. He had rather foolishly flailed his arms on the way down one of the trees. He was rewarded with a handful of splinters jutting from one hand. That and nearly losing an eye to his own kunai. To win against Satsuki, He had to push through the pain. He needed this win. This was the closest he had ever been to being rightfully called her rival. He'd prove he wasn't just any dimwit full of shit. And not just to her, but to that brat as well.
His head swam with thoughts as lied spread eagle on the ground. He'd been trying to give Sakura a chance, just as Ayame told him, and she seemed to be making more of an effort to befriend him. But a part of him couldn't fully accept it. It was silly, stupid, and petty. She didn't betray anything or anyone because there was nothing to betray. Only some nonsense built in his head that no one could really live up to, but he wanted it to be real. Something that seemed comparatively within grasp, even if the companionship wasn't. The thought of someone else knowing how he felt.
Naruto finally rose to his feet, looking at the tree before him. Lines marking the length of the tree. The distance between the lines getting shorter as they went higher, illustrating Naruto's lack of recent progress. He pushed down the bubbling frustration rising from his gut before releasing a sigh and rolling his shoulders back in some poor effort to soothe the building aches.
A second passed… and then another… then he finally moved.
Starting into a sprint, Naruto took one step up the tree. This was it. He could feel it.
Two, there was no stopping now.
Three, the next step would be the farthest yet. Elation bubbled in his stomach.
And then fou—feeling himself slip, he cut into the tree with his kunai before falling flat on his face.
"DAMN!" His nose stung, and his eyes were already beginning to water. He continued to lie there, refusing to move his head up and risk any tears from falling. Naruto ground his teeth to stop himself from shouting anymore, not wanting to draw Satsuki attention. He really didn't need her smug bullshit right now.
"Still going at it?" A voice cut in before he could berate himself further for his failure. Forcing down any remaining tears and then looking up, he saw Sakura stood before him with her hand on her hip.
"Oh! Hey Sakura—" moving to push himself to greet the green-eyed girl, he couldn't help flinching again.
Her brows scrunched together. "What's wrong?" Her eyes moved to his hands.
"Hm? Oh, it's nothing! Don't worry about it, y'know. Just some splinters." He said sitting up properly now. Hand moving to scratch the back of his head again, only to flinch once more.
The girl made what sounded like a huff before squatting in front the boy and stretching a hand out to him. "C'mon, give it here." When his brows knitted together, she continued, "your hand, I'll get the splinters out for you. Now give it. I don't have all day."
Not willing to look a gift horse in the face, Naruto offered the wounded appendage to the jade-eyed girl. She roughly grabbed his wrist and pulled him closer. The girl spent a moment digging through her bag with one hand before finding what she needed. Out from her a bag, a small bottle of honey appeared in her hand. The pink-haired girl popped the lid off with her thumb. Slowly, the golden ichor cascaded into the palm of his hand.
Without prompting (or was he making a face?), Sakura spoke, "honey won't only draw splinters out, but it also soothes any stinging." She pursed her lips before continuing, "at least that's what my—" she stopped, "well, ah whatever, nevermind."
Naruto blinked at that, no doubt making a funny face. 'What was that all about? Was she referring to…?' Seconds began to stretch into minutes. Had it been the morning, the sounds of crickets would have become incredibly loud.
"Uh, sorry," Sakura said, finally breaking the silence, letting go of his hand. "That didn't need to be…" She huffed, palming her face, "I really have the worst timing sometimes, don't I?"
The girl groaned into her palm, thinking the boy didn't hear her, "what am I doing? It's not like he knows what I'm talking about…"
Without thinking, Naruto took pity and stopped her from any further squirming, "So," he drew out, "I've been having some trouble with the exercise! Ya got any tips? I mean, you didn't seem to have much trouble with it, right?."
"Ah," she seemed to recover much faster now, "the best tip I could give is that you need to focus!"
He must have made a face, because she was already waving her finger around like she was halfway through a lecture. "Quit it with the face, you idiot! And stop moving around so much, you need to stay still!"
"Sorry, sorry Sakura! I'll stop!" he said, making a placating motion with one hand. "Could you, y'know, maybe explain a bit more?"
The short-tempered girl sat back, bringing a finger to her chin as her face scrunched up. "Well, it's like the leaf sticking exercise," she said, "you know like don't let yourself get too worked up, don't get too excited when you start doing well, stuff like that."
"Huh? What's that got to do with anything?"
"What part don't you get?"
"How's getting mad or happy, make any difference?"
"Well," she drew out. "Getting excited, for example, is like if you pinch your fingers together too hard, your whole arm begins to shake, right?" At his nod, she continued, "the point of the chakra exercises is being able to pinch your finger together just enough to hold something, when we get or excited it's kinda like getting tickled, you press down real hard and that makes you shake. It's the same principle."
"Wouldn't pressing down real hard just our hold more secure?"
She raised a brow at that, "not really, the technique's kinda like a marble. It'll just slip out. I assume more of the harder Justus that we'll learn will be like that too. Not to mention, when you press down hard, it's difficult to tell what's between your fingers. It's the same way in this tree walking—at least that's what I noticed."
After a moment, Sakura got up and said, "well, that's the gist of it. The point is to take a deep breath before each try. You really do kinda have to get a feel for it for the most part, though. No way 'round it."
As she began to walk away, she said, "Stay still for a bit longer to make sure the splinter are really out. Now I need to get going to the market to get more honey for Tsunami. Bye Naruto!"
He waved her off as he scooted back to rest against a tree. As he sat there, his eyes began to droop. Maybe, he was more tired than he thought. 'Was the day finally catching up to him? How long was had been training again?' He shook himself awake. No, he needed to keep training, he needed to do something productive. But he can't move. That left one thing he could train.
He had meditated a few times after that night. Why wouldn't he. Satsuki had proven that it wasn't just a dream. And that meant the first dream was also real, right? His mother loved him. He heard it himself. But the sight and sound were now suddenly out of reach. Now, when he meditated, all he saw were the stars that painted the night sky.
Kakashi-sensei had said that those 'stars' were people. That he was sensing their chakra. Naruto mentioned seeing Satsuki's memory, but not much else. Kakashi-sensei had just stared at him with his lone eye before simply stating he'd ask the Old Man. That only validated Naruto's thoughts about withholding the vision of his mother. The Old Man would have no doubt clammed up about the topic.
Naruto had long given to questioning the Old Man about his parents. At the time, he had been hateful and angry. Looking back, thinking about the looks of hurt and anger, Iruka-sensei had. Knowing the reason for it now. Naruto imagined that the Old Man must have been in a similar situation. He'd get the story eventually, whether that was when he became Hokage, or when the Old Man could bring himself to tell the tale. It didn't matter.
That night at the campfire with the Old Man came to the forefront of his mind. The stars painting the night sky, each being its own World, as the Old Man had told him. That was why that, even though, he could not hear or see his mother through meditation, that he still enjoyed it regardless. That feeling of wonder, but knowing that those stars were people…
He could see it—
—Satsuki bouncing around—
—Sakura's retreating form—
—Tsunami, Tazuna, and Inari forming their own small cluster—
—Kakashi-sensei, a fixture to that cluster—
—and the illegible smattering of dots forming misty nebulas from the nearby village.
All of it filled Naruto with a sense of wonder that was nearly beyond words—nearly out of reach. But unlike the stars in the night sky, these ones were not.
All were very real worlds that could be explored, and warm him like the sun does all on its own.
And that's when a small, almost imperceptible white butterfly fluttered out from the misty nebula and in front of him. When Naruto went to grasp at it. The butterfly deftly dodged his hand, but remained in fluttering around him. Rather than chase at it, something at the pit of Naruto's gut told to stay still. The feeling was of instinct? Trepidation? Fear?
Finally, with three simple beats, the lone butterfly landed on his chest? Through his chest? Through heart?
A cold, icy feeling pierced him. Not entirely unpleasant at first, as it was a familiar feeling.
Loneliness
A cold, cold, chilling mist of loneliness masked in familiarity.
That's when the world spun him around. Jarred and disoriented, it felt as though now he was staring up at the stars above him rather than around as they had been before. The heat once shared gone. The nebulae of the night coursed and churned, forming twisted, muted clouds. Slowly and eerily, the fixtures of the once night sky began their descent like flakes of snow. And then the flakes and ashy clouds made the picture of a father, his father, looking—eyes filled with tears—down at him. His mouth moved. No words came, but the thought reached him nonetheless…
Demon
Betrayal. Hatred. Disgust. Filled him.
Yet, in spite of it,
Love.
His small hand held by a larger one, a smile of pride and affection hidden(?), yearned(?)—no, remembered(?)—beneath the hateful glare.
And then acceptance. First, just the feeling.
Then a new kind of acceptance, not 'for' it but 'of' it.
And then—
A thin, pale, elegant hand hovered just before him jolted Naruto awake.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." A voice like a sweet melody that harmonized effortlessly with the dissonant world, spoke from behind the hand. A piney smell pricked at his nose, replacing the now familiar salted air. Before him was a woman that could be best described as having only weeks ago been a girl on the verge of womanhood. Her silky bangs framed what could only describe as the picture of docile. Sweet chocolate eyes contrasted the fair, milky skin pleasantly. The pink kimono, highlighted in a rosier color, wrapped in a mint sash, hugged her form neither too tightly nor loosely. The way it wrapped her denoted a much more casual and free spirited air. The purple swirls decals of her kimono were like patterns on the wings of a butterfly.
Heat rose in his cheeks, no doubt affecting his state of mind. "It's not a big deal really," he stammered. "Ya just surprised me, is all."
"Then again, I would like to apologize," she said with a slight bow, "I only meant to wake before you catch cold."
He stammered out a dismissal before jumping to a different topic, "A-anyway, what are you doing out here, sis?"
A Cheshire expression etched its way onto her pleasant features. "I'm out gathering healing herbs," came the curt response.
After a pause, Naruto automatically asked, "would you like some help?"
"That'd be lovely."
Moments later, after wiping a sticky hand onto his pant leg, Naruto was pulling bunches of herbs out of the ground. Releasing his recent bounty, he noticed a pair of flowers that stood out from the rest of the basket's contents. They were common. He'd seen all around as he trained. However, the white of the flower's petals was unusual.
"They're poppies," came the answer to the unasked question. "I like the white ones, but the red ones are nice too. They only bloom at this time of year."
"They're pretty."
She hummed in response.
The two continued their work in peaceful silence.
Releasing another bounty into the basket, Naruto asked, "you must be good with this stuff, if you need so much, right?"
A small hum acknowledged his words, she responded, "there are times when much healing is needed."
A short moment passed before she said, "I hadn't expected to find anybody sleeping out here, though."
"I'm training!"
"Does that mean you're ninja? I can't help but notice that headband of yours," she said with an elegant brow raised.
"You betcha'! Only real ninja get these things!" he said, thumb pointing to his head.
"So, are you training for something dangerous?" her tone almost blasé.
"No, no!" he denied, "I'm just developing my skills to get stronger."
"You seem very strong now, isn't that enough?"
"Nuh-uh! I have to get stronger and stronger. I have to keep practicing!"
Her eyes narrowed, yet no wrinkle marred her features, "How so? Why is it so important?"
"'Cuz I gotta become the strongest Ninja in the whole village, so that everyone will respect me! And, y'know, I gotta prove it to some brats that I can!"
"Oh?" she said, "and are you doing this for these other kids or for yourself?"
"Huh?" was his verbose reply. At her laughter, he let his indigence show, "Hey! What's so funny?"
"Is there someone dear to you?"
"... Dear to me?"
A pregnant pause halted the conversation as she seemed to think on how to respond to him.
"You see," she started, "when you are protecting something dear to you, that is when you are genuinely strong."
That stopped him. He thought about Kaiza. He thought about Kakashi-sensei. And he thought about the one time when he was really strong. When he protected Iruka-sensei.
"Yeah," the young boy started with a grin, "I hear ya. I know exactly what you're saying."
She smiled at him and pulled one of the two flower from the basket. Handing it to him before standing, "you'll be strong, very strong…"
When she began to walk away, she paused mid-step, "and by the way, I'm a boy."
And Naruto's jaw dropped.
Deep within the seal, an ancient being bode its time.
'Soon,' the being thought to itself.
He would not die. Perhaps to the mortals, it mattered little. And perhaps, they were right. But he would not lose those memories, his—
'No,' they will not take that either. He will come out with all three: his mind, his sanity, and his memories.
'Not like the other, not him'
Deep within the seal, an ancient being bode its time.
AN: There's the chapter. I didn't feel like reading any of the stories I'm following, so I decided to write.
Made a couple drafts that were basically done, but I hated how they went. This one worked out 'cuz I skipped ahead to the middle of the Wave arc, which just fits better for me. Went through a dozen different idea on how to progress to the first mission outside the village, but found that most elements would've remained the same. Also tossed around the idea of messing the entire order of the story, like having some banal C-rank mission, then Chunin exam, and then Wave. But that was a bit too ambitious for me.
Rehashed a portion of Naruto meeting Haku, but it's the most thematically relevant, so deal with it. I added some stuff to it too. Set up a bunch of character arcs for like three characters and a potential fourth one. Not so subtly hinted at some world building. The next chapter will be somewhere between next week and five years, 'cuz I'm awful and don't have or feel like making time. Teehee.
